Two birds with one stone (or cement block in this case)

Finally Friday, and another round of stove building.  I went to Llano de Pinal, the biggest of the 10 communities that Primeros Pasos serves, and this time I got to start from stage 1!

Stage 1 consists of measuring and leveling until you just can´t do it anymore. If the oil in the frying pan runs to one side, you can always blame whoever built stage 1.

Literally building a stove from the ground up!

When I heard that Pop Wuj´s stove builders worked with Llano de Pinal I jumped at the chance to both build and investigate the community more closely.  There are 2,000 children that live within the community limits alone!  Good thing the government sent funding their way and a brand new school was built just last year.  I also got to visit the only kindergarten in the whole community.  I´m not sure where all the kids are, because there were only 20 in the class...

The brand new Basico school in Llano, with a separate building for adult education, a soccer field, and a women´s education wing!

Our completed stage 1 stove-- all level and ready to cook hundreds of tortillas.

The very sweet family who are now the proud owners of a stage 1 stove!

Maddie couldn´t come build this time because she was attending a general meeting with nearby peace corps volunteers, including our friend from San Vicente Buenabaj.  Maddie made a lot of great contacts, and for starters, we will be visiting one volunteer in her community outside of Sololá.

That will just about wrap up the week, but Sunday brings the most exciting news of all!  CHRIS TAYLOR AND LORI SCHARFFENBERG ARRIVE!  For a full week, Maddie and I will have the pleasure of showing them around the wonder that is Xela.  We are so excited to have them, because let´s be honest, we wouldn´t be here without them.

Thanks for reading,

Dana

Building Stoves

While investigating a nearby Spanish school´s social projects, we met Dave and Kathy of Canada.  They have been working on and off in Guatemala for 3 years now building stoves in rural communities.  Maddie and I jumped at the chance to help, as we realized that would be a great way to gain entrance into the communities we were building in.

These stoves are better for two reasons..
1) Cooking doesn't fill their homes with smoke (see vertical metal pipe in picture 3).
2) It uses half the firewood which equals less work and less tree chopping.

There are three stages to the production of each new stove.  Building them consists of cement mixing, playing with mud and bricks, and learning so much useful information no one bothered to teach me in school. Also, it reminds me of my days in Ecuador.. sigh.

This past Friday we took a bus to Pacaxjoj to finish 3 stoves.

This is a completed stag 2 stove, and where our work started on Friday.

Here we are filling in the center with pre-soaked bricks.  The bricks must first be soaked or else they will absorb all the moisture from the wet cement.  We later filled in the crevasses with clay since it is more heat-resistant than cement.

Families can choose to cover their stoves with tile, but they must purchase those independently.  Here is our team after completing the final stage!  This stove will be ready to cook on in 3 weeks, once the clay and cement have dried.

Finally, the family with their new stove!

I always knew the way into a person´s heart was through their stomach...

Contacts, Contacts, Everywhere!

So much to report, but first, a drum roll please....

Our groceries cost US$8.30!  Congrats to the 42% of you who guessed correctly.

Now if you think that´s exciting news, hear this!  We spent last week meeting with various organizations...

Primeros Pasos
A wildly successful clinic operating in the Palajunoj valley (a 15 minute bus ride outside Xela).  More than 15,000 people live here, but somehow there is only one government-appointed doctor and nurse.  Primeros Pasos staffes a physician, dentist, lab director, and dental assistant, and sees about 8,000 patients per year.  They run health education, women´s education, and children´s programs, all of which are well-attended and/or received.  I´m hoping to take a page out of their book of successes, so we´ll be visiting the clinic at the end of this week!

EntreMundos
A non-governmental organization that specializes in supporting other NGOs.  They link active Guatemalan-run organizations with resources and volutneers.  Don´t know exactly what you´re interested in?  EntreMundos can find the volunteer org. that´s right for you!  So far, they list over 160 orgs. on their database ranging in fields from development, health, and human rights to women´s empowerment, the environment, and indigenous rights.  Their database has been invaluable to us-- it´s like being handed the answers to your questions on a silver platter, without the middle man.

Somos Hermanos
A student immersion program for pre-med students.  After two months of homestays, immersion, and Spanish lessons, each student chooses an internship site to work at for the remaining 4 months of their stay in Xela.  Perhaps Manna could take some interns off their hands?  (a thank you must go out to the one and only, Will Hamlin)

Pop Wuj
A socially-minded Spanish school focused on community development!  Maddie and I are going with the school´s directors on a stove building project next weekend to introduce ourselves to the communities they work in.  Cross your fingers!


So, those are some of the very exciting connections we have made so far!  While last week was filled with meetings, this week will be filled with community visits!  Tomorrow we leave for Lomo Linda.  We´ve heard great things about the community from several sources, and have a meeting with the community leader in the afternoon.  We´ll report back soon.

Other various tidbits include my inability to stop salsa dancing, the hosting of our successful dinner party on Saturday, our travels to Los Fuentes Georginas, my first Spanish lesson today, and the fact that I´ve been on the internet for 4 hours.

Think sulfur hot tub...

A couple women digging for some nutrient rich clay.

More soon,
Dana