Julio

Julio left an impression with me.

Julio was the Jefe (boss) from the stove making project.  I don't even know Julio's last name, but I think of him daily.  He is my inspiration.

Julio is a young 27 year old man. He has a smile that lights up his face. He has been married for 4 years and has a 1 year old daughter.  The volunteers told us that not too many men get married, the financial responsibilities are too great.  Julio is to be commended for his decision.  His little girl is the apple of his eye.  He would get so animated when he talked of her.  She was sick one day while we were there, and his concern for her was evident.

Julio is one of 4 men that is trained in building the stoves.  He took it upon himself to train an apprentice.  His patience when explaining things to us and to his apprentice was impressive.  He would quietly show us how to do something.  When it wasn't right, he would not criticize or make gestures, but simply smile and say "un poco mas" - "a little more".

 But Julio's story gets better.  Julio is going to law school!  He attends school on Friday afternoons and for 6 hours on Saturdays.  It takes him 1.5 hours of travel each way by various modes of transportation.  It will take him 6 years to complete his course of study.  He has 4 more years to go.  His goal is to become a lawyer and to represent the indigenous population.  It is his way of helping.

On our way back to the mission at the end of the first day, we were walking back to the chicken truck and I asked Julio where he was going.  He told me that once a week he goes into town and administers to the poor and elderly in the town.  I asked him "Why?"  He looked at me and simply said, "If not me, then who?"

Remember on a previous posting at the reforestation project I mentioned the carved spoons?  Julio told me that he was also a "cucharero" - spoon maker.  He was one of the boys trained to carve them and he now not only carves but teaches other young boys the skill.  As we were arriving for our last day, Julio called me aside and gave me one of his spoons.  This young man who has nothing, gave ME a gift.  I was speechless and still am.  I don't think he knows how much of a "gift" he gave me.  His spoon is my daily reminder - I am grateful for all that God has given me (Julio's words).

Muchas gracias Julio, que Dios te bendiga!

Thank you very much Julio, may God bless you!

Long Term Volunteers

I would be remiss if I did not mention the young men and women who are the long term mission volunteers.  These young adults volunteer their time and come live here for up to a year, acting as translators, guides and friends to the incoming mission groups and the local community. They work side by side the mission groups at the various job sites and the Guatemalan people they are here to help.  They have varied backgrounds.  Some have graduated from prestigious Ivy League universities, others are gap year students, some have taken a break from college and others have opted to leave lucrative careers temporarily.  Yet with these diverse backgrounds, they share several common interests.  They all have a deep Catholic faith, a strong desire to serve others and linguistic ability!  My heart is gladdened when I see such devotion to others as witnessed by these young men and women.  Hooray!!  Our faith is alive and well in these young people!

Final work day

We are all excited to continue building the stove for our family today!  We have been supported in our mission by many people and can contribute to building 4 stoves in the San Lucas community.  While we can only build one during our brief stay, we have provided the funds for the other 3 so that other groups may pick up where we left off and more families can benefit from this more efficient cooking source.

Today the rest of the walls go up and all the finishing touches.  The pictures should give a good idea of the process.

Just a few more things to do, but sadly, the Jefe will have to do that on his own tomorrow.  I'm pretty proud of our little group from St. Patrick's Church.  I think we're pretty good stove builders!

Day 6

We are beginning to get used to being awoken by the roosters yet we must acknowledge that this will be one of our last work days in San Lucas Toliman.  It has been a true privilege to learn of the mission's projects, the Guatemalan people and to lend a small hand in helping to bring some assistance to those that don't ask for anything yet are so grateful.

It was a very windy day today and it blew the concrete dust everywhere.  We were once again divided into two teams with two different work sites.  One was near the school and the other was up a mountain in a residential community.  Today we would begin the stove building project!  Every scoopful of cement had to be sifted.  Our tools consisted of a hand trowel and a broken handle less shovel.  Even the buckets we used were very small and had holes in them.

The project we worked on were personal stoves for the families.  Most indigenous Guatemalans still use 3 large stones and a sheet of metal for a stove.  This results in an inefficient use of wood and a lot of smoke.  Many people have lung problems from the smoke. The new stoves will be much more efficient, use less wood, and provide healthier air for the children.

The new stoves have a cinder block foundation, brick fireboxes and a cement chimney stack.  The stoves are built in an outdoor kitchen area on dirt floors.  The walls are constructed of bamboo or corn stalks.  It is truly amazing how we were able to level the ground and square corners with only fishing line, a stake and a tape measure.

When we arrived at the work site, the ground still had to be prepared and prepped before the foundation blocks could be placed.  We literally used our hands and scooped water to dampen the dirt for tamping.  Tamping was also done by hand!  Once the Jefe (boss) decided it was level enough, the fishing line and tape measure were brought in to determine the size of the stove.

Finally, we could begin to add some cinder block walls and the cement could be sifted and made.

We had to wait for the cement to set up so we will be back tomorrow to continue to build the walls, add the bricks, ceramic tile and chimney.  So much more to do, but I love how the family keeps poking their heads into the kitchen to get glimpses of our progress.  Hopefully, they are not too disappointed!

Day 5 continued

Better than entry than never!

I wanted to take some time to explain the coffee production facility.  I did mention in the previous post about how the actual coffee beans are picked.  It is quite an arduous task and one that I will never take for granted again.  Our hands were covered in a black sticky substance mostly from the honey that surrounds the coffee nut.

Once the red, ripe beans are picked, packed into 100 lb burlap bags and weighed, they are taken to the coffee production facility. The red, ripe beans are separated from any inferior beans (green and not quite ripe).  These inferior beans are not thrown away, but rather graded at a lower level or used locally.  Only the red, ripe bean can be sold through the mission as superior grade coffee.

The freshly sorted beans are put through a machine that churns the beans and removes the red casing.  The casings are used for other purposes - fertilizer, compost and pig food.  The yellow bean is then hand shoveled into large concrete pits.  Men is rubber boots and shovels, run water over the beans and wash them to remove the honey.  The beans are then shoveled down to the next level of concrete pits and the water bath process is repeated two more times!!  Water from the washings is drained down to gardens on the lowest tiered level so nothing is wasted.

After the 3rd wash, the yellow beans and then carried by wheel barrows to large level patios.  Very large patios!  One man will hand rake these beans, first in one direction, then once he reaches the end, turns and rakes in the opposite direction.  The beans are dried by the sun for approximately 3 days.  This one man will walk up and down this field of drying coffee beans for 10 hours a day.

The dried yellow beans are then ready for the next step which removes the yellow casing and leaves the familiar green coffee bean.  I am not quite sure how this process is achieved as we did not help in this step.  The green coffee bean is then roasted and ready for retail sale.

The mission supports over 100 families with their coffee production.  Not only do they supply the families with the coffee seedlings to begin their own coffee plants, but they buy the families coffee beans as better than market price.  The mission discovered that the stability of mission purchasing the coffee provided a better income to the families than falling to the whims of a global demand market place.

If anyone is interested in purchasing San Lucas coffee, please refer to the website on the home page of the blog.

Day 4 & 5

I was just too tired last night so I am going to combine yesterday and today to give you an idea of our days here in beautiful, friendly San Lucas!!
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 We began the day by separating into two groups.  One group went and picked coffee and the other group worked on the cistern for a new building.  This second group moved buckets of dirt from a 14 foot hole which will still need to chiseled through boulders for at least another 2 feet.  The Guatemalans have very basic and simple tools.  These boulders are cut out using machetes only.  It can take weeks to remove one boulder.

The coffee picking group had a long drive in an open bed truck referred to as a chicken bus here.  Up a winding road to the mountainside.  We were dropped off the side of the road and followed our guide through the woods until he suddenly stopped and motioned around him.  I didn't see anything at first but a bunch of dying trees but upon closer inspection, the sparsely leafed branches had berries covering both sides of the skinny branches.  The ripe coffee is the color of a cranberry but just a bit larger.  Each bean needs to be individually picked as not all berries on the stem are ripe.  This is a very arduous process as it took 20 of us 2.5 hours to fill 1 100 pound sack.  Each 100 pound sack of ripe beans will yield 9 ponds of roasted beans!!!  My appreciation for coffee has now taken a whole new meaning!

The afternoon had us going to the reforestation project run by the mission. Most Guatemalans use wood daily for cooking in open pits so firewood is a necessary life commodity.  Consequently, many, many people have breathing problems and their homes are coated in creosote.  We split up again and some sanded wooded spoons for sale to local people and some are available for sale through the New Ulm website.  The spoons are carved using machetes by young men who apprentice with a skilled carver.  This is to teach the young men a skill.  75% of the sales profits are returned to the boys and the remaining is used for supplies (bags, string, knives).  Mayans believe strongly in Mother Earth being a source of all things so nothing goes to waste.  The carved wood is leftover scraps from other projects and the paper bags are also recycled.  The school children draw art on the bags for decoration, usually depicting pictures of trees, the earth and plants.

Day 3

Another beautiful morning in San Lucas!  The roosters start crowing around 3 am and the motorcycles and tuk tuks are roaring by 6am.  The singing from the church could be heard wafting through our windows.  It is indeed a beautiful morning in Guatemala.

Today our mission team will be getting a personal tour of all the enterprises of San Lucas.  These will include all the endeavors of Fr. Greg to ensure the Mayans viewed themselves as equal and people of dignity.  Mayan culture is rooted firmly in Mother Earth.  Fr Greg has tried to give many of them plots of land for growing food and coffee.  The coffee production brings income to the community.

The first stop today was the womens health clinic.  The women are taught to weave, sew and bake breads for their families.  There is even a small garden to learn thèir gardening skills.  A small playroom is available for their children.

Next we toured the medical clinic.  There is even an operating room where they perform eye, cleft palate and liver surgeries twice a year.  2 birthing rooms, ultrasound and a separate men's and women's clinic are all on the main level.  Multiple exam rooms are open year round for emergency care and they see an average of 40 patients a day - just one doctor.

We saw the school today!  There are over 600 students in attendance in grades from preschool thru secondary.  The children come out smiling from ear to ear!  They are truly joy filled and so excited to be going to school!

The last stop of the day was the coffee production facility.  We spent the afternoon picking out by hand the burnt beans from the yellow ones.  Much, much more on the coffee later!!  I have to run now!

St Lucas - pray for us!
St Patrick - pray for us!!