Catching the Rain Project

 Good News!  We're almost there!

The total cost of the Catching the Rain Project is $2730.  This is a reduction from $3,000 because we were able to get some of the items at a discounted price.

 

$2,225 was donated through Welcome Hand.  The women of the La Libertad Community raised 50 quetzales each from 58 families, (Q.2,900) which equals $375.  That leaves only $130 needed to cover all the costs.

 

Here is picture of the women of the Board, with the money they raised, and the list of the 58 families that paid the 50 quetzales to participate.  The women in the white shirts, are from the Women's Office of the Municipality of Cahabon.  They helped facilitate this project.

We need $130 to complete this project.  If you would like to donate, go to welcomehand.org.  

 

Thanks to all of you that have donated to help this project become so successful!

 

We will send more pictures after the barrels and other items are delivered to the families on November 6th.   Doug and Kim Roylance will be here, and they will be climbing the mountain with the families as they take their barrels home - to Catch the Rain in the future. 

Cookies and Banana Bread

October 22, 2021

Today, 3 members of the Women's Office at the Municipality came over to our home to have me show them how to make Banana Bread.  I took some banana bread over to the Mayor's office to watch the big soccer game (the Mayor's office overlooks the soccer field), and they wanted to learn how to make it.  Gady translated the recipe into Spanish, and they each brought some of the ingredients.  They had a hard time getting "butter" and nuts, so I told them margarine was OK, and I furnished the walnuts I brought from Utah.  Gady said there is a place to buy walnuts in Coban, but I haven't seen it yet.  Up to now I have only been able to buy peanuts here.  

We had some fun discussions, waiting for the oven to heat up (I thought I had turned it on, but I forgot to get the gas started), waiting for the small bread loaves to cook, and then cool.  Gady was interpreting for me.  (We made four small loaves of banana bread, one for each of them and Gady.)

 

I asked them what they needed me to help them with (I thought about some big humanitarian needs), and they said, "how to make cookies!"  Then, when we were waiting for the loaves to cool I realized that I had a full pizza that I made for yesterday that had not been eaten (ham and pineapple).  So I brought it out, and warmed it up.  Now they want me to teach them how to make pizza.  They said, "We should have a bakery and name it Susan."  Several people have suggested that I should have a pizza store (every time I make pizza), but I told them that is not what I am here for.   But, as I think about it, maybe it would be a good way to build "relationships of trust."  ???

 

"Catching the Rain"

A Family-to-Family project

Families living on a mountain, on the South side of Cahabon, 

need a way to capture the rain and store it in a barrel.  They do 

not have access to running water, they are so high on the mountain.

This project will provide a 55 gal storage barrel and the "canal" 

along their roof to capture the rain water, for about 60 families.  

In order to receive the water storage barrel and canal, 

each family will need to pay 50 quetzales (about $7.50). 

For some of them, this will be difficult.  

They will be turning in their money on Monday, October 26th, 

to qualify to receive the rain storage unit.  

The rain catchment system will cost about $48 for each family.

We would like this to be another "family to family" project -

with a family in a developed county to donate $50 to provide

 a simple rain catchment system for a family in the 

La Libertad Community in the Cahabon District of Guatemala.

 

If you are interested in donating to this project, 

please go to  welcomehand.org

The following pictures are homes in the La Libertad area.  

If you look carefully you will see that they are on a steep terrain 

(see the trees on a lower level than the house).

If you are interested in donating to this project, 
please go to welcomehand.org.

I Climbed the Mountain!

October 15, 2021

Yesterday I followed a very steep and treacherous trail up a mountain to see the homes that had been severely damaged by the wind/rain storm on September 15th.  Luis Fernando went with me, from the Municipality of Cahabon, (and Martha from the Women's Office).  I COULD NOT have done it without Fernando.  But, I have walked some treacherous trails climbing up to Seibal and Aguateca, so I thought I could do it.

Here is a picture of the home at the top of the mountain.  Luis Fernando is standing beside me.  He helped me walk up the hill.  See cloth protecting the kitchen area of the home, because the wall was destroyed.

Here is a picture of the kitchen area of the home, without walls.

Here is a picture of the roof of that home, so you can see how they have cobbled it back together.  We have ordered 5x5 lumber 22 feet long to help 4 of the homes stabilize their roofs.  

This community is called La Libertad.  The Board of the community gave me a letter, asking for help to get a water storage tank, because they don't have a source of water up there -- other than rain.  I did notice one other home that was collecting the water from the roof in barrels.  I want to research this system, to see if that is a way we could help.  I know that some houses we have visited in the past have a pipe along their roof that collects the water and puts it into a barrel at the end.  

Another house we saw was the home of an elderly lady, who lives by herself.   You can see how the side of the house had the lumber blown off, and she is using plastic sheets on the side.

This is a picture of her toilet area:

In this picture you can see where the roof of another house has been repaired with a new corrugated steel sheet.

When you climb UP a hill (or mountain), you have to come back down.  Here is a picture of Fernando helping me come down - over some rocks.

These people are the most needy of the needy.  I am so grateful we have had the opportunity to help them, and so grateful for the many friends and family that have contributed to this project.  If you would like to donate to help in this work, please go to:

welcomehand.org