04-25-06 Tectitan

This week I traveled to Tectitan in rural northwest Guatemala (see map). I traveled there with the three interns from tho office to construct two more homes for people who had lost their home to Hurricane Stan. We started out early monday morning and would return on the following Saturday. The 10 hour drive got VERY interesting as the roads are not for cars but only trucks. We blazed a trail all the way up over the pass at 12,000 feet and back down to Tectitan and realized we were the only car in town and probably the only one in miles. As we neared to Tectitan we began seeing drastic images of the damage. Homes lost off cliffs, roads washed out.
The town of Tectian is small and along a ridge of mountains. The town actually sits at the top of a small ridge that comes out from the mountains almost like a horn off a rhinosaurus. In town we settled in to our hotel room and the next day we set out for our jobsites. Micah and Andy stayed at the lower site while Carl and I went further across the canyon to a homesite on the top of a ridge. many times during the week we needed to get some supplies but because there is no cell coverage there we needed to hike down this practically vertical cliff to Roberto's house at the base where all the supplies for future homes is being stored.
We built a home for Rosa whose adobe home was damaged by the hurricane. Her husband had left her years ago to raise her children alone. She was very kind to feed us for each meal. Each day there were setbacks and actually we only got to work about 1/2 day each day as we would be without access to certain building materials or we would run out of battery for our one drill. One time the generator just stopped producing electricity. by the end of the day Carl was so frustrated with the generator because nothing appeared to be wrong so he just smacked it a couple times with a hammer and it started working again!
We did enjoy our time there constructing with the local men from church like Alberto who carried supplies up and down the cliff. He even carried the generator down the cliff on his head!

When we finished the houses and decided to leave we had a flat tireand the battery was dead but luckily I had just purchased a battery powered emergency starter for the car which also has an air pump. We were on our way back, ehausted but having done a great task for two families.
So far 5 homes have been built in Tectitan and there are plans to build 3 more. Unfortunately this hardly puts a dent in the more than 60 homes destroyed by Stan in town.

Happy Easter

Hey all,
Easter has been a bit sad today. Everyone but Heather and Eli are sick. 3 days ago Anzo had what appears to have been a severe Asthma attack where we rushed him to the hospital in the middle of the night and then back to the doctor the next day. Heather convinced the doctor not to hospitalize Anzo because he would not take the strange environment well. Instead we rented some equipment and have done his treatments at home every 3 hours. He is doing much better though it is difficult to keep him calm because he is on steroids. 2 days ago the girls became very sick with 104 temps and vomiting constantly. They have been up crying, sleeping, or vomiting during day and night. I have had a cough develop that I believe to be an infection as my chest is now hurting especially when I cough and I am writing this with a 102 fever.

This past Wednesday I went to Tabacal with another engineer to do a rough survey for the PVC pipeline to carry fresh water to the village. My GPS unti could not get a good signal and then the batteries ran out halfway on our walk out to the dam. We decided to follow the existing tube for our horizontal alignment and then using an eye level (a small looking glass with a bubble level), a 25’ piece of string, and a tape measure we took vertical measurements every 25’ for the 1623’ length of the pipe as it made its way across the jungle floor which is the side of a very steep mountain. Sebastian (from Tabacal) led the way with his machete. Because I had to hold so still to take the readings I was eaten alive by all the mosquitos! All this aside, the data will prove invaluable in determining the correct location for running the waterline.












We went to the beach to take a break. The kids only got out of the pool to eat, sleep, and hopefully go potty. We all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Eric

P.S. I had a hankering for some pumpkin pie so Eli and I made our very first pumpkin pie.

Hey all,

First I would like to thank all of you who have been involved in the donations to the people of Tabacal. We started the full version of the feeding program last month while a team from Sierra Bible in Reno were here in Guatemala. The people were extremely grateful calling it a gift from God and an answer to their prayers. The Sierra Bible team and I were able to share a special time of seeing God’s providence with the people of Tabacal even though our truck broke down in the middle of nowhere. We sat working on that truck until sundown. We finally got it running by getting the equivalent of baling wire and wiring a pulley to the motor and then holding the belt in tension with a socket wrench and wiring the wrench in place inside the motor while we drove it home.

Last week I was also able to bring a water tank to Tabacal and tomorrow I hope to bring the final fittings to hook it up so the people can have at least some good access to clean water. Please continue to pray for me as I try to find a good path to run the 3”-4” PVC water line from the spring to the village. Pray also for the design and most importantly begin praying for a good installation even though we are still quite a way out from installation itself. I am learning about planting crops. Unfortunately the thing I am learning the most is that I really don’t know anything about farming! Pray that God would grant us wisdom and good luck in our guesses.

The people have cleared some land and have planted some chili. Obviously this would not be to eat but we figured that the chili will bring in income to buy more food than planting in the same area would have provided. Also the chili is supposed to grow fast (4 months from plant to harvest). The feeding program is making this possible as now the people are not so desperate to have just something to eat. We are looking at some long term possibilities with planting coffee because when you chop down the tree canopy on the side of the mountain there are serious erosion problems that arise and I have been told that the land will only serve for about 5 years in producing crop. Again I don’t know these things for sure but I am learning. The good thing about coffee is that it needs to grow under trees in the shade so we could keep the canopy in place (this is the thinking anyway). God grant us wisdom!

I have been enjoying my work with Engineers Ministry International (EMI) as I was able to travel by small “bush” plane into the remote mountains of northern Guatemala. I spent a couple of days in Barrillas gathering survey data to look at how to fix and upgrade a couple of existing runways and how to create a new runway at the top of a very bumpy mountain. Two interesting things stood out to me. One was our landing on the side of a mountain on a very steep (15%) bumpy dirt runway and seeing the children run out of their tin shacks to see the plane. The second (beside taking off from that previously mentioned airstrip) was my visit to the municipal building in Barrillas. When we entered the municipal building I noticed some very large and strange bones stacked up on a bookshelf in the corner. The best anyone could figure they were dinosaur bones. They had figured they were important but there was not paleontologist around to look at them so they just kept them in the corner, not wanting to throw them away.

I am getting back into the groove of working on AutoCAD again after a 1 year break away from it. It is coming back to me quickly. I am also “re”learning some structural design that I had forgotten from my Civil Engineering program from college.

Next week is Holy Week which is the largest celebration of the year. I hope to see some of the processions in our town and the nearby Holy Week central town of Antigua. The main festivities are near the end of next week culminating on Friday. I may be out helping construct another house or two for some families that lost their homes in Hurricane Stan.

The “casita” (little house) project is another thing that I am involved with. Beside the houses that I may help out with next week I will be traveling to Tectictan (again in the remote mountains of the northwest, the area most affected by Stan) to construct two more homes and teach some of the locals how to build this type of home. We are trying to build as many of the homes as we can before the rainy season gets in full swing. I will write again regarding this project as I think it is an AWESOME project.

One of the things I am most excited about with my newfound work with EMI is how connected it is with the furthering of the gospel. Originally I didn’t think it was very closely related but mainly just humanitarian work. The more I work there, the more I find exactly how impactful the work is in those communities and how much it is used to share the good news of Jesus. People are receiving homes, schools, clinics, orphanages… and also understanding the hope that is found in Christ because the projects are such a big deal to the communities. It is refreshing to partner up with local churches and ministries to hear of how they are touching the hearts of the poor, oppressed, or hopeless.

Anyway this email is getting very long. I just wanted to write a little of what has been happening. I hope the flow of the email has not been too jumbled up with the many thoughts in my head. This email doesn’t even address all the cool things that Heather is doing.

Blessings to all as we serve those around us wherever we are, and humbly stand before God.

In HIS Grip,

Eric Haddox & family