Guatemala - a cup of water in Jesus' name - and no power tools involved

I’ve finally made time to write about my trip to Guatemala with Living Water International. 

With an overload of traveling the Caribbean islands to sell power tools, my hands glued to my Blackberry, and vacation days in the bank waiting to be redeemed, I decided to go on my first service trip the last week of June, 2012.

My journey to Guatemala actually started 4 days before the service trip.  Back in May when I told my manager I was taking vacation days to go on this trip, he told me to talk to my co-worker, Roberto, who travels to Guatemala from his native Mexico and sells Milwaukee tools just like I do on the islands, and I was to ask Roberto if he needed any support in Guatemala the week prior to my trip.  If so, I should plan my trip to Guatemala to include the work and just expense my flight under my job, not having to incur that expense myself.  What a blessing!  It turned out Roberto was in need of some support from a co-worker (we are a team of 14 who cover the Caribbean, Central America and South America, and we sometimes travel to each other’s territories to help with events, merchandising, etc.).  I am extremely grateful to my manager for thinking of me in this way.

All packed and ready to go - soccer balls, frisbees, granola bars, bugspray, and a willing heart!

Why drill a water well?

I wanted to do something tangible and sustainable, involving manual labor (yes, Dad, you taught me hard work through all of the vacuuming and dusting and weeding the garden in my childhood). This came in the form of a water well.  Why did I choose Living Water International to go with?  Through a friend in Dallas I heard about Living Water International, read about his experience, and immediately started looking into it.  There were a few hiccups in the road throughout the process of doing research and praying that God would open a door where I would truly be making an impact and also be using my Spanish.  I came across some heartbreaking articles about organizations that would go in to countries to drill a well, but the preparatory research on the ground wasn’t done correctly beforehand, so communities were left with half-finished wells.   Or maybe the well was completed, but it wasn’t drilled into a deep enough aquifer that had plenty of water, so it dried up.  That’s what I wanted to avoid—that  short-term trip where you seem to ‘do something good’ and then leave the community to go back to life in the States while the work that you attempted to do actually failed.  I’m not saying these are worthless trips, because I’m sure both the group serving and the group being served are impacted, but not as long-term as should be.  I inquired with Living Water to see what they do to deal with this – when wells break down or dry up.  I received awesome feedback about Living Water’s Drill Maintenance teams who repair wells, whether drilled by Living Water or another organization.  Living Water local staff—Guatemalans, for example—who work for Living Water within their country of Guatemala, taking these groups of Americans on the trips, receive phone calls from all over the highlands and countryside of Guatemala from communities who have a well dried-up or broken, and they cannot get ahold of the party who initially drilled it.  So, Living Water goes in and repairs with their equipment and resources.  This is one way Living Water lives out their mission—to show the Lord’s love to all by serving all.  Living Water also sends groups of Americans in if there is a huge drill maintenance project in need of a big group for a full week.  Once I knew this, I decided to sign up and take a week disconnected from my job routine and serve with Living Water!

According to UN Water (http://www.unwater.org/), 1 child dies every 20 seconds because of inadequate sanitation.  1.8 million children die from diarrhea every year (more than armed conflict and terrorism combined).  884 million people lack access to safe water.  The issue is more than just the water itself.  Lack of access to clean water is an educational issue—children with waterborne parasites (e.g., roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm) cannot regularly attend school and fulfill their educations.  We all know what lack of education can mean in regards to future opportunities with careers, making a living, and achieving goals.    Lack of access to clean water is also a women’s issue because women in developing countries can spend up to 20 hours/week walking to collect water!  This time spent simply collecting water could be used for women to finish their education or spend more time with the children.  This time spent—for women, men, and children alike—on collecting water, is what contributes to a concept known as ‘time poverty,’ which also makes this an economic issue.  Those billions of hours annually spent on walking for water sacrifice precious time for families to make a better living, spend more time together, etc.  Solving the water crises means so much more than clean water on the table for dinner.  It opens doors to foster healthier and happier and more prosperous families around the world.

It’s important to note that we served not only through the drilling of this well, but also in giving hygiene courses in the community.  During the drilling process as part of our group is drilling, the other part is with our female Guatemalan hygiene teacher in classes where we gather the women and children to learn proper hygiene, teach Bible stories, do crafts, and foster a closeness that should happen between a mother and her child.  There are hygienic concepts we learn from little onwards that we take for granted.  When you’re not taught from a young age to wash your hands after using the bathroom, for example, you probably won’t do it much less teach your children the habit unless you’re taught how and why.  I think it’s important to note that while the community I was in had proper walls, roofs, and some electricity in most houses, there aren’t many houses with more than dirt floors.  Windows and doors (or doorways) are constantly kept open for air.  This means there’s even more of a need to develop good hygiene habits with all of the air, dirt, and bugs potentially inside the house.  A good example of a teaching is to give the example of a fly: flies are dirty because the ground is dirty and they are constantly landing on the ground.  So, when a fly lands on your food while cooking in pans or while eating from your plate, this is dirty and can cause sickness, so we must cover our food. While these concepts seem as common sense to us, they simply are not to everyone in this world.  I love this component of the water well drilling trip because it is not just the water well, it’s the Biblical principle of ‘teaching a man to fish.’  Not only will this community have clean water now, but women will feel more empowered to change their habits and those of their children in regards to cleanliness.   

  

A group of women and children who took part in the hygiene classes.

Why Living Water International and why Guatemala?

I had a few options of Central American countries to go to on this trip, and I randomly picked Guatemala.  There were options outside of Central America, but I wanted to go where I could use the Spanish language I speak fluently and love so dearly.  

Like in other countries in Central America, Africa, and also in India, there are local, indigenous staff who make their living working for Living Water in their countries.  What a powerful job, week after week taking different groups of ‘gringos’ (what Latin Americans call people from the U.S. – it’s nothing negative) to the highlands or the desert or the jungle of their native countries to work side-by-side serving those in need, watching privileged Americans be rocked and humbled by the need they see and the need they’re there to meet.  This decentralization of authority from Living Water staff back in the States empowers the field staff in their native countries to be more than just well drillers or tour guides; they become very self-sustaining, and they are able to bridge any cultural barriers between the local people and the visiting Americans along with take ownership in what they're doing for their countries, all in the name of the Lord.

Some of you may not know what is meant by 'living' water.  This is best described in the book of John in the Bible, where Jesus is at the well with a Samaritan woman.  Jesus asks the woman to draw him a cup of water.  Not only is the Samaritan woman surprised because a Jew is talking her (which rarely happened in this time), but also because Jesus has no cup with which to draw the water with, and he offers her 'living' water.

10 Jesus answered her, '"If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would not have asked him, and he would have given you living water."  
 11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.  Where do you get that living water?  12 Are you greater than our father Jacob?  He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock."
13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again.  14 The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
 -John 4:10-14 

This is one of many experiences that Jesus Christ had on this earth that pertain to all of mankind then and now - to teach us.  Jesus was not just thirsty for water, he was intentional in approaching that woman to start by discussing a physical need for water, a physical need that water will only sustain temporarily.  He shares about asking for living water, which is Him - who died on a cross to atone for the sins of the world - and that when you ask for living water (Jesus Christ in your life), you will never thirst.  For in Him, you find eternal life (life after earthly death).  These are some of the Bible verses that Living Water International uses to show why they exist, and this is me summing it up in my own words.  You can read more about Living Water International at http://www.water.cc/ or talk to me.  And you can read more about the life of the Jesus Christ - the Savior for all - in the most-read book in the world, the Bible!  

On Day 1 we were picked up at the Guatemala City airport by Jaime, the Guatemalan field director.  I was already in Guatemala City from work the week prior, so I shuttled away from the five-star Intercontinental Hotel filled with excitement to spend a week serving, being taught, sharing the love of Jesus Christ that I have within me, and receiving His love from others.  Jaime has been with Asociación Pozos Agua Viva de Guatemala (which is the Spanish name for Living Water Association of Guatemala) since 2002.  He brought us back to Antigua, the small city we stayed in for our first and last nights of the trip.  Do some research on Antigua when you get a chance – it’s a gorgeous city in the valley surrounded by 3 volcanoes, very cute cobblestone streets with Spanish-Baroque style architecture, a famous handicraft market, and a lot of character.  I didn't take alot of pictures, but here are some photos in and around Antigua (thank you to my group member, Veronica, for contributing some of these photos): 

One of the volcanoes from the central square of Antigua

Another one of the volcanoes, viewed from the rooftop of the house we stayed in on our first and last nights of the trip.

View from the rooftop of the house.

Typical cobblestone street in Antigua.

Church in Antigua.

My group of 10 gringos was from many different states (whereas oftentimes groups come together from one single church or school), so we all met each other for the first time and also met the rest of the Guatemalan team who would be with us  for the drilling and hygiene classes.  Manolo and Rudy were our drill team leaders, and Vivian (Vivi) was our hygiene class leader.  Jaime, the guy who picked us up at the airport, is the director over everything there and travels on a separate drill team to a different area of Guatemala than where we went.  They are all based out of Antigua.

That's Guatemalan Manolo and Rudy in the red cap.  Our drill experts...gracias, chicos!

Vivi and me, after our final dinner the night before flying home.  She does an amazing job giving the hygiene classes!

We woke up the next day, went to church and breakfast in Antigua, and started the 4 hour drive to La

Máquina, one of the regions of Guatemala where Living Water is currently focused on drilling water wells.  During the 4-hour drive is where I had an eye opener I’d like to share with you: 

The corrupt government in a third-world nation like Guatemala does not care about fixing the roads like we see in the U.S.  It was all-too-common to not only have to slow down and avoid pothole after pothole on these narrow, line-free roads, but you would see the impoverished who lived in the area patching up the potholes and begging for money.  Little kids would be standing in the middle of the roads with cars passing on either side, filling potholes with shovels in one hand and asking for money in the other.  This is how they make their living, their living to eat the next day, not to save for retirement or go shopping with.  It breaks your heart to see these things, and while you might stick your hand out the window to give them a dollar, you probably in your heart wish you could do more…but what?  Personally, seeing this humbled me and made me give thanks for growing up in a place where the government fixes potholes!  It also, for me being a Christian, moves me to pray, asking God to protect these families, alleviate their need for proper nutrition and care, and then truly remain humble through this and continue praying in FAITH that needs will be met – both physical and spiritual. 

"Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.  He made the storms be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed."  -Psalm 107:28,29

"Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan." - John Bunyan 

Out of our van window on the way to La

Máquina.

The community we served in is called C-6.  In order to know where exactly these small communities are located (communities of about 200 families each), they are divided and named in lines, or ‘líneas’ in Spanish.  So there is Line A, Line B, Line C, etc., and within those lines are Line A-1, A-2, B-1, C-1, C-6, etc.  We stayed in a ‘hotel’ about 30 minutes from C-6.  I write ‘hotel’ in quotation marks because you cannot picture a Marriott, a Holiday Inn, or even a Super 8 Motel.  It was, I believe, where we should be staying when traveling like this, there to serve others: no air conditioning (and it was 90+ degrees), no drinkable water (we had ample bottled water), basic beds, no hot water and definitely no wifi.  But, with that said, we still were staying in a place that had nicer amenities than many houses there.  It crossed my mind while we were there “boy this is different, but why don’t we sleep in tents in the countryside or just on the floors of houses in the community (C-6) where we were serving?  The answer to that is probably safety.  The hotel was closed off to only us and it was surrounded by walls and barbed wire, so please know due diligence is done to keep us safe. But, though, I didn’t dare ask to get up and go out for a morning jog, because while I believe God is the Protector over us, we are given wisdom and common sense for a reason.  And to be honest that is a silly example because rest-assured there was no time or energy to consider going out for a 3-mile run!  There was a well to be drilled, hygiene classes to be taught, and love to be shown, all beginning at 5am. 

View of Hotel 6, our home for 4 nights, from the rooftop.

Women who worked at Hotel 6, making homemade tortillas for our dinners.  In Guatemala you eat tortillas at every meal!

I won’t get into too many details about the well drilling, but it was really interesting.  There was a drill rig, an LS300, owned by Living Water that we used to drill.  It took 5-foot long drill bits and used hydraulics to slowly drill a 6-inch diameter hole into the ground.  We took soil samples every 10 feet, and it was very interesting to see how the water tables change in each aquifer, and how they really do hold cleaner, purer water when you go deep down.  The deeper you go, you find less and less dirt and sand and muck and more and more limestone rock.  This means that the aquifer holds purer water.  Before Living Water entered these communities to drill, they just had hand-dug wells that went down about 50 feet, which does NOT contain clean water.  You must drill anywhere from 100-200 feet to find clean, pure, drinkable water.

Me in the assistant driller position, working the hydraulics, with Manolo teaching me.

Natalie, one of my group members, in the lead driller role, taking a soil sample.

Adding another 5-foot drill bit to push into the hole...a muddy mess that requires multiple people!

  
It was a process that took both Rudy and Manolo as well as at least 6 of us gringos.  One person is the drill assistant, standing on the rig controlling the levers (with Manolo’s help), one person is the drill leader, standing over the hole monitoring the drill bit going slowly into the ground, adding another 5-foot drill bit after the previous one makes it all the way in the ground and also taking a strainer to gather soil sample from the tip of the hole.  Now, it is not just drilling down into the hole.  Due to the soft Guatemalan soil, we had a moat system with two 4-foot deep square pits dug, so that we could pump water and a Bentonite clay in and out of the hole to keep the sides from caving in.  

The moat system we developed so that water/mud/Bentonite could flow up from the hole and circle around to keep constant pressure on the walls of the hole so it would not cave in.

The end of Day 2, after putting the PVC in the hole.  Almost finished!

After 2 days of complete drilling, we found the depth (110 feet) that was ideal for us to draw water from.  We put in PVC pipe with slits cut in it on the bottom, which served as a filter for the water.  We also slowly dropped tiny pebbles allllllll the way down to serve as a brace for the small gap between the PVC pipe and the walls of the hole.  For the latter half of Day 3, we didn't have the pump on yet, but we just ran the water (using compressors) out of the hole for hours to make sure it flowed well and to pump out all beginning impurities from the aquifer.

The girls had the job of doing 'water well dishes,' which was washing off the crusty mud and bentonite from all the tubes...yuck!  But it was fun :).  From left to right is me, Veronica (Dallas), Sarah (Houston), and Natalie (Dallas).

At the end of day 4 of 4, we lowered the final galvinized pipe into the hole.  That's where the purified water from flowing through the tiny pebbles, through the slits in the PVC pipe, and finally up through the galvinized pipe would come from.  We sealed off the well with the cover and the hand pump, and then I had the honor of using the pump for the first time to pump for about 10 minutes until water started to flow out!!! It was a BEAUTIFUL moment to see the water - clean, drinkable water - flow out of the well for the first time, and to see children and adults gather around to cup their hands underneath and drink pure water that would not make anyone sick - not even us gringos!  I took home to Miami with me a couple bottles of water from the well.  It was really powerful to be able to drink the same water as the local community without getting sick, because we had just spend the past 4 days drinking bottled water, brushing teeth with bottled water, and showering with our mouths closed.

Lisa and Sarah (both from Texas - Sarah works at Living Water International's headquarters in Houston), lowering the galvinized pipe into the hole.  That was HEAVY and required INTENSE communication.  Dropping it can cause bad injury and a very difficult process to retrieve it.

Attached the well cap before adding the hand pump. From left to right is Jason (Houston), Brady (Arkansas), Manolo, Rudy, and Sarah (LWI team leader).

The first water flowing from the pump!  ALL GLORY TO GOD!  What a POWERFUL moment this was.

It has been months, and the picture in my mind of the water coming from that well with the adults and children of the community gathering around is still so vivid.  For YEARS this community prayed for help with getting access to clean water.  For YEARS the adults have drank this water so often that their bodies have grown used to it while the children of the village have no option but to drink it to satisfy a thirst and then inevitably get sick because it was contaminated.

Some of the gringa volunteers with 2 girls from C-6.

Playing frisbee with the children - notice the orange frisbee toward the center of the photo.  Teaching them to throw and catch a frisbee was a blast!

We closed Day 4 with a dedication ceremony of the well, reminding them the water was for all and that they should no longer drink the water from wells in their homes.  We gathered together to pray for each other, give thanks (them to us and us to them), take photos, and say our goodbyes.  All of the sleepless nights in that little hotel and getting up at 4:30am, the 90+ degree weather with manual labor, the downtime we had to play with the kids (including teaching them to throw a frisbee for the first time), the ability for me personally to have conversations with the women of the village and also pray over some of the adults in Spanish.....all of it was a complete blessing.  As overly-grateful as the people of the C-6 community were, I think that we gringos received just as much blessing from this trip as they did.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me.  And do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

It's inevitable - frisbee on the roof!  Everyone got a kick out of Shannon, the extremely tall white gringo, being able to step on a small chair and reach the frisbee.

Silly time with the beautiful little girls.  Beautiful princesses, inside and out.

I can't write words in this blog post to describe how blessed I feel to have been able to go on this trip. 
While we were there to meet a physical need of water and hygiene education, the focus was to love on others intentionally with the love of Jesus, loving not only with our words but with our actions.  While drinkable water is necessary to survive on this earth, the Living water of Jesus Christ is what sustains into eternity, cleansing mankind of his iniquities and filling him up with a joy that never goes dry.

WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE!

An unforgettable picture in my mind!

Teaching the children to blow and pop bubbles :')

This is Bryan, a little boy from C-6 who won all of our hearts.  His first time blowing bubbles!

 

The truck.

Americans and Guatemalans gather around the well, to celebrate a cup of water in Jesus' name.  Un vasito de agua en el nombre de Jesucristo.

The completed well!

View of Antigua from Cerro de la Cruz (when we spent our final day/night in Antigua before leaving Guatemala).

 THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!  MAY GOD TOUCH ALL OF OUR LIVES, WHETHER IN OUR HOMES, OUR JOBS, OUR CITIES, OR IN A REMOTE VILLAGE OF GUATEMALA.  TO HIM BE THE GLORY.

-Anna (Anita)