Blogger has had some problems and my last 5 posts have not shown on the site. I have since figured out it had something to do with my previous template. We have constructed the walls on the new prototype San Juan Bautista home #5 and have delivered the rest of the food to Tabacal and Heather has done a VBS for the children of San Juan Bautista. Read on below for the full stories. Then click here to read of family developments
Please come back often and see whats new...
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Friday, June 23, 2006
Developments in Tabacal
During my last couple visits to Tabacal I have noticed a couple of things. When I met with the agricultural engineer he had mentioned PROFRUTA a governmental organization that can help with the donation of fruit trees. I was looking into the prospects and getting contact information and before you know it, on one of my visits to Tabacal, there were all these trees...from PROFRUTA which I had nothing to do with.
Later they cleaned out one field of the chili plants that had already given their crop and replanted the area with corn using some of the erosion control techniques without me.
Another time I visited they took me back to the church site and showed me their roof that they had constructed without me.
The last time I visited them I noticed there was a power pole. Two homes had wires going to them. There was no power but it was on the way. The people had pooled money together through their church and gotten money to start the process of getting electricity.
I started to feel like I was falling behind and not being proactive enough to help them and meet their needs. Feelings of failure were creeping in until I realized that my goal is to empower them not disable them by doing everything for them. It is a great thing that they are seeking out their possibilities and being proactive. Yes they are moving faster than me but even if they were moving slower than I would like my perspective really should be to encourage them to do it for themselves and help them do it for themselves rather than do so many things for them so I can pat myself on the back at how I helped them when in reality I have just hampered them. It was an interesting thought. They still need help, but I have learned that not only do I not need to concern myself with taking care of their every need, I shouldn't. God is showing me more about what it means to help someone along their path so they can achieve the success that they want.
Later they cleaned out one field of the chili plants that had already given their crop and replanted the area with corn using some of the erosion control techniques without me.
Another time I visited they took me back to the church site and showed me their roof that they had constructed without me.
The last time I visited them I noticed there was a power pole. Two homes had wires going to them. There was no power but it was on the way. The people had pooled money together through their church and gotten money to start the process of getting electricity.
I started to feel like I was falling behind and not being proactive enough to help them and meet their needs. Feelings of failure were creeping in until I realized that my goal is to empower them not disable them by doing everything for them. It is a great thing that they are seeking out their possibilities and being proactive. Yes they are moving faster than me but even if they were moving slower than I would like my perspective really should be to encourage them to do it for themselves and help them do it for themselves rather than do so many things for them so I can pat myself on the back at how I helped them when in reality I have just hampered them. It was an interesting thought. They still need help, but I have learned that not only do I not need to concern myself with taking care of their every need, I shouldn't. God is showing me more about what it means to help someone along their path so they can achieve the success that they want.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Tabacal food
We delivered the rest of the food to Tabacal (beans, rice, oil, powdered milk, and sugar) I had hoped to get them some soap for washing and some clorox for disinfecting their produce but the cost of food is rising and I didn't really eave enough to buy all the food they need. The good news is that the corn is growing fast and in a couple months they will have corn. We are planning how we will handle the future.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Finishing San Juan #5
We spent a couple more days working on the prototype home. We had leveled the site and put up the forms, now it was time to pour. We had the mixer at the church but... we had no vehicle with a trailer hitch so we had to pull it across town and out to the new home site. The day was spent perfecting the mixture for the concrete and rearanging the foundation plans.
It was a typical San Juan day, hot and humid. the people there at least understand the principles of hydration and they were there constantly with cool water or lemonade. I know I am becoming more of a missionary as the end of the day neared I noti
This day we had helpers and lots of them. Randy (EMI engineer) works with a community of
In the middle of the day the local ladies had brought all of us a treat, sugar cane. This was the first fresh sugar cane I had ever eaten. Really it just tasted like warm sugar water in a celery stalk. It always got stuck in my teeth so I didn't eat much, it wasn't all that refreshing with the scorching heat.
The rain was falling and it was time to go home. On the way home we followed these three semis all carrying a piece of something that looked like a space ship. It must have been some part of a sugar cane processing plant. The pieces were so large that they covered both lanes (both directions so we couldn't even pass until the road widened). It was amusing to watch it take out each sign it passed on the side of the road bending them to about 45 degrees.
Tom will go to complete the roof without me as I will be building the second home in Pixebaj on Wednesday through Saturday. The prices of materials have gone up so the project only includes the home and the water filter now. I am praying for means to get the price back down but God knows what He is doing.
During this same time, while I was building this house, Heather was doing VBS with the children of the village. in the end 13 trusted Christ. Read about it here
Friday, June 16, 2006
San Juan Bautista #5
Tom Bastian and I left this morning at 4:30 to get an early start on our new prototype home in San Juan Bautista. Getting all the tools packed in and the materials strapped on top got us leaving late. We had to stop at another community development project we have in Balcones de Palin to get the cement mixer. After wrestling with the gate to get it unlocked we found that the mixer would not just bolt up to the back of his Montero. Instead of a normal ball connection there is a ¼” steel plate with a hole drilled through it and unfortunately the hole was too far back for us to connect it to the truck with a bolt. We had a circular saw to be able to cut it but after a search among the locals we couldn’t find an extension cord so we took turns with the hack saw until it was finally cut and attached to the truck. The sun was in the sky at this point and the volcanoes stood out in the clear morning sky. The sun only shone on the upper half of the volcanoes while they were guarding small clouds that clung to their summits like little hats. It was a beautiful drive.
It ended up being about 9am once we reached San Juan and the site which was supposed to be level and cleared was neither so we started laying out the foundation and deciding which trees to take down. The site had very soft soil and papaya trees with little papayas growing at the top like coconuts. Amazingly enough the trees were easy to take down. We just pushed all of them down except one that needed to be dug out and the roots chopped. I started working on leveling the site while Tom worked creating the steel forms for the foundation. We hope to reuse these forms with all the other homes. The sun beat down on us and no matter how much effort we put out the work seemed to creep on. I had to take a break and walk down to the river to cool off. It was a raging brown rapid. It was in no way clear like water should be. It was so full of dirt which had washed away from the recent rains that it looked opaque like a river of chocolate milk. As scooped my cap in the edge of the river and poured the hatful of gritty cool water on my head it served as a very real reminder of the dangers of these washouts and the probable future homes I would need to build.
The end of the day was nearing and we just wanted to get the forms in place. I was going to make my first welds with these forms and I was a bit nervous but we found out that there was not enough current in the electricity to run our welder. The mixer was not even turned on but we stored it in the church for use on Sunday.
Sunday and Monday Heather will be doing a local VBS in San Juan. While she is doing that I hope to finish the foundation on the home.
More on that later…
It ended up being about 9am once we reached San Juan and the site which was supposed to be level and cleared was neither so we started laying out the foundation and deciding which trees to take down. The site had very soft soil and papaya trees with little papayas growing at the top like coconuts. Amazingly enough the trees were easy to take down. We just pushed all of them down except one that needed to be dug out and the roots chopped. I started working on leveling the site while Tom worked creating the steel forms for the foundation. We hope to reuse these forms with all the other homes. The sun beat down on us and no matter how much effort we put out the work seemed to creep on. I had to take a break and walk down to the river to cool off. It was a raging brown rapid. It was in no way clear like water should be. It was so full of dirt which had washed away from the recent rains that it looked opaque like a river of chocolate milk. As scooped my cap in the edge of the river and poured the hatful of gritty cool water on my head it served as a very real reminder of the dangers of these washouts and the probable future homes I would need to build.
The end of the day was nearing and we just wanted to get the forms in place. I was going to make my first welds with these forms and I was a bit nervous but we found out that there was not enough current in the electricity to run our welder. The mixer was not even turned on but we stored it in the church for use on Sunday.
Sunday and Monday Heather will be doing a local VBS in San Juan. While she is doing that I hope to finish the foundation on the home.
More on that later…
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Tabacal June food
We took another load of food to Tabacal. This time we only had one pickup truck and I was unsure about the road after the rains that we have been having. I had planned on going the previous day but early in the morning Micah (EMI intern) who is trucksitting for some people called me and let me know that the truck would not start so instead of going to Tabacal we diagnosed a bad solenoid in the starter, took it to a starter shop and after it was repaired, we reinstalled it leaving no more time for Tabacal which would now have to wait until the next day. Heather has been in the states and the person who was going to watch my kids was sick so I would need to bring the kids with me to Tabacal.
Early the next day I had called Pastor Merari for the check for money for the food, unfortunately they were out of checks. This normally would not be a problem except here in Guatemala you can only take $270 out of the ATM per day and the store only takes cash and the food would cost more than $270 even though we were only taking one truckload. My game plan changed again and Carl (EMI intern) and I took the full size Chevy truck that gets about 10 mpg, filled it up and began the trek to Pricemart which is a little more expensive but takes credit cards. I had to split my purchase into $270 at the wholesale store that only takes cash and the rest at Pricemart. This day I only bought corn flour because of our limited money situation and the fact that I buy 1650 lbs of it. The day was in a crunch because it was now almost 11am and we were just leaving for Tabacal and Heather’s flight would land at 3pm.
I thought a good plan to keep the kiddos occupied would be our portable DVD but the cigarette lighter plug decided to no longer work right but instead shut the player off about every 5 min. The trip takes about 1 ½ hours and only about 10 minutes in Eli asked me if we were almost there! The kids did good although they were aching to get out every moment. The dirt road had definitely received punishment from the heavy rains of the past couple days. The soil had washed deeply away in spots leaving merely a path of bowling ball rocks. We and the food jostled our way down the rough parts. I winced at every bump but the kids loved it. They purposefully would bump their heads against the back window and giggle. Seeing the condition of the road I feared the 4 streams I must cross to get to Tabacal but to my surprise they were only at regular levels.
Once we arrived, or should I say almost arrived, at Tabacal the steep dirt road into the village is made of clay and it was still mucky from the previous evening rains. The truck would not even make the initial turn onto the steep road so I put it in 4 wheel drive. About 20 yards up there is a sharp turn and the road becomes steep. The truck lurched up about 10 feet before slipping to a stop and sliding back down to the turn. I wasn’t going to fool around so I put it in 4 low! After about 5 more attempts with our best advance being a whopping 20ft surge before sliding back down to the turn, we decided to park it there and carry the bags of corn flour up to the village. The children of Tabacal had their fun watching us slip and slide to no avail but when they saw us park it they were the first in line to carry the 50lb bags. Some of these boys couldn’t have weighed much more then the bag they were carrying. Nonetheless they sped up the hill with their bags on their backs and returned with reinforcements. I believe we only took about 1 or 2 trips there were so many people. Everyone slipping a little as they carried the bags across the now quite slimy clay road. Carl was loading the men up with bags some even took two. Manuel insisted on taking 3 so to trump his display I had to take 4. He had a nice chuckle after he had delivered his load and watched me finish the hill. I was quite the sight huffing and puffing and the 4th bag on top had now slid down off the pile on my shoulder and was now resting on my head and the side of my face UGH!
The people walked us up to the church site and showed us their new construction. They had made a roof covering with lamina provided by our church here and lumber from trees on their property. They had been having trouble meeting because there was no covered community space and now that it is the rainy season they can continue to meet as a church.
Unfortunately I have no pictures of this trip. Heather had my camera. Hopefully I will take some pictures on my next visit.
Early the next day I had called Pastor Merari for the check for money for the food, unfortunately they were out of checks. This normally would not be a problem except here in Guatemala you can only take $270 out of the ATM per day and the store only takes cash and the food would cost more than $270 even though we were only taking one truckload. My game plan changed again and Carl (EMI intern) and I took the full size Chevy truck that gets about 10 mpg, filled it up and began the trek to Pricemart which is a little more expensive but takes credit cards. I had to split my purchase into $270 at the wholesale store that only takes cash and the rest at Pricemart. This day I only bought corn flour because of our limited money situation and the fact that I buy 1650 lbs of it. The day was in a crunch because it was now almost 11am and we were just leaving for Tabacal and Heather’s flight would land at 3pm.
I thought a good plan to keep the kiddos occupied would be our portable DVD but the cigarette lighter plug decided to no longer work right but instead shut the player off about every 5 min. The trip takes about 1 ½ hours and only about 10 minutes in Eli asked me if we were almost there! The kids did good although they were aching to get out every moment. The dirt road had definitely received punishment from the heavy rains of the past couple days. The soil had washed deeply away in spots leaving merely a path of bowling ball rocks. We and the food jostled our way down the rough parts. I winced at every bump but the kids loved it. They purposefully would bump their heads against the back window and giggle. Seeing the condition of the road I feared the 4 streams I must cross to get to Tabacal but to my surprise they were only at regular levels.
Once we arrived, or should I say almost arrived, at Tabacal the steep dirt road into the village is made of clay and it was still mucky from the previous evening rains. The truck would not even make the initial turn onto the steep road so I put it in 4 wheel drive. About 20 yards up there is a sharp turn and the road becomes steep. The truck lurched up about 10 feet before slipping to a stop and sliding back down to the turn. I wasn’t going to fool around so I put it in 4 low! After about 5 more attempts with our best advance being a whopping 20ft surge before sliding back down to the turn, we decided to park it there and carry the bags of corn flour up to the village. The children of Tabacal had their fun watching us slip and slide to no avail but when they saw us park it they were the first in line to carry the 50lb bags. Some of these boys couldn’t have weighed much more then the bag they were carrying. Nonetheless they sped up the hill with their bags on their backs and returned with reinforcements. I believe we only took about 1 or 2 trips there were so many people. Everyone slipping a little as they carried the bags across the now quite slimy clay road. Carl was loading the men up with bags some even took two. Manuel insisted on taking 3 so to trump his display I had to take 4. He had a nice chuckle after he had delivered his load and watched me finish the hill. I was quite the sight huffing and puffing and the 4th bag on top had now slid down off the pile on my shoulder and was now resting on my head and the side of my face UGH!
The people walked us up to the church site and showed us their new construction. They had made a roof covering with lamina provided by our church here and lumber from trees on their property. They had been having trouble meeting because there was no covered community space and now that it is the rainy season they can continue to meet as a church.
Unfortunately I have no pictures of this trip. Heather had my camera. Hopefully I will take some pictures on my next visit.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Up and Coming...
Just a quick update...
Next week I will be starting the 5th home in San Juan Bautista. This home is extra special because it will be the prototype of a new design for the disaster relief home. This design is made of prefab panels which will make the construction faster and easier (hopefully). We will start on the foundation late next week and build the home the following week.
The end of this month I will be going with a team to Pixebaj (about 2 hours from here) to build one of our new design homes for a family of 3 households who lost all three homes to a mudslide. For now all three families will share the one home.
In July my nephew Nick Haddox will be staying with us for about a month and together we will work with a different team in the construction of two homes in Pastores (30 min away) and two in Alotenango (40 min away).
Late in July (with Nick) we hope to be able to start the construction of the new main fresh water system for Tabacal. Sierra Bible has donated $1600 toward the construction of this system and those monies should get us well on the way by providing the needed funds for the pipeline and one more tank (we will then have two out of the needed five)
Things to Pray for...
- Please keep in prayerful consideration that the people of Tabacal will be needing food assistance for the next several months as the chili crop was not as expected and after this month we will have no more undesignated money available for food.
- Pray also for the new planting efforts there. Pray also that the people will respect erosion control measures taught to protect their topsoil.
- Primarily pray for the spiritual climate of the village as faith is often tied to prosperity here. The people have a good perspective but suffering from bad crops from bug problems may have adverse effects on faith. Hopefully I will have time to begin some fundamental bible classes with the 5 leaders of the community or at least with Manuel who mainly cares for the spiritual needs of the community. My time is getting to be at a premium but this is a very important task to achieve true and eternal success for the people of Tabacal.
- Pray also for our move to San Cristobal (walking distance from work). We hope to move in July. The home we will move into is currently occupied and our friends who live there plan to move late this month but it may not be until mid July. We would like to move as soon as possible!
--
In HIS Grip,
Eric Haddox P.E.
eMi Guatemala
001-502-2443-3493
Designing a world of Hope...
Next week I will be starting the 5th home in San Juan Bautista. This home is extra special because it will be the prototype of a new design for the disaster relief home. This design is made of prefab panels which will make the construction faster and easier (hopefully). We will start on the foundation late next week and build the home the following week.
The end of this month I will be going with a team to Pixebaj (about 2 hours from here) to build one of our new design homes for a family of 3 households who lost all three homes to a mudslide. For now all three families will share the one home.
In July my nephew Nick Haddox will be staying with us for about a month and together we will work with a different team in the construction of two homes in Pastores (30 min away) and two in Alotenango (40 min away).
Late in July (with Nick) we hope to be able to start the construction of the new main fresh water system for Tabacal. Sierra Bible has donated $1600 toward the construction of this system and those monies should get us well on the way by providing the needed funds for the pipeline and one more tank (we will then have two out of the needed five)
Things to Pray for...
- Please keep in prayerful consideration that the people of Tabacal will be needing food assistance for the next several months as the chili crop was not as expected and after this month we will have no more undesignated money available for food.
- Pray also for the new planting efforts there. Pray also that the people will respect erosion control measures taught to protect their topsoil.
- Primarily pray for the spiritual climate of the village as faith is often tied to prosperity here. The people have a good perspective but suffering from bad crops from bug problems may have adverse effects on faith. Hopefully I will have time to begin some fundamental bible classes with the 5 leaders of the community or at least with Manuel who mainly cares for the spiritual needs of the community. My time is getting to be at a premium but this is a very important task to achieve true and eternal success for the people of Tabacal.
- Pray also for our move to San Cristobal (walking distance from work). We hope to move in July. The home we will move into is currently occupied and our friends who live there plan to move late this month but it may not be until mid July. We would like to move as soon as possible!
--
In HIS Grip,
Eric Haddox P.E.
eMi Guatemala
001-502-2443-3493
Designing a world of Hope...
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
San Juan Bautista #4
Last week we poured the foundation for house number 4! There was no rain those days, thats for certain! There were not even any clouds to block the blistering sun yet the humidity remained in full force. One of the interns here, Andy, had his father and two brothers visit. They were our team in the construction of the 4th home. One day was so hot that the team of 3 guys working on the walls only got one wall completed. Well, this was also because our place for building was so cramped, now that the other three houses are there, that the only place to build was on the foundation. While the "wall" was being built, I helped some of the other guys with the stucco on house 3. Learning how to mix stucco on the inside of the concrete home and then apply it to the styrofoam surface was new. On our final day of construction we were cramming to build two walls at the same time on the same foundation (16'x20'). Unfortunately for me, while pounding a steel stud onto a channel The stud slipped quickly into place and I punctured the base of the palm of my hand. Luckily it was sharp and a clean cut so it has been healing without stiches. (Heather can whip up quite the field dressing for wounds). Heather and the kids had come along to join Debbie and her kids in ministering to some of the local children and making lunch for the whole construction crew. They walked down by the river and later sat in the shade by the creek. Well maybe it isn't really a creek but an open sewer but either way it was liquid flowing over land!
We did manage to get the walls up and ready for the guys in San Juan Bautista to finish the construction. They are stuccoing that house now. That was a week of true blood and sweat work!
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Team Haddox
- Eric
- "Bringing physical help to the poor to give them eternal hope in Christ"... A Family dedicated to seeking God and showing His enduring love to ALL, in a world that is passing away.
