Plants

I never knew before this trip that bananas flowered.  I do suppose that all plants which produce fruit must flower-- I just never thought about it-- but now I've seen it.    And the flower is  purple and I'm not sure if it opens any more or not.

I've seen coconuts growing before, but this trip we saw yellow, green and brown coconut fruit.  Different ripeness, I'm thinking.  Pastor Aaron told us that there are "regular" coconuts and "sweet" coconuts.

The tree outside the window of my hotel room had a green fruit that in the week we were there turned purple and looked "plum-ish", but had not pit,  so who knows what they are.

We saw hibiscus, cannas, roses, and other flowering plants.  All in all the foliage was thick and lush.

Important People

The people we met in Kukra Hill will be with us always.  Sugey Hunter, Aaron Bennett, Little Aaron, and baby Alfred were our hosts who provided us with a place to be between our activities, a place to have our meals, and the only bathroom facility on the church property.  Many others welcomed us and learned, so they can keep the facility functioning.

Alfred and Kate

Pastor Aaron and little Aaron

Sugey explaining the system at Celebration

Pastor Kate and Sugey

Thursday, March 10-- Home again!

Managua airport--

After checking our suitcases through to Houston , we filled out a customs form to be left here, not for the US—seemed strange, but it was easier now than later.    We were there early enough to have some “look around” time.  I found a “Nicaragua shirt” for me, and a cap for Nick at rather good prices.  I looked through the “duty-free” shops, but didn’t find anything I couldn’t live without.  No breakfast this morning, but in light of yesterday afternoon, I was okay with that.  

We loaded the plane,  and with no incident (except some dry cookies) arrived in Houston.  We showed passports, retrieved checked baggage, went through customs, rechecked baggage for DFW and found a food court.  I had a warm ham and cheese sandwich with chips for $12.  Went across the  hall to a candy store and got a small dark chocolate bar.   We waited a bit longer, while I called/ and texted Nick and Nikki to let them know our plane was expected to be on time into DFW. 

Another uneventful flight and before we knew it we were home.

Nick picked me and Kate up and we delivered her to her parents house and headed home.  Lilly’s school open house is tonight, so we chilled for just a little while and then headed toward Bryant Elementary.   Lil showed us her desk, her locker, her work and her stuff posted on the wall in the hall by her room.   We then went to the cafeteria, where Lil’s Panda project was displayed. 

A long day, but glad to be home and glad I was a part of this amazing adventure.

Wednesday- travel day to Managua

Where People Care

We were told that our installation at Kukra Hill is the 35^th in Nicaragua.  The installers checked to be sure all was functioning as it is supposed to.  All of yesterday’s bottles had sold during the celebration (the Dr buying 6 and ordering more).

After breakfast of egg, avocado and rice we loaded up in taxis and headed to the dock to get the Panga back to Blue Field.

We loaded up, and put on our life vests.  Thirty-five minutes later with wind in our faces we docked in Blue Field. This time it didn't seem as fast, but maybe part of that feeling was the expectation of speed.

Since we now knew the way to get to the Central Moravian Church, we walked there.  I feel relieved that the 60 pound red duffle bag that held all the teaching supplies now lives in the storage room of the Kukra Hills church, and I don’t have to moose it around.  We stored our luggage at the church and got taxis to the Pelican for lunch.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal. My lemonade was wonderful, but my guess is that the lemonade was not made with totally clean water, because  soon after leaving the restaurant, I was struck with stomach distress.  I had a hard afternoon, because the only bathroom available to us at the Moravian church had no water.  A few Immodium later and I was feeling much better.

 We got to La Costena airport in plenty of time to relax a bit.  The interesting part of the check in  process was that each passenger was weighed with his/her luggage.  This should have been the first clue that we were going to be flying on a teeny tiny airplane.  Turns out the plane had only 15 passenger seats and I could not stand up inside the cabin.  We almost didn’t get all the luggage on the plane with us—good thing some of the other passengers had no luggage at all. 

I did take some pictures as we flew low over  Nicaragua—there were lots of clouds, some of which we flew through. 

 

When we arrived, and deplaned, we walked across the street to our Managua Best Western Hotel.  We were looking forward to hot showers , but no such luck—it was at best a tepid shower.  But it still felt GREAT!

We met our partners from Virginia for supper and because of my earlier discomfort, I had chicken soup.  Went down well and didn’t cause my any problems.

Set alarm for 4 am to catch the next leg of our travels—to Houston.

The CELEBRATION! (Tuesday evening)

This is what it's all about-- fresh water for children.

Every water project has a Celebration, where the community comes to sample the newly cleaned water, to give thanks to God and their partners for the blessing of healthy water, and to "advertise" the project to let community members know the water will be available.

Finished water system-- thanx,Dane for pic.

Think of the water filtration system as a business.  There are employees who operate and maintain the system who must be paid.  There are expenses such as electricity, new filters, regular maintenance, and replacement bottles.   In order to remain in operation, the water board sets a price for a 5 gal bottle of water and a deposit for bottle use.    All of this was decided ahead of the Celebration.  Pastor Aaron invited many people to attend (as I mentioned earlier) and was hoping for 70 people to show up.
I can't say exactly how many came to the celebration, but it was a large crowd.

At 6 o'clock parishoners gathered in the sanctuary for worship.  There were prayers, thanks from our group, thanks from the water board, some songs and Gary and I gave certificates to teachers and operators.  At that time we moved to the water building  (about half a block away) on the church grounds.  Chairs were set up in the yard and in the water building and many were standing.

 A ribbon cutting was the action that "opened" the building after which fresh clean healthy water was shared with everyone,

the system was explained, dates, times and prices of water were stated and questions were taken from the assembly.   The ladies of the church had been cooking all day and they served a rice and meat dish and potato salad to all those in attendance along with bottled sodas.  I've never seen such a large pan/pot as the rice was cooked in.  It looked like a vat.

They served about half of it-- not sure where the rest went.  People milled around and visited.   Sometime during the evening the doctor for the town ordered a large quantity of water for the clinic.  I think they will be able to sell/provide much more water that they can filter in a day.  The pump which was delivered with the system parts was smaller than requested.  It can only pump 5 gallons every 10 minutes-- 6 bottles an hour.  When they have a cushion of extra funds, they can purchase a larger pump to increase their output.   It was a major social event for the town.

We're leaving on the 10 o'clock Panga tomorrow morning, so we got back to the hotel to pack.

Tuesday- trip to Pearl Lagoon

Outside of Pearl Lagoon

The Water Board is very serious about making a big splash with the Water System Celebration.  Several people were on the church grounds raking and cleaning when we arrived for breakfast.

 No telling how long they'd been working, but they had already collected 3 LARGE bags of trash that had been littering the grounds.   (It's too bad they didn't go to the far side of the church where there was a large quantity of broken glass.  I'm astonished with all the children playing around there, that someone hasn't been gashed, but as far as I know, it hasn't happened)    Breakfast was omelette, white cheese and yogurt.

We began class-- not to teach new concepts, but to help them organize for their future classes and to go over the children's materials we brought.  We packed up all our teaching supplies into the large red duffle bag and cleaned up our teaching mess for the Celebration.   We piled into a borrowed pick-up with Aaron driving and little Aaron in my lap.  With 5 1/2 folks in the cab and 4 in the back we headed out.  Lunch was at a restaurant on the lagoon- very nice location, interesting food.  I had chicken in Creole sauce

I have a "thing" for strange little cars.

Monday- last day of actual class

Huge downpour this morning-- lasted over an hour.  Lots of mud and wet chickens.

Breakfast was toast, white cheese, fruit and yogurt-- we haven't had the same meal repeated yet.  So far we've had  11 meals and all have been different and unique.    Debbie, our own personal caterer (and Sugey's sister) is an amazing cook.

Our official last day of class began with the "teachers in training" teaching one or two new students and then we gave them the planned 3rd lesson.  All of our lessons, whether Bible story, health lesson, or activities, all are concerned with "healthy" water.  Today's Bible story was Jesus and the woman at the well, which the students acted out.  The health lessons all revolve around how to use the newly clean water.

Lunch was carne asada, rice and mystery vegetables- purple and white with carrots (all cooked).
These 2 young men, Deyvon and Egin, were trained to operate the system and to be sure it is maintained properly.  They will be the only paid employees of the water system.

After lunch, the guys discovered iron in the water, which did not compromise the "healthiness" of the water much, but which gave it a rusty dark look.  Another filter was ordered from Blue Field, because the local ferreterria didn't carry filters like that.  It was put on a panga headed our way and arrived in Kukra Hill mid afternoon to be installed immediately.  While it was in transit, Pastor Aaron,  his wife, Sugey, Pastor Kate, and I rode around K.Hill delivering invitations to the town's dignitaries to attend the celebration for the water system tomorrow night.  He is hoping for 70 people to attend the festivities.   We delivered to the mayor, the area governor, the clinic, the schools, we tried to deliver to the Catholic priest, but his gate was locked and apparently wasn't in town.


During our travels we saw a man on horseback, herding a bull who wasn't cooperating.  

After delivering, we drive to Kukra Hill (not the town but the actual HILL)  one of the highest points around.  We also drove to the Palm Oil Plant where many townspeople are employed.  We saw a man herding water buffaloes which are used to pull trailers of palm berries used to make the oil.

We returned about time for supper which was carne asada, rice and beans, banana chips and white cheese.

At the beginning of the trip, Harry gave each of us 2500 cordobas and $50 U.S so if one of us was robbed, we'd still enough money to pay our bills.  This evening, we re-pooled our Cordobas to allow Harry to pay for our rooms.  The rooms were very reasonably priced compared to the Best Western in Managua-- my room was the equivalent of $15 per day X 6 days.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Kukra Hill.

A day of worship and meetings-- Sunday March 6

Dane was here, too-- thanx, D for the pic

I dressed for church today in a long dress and walked to breakfast.  We had a breakfast tamale with pork inside.

Sunday school (for children) was held at 8:30 with singing in age groups.  They don't have much SS curriculum or a separate place to meet other than the sanctuary of the church bldg.  They ring the church bell really loud and long before services.  REALLY LOUD!  
Walter is preaching this morning- he hasn't exactly written anything just has made notes.  Pastor Aaron talked Gary, Dane and me into singing a trio during the offering.  We did okay, not great, not bad, just okay.  Walter did very well.  There were about 40-50 at worship which was loud and very energetic.

 Aaron is a very talented musician.  He plays the keyboard by ear and doesn't even seem to look at it while he plays.

Lunch was carne asada, carrots, small potato, squash, fried plantains and of course, rice.

Aaron, Jr.

 After lunch I played with Aaron, Jr (3 yrs old) while Pastor Kate accompanied Pastor Aaron on his shut in visits.

At 3, I attended the Water Board meeting to discuss their oversight issues of cost of water, salary of system operators.  This group of people will meet once a month to keep track of number of gallons of water produced/ number of bottles sold/ number of hours worked and number of classes and students taught.

While I was attending the meeting, the guys were working on the filtration system trying to get it finished by Monday so they could shock it and check for leaks.

bottle washing station

getting close to done

The evening worship service was less well attended- about 20, and Walter spoke again.  There were "dueling"worship services at that time.  A Pentecostal church across the street had its amps turned up to full volume and they might as well have been in the same room.   Their volume came and went, but mostly stayed.

Supper was fajitas and an orange.

We're close to finished- one more class and the system should be working tomorrow.

Saturday, March 5- Classes continue

With the roosters' help, we were all up and walking to breakfast in plenty of time for breakfast.  Some of the houses are quite uniquely painted, others just beside them are unpainted and tiny.

We learned that Nicaragua time is not always the same as ours.  Students finally ambled in about 9:20 with 4 new students and missing 2 of yesterday's.  We let them teach the new  students first and then taught all those present the day 2 lesson.

Part of the activity was to act out the parting of the Red Sea- and Moses striking the rock to get water (Yep, water related Bible stories)   They really got into the skit  and seemed to have a great time- especially the folks who portrayed Moses and Pharaoh. I had made 3 banners (one for each church involved) on which we would put hand prints.  One saying Gracias to First Pres, Richmond, another saying Gracias to Westminster and the third for the Kukra Hill church to keep with a reminder that cleans hands = healthy bodies.  It is a messy activity, but we accomplished it with a minimum of problems.
Lunch consisted of fish, veggies, rice and fruit with a sort of pie dessert.

After lunch we cleaned up all our stuff, packed the big red duffle bag and tidied up the church for worship in the morning.  We moved our chairs and "table" out of the way.

Thanks, Dane for the pic.

Guys were still toiling away in the water building, so Pastor Aaron offered to take Kate and me on a tour of the town.  First we walked a couple of blocks to the river, which legend says is inhabited by a serpent, where some ladies were doing laundry.  This is where Pastor Aaron baptises adults.

After our walking tour we drove out to see where the government has built houses for indigenous people (Meskit indians), saw lots of plants (banana trees, coconut trees, papaya and others I've not heard of.  We went to Irene's house (she's head of the water board and also in my class) to see her deer.

She has 2 doe and 2 fawns that are quite friendly.  One of the does licked my hand.  Baseball is very popular in Nicaragua, more popular than football/soccer.  We went by a baseball field and Kate met one of Aaron's nephews in uniform.

Aaron chopped "sweet" coconuts on his property and had so many they would hardly fit in the car.

When we returned the system was all together, but there were some problems with fittings and getting it to function smoothly.  There were leaks.  I should mention at this point that 2 young men were learning the operation and maintenance of the system as well as assisting in the construction.  These 2 will be the operators and responsible for the continued functioning and upkeep of the filtration system.  Much of the health of the community rides on these young shoulders.

We went back to our room for a bit and while reading on the porch, I watched a man cut the grass with a wicked looking machete.

Supper was Nicaraguan tacos-- shreaded beef with cabbage salad, and yep, rice.

Walked back to the room, talked awhile on the porch and went to bed.
No classes tomorrow- we will be in worship at 10:30 and 6 pm.  Walter will preach (he's the youngest person who isn't a pastor).

Class begins- Friday March 4

From my door watching a rain cloud

While I'm not used to sleeping with a fan on, it felt good because of the humidity and lack of A/C.  A friendly neighborhood rooster woke me at 4, then I took the first of a week of COLD showers.  There is a tank of water for showers/bathroom faucets-- whatever temp the water in the tank is, that's the temp of the water in the pipes.  Only one knob in either place.  I was reminded of a saying Lily learned at daycare a couple of years ago-- "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit".  I learned later that a warm shower could be enjoyed in mid afternoon.

We had rain showers most every morning.  I sat on the porch and read every morning, enjoying the coolness of the rain.    One afternoon, the rain hit a hot tin roof and evaporated as fast as it hit the roof.

Breakfast was ham and eggs with of course rice and some yogurt.  The guys were anxious to have coffee of which there was none.  When they were given the option, it was instant coffee with tepid water.  The water was barely warm enough to make tea.  I do think this was a disappointment to the heavy duty coffee drinkers in the group. My guess is that our cook and our hosts do not have hot beverages for breakfast.

The water building before our improvements-- before we could come to bring the filtration system, the well and water building with electricity had to be finished and in place.  According to stories I heard, the electrician just finished wiring the building less than 2 weeks before we arrived.

Dane's pics.

Pastor Kate and I went to the church and set up for class.  We unpacked the 60 pound bag and organized the papers that had been brought for this and future classes.

Big Red- 60#'s of teaching supplies

The reason everything was so heavy was that we were instructed at clean water U to prepare for 150-200 people to take the class before we come back next year to be sure all is in working order.

Students arrived at 9-- we talked about ourselves and asked about them and their families.  We begin with Creation information and move from there to germ science and songs about germs.  We had 9 students that first day--Sugey, Lindsy, Lizbeth, Katia, Ivania, Isabel and Leonardo were all eager and anxious to learn.

 The majority of them spoke pretty understandable English, but only some could read English.  Our first health activity was using Agar in petri dishes to grow germs from their hands and from the well water.  The program is planned for our "teachers in training" to teach new students in the afternoon, but that didn't happen.  Not sure whether no one got the message, or whether no one wanted to come-- Doesn't matter- we worked around that stipulation.

The electricity went out in the neighborhood which hampered the progress of the filtration system some.  After organizing for Saturday's class, Pastor Kate and I walked back to the hotel and relaxed as well as possible without electricity.

At the appointed time we walked back for supper which consisted of casaba root,  a little meat, cabbage salad and pork rinds- followed by an interesting cake.  All our meals were served in the minister's house and most were brought to us already "plated"

Walked back to hotel using flashlight-- seems really safe to be out walking after dark-