A father asks if his 13 year old daughter could come to an English class

Today a very exciting thing happened, that could have a real impact on the work we do in Cahabon.  In the morning I was teaching an English class to the missionaries, through Google Meet, and a man came to the house to sell us some chocolate.  There are many cacao trees in this area (in fact, we have one in our back yard) and it is very possible that this man had harvested the cacao beans and ground them into a powder.  Anyway, while he was asking Bob if he would like to buy some chocolate powder, and a small brick of cocoa, he heard me teaching the English class.  (The house is very open on the front porch, and we had the doors open to let in some cooler air.)   About 2 hours later (after I had finished my classes) he returned.  Usually we have Gady here, who can interpret for us, but she had gone home to Coban for the weekend.  (She is very careful with social distancing and wearing a mask.)  So, I got out my phone, with Google Translate, and after about 15 minutes I understood that he wanted his 13 yr. old daughter to learn English.  He said he would come too, and would be here with her.  However, the last time I tried to have an English class in our home, no one showed up.  I wanted to have a class with more than one person.  So, I told him that I needed 10 students to start the class.  I asked if his daughter might have other friends that would also like to learn English.  He said she did.  I said it would be Sunday, at 3:00 pm.  He said "domingo?"  I finally figured out that he was saying Sunday, so I got a piece of paper and wrote "Domingo, 3:00 pm, this house" on it.  He seemed very happy to get the paper, and I asked again if he knew other people that might like to come.  He shook his head "yes" -- so I made 9 other papers with the information for the class.

The reason this is so special is because we have tried to figure out ways to build relationships of trust among the people.  They love it when I say some Kekchi words, and they are very friendly, but I am not doing anything with them to get to know them better.  Bob is working with the farmers, so he is building trust with them.

I know it will take time for them to trust us, and I'm willing to wait until we can do it right.  But I have a feeling that this little class could be the beginning of something very special for us, and them.  It really touched my heart that this father wanted his 13 year old daughter to have the opportunity to learn English.

We hope the day will come when they want to also visit our home to learn more about the gospel, but that's a long ways off, for now.  Maybe not as long as it seems.  ??

So -- stay tuned.  I'll report what happens -- on Monday.  

January 29 - 2021 - Field Report by Bob Roylance

We traveled to a fairly remote area, probably about 20 miles from Cahabon, but it seemed like 100.  We were in first gear most of the way.  The purpose of the trip was to take one of the chiefs home after the area-wide meeting that was discussed in the Jan 28th report.  Another objective was to look at the crops along the way and talk about the challenges that are associated with them.  The following pictures, and the associated explanations and descriptions, provide some insight into the challenges here and the ways we intend to help them.  We are still a long way from getting an understanding on how we can best help these people with their economic challenges, but we are making progress.

A number of farmers in the southern sector of Cahabon District planted a relatively high number of acres to Achiote -- in hopes of finding a lucrative cash crop.  However, when it came time to market their crop they discovered that the prices that they were being paid generated little or no profit for their work.

It appears like they only have one broker and he can set a low price, because there is no competition.  This situation has caused us to look at other markets for a competitive buyer.  So far we are just in the preliminary stages, so the outcome is very uncertain.

This situation should have required a complete marketing study that would identify the true profitability of this crop before they committed to plant so many acres.

Another crop that we evaluated along the way was Cardamon.  This crop has been in the area for some time, and has proven to be quite successful.  However, it will require an initial cash outlay, and several years of tending the crop, before it will produce a crop that can be sold.  There is an opportunity here to help the small farmer gain a little financial security with this crop.  But it does have it's up and down price years, so it needs a thorough evaluation.

Corn is the staple crop in the Cahabon area, where thousands of acres are planted.  This is a very mountainous region, so you'll find corn growing in all sorts of places.  But, it is mainly grown on the steep mountainsides.

This picture is a typical field of corn that is showing serious nitrogen deficiencies. Even though a little nitrogen would boost the yield, the farmers can't seem to accumulate enough capital to sustain a productive program.

The picture above also has a spice plant that is planted amongst the corn in hopes that it might become a lucrative cash crop.  

Every home seems to have bins that contain a year supply of corn.  It's remarkable how corn is such a major part of their lives.

The teenagers, and those in their early twenties, seem to be exceptionally bright and physically fit, so the corn and bean diet must not be too bad.  They do throw in a fish, a side of pork, or a chicken fryer, now and then -- so they do have a little variety.

Some ideas are formulating on how to make this situation sustainable -- so stay tuned.

Historic Meeting Among 202 Chiefs in Cahabon Area, by Bob Roylance

I had the opportunity of witnessing a very significant event in the history of Cahabon, Guatemala.  On Jan 27, 2021, all the chiefs that represented the 202 villages, that are associated with the town of Cahabon, met to create an alliance with the city and their neighboring villages.  This was not an easy meeting, and it took a lot of leadership, and saying the right things, to sway these strong-minded chiefs to join the alliance.  However, it turned out that there were a number of these chiefs that could not be swayed away from the alliance.  The leaders of Cahabon were expecting a few dissenters, and were actually very happy with the number of chiefs that agreed to the new way of governing the area.  They were quite sure that, in time, the other village leaders would have a change of heart.

These men came from a strong traditional background that is grounded in superstition and ancient ways of doing things -- so it will probably take some new blood to overcome some of their long-standing beliefs.  One of their beliefs is that burning of the crop residues is necessary in order to cleanse the soil.  In one sense they are right.  However, it not only eliminates all the crop residues, which leaves them a clean seedbed, but it also cleanses all the beneficial features that are associated with building up the soil.

This map of Guatemala gives the general idea of where the villages are located -- that are associated with Cahabon.  (The city of Cahabon is in the red rectangle area.)   Evidently, it will take up to four hours to drive to some of these villages.  This is primarily due to slow rough roads. 

Some of the services that were discussed in the meeting were improved roads, infrastructure, postal services, the care for those in extreme poverty, establishing food reserves for bad weather years, cooperative marketing, the use of new agricultural technology, etc.  There appears to be a real opportunity for our initiatives to sustainably improve their farming income.

Special Missionaries in Coban Mission

 I just had the most precious experience teaching English to missionaries in the Coban Mission.  Today I taught the Intermediate level (those who already knew some English).  There were three classes, each one with about 8 missionaries.

The last class had missionaries who teach in the area where we live now, around Cahabon.  And one of the missionaries said they were actually teaching some people in Cahabon -- on their phone, through the internet.  I told her that we would love to go visit them, if she could send me the information.  She is serving in the Fray Bartelomo area -- which is North of Cahabon.  It's very difficult to drive there from Cahabon, because some of the road was washed out with the flooding after Hurricane Eta.  

I also told them about Otto Rufino, who lives in Lonquin, and wants a Book of Mormon.  I told the story earlier about meeting him while we were waiting at a highway construction site.  He is the one that said he had learned some Hebrew, and that some of the words in Kekchi are the same, or similar, to words in the Hebrew language.  He said, "I don't know how that could happen," and we said, "We know," and we told him about Lehi leaving Jerusalem and coming here, and the Mayan people are descended from those people who spoke Hebrew.

I told the missionaries that there was a man in Lonquin that wants to read the Book of Mormon, in either Spanish or Kekchi, but he would prefer Kekchi.  They were all so quiet, I could feel the Spirit so strong!  It was such a special moment to be talking to these missionaries about the ancestors of the Kekchi people.

And, I hope we get to meet the people that the missionaries are teaching in Cahabon (where we are).  Sister Palacios will send us the information.

We ended the classes today by my singing "I am a Child of God" in English.  I encouraged them to find the words in English, and we would sing at the next lesson, and the next lesson, until they learn it in English.  That will be very special when we can sing it together.

  

Agriculture Report Jan 23, 2021

 Bob's Report:

We are working two different areas that are about two hours apart.  One is in the Polochic Valley and the other is the Cahabon area, both are in the central mountains of Guatemala.

Polochic Valley

We are close to defining our programs in the Polochic Valley, where we are working with members of the Church who are struggling with subsistence living.

We have already had a three-hour seminar on ways to improve production and marketing.  The President of the Polochic District (contains seven Branches) is a large farmer and is very astute with issues regarding farming -- so it will be easy to work with them.  Our aim is to triple the crop yields of a number of small farmers that are members of the Church.  We have the program fairly well outlined and it will include a provision for them to save enough money to plant the next crop.  In other words -- a sustainable program.

The Church Welfare Department is currently involved in a nutritional study involving the children in the Polochic area.  Their small stature and overall health condition have raised some concern about their diets.  Our program should help alleviate some of the reasons for these problems.

Cahabon area

The Coban Mission President has encouraged us to work in the Cahabon area, to hopefully overcome past anti-Church sentiments (created by misdeeds of two missionaries 40 years ago.)

There are several agriculture interventions associated with this area.  They include: (1) Providing a 100 lb. bag of nitrogen fertilizer for some selected small farmers (could be 1,000 farmers) with a method that will require the farmer to fund the next crop on his own; (2) Provide some specially selected small farmers with Cardamon starts (a spice that grows well in the area) in order to establish a long-term cash crop; (3) Provide various avenues of instruction for the larger farmers.  A Community Development Center will be set up, similar to the Centers that were very successful in Africa.  The Center will administer the programs mentioned above.  With sufficient funding, we will investigate providing some value-added operations to further improve the well-being of the farmers, such as setting up a Cardamon drying plant and/or a place where we can produce corn meal.  The City of Cahabon is willing to provide us an amazing facility where we can administer the Community Development Center programs.

Another possible intervention that could bring an added amount of prosperity is to help these farmers become certified under "safe food" marketing programs.  This has just recently emerged as an issue and could be a great addition to our humanitarian package.  A great deal of my time in the U.S., UK, Africa, Paraguay and Indonesia was spent helping the farmers become certified "safe food marketers" (GLOBAL G.A.P.).

The individual that is over farming interventions in the Cahabon area has been out of town, so it has been difficult to establish a way forward.  He will be available Monday.  Cahabon is in a very isolated area, and there are no English speakers, to work with, so the Mayor is going to bring an English-speaking person from Coban to live with us -- which will be interesting.  We have never been in this kind of a situation before, so we are anxious to see how this all works out.  I have come to realize that I have to learn some Spanish.  So, I have been spending quite a bit of time on that.

Our first few days here in Cahabon have been involved in getting settled into our home.  We are starting from scratch, which means we have had to buy all of our furniture, as well as a stove and refrigerator.

Susan continues to charm the Kekchi people with her not-so-fluent Kekchi.  It's fun to watch their eyes light up when she speaks in Kekchi.  She is also lining up people to teach English.  Everybody wants to learn English.  This will definitely be the route to their hearts.

Mayan Kekchi and Hebrew similarities

This report was written January 17, 2021

Yesterday we met a very special young man and his wife.  There is a huge construction project on the way to Cahabon (where we will be living soon), and they only let people through every hour, on the hour.  If you get there early you have to wait until the top of the hour.  While we were waiting, a young man approached us and asked if he could be our guide in Lonquin, to see the amazing natural wonders of that area.  We were not so interested in site-seeing, but we did need a interpreter to help us find a good hotel for the night, se we spent some time talking to him -- because he spoke English.  He could speak four languages: Kekchi, Spanish, English and Hebrew.  He said he had not been able to go to school when he was young, because the transportation to the school was expensive, and his family could not afford it.  But he learned to read, and has spent a lot of time reading.  We asked why he learned Hebrew, and he said a lot of people from Israel come here -- and he learned it mostly from them.  Then he said something really powerful!  He said that there are a lot of words in the Kekchi language (the native language of the people who live here) that are similar to words in Hebrew.  Because of that, he said it was easy for him to learn Hebrew.  Then he said, "I don't know how that could have happened."  And I said, "We know!"  And then we proceeded to tell him about Lehi's family coming from Jerusalem 600 years before Christ was born.  He is very interested in to him how the people, 600 years before Christ, left Jerusalem and came to this continent, and the native Kekchi people are descendants of those people.  We asked if he had heard of the Book of Mormon.  He had not, but said he was interested.  We asked if he would like a book, and he said he would.  He would prefer reading it in Kekchi, but either Kekchi or Spanish would be OK.  Then his wife came over to give us their phone number.  She is really a sweetheart.  We think this is a very golden couple, and will continue to keep in touch with them.

I contacted Mike Peck, my Kekchi teacher, and he said: "Very interesting!  Yes, for that very reason I started up a certification program in Hebrew last year.  I've always noticed curious similarities and wanted to find out if they are coincidences (as they often are between languages), or if there's a legitimate connection.  Do you know in what order he learned all those languages?  Which is his native language.  I responded that Kekchi is his native language.  My teacher is planning to contact him and get more information.

Why we are going to Guatemala

 Why we are going to Guatemala, and what we plan to do:

A temple for Coban, Guatemala, was announced at the October 2018 General Conference.  Bob and I felt a special "tug" to go to Guatemala and serve the people in the Coban area -- to help them prepare for the temple.  In our communication with the Coban Mission President, we learned that 60% of the people in the Coban Mission speak the Kekchi language, a native Mayan language.  Many of the people in that mission live in the mountains North and East of Coban -- driven there originally by the Spanish conquistadors.  These people were never officially conquered, but they eventually learned how to live peacefully among the Spanish.

Soon after we decided to serve a mission in Guatemala the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and it was not possible for a couple as old as us (I am 78 and Bob is 82) to serve a mission outside of our home country.  So, after continued communication with the Mission President, we decided to move to Guatemala, to serve as best we could as members of the Church.  I also began a serious effort to learn the Kekchi language.

We planned to leave in August, but the airlines stopped flying to Guatemala.  Soon after the airways opened up again, Hurricane Eta hit the area.  The Category 4 hurricane caused extreme havoc in Honduras and Nicaragua.  In the Coban area there was extensive flooding.  In one area, the storms created mudslides that buried a whole village.  The rivers and streams were filled with mud, and the wells were contaminated.

From our past experience working the people in refugee camps, we knew that water-born diseases, after such disasters, can be additionally devastating, so we began a project to raise money to send water purification filters to these people.  God heard our prayers, and inspired people came forward to provide the needed funds.  My Kekchi teacher gave us the contact information of a man who previously served as the Coban Stake President.  He is now living in Utah, and he provided the names of people in the Coban area to coordinate our efforts (in conjunction with the Sustainable Families Group).  He had a brother who was the mayor of Cahabon, and their city water system had also been damaged, so they were in desperate need of help.  So this became the area of focus.  Eventually we raised the money to provide 5,000 filters and buckets, at a value of $114,000.

Bob went to Guatemala in November, with a group of men, to teach the people how to use the water filters.  He stayed in the home of the Mayor of Cahabon.  The Mayor soon learned of Bob's agriculture experience, and the work we have done in Kenya and Uganda -- to help the peasant farmers overcome their poverty so they could take orphans into their homes.

There are about 7,000 people living in the city of Cahabon, but 70,000 people live in the surrounding mountainous area.  95% of the people are Kekchi.  They are very poor, and the subsistence farmers barely provide food for their families.  The Mayor asked Bob if he could come to Cahabon to help the people improve their agriculture and help them rise of out their extreme poverty.

Our original intent was to help the people prepare for the Coban temple.  While there are many Branches, Wards and Stakes in nearby towns, the Cahabon area has not had missionaries for over 40 years, because of some bad actions of missionaries.  The small Branch was closed down.  We talked to the Mission President about possibly living in Cahabon, to help the people with agriculture and other projects.  The hurricane, and water filters, had opened some important doors.  One thing led to another, and the Coban Mission President has now assigned us to live in Cahabon -- to build relationships of trust.  We don't know how long that assignment will last, but we are planning to live in Cahabon until the Temple is dedicated.  The groundbreaking occurred in November, so it will probably be about 2 years.

Bob and I are leaving for Guatemala on Thursday (Jan 7th).  Bob is working hard to research the possibilities in the Cahabon area, and several agriculture opportunities have opened up, but we need to raise the money to get these projects started.  All our efforts will be to help the people become self-sustaining.  We will only promote projects that are sustainable.  We plan to help them set up Community Development Centers (CDCs), much as we did in Africa, to help the people with the production and marketing of their crops. 

Our goal is to raise $100 per family, to get the project started.  This would be a one-time donation for each family, because they will be able to continue helping themselves after the CDC is in place.  In Africa we also taught the farmers how to become certified with GLOBALGAP -- so they could sell their produce internationally.  Marketing was a key to their success.  (This is Bob's forte -- marketing -- a necessary part of any production plan.)

If you have made it this far in this long recitation of our need for help, we would appreciate it if you could tell us of anyone that might be willing to provide some seed money for this important project.  These are special people who need our help.

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