Leveling the land

Since the ground is so hard on our new land, it took more than six weeks for nine men with pickaxes, hoes, and shovels to level three sites and cart away the dirt.   The upper level is for the house, the middle level is for a parking area, and the lower level is for the ministry building (where we plan to live for a while at first, while they are building the house).

House site

Hauling dirt by many, many
pick-up truck loads.

View of the three levels from the driveway.

The ground is so hard that even the water won't drain, so we are going to have to put a good drain around the house foundation.

Monthly community meeting

Once a month there is a meeting in Chulumal II to discuss the three water projects and other news pertinent to the community (like upcoming health clinics or road work).  I took the following photos without flash to not attract attention.  The men sit on the left, and the women sit on the right.  Up front at the table are the current leaders, serving their 2-year term.

Michael, trying to understand K'iche'.

This month there was a special health teaching by a local group, ASDECO, trying to promote the development of Guatemala.  They covered the following topics:
Keep your outhouse clean.
Drink atol (hot drink made of corn) rather than sodas.
Keep your chickens out of your house, especially your bed.
Pregnant women need special care.
Malnourished children can't learn.
Don't eat food years past its expiration date.
Don't throw used disposable diapers on the road.

Afterward they served a snack to everyone, which was a bread roll from a well-used box and a cup of atol (hot drink made of corn).  They served the drink in plastic mugs.  Near the end of serving the large group, they ran out of mugs.  Shortly they brought in more, which we guessed someone washed from the first part of the group that had already finished.  We turned down the snack after watching all those hands reach into the box, and the drink since we weren't sure how well the mugs were washed and dried.  Interesting after the teaching on germs...

The local people really seem to respect ASDECO, and we hope they will make the changes that were suggested.

Checking out the neighborhood

We went on a walk to check out the neighborhood in Chulumal II.  There are only a couple of roads and many footpaths.

Near our house.

On the way to the meeting house.

Cornfields are everywhere.

Independence Day parades

We went to watch one of the Independence Day parades in town.  This was the day of the elementary school students' parade.  The parades on the next two days were the high schoolers and then the middle schoolers.

Waiting...

The costumes were extravagant.

And the kids were all so cute!

Little Lambs parade

September 15 is the day Guatemala celebrates its Independence Day with parades.  Actually there are 3 days of parades in town.  This year there was also a small parade in our neighborhood beforehand for the special needs students at ASELSI's Little Lambs School.  They gathered in front of our house.

Elena has been helping teach at the school on Tuesdays for a couple of months, so they invited her to participate in the parade.

We all went along, with Veronica waving her Guatemalan flag (that she made with another missionary).