Moropocay

Water Survey, Community Meeting & Convenant Signing!

Having limited access to internet. Just managed to get the photos uploaded to the blog.  The captions will give you a good idea of Saturday's events, but I will follow up with a detailed description of the day David and I had on Saturday, November 6. Stay tuned and check back.

Presbytery of Honduras Meeting

Walking into the worship space at Pena de Horeb Church in Tegucigalpa I was suddenly struck by the realization that I was going to know many of the pastors in attendance. Why this has not occurred to me before, I can't say. It seems surreal that Jane and I have spent day upon day travelling to remote villages to meet with Presbyterian pastors in their local churches, and here they ALL are at this monthly continuing education meeting of their Presbytery.

The door is locked as always, so we rap on the metal several times. When it openes, our greeter turns out to be Pastor Antonio from the church in Agalteca. He seems pleased that I recognize him. Upstairs, the next familiar face is Pastor Raquel, from the very remote community of Moropocay (the one without any electricity.) Although a lesson is in progress, she beames me a sweet smile of recognition.

David and I sit in the back with Mark Wright to wait our turn to speak. From that discrete perspective I eventually identify every single pastor that we have met with in May. Pastor Enrique from Quebrada Grande; Pastor Raquel, and Hermano Elmer of Moropocay; Pastor Antonio of Agalteca; Pastor Profirio of Candelaria; Pastor Christobal of Guimaca; and of course, Pastor Castullo of Puente Jalan. Pastor Fernando, past president of the Presbytery, who accompanied our group on most of our visit last time, is also in attendance.

Noel is our interpreter today instead of Dominique. Noel is very involved with the Presbyterian Church and is well known by almost all of the pastors. He shares our passion for the work that LWW hopes to do in the area, and his love comes through as he gives our message to the group. We can't help but feel that having him as our interpreter in this situation gives an added layer of credibility and trust.

Many of the pastors present have already been introduced to the LWW project, but may have been left without a clear understanding of the process. As with anything, it helps to hear things more than once, and at different times, in order to fully grasp a new concept. As David and I go through our presentation the pastors are very attentive. We speak of the practical engineering aspects but we also highlight the mission portion. We reiterate the point we made during our negotiations the day before in Puente Jalan that ours is a mission and not a profit-making endeavor. That the token price of the purified water is only meant to keep the operation self-sustaining: to pay for electricity, a basic wage for the operators, for the limited materials that are required for the operation, and to save a small cushion of funds towards the eventual need to replace filters, pumps, and so forth.

David ends our presentation with a reading from Matthew 25 where Jesus tells the parable of the sheep and the goats. Towards the end of that story Christ tells his followers that he has been thirsty and they have given him drink. "When did we give you drink?" they wonder. Whenever you give drink to the very least of God's children, he explains, you give it to him. Together, David says to the pastors, let us work to further God's purpose, and to give a healthy, safe, clean drink of water to all of God's children.

The questions that follow our presentation are focussed and to the point. We have accomplished out goal of heightening the understanding of and thereby the interest in the LWW project. As we explain that we are in the process of negotiations with Pastor Castullo at his church it seems as if he sits a little taller in his chair. By the end of the meeting his confidence in his decision to work with us seems to have grown. It is not lost on him that other pastors are asking questions that are moving in the direction of, "when can it be MY turn?"

After the conclusion we speak further with Pastor Christobal and his son. Jane and I have visited two of their churches and have determined that they were not good candidates for LWW, one because there was no perceived need, and the second because there was not a sufficient water source at the site. Now they bring to our attention yet a third location. We make tentative arrangements to visit there on Saturday, since it is not very far from Puente Jalan.

The  best news of the day comes to us via Mark Wright from Pastor Castullo. It seems that Francisco Varga, the Director of the Project for Community Health Development, has written up a flyer about our project and our impending visit on Saturday, and has DELIVERED THEM to each household in the community. It seems as if he is definitely putting HIS FAITH into ACTION!

Next entry will report on our congregational meeting at Puente Jalan, and our anticipated visit to Christobal's church at La Guadeloupe.

Into the Breach~

"How in the world do you FIND these places?" This comment, not from us, but from our native Honduran interpreter, Dominique. Even he is amazed at the intensely rural locations the Rev. Mark Wright takes us in the backroads of Honduras. We have just turned off the "main" road and onto the dirt track that will take us to Puente Jalan. Almost there, we pass this local farmer dealing with his team of oxen. Shortly before the church we pass Pastor Castulo's home, and he sees us and jumps on his bicycle to meet us at the church.



After greetings and introductions we settle in to the business at hand. Actually, it turns out that the President of the water committee has not arrived. A quick cell phone call discovers that he has no transportation. Rev. Mark and Pastor Castullo jump in the truck to go pick him up. David takes a couple of men from our group and takes measurements on behalf of Dan Sugarman, who has not been able to join us on this trip. The result is a nice diagram of the footprint on the property.

Once the water guy comes back courtesy of the pickup, we settle in to talk about details. Six hours later we have been wading through village politics, some hidden and not-so-hidden agendas on the part of the Water Board. Seeing a potential opportunity to gain some profit for the water board, the water guy begins to make noises about a "fee" separate from the normal water charge. We politely but firmly explain that Living Waters for the World is about providing clean water to communities as a mission, NOT as a profit-making venture. He is not happy to hear this, but sees eventually that we are resolute.

Pastor Castulo has also invited a gentleman from Puente Jalan who happens to be the Director of The Project for Community Health Development. Francisco Varga tells us at length that many local people are not used to seeing the church in active outreach. They are accustomed to the church being about worship and prayer, but not acts. He is excited about a project that reflects our own values of Faith in Action. The passion he has for improving the health and life of the people is palpable. He wants to do anything he can to make this installation a success.

When we got to the question of who would be named as the ones responsible for the installation and operation it became apparent that many of the likely candidates had day jobs and were not available that day for discussion. We will go back on Saturday for a general church meeting. We hope to make significant progress then.

We are at somewhat of a disadvantage in our discussions because of Dan's absence. Fortunately, Harlon Mills, one of Dan's instructors from Clean Water U. and one of the LWW folks that Jane and I traveled with back in May, has made himself fully available for consultation during our negotiations. At least three times during our visit in Puente Jalan we called him (at his home in Memphis!) to answer specific questions, and for general advice. Today (Friday) David and I spent about a half an hour with Harlon on a Skype face-to-face chat to help us think through things. Many thanks to his dedication and openness.

Stay tuned for a report of our visit to the general meeting of the Presbytery of Honduras where we will make our pitch for LWW in front of so many of the pastors all at once!

The only rule is: THERE ARE NO RULES!

Tegucigalpa is the capital city of Honduras. Our local PCUSA liaison, Rev. Mark Wright again has been bravely carting us around through the rush hour streets of Teguc, and along the deeply rutted backroads of the countryside where we travel to the remote communities that we hope to help. If anything, I think that his driving skills have become honed since our trip in May. He dodged all over, right and left, skimming past obstacles (say, large trucks and busses) without even a second thought. "Wow" I said, "I wish I had gotten a picture of that time when the bus and the truck were coming at us from the wrong side of the road and we skirted around them on the wrong side!" "What?" he enjoins, "I don't remember that . . . "

Just another day in the life of the PCUSA Mission Worker in Honduras.

Stay tuned for a more substantive update once we've had time to process our intensely full day, and sort through the pictures so you, our esteemed reader, don't have to see all the blurry ones taken at breakneck speed from the window of Rev. Mark's Dodge "Galloper"

Arrival in Honduras

David and Esther arrived safely in Honduras after a 3:00 a.m. pickup by car service for the 0'dark hundred departure.

Rev. Mark Wright met us and brought us to the lovely Humuya Inn where we settled in and rested for a bit. Then a quick trip to the mall (egads!) to acquire a Honduran cell phone. Tonight we have met a wonderful group of Episcopalians from the Bay Area who have been supporting a local church for 10 years. We joined them for dinner and fellowship.

We depart at 7 in the morning for Puente Jalan and all of our meetings. Lots to accomplish!

Esther

A Charge and a Blessing

Today in worship Pastor Nick Van Gombos charged three members of Wyoming Presbyterian Church: Esther Kirk, David Gellatly, and Dan Sugarman, to go to Honduras in the spirit of Christly brotherhood as they travel to Honduras on their mission of bringing a water filtration system to the community of Puente Jalan. 


The team's mission on this trip is to finalize the details and develop a Clean Water Covenant in anticipation of returning in early 2011 for the installation of the system, and  to institute a curriculum of health and hygiene to underscore the importance of clean water to the health of the community.


Esther will be talking with Pastor Castulo about the proposed installations of the water filtration system from Living waters for the World, and building the covenant between our 2 churches.  Dan will be meeting with other community leaders who are currently directly involved with management of the community's water supply. Together they will measure for that installation, discuss details of plumbing, electrical, water storage tanks and the pipe needed. David will need to find teachers and medical minded community members whom he can recruit and train , he has to plan a community program of education.