hasta no se Guate

We are spending our last night here in Antigua. A town that none of us are that excited to be in, but it is the closest we can be to the AIRPORT. Yes, we fly for Florida tomorrow afternoon. We arrive there and will be staying there until friday. Then we fly to Louisville and arrive there at 4:30.
We are all ready to get back to the states. Our days have been packed with wonderful things but we will save them for face-to-face story telling.
Excited to see you all!

Agradecemos or We are thankful.

Today we arose at 7 am to the usual sounds of firecrackers and roosters. There was no time to lie in bed since we had to make our way to the hospital by 8 am. We quickly make ourselves cups of coffee to take with us on the 15 minute walk. We got there and waited only a couple of minutes for our friend Mauricio to peek his head around the corner. (Waiting a couple of minutes is somewhat of a miracle. There had been times that we waited hours for someone to show). We scurried our way up the ladder to where the water tanks rest, wondering silently if they were lleno (full) or vacio (empty). To our surprise, one was completely full and the other, more than ¾. This was great news for Mauricio, it meant that he will not have to purify everyday, but every other day.
We ended up not having to go through the process one last time with him. Which is ok because he had caught on so quickly. Being a very bright man, we are completely confident in his ability to take care of the system.
Mauricio had us follow him into the kitchen so that he could show us that the water coming out of the faucet was in fact clean. He expressed to us that all 7 faucets now had clean water coming out of them. It was a great feeling to see his face when he was able to tell us this. We can only thank God for having us meet someone like Mauricio. It made the whole process a lot easier on everybody.
To give you an idea of how much the water system is going to help out the hospital: They spend Q17 ($2.30) per 5 gallon drum which they have 25 of equaling Q425 ($57) per week or Q1700 ($228) per month. This may not seem like too much to us but for a place that regularly has financial shortcomings, this is a great relief.
Before leaving, Mauricio expressed his thankfulness to us. Seeing he only speaks Spanish we had to listen very intently. Between embraces, he said that he looks forward to us returning and that the whole hospital is thankful for the work that Don Felix and we have done. “Muchisimas gracias.”
And we thank God that it was orchestrated so.
Team Dikaios is now down to only 4 members. The Kicklighters and the Deebs are spending their last day in Uspantan before they make their way back to Xela. There we will wrap up coffee business by talking with Manos Campesinos, a coffee co-operative. We will be there for 4 days and following, we will be going to Escuela de Las Montanas where we will be intensely learning Spanish. (Something that we know we should have done in the beginning.)
We hope that our fellow friends got home safely:
Kane, Michael, Jason and Keri.
Give everyone high fives for us.

Nuestras dias son poco+we will be adding pictures later!

Only a few days left for some; Michael, Kane, Jason and Keri all are leaving within the following week. The days have moved slow, but the weeks have passed quickly. After this week everything we sought to do here has been accomplished. A couple of days ago, we were able to move forward in the hospital. You all know that this has been a source of frustration for us, but finally everything has fallen in to place. Sometimes, our patience has failed us, but we are proven to be small in our understanding of the grander scheme. Just because things were not going the way that we wanted them too, didn’t mean that they weren’t going to happen at all. So here is a not too exciting re-cap of our week…
We had been waiting for our friend Don Amado to build a metal platform to hold the water tanks. Waiting for about one month to be exact. Little did we realize the monstrosity of a platform that he was creating. My jaw dropped to the ground as soon as I saw the 20-foot jungle gym of metal. It is said to be considered the 8th wonder of the world, believe it! So our next obstacle was transporting the thing about 1.5 miles to the other side of town. Doesn’t seem like much right? Well, I missed the first attempt to move it. Apparently it was hitting the electrical wires above the streets and so they had to turn around. The second attempt, they got a flatbed truck and with about 20 men they tilted the thing on to the back of the flatbed. It was a rather scary thing to watch them move the structure which weighs who knows how much. (The pictures will helpfully give you a good idea.) But the move was successful. While driving through the streets of Uspantan, we were quite the spectacle. All of us rode on the truck with la estructura making sure that we didn’t hit anything. Seeing as both sides of it stuck out about 2 feet this was a rather important thing to be doing. I would love to be able to tell you that we didn’t hit anything during that short period of time, but than I would be telling you a mentira, a lie. The first thing that we scraped was the side of a microbus, it was hard to watch happen but there was not much that we could have done. The men on the bus just kept yelling to move on, move on; it was at this point that our emotions began to turn. Right after we left a foot long scrape in the side of the bus, we began approaching a very nice pick up truck. My stomach began to turn, because im pretty sure that the driver wasn’t aware of the approaching danger and there was no way for us to relay its immediacy. All we could do is stare as the back of the structure as it barely missed the silver ford truck; relieved and hopeful that the worse was over we stood and watched as yet another accident occurred. One of the extra helpers of the group whom was standing on the back of the truck jumped off quickly to make sure that the road was cleared. As he was walking the truck sped up because of a clear way, before anyone could say anything a part of the structure overhanging the truck connected with the head of the man while going 15mph. It sent him flying forward and us into a panic; I turned quickly and saw the man pick himself off the ground. His face was bloody and his glasses broken, a smaller additional truck, which was tailing us, picked him up and took a faster alternate way to the hospital. With our stomachs wrenched and gripping soley to the metal structure, we begin to hit and rub low power lines; some of the men were using their hands to lift them over the structure. Praise Jehovah that we weren’t electrocuted and that we found out later that the man that was hit was ok. What was left to do at this point was lift the structure and carry it over 100 feet. This was extremely difficult, when I looked up at Tyler all is saw after they put the structure on their shoulders was pure fright, I think their was some serious doubt in our boys that they would be capable of making this happen. The structure was lifted, welded, painted, the tanks put atop of, and shortly after we purified water. We will be spending the next few days going back and forth from the hospital to make sure all is working well and then we will be off to xela again. In xela we will be attending a Spanish school. After xela we will be going a beach called Monte Rico and then back to Louisville. The rest of our trip will be less work and more play, so we intend on paying the majority of its expenses from our pocket and save the rest of the money we raised for our next trip.

thanks for reading all of this

On a chicken bus to Columba I take in deep breaths of black exhaust and begin to reflect on my time in Guatemala. I reach for by black bandana and wrap the fabric around my face; less worried about sticking out in the old converted school bus that holds 7 people to an aisle then taking in any more pollution. I am pretty sure the pollution was the culprit that weakened my immune system and sent me spiraling down into a fever, leaving me bed-ridden for 18 hours straight. As our driver makes life threatening passes on the cliffs of mountains, hardly escaping oncoming traffic, I sit without flinching, my mind scrolling through my experiences. God is a great teacher and provider. I have learned that we often see his wisdom most clearly in retrospect; seeing how our suffering, patience, and perseverance are essential in bringing to fruition the things we desire. Showing us that the way we have traveled has been harder then expected, but better. My reason in sharing this is simple; during our first month in Guatemala it was hard to escape the feeling of guilt of underperformance. The question I often asked was “Are Noel and I honoring our financial supporters?” Although our work in the first month was good work, strengthening our relationships and network here, in my sin… I wanted to speed up our effectiveness, see and meet more need; I had lost faith that God had brought us here to do that.
Praise be to God! In our travels through 5 coffee farms we have been shown much need… need that we can press into, need buried in the most beautiful part of the world I have ever been to.
When we walked off the steps of the chicken bus, we found ourselves in the town of Columba, Guat. The center resembled every center we’ve been to thus far. After waiting for only a short time our ride arrived in the form of a beaten red pick up truck, a driver whom we met in Xela named don Rigoberto, and a young Mayan lady standing stoically in the bed of the truck holding onto the iron bars which lined the wall. We are 9 gringos now since we picked up a friend from café conciencia in Xela. Our new friend Allison, being fluent in Spanish, is vital for us to have around. In the back of the truck we make our way down winding road, holding to the piece of iron white knuckled, absorbing every jolt with our knees. We are descending the mountain, losing elevation rapidly. The scenery turns from dry common greenery to rich and tropical. The changes in our surroundings make us feel like we are in a different land completely; the mountains are bursting with life, the vegetation is draped over everything; there are leaves 5 feet tall and 3.5 feet wide (Malanga), volcanoes that stand boldly making the clouds jealous. The road has changes at this point; it is no more the government road, but a beautiful stone road layed by hand by the collective fincas in the area. The road use to be in poor condition; the fincas made pleas to the government asking them to pave the road. There was constant denial of those pleas, so all the fincas in the area combined their labor and built roads from beautiful stone to cover over a hundred miles.
This day we go to see 3 fincas, all which have similar, but also different needs. The first farm is Santa Anita. This is the farm of our guide Rigoberto. Rigoberto is a small Mayan man, whom can hold a smile that warms your body, but also words of wisdom that demand the attention of your ears. Rigoberto is a leader and history informant for the community of 50 families. With the woman mentioned before (lita) Rigoberto takes us on a hike through the farms coffee crop. As we are walking through Fern Gully (you know what I’m talking about) Rigoberto is explaining to us the process of coffee for their community and how laborious it truly is for them, especially as organic growers. From January to September the community is in the fields protecting their crop, tending and preparing it for harvest. During this time they also are planting and manipulating the growth around the coffee, to give it more shade and protection. From September through December the community begins harvest. All able bodies are sent to pick and carry the coffee cherries in 100-pound bags back to the central area of the community. In total harvest the community will have picked 25 thousand pounds of cherries (the actual coffee bean only makes up 20 percent of the cherries weight). All this work is being done on the backs of less then 150 men, women, and children.
Rigoberto’s community was healthy. The children playing were happy, the dogs look well fed, and the school and other buildings were in good condition. They even had a hotel for visitors. This was a stark contrast from our visit to the second farm, Viejo Quetzal. In this visit we sat down with the president and vice president of the community. Both men carried different composures then the men we interacted with in Santa Anita; these men look tired, unhealthy, and defeated. As we sat around their table in a room that seemed abandoned we began to use our translator Allison to investigate the history and trading of the farm. We initiated the conversation with thanking them for allowing us to be there and we also explained why we’ve come. They responded warmly to our purpose for being there and then began to explain their position. The community is of similar size to Santa Anita with 50 families, all of which are refugees whom left during the civil war of 1983-96. They were from all different places of Guatemala and met in Mexico during the time of the conflict. When they returned they collected and worked for an independent farmer. But in 1998 the coffee crisis happened as a result of the new coffee growers around the world making prices more competitive. So in this case and many others like it in the region, the owners of these farms abandoned their investments and debt. This left the community jobless and un-paid; they approached the government to give them the land in hopes of salvaging their lives. With time the community gained ownership of the land and now share it communally, voting for their leaders every two years. This is certainly good news, but the people are still very poor and are perfect targets for coffee biz giants (also known as coyotes by the locals) looking for desperate growers. Within the coffee growing community, it is common to receive $1.50 to $1.80 a pound for organic coffee that is one step away from being green, or still in shell. This community’s dealer bought their whole crop for $0.35 a pound, an oppressive price which can only give them the bare necessities, and prevent them from creating a more independent infrastructure. After asking more questions regarding this fact and letting the truth soak in, we thanked them for their time and made our way to another farm.
The next farm was named “La Florida.” In summary its condition was somewhere in between the first two that we visited. Instead of only speaking with 2 men, this time we spoke with an entire council of women and men of mixed ages. We went through the same list of questions and interests as we had with Viejo Quetzal. We were again met with joy and excitement. After an hour of sitting down we loaded again on the back of the truck and headed back to Santa Anita where we would stay at their hotel.
The next day we visited two more farms in which were structured very similarly to the past two. The first farm of that day was “Magnolia Miramar” which was certainly the most prosperous community thus far. Their council was made up of 5 men, and had the best infrastructure by far. This farm was selling their organic, fair trade coffee for $2.00 a pound. Which all considering is good, but only good in perspective with what some other farms make. They explained that their intentions for growing organic were rooted in their appreciation for the land and not for its profit. During harvest of organic coffee you loose half of your crop to bugs and harsh weather and you have to pay for an annual organic certificate that cuts deeply into their profit costing $2,000 US. After hearing this information our initial shock of their considerable profit had left us silent. Rigoberto took this opportunity to add a bit of wisdom regarding the idea of fair trade. He explained through long and poetic words that trade cant be fair if one side of the business transaction is profiting significantly more then the other. In this case the coffee farms should be getting up to 4 dollars per pound to be able to build up their community with the wealth of their labor; instead they are kept weak and poor. As I said before… their community was well, and seemingly thriving, but even the coffee farmers in the best position are only getting half of what they deserve within this transaction.
The last farm that we arrive to is a short drive from Magnolia and is called Blanca Flora. At this point are minds are tired from all the info we have absorbed, but we needed to stick this last one out. Blanca Flora also had a council of about 6 men. Their community consisted of 32 families and was also refugees with a similar story as Viejo Quetzal. The information passed back and forth was similar to most of the other coffee farms except one thing. This community only made 2/3 of the money in which it needed last season. They are in terrible debt and have no idea how to get out of it. Their coffee buyer is slowly wrapping their fingers around the throat of Blanca Rosa. This community hasn’t been able to make any repairs to their buildings or houses in ages. They are simply trying to survive. Once our meeting was finished Rigoberto went over with us the level of desperation of the communities he took us to. They went like this from worst off to best off:
Viejo Quetzal
Blanca Rosa
La Florida
Santa Anita
Magnolia Miramar
On the truck ride back through the incredible tropics there was something that we couldn’t understand. If Rigoberto works for Santa Anita and receives no reward if our business goes to one of these other coffee farms, why would he spend so much time and energy bringing us to these places? When the truck stopped at our hotel we asked him this question. His answer was “I want to see my friends and neighbors prosper.” This is my best testament of Rigoberto’s character, Selfless.
Now we reflect on how we can help these communities. We await their harvest when they will send us samples of their crop; after roasting, tasting, and reviewing the need, Sunergos will most likely choose one of these coffee farms as our new Guatemala roast. We will know the people who help produce our coffee and we will be constantly working toward bettering that community. It is all very exciting, but also humbling; our efforts at least for now can only benefit one farm.

nueva Alianza

The past couple of days we have been in Xela (shay-la) also named Quetzaltenango. When we first rolled into Xela we were nothing less than naive in our approach of getting connected to coffee farms; our only security was that Xela was known as a coffee capital. We arrived at a hostal called the black cat, totally hip and unlike any other experience we have had in Guatemala. After settling in and recovering from traveling, Aaron spent some time looking through a tourist book. In the book there was an advertisement for a place called "Cafe Conciencia." The advertisment was for coffee farm tours and purchasing fair trade coffee. With no other leads and little to grasp to the 8 of us head out to find Cafe Conciencia... ironically the businesses was located on the other side of the block. We entered through the already opened iron doors and turned right up the ascending stairwell. Somewhat apprehensive and curious if we were in the right place, we wonder into a room of young Guatemalans conversing. A 30-something year old man approaches us with a mixture of curiosity and kindness. His name is Omar and after hearing our ideas and reasons for being in Guatemala he immediately becomes an ally. Omar begins drawing out a map of all the coffee farms in the area, telling us which are organic, which would be most interested in our business plan, all the while writing phone numbers that will put us in direct contact with the farmers. (One of the farmers, Rigoberto, happened to be there as well. You will here the tale of his finca, Santa Anita, soon.) If that doesn't sound unbelievably providential, Omar tells us later that he would be leaving town the next day, so if we hadn't caught him when we did... we would have missed this opportunity. One contact resulted in the chance for Jason, Kane, Aaron and I (noel) got to go to a coffee finca about one hour from here named Nueva Alianza "New Alliance". An extraordinary place where not only organic coffee was grown but bio diesel is produced, hydro-electricity is used, macadamia nuts are grown to shade the coffee trees, as well as a few other un-developed proyectos. On top of all this, the coffee was actually pretty good. So needless to say we were pretty encouraged to be able to buy 15 pounds of green beans to bring back to the states.
Today and tomorrow we have 3 more farms to visit. We are so thankful for the connections that were made.
Other than that, we are all doing well. We love each other and take care of each other well. We want to say more but our breakfast is on it's way. We love you all and thank you all for your support and little posts on our blog. Keep it up dudes.

Adjusting to Guatemala time

Noel, Jason, Kari, Michael and I walk on crowded streets weaving between little red motorized tricycle cabs (called tuk tuks), bicyclist and pedestrians as we approach the cities centralized soccer field. We are all keeping a secret from Michael. It was Michael’s birthday and he thought that his extra large pan cake and birthday song were going to be the climax of honor. We climb through the mangled fence that protects the field from the masses, but has been torn open by local children. Disregarding the reinforced barbwire around the hole we guard eachothers bodies from cuts and begin walking toward the center of the field where aaron stand with a Frisbee in hand. Michael yell to aaron “where’s Marla?” moments pass in awkward silence as aaron considers his answer. Then with a triumphant yell we here “surprise!” from Marla as she springs from behind a gray concrete structure. This is no ordinary surprise, because marla is carrying a blue and yellow piñata. Watching Michael spin in circles 22(the amount of years he has lived) times as we set off firecrackers at his ankles, jumping, swinging, missing several times before knocking the legs off the penguino piñata, was a real treat. After the plethora of candy was scattered on the grass field we began indulging in its nectar, preparing our spirits for a celebratory game of ultimate Frisbee.

Running in the heat with candy in our bellies made for some serious queasiness.

Unfortunately this is the highlight of our past week in Guatemala. According to our original schedule we should be finishing up our water-purifying segment of the trip. For you that have visited places of third world stature, you know that our westernized planning rarely comes to fruition within our time frame. So now… we wait and have been waiting for the hospital here in uspantan to have a platform built for our water tanks. We are confident that our water system goals will be met with in our time here, but we have had to move our schedules around and remain lenient for the unknown time in which we will need to work in the hospital. Pray for us that we would be patient but bold in meeting our goals.

So we are now planning our coffee farm visits, we have been blessed to make friends with Laura (one of the peace core ladies) and she has directed us to 3 new farms with in the relative area. Kane, our friend from Louisville (a roaster for sunergos) is also coming to visit us this Friday for 3 weeks. Kane has made contact with a farm in Antigua, Guatemala that we already receive coffee from. This farm is apart of a collective in which sunergos is apart of, the collective already has achieved creating a direct trade relationship with this farm. It will be nice to finally meet these farmers who are serving us in person, document their farm, and deepen the relationship we have with them.

Things we’ve done in our boredome

Noel has been reading a book called Three Cups of Tea about a North American man that built schools in Pakistan. It has been helpful to see the patience that this man had to have in order to do what he had promised to the people of Korphe. It took him 3 years and many trips to get the first school finished. He learned a lot about the differences between the way that we are programmed to do things and the way that the people in the small village operate. Being humbled.

Tyler has been putting finishing touches on his website/business card. This has been exciting because it puts him one step closer to making himself offical.

We also cultivated community through a marvelous dinner gathering the other night, something that I really miss about being back home. We were both in our happy place. Our neighbors, who are from Spain, one of their friends, as well as another lady (Kelly) that lives in our building who is in the Peace Corps, Laura (from peace-corps) and a Swiss guy named Diego. We met Diego in a microbus on our way back from Coban (a 3 hour drive to uspantan.) we all ate happily in our little space. There were so many people that they were bringing chairs from their apartments so they could have seats. It was also nice for us because we were able to converse with and understand the Spaniards: They enunciate their words a bit more than Guatemalans. Over all we want the few people we get a chance to deepen relationships with around here that we totally our in love with our God and totally in love with them.

Sincerely the deebs

laj chimal y dona maria

Yesterday we went with our new friends Laura (peace corps member) and Glenn (political scientist working on dissertation about deforestation) to the aldea (village) of Laj Chimal, about one hour drive. A brief history of this place: It was a part of the civil conflict that took place from 1984-1994. It is the home of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Rigoberta Menchu whose family was apart of the guerillas. The people who were stuck between the army and the guerillas, the campesinos, were most effected by the conflict because either side didn’t know where their alliance lay. The campesinos were just as confused; Not knowing what the fight was even for.
So, upon arriving we meet Dona Maria whom we will come back to later. First we went on a hike up a small knob of thick forest. In fact the forest that we were in is one of three protected in Guatemala. About ¾ of the way to our destination we stop at a rope swing that is not like the rope swing you are thinking about, that puny thing that you swung on when you were a kid. This one was made for adults and it was in the jungle of Guatemala. It was accurately named The Swing of the Screeching Monkey. (Apparently we were in screeching monkey territory, but saw none.) We spent about 30 minutes there, thinking of every possible way to swing on the rope; two at a time, upside down, hands only and so on.
Eventually we walk the rest of the way, encountering a snake, to the mirador or lookout. The view is marvelous but we are all a bit hungry rationing out one Hershey kiss, one apple, and some pumpkin seeds among 11 people. On our way back we come across an array of brilliant flowers and fruits.
We arrive at Dona Maria’s where she has prepared pasta with tortillas, Atole (masa, or corn flour, mixed with hot water to drink) as well as some hot salsa and very sweet coffee for desert.
The highlight of the trip for me, Noel, was the next hour when Dona Maria shared her experience of the civil war with us. It brought to life everything that I had learned and read about regarding this time period.
She was only 16 when the guerillas came in to her village, Laj Chimal, to tell them that they needed to fight for their land. The people of the village had no idea why this was something that they needed to do. Following this, the army came in to the town asking if the guerillas had been there. The beginning of being caught in the middle for the campesinos. Eventually the army came back with someone they had captured and had him crucified in front of the people as a scare tactic to keep them from joining the guerillas.
The people ended up fleeing to the surrounding mountains for safety from the army whom flew over with their airplanes, dropping grenades, also slashing and burning all their crops and homes. They sat in the mountains with nothing to eat and only the water from the moss quenched their thirst.
Maria and her father end up captured when they return to their home to try to get seeds to plants crops for food. The army interrogated them, asking them if they were guerillas. They find themselves in a circle, with some of the others that have been captured in the middle, the army demanding that they shoot the people in the middle. Miraculously one of the officers recognizes Maria’s father as a campesino and tells the other officers their true identity(mere farmers, not guerilla fighters). So instead they are all put in to a truck and brought to Uspantan(where we stay now) where they are imprisoned and Maria is raped by six different men, her father unable to do anything about it.
After 20 days or so they are able to go back to Laj Chimal to find the rest of their family: Mom, sister, as well as Maria’s 3 month old daughter, who at that point was no longer living. (This is the only part of the story that Dona Maria shed tears.) They all ended up back in Uspantan in prison realizing that at least they would be fed there.
Dona Maria ended up getting an offer to go to Guatemala City where she could make 30Q ($4.02) a month rather than 10Q ($1.34). She left only knowing Quiche, the local Mayan language, but came back a year or so later fluent in Spanish.
Dona Maria now is full of hope and love for everyone that she comes in to contact with. She is excited for the tourists that come to Laj Chimal (a town of once 70 families and now 14). Since the Menchu family name is forever associated with this aldea, NGO’s and other volunteers find interest in helping its people. One man, a Spaniard, after staying one frigid night there, decided to build all the people concrete homes so the wind could not get to them at night. Maria talks about her “Casa enorme”,about 400 square feet, with a huge white smile on her sun kissed face.
This ends our time in Laj Chimal. But on the bumpy ride home (11 people in a 8 seater) we make a stop at a lagoon. I did not swim, but Tyler, Michael, Jason, Aaron and Laura all jumped in despite the fact that the water was frigid. It was beautiful.