Miscellaneous

Last month Ambassadeurs Medicaux d'Haiti (AMDH), the Haitian NGO that is primarily responsible for CHE programs in Haiti, held a preliminary meeting but didn't have a quorum present. Two weeks ago they met again, and in this picture you see five of the seven board members -- one was still unable to come due to injury, another was out of the country. Also in this picture are the three AMDH staff, Enoch (The Water School, formerly with AMDH), and me. What a great step for this organization.

Today in the office Wilnique, Clercilien, Evelyne, and Solencia were putting together "gift bags" for our trainers and CHEs. Our nearly 500 volunteers are truly volunteers, meaning they don't receive any renumeration. So we're putting together bags with toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, oral rehydration salts, sheets, and towels. Kind of like the gift bags at the Oscars. :-)

United Nations peacekeeping force from Nepal, sightseeing.

I took this picture of a typical fishing boat from my lodgings.

Cholera Update

Hi, everyone! Our internet has been nearly non-existent recently, and when we've had it it's been slower than the slowest dial-up you can remember. But suddenly today it is running beautifully! Um, when we've had electricity, that is—I think it's gone off five times today.

Thank you all so much for your prayers for little Odlin. I stayed in touch with one of the nurses from Hinche by phone, and I'm happy to say that he continued to slowly get healthier and finally went home! When I think of what he looked like the day he came in, and indeed even the next few days, I am just amazed.

Every day there are more patients in more communities sick with cholera. There is no sign of this stopping for the next few months, if not longer. There is also a lot of misunderstanding about cholera. It's not uncommon to hear people say they would rather get HIV than cholera. In the past weeks our work has been to:

• Coordinate shipments of IV solution and other supplies to combat cholera.
• Prepare for a Training of Trainers in Port-au-Prince, specifically designed for people who have children's ministries. We were supposed to go to Port-au-Prince on Sunday, but have postponed the training due to continued violence in the city.
• Follow up with the Community Health Evangelists (CHEs) who continue to teach their neighbors from house to house. I've mentioned before the lessons they teach for physical health: what is cholera and how is it spread, how to wash their hands with a simple system using a plastic jug, string, and a stick (most people don't have running water), how to make oral rehydration solution at home, and the importance of using latrines.
• The CHEs have also helped people develop frameworks to process things emotionally and spiritually. Cholera is yet another disaster being faced this year, by people who suffered greatly from the January earthquake and now also violence surrounding national elections. I have heard many people, even young children, say that Haiti is cursed, and cursed by God. What a terrible burden to live under! Our lesson entitled "God and Cholera" leads people to God's Word to learn about God's character and God's heart for us.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Jesus (recorded in John 7: 37 -38)

And when Jesus speaks in Kreyol, you hear it like this: Dènye jou fèt la, se li ki te pi enpòtan. Jou sa a, Jezi kanpe devan foul moun yo, li di yo byen fò: Si yon moun swaf dlo, li mèt vin jwenn mwen, li mèt vin bwè. Moun ki mete konfyans yo nan mwen, y'ap wè gwo kouran dlo k'ap bay lavi koule soti nan kè yo, jan sa ekri nan Liv la.

Cold trip to Salta

Two months ago I went up north to the province of Salta. As usual, I stayed with Sulma and her delightful family in the small town of Apolinario Saravia. Because I was there during winter vacation, several of Sulma's family members were in town, including her adorable niece you see in the above picture.
Above you see Doña Lidia, Sulma's mom, making the dough for empanadas. The filling is in the pot in the foreground. They have a gas stovetop but their only oven is wood-fired.

Sulma is an elementary school teacher and has received extensive training in CHE -- she even completed the internship in Nicaragua last year. Sadly, a local group of CHE trainers has not been able to form yet. Her sister Lucrecia and brother-in-law Gabriel have also been trained, but they moved to a different province last year due to an illness in the family. Gabriel had been the pastor of the church plant in Burela, where the CHE program was started. He and his family were also in town for the winter vacation and we discussed their plans which don't currently involve moving back to Saravia. While a group from the province of Cordoba (the Jesucristo Rey church) is still interested in helping them, without a local team CHE can't continue.

CHE consists of three basic elements: a local team of trainers, community health evangelists (CHEs), who go house-to-house to teach their neighbors, and a committee made up of locally-recognized leaders that plans big projects for the community and also selects the CHEs . The team of trainers, as the name implies, train the committee and the CHEs.

I'm not much of a baker but this year I've been making lemon bars. The wood-fired oven was a little too hot and the egg in the lemon portion did not cook evenly. They tasted good, though!

On my last day there I took a walk with Sulma and her mom. Sulma's Dad, Don Alfredo, joined us on his motorbike.

Above you see Sulma as we wait for my bus a few blocks from her house. I don't know when I'll go back there. Neither Sulma, nor the group in Cordoba, nor I have given up hope that we might be able to establish a program in Burela, but for now things are on hold.

I had a few layovers on my trip back to Buenos Aires, and spent hours at a bus station in Metan. Above you see the room I waited in -- there are shrines to the Virgin Mary at most bus and train stations. The poster in orange is informing passengers about swine flu.

Salta is a northern province, which in the southern hemisphere means that it's warmer than the rest of the country. This week was unusually cold, and it had actually snowed in several parts of the province! The Metan station is not enclosed on all sides, and since I was waiting at night -- my bus arrived around midnight-- it was really chilly. After whining to my friends in text messages, I got out my IPod and listened to some great sermons from Rob Bell.

My life, part 2

Mariela, the girl on on the left, asked for this picture to be taken with me but then put on a very serious face! The women seen in the background is Mariel, a member of the local community who lives part-time in the city and is going to run the clothing sale I'll mention at the end of this post.

Okay, the "job" part of my current life. If you get my newsletter, you saw in November the following description of my job: the CHE programs developed by LifeWind lead to individual and community transformation in all aspects of life: spiritual, physical, emotional, vocational. The job description for my role as CHE facilitator is in part to:

• Mentor local CHE programs in assigned areas to ensure sustainability and quality.
• Implement expansion of CHE programs in assigned area by initiating relationships with new workers, organizations, or churches which are interested in developing a holistic community development program.
• Correspond and meet regularly with the local CHE team leaders for mentoring, mutual guidance, spiritual encouragement, and continuing accountability.
• Plan and facilitate Vision Seminars and Training of Trainers (TOTs).

So, what does that mean right now? Well, I'm in Argentina because there are several groups and individuals that have been working in poor areas (rural and urban) and want to start more holistic development work. See my February 10 post on the work in el Delta for an example of such an invitation. LifeWind International is in nearly 80 countries, but up until now has not had any complete programs in Argentina or Uruguay. So I am here to walk alongside of the people that are ready to work for change in their communities.

What does that mean? In this phase, it means I meet with people, either in formal meetings or by accompanying them where they are working. The past two Saturdays I spent on the island in el Delta helping serve food to the kids, getting to know both the volunteers and the people in the community, and meeting about future projects. For example, they receive donations of clothing from Spain and in the past have given them away in the community. They recently recognized that it is better to sell things for a small amount of money both so that the goods are appreciated and to treat the recipients with dignity. We discussed some details of the upcoming sale, which was of course first approved by the Spanish donors!

In the photo below are Vanina and Alejandra in el Delta:

Baradero 2

Above is the sign for the feeding center for the children of Baradero (the sign says "Happy Little Faces Feeding Center"). On Saturday we had a meeting with Marisa, Alejandro, and Roberto. Marisa and Alejandro have both been to the initial Training of Trainers (TOT 1 and 2), and so are familiar with the CHE concepts. They are currently doing relief work with the feeding center, but are looking forward to moving beyond that to development. Roberto has been interested in working with the youth on small construction projects, both to give them skills and to provide a good role model. In Baradero, according to what they tell me, most of the men drink to excess and most of the families experience physical violence in the home. There is also a lot of prostitution.

One of the exciting things this weekend was a conversation we had over mates with Juan Diego and Ines at their home on our walk through one of the barrios we are considering working in. He has approached several government officials about the small stream of water that their barrio receives. Apparently it will cost 45,000 pesos (15,000 US) to correct the problem, and it is not worth it for the 25 - 30 families that live there. But it is a constant problem for the barrio, and it makes it very difficult for people to wash their clothing and themselves. Two things struck me about this conversation: Juan Diego was very persistent, despite repeated rejection from different officials. Hopefully he will want to be included in the team that we form there. The second thing that struck me was the comment one of the officials made to him: What, do you want to help the whole barrio? As if that were something strange.

Juan Diego works on a farm, and gave us yummy Asian pears that he is currently harvesting. Mmmmm!

On Saturday evenings the adolescents come to the church for games and teaching. We discussed the topics they would like to address in the coming year (after the February hiatus for vacation) and violence in the home was a topic that affected them all.

It wasn't all seriousness, though -- here Mariposas is dressed up like a mummy!


Below are some of the church members on Sunday morning. The church meets in the former garage on the left and the feeding center is on the right.

Before we left town, there was more excellent food:
On the way back to Buenos Aires, I was musing about the varied landscape in Argentina. The country is the 8th largest in the world by area, and it varies widely from rainforest to desert to mountains to glaciers. On the way back to the city it looked a lot like rural Minnesota (mostly cornfields and soybeans) except for the occasional eucalyptus grove!

Meat

Well, I´ve been in Argentina less than 48 hours and I´ve already eaten two pastries made with lard and five bites of chicken. My host is buying a special roast to grill today. That may seem yummy to some, not a big deal to others, but for someone who hasn´t eaten any of the above for 21 years it´s a little crazy! I´ve had in mind not only the terribly deep spirituality involved in sharing meals with others but also my friend Mike´s saying of being a ¨scavenge-tarian¨ instead of a ¨vegetarian.¨ Tee-hee!

I am so excited to be here! The Lopez family, with whom I am staying and who will start my on-the-job training, are lovely and very welcoming. Marcelo and Silvia are the parents and their children are Luz (18) and Felipe (16). When not working in micro-enterprise and development, Marcelo works in accounting and teaches economics at the university. Silvia is very gifted artistically and has taken courses on indigneous Argentinean art.

On Monday, 9/10, we will start our travel to the village of Burela, in Salta province. We stay overnight in Tucuman, and then arrive in Burela on Tuesday. We will meet a couple who currently work with LifeWind in Bolivia, Develt and Estela. They will be facilitating the majority of the training there. After reading Isaiah 61 & 62 this morning, Marcelo, Silvia, and I were praying for the Wichi Indians (who live in Salta Province) and the training. Apparently some of the problems with the Wichi include a lack of clean water, issues of abuse and violence, and extreme poverty. Many politicians have come in to the area with small gifts and promises of development but no follow-through. However, the Wichi are hungry for teaching, training, and change. One of the pastors there, Don Sixto, has been praying for justice for his people.

The training next week is called, ¨Training of Trainers 1,¨and the purpose is to teach those who will be teaching the individual ¨CHEs.¨ The CHEs will go house to house in their villages, teaching their neighbors about health promotion, disease prevention, small business opportunities, and the love of God. The training will go from Tuesday night, 9/11, to Saturday, 9/15. The sessions are on such topics as: the resources within the community, learning techniques, development, how to experience the love and forgiveness of God, and the role of the training team. I will teach a session on the Holy Spirit on Thursday morning. I´m glad that my session isn´t until later in the week, as I want to experience more of the learner-centered, participatory style Lifewind uses.