Thursday, August 18, 2016

WE MUST NOT FAIL! - HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS FROM 1986 plus ONE MEMORABLE LIFE & DEATH EVENT--AURA'S PROJECT "GARBAGE DUMP or BASURERO"

Previous post
1. Ariel & Ines Andersen CHULUC SCHOOL,  2. Mario's scholarship,  3. Sta. Cruz Projects,   4. Aura's scholarship

Click for:  Print version of following--Newsletter #11 August 2016

SCROLL DOWN for REPORT ON "PROJECT GARBAGE DUMP"

THE HISTORICAL REVIEW continues with 
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS 1986:  

ONE HISTORICAL EVENT THAT COMES TO MIND FOR 1986
On November 30, 1986 I made a supervisory trip to Patzicia using my relatively new 4x4 Toyota diesel pickup seen in the photo below, but had on the camper shell covering the back.
  
In Guatemala City I picked up a number of items:  Some machinery for the carpentry shop, a public address system for a school in Santa Cruz, plus a number of Christmas presents for the family and extended family at the Central House. 
As I was ready to head for home, I remembered that one of my employees, Lorenzo Caal, had asked me to get him a BIBLE.  
I stopped across the street from an Evangelical Book Store and went to get the BIBLE. On return to the pickup I jumped up into the cab, immediately opening the window as it was hot, and reached across to roll down the window on the other side....when, all of a sudden the driver's side door came open and a young fellow pushed his way behind the wheel, jamming a 9mm. pistol in my ribs.  A hand reached in the other widow I had just opened, unlocked the door and jumped in with a .38 caliber revolver jammed in my other side.
With me scrunched between the car-jackers, we drove off on the highway leading to the Central Highlands.  As they turned a corner, a policeman was nearby and they warned me to not do anything stupid.  As we drove they talked about how the country's problems could only be solved by killing the politicians, and the rich people who had cars, like me.
I began talking real fast explaining I wasn't a typical "rich guy" rather had just come from supervising a school we operated for needy Indians, and quickly mentioned the Center for Indian Development at Valparaiso, the orphans and needy we took care of, and the out-reach projects we had in many villages, and in Cunen.  The clincher was telling them that a guerrilla leader in our area had old the guerrillas to leave me and the Valparaiso Plantation alone because of treating the workers fairly, and our work helping the needy.
All of a sudden the head honcho, who was driving, turned off the highway into a residential area, stopped and said they'd let me go, and told me to get out--that's when I could have taken action if I had of had in my back pocket as usual my Seecamps .32 cal. pistol--but it was one rare trip when I wasn't armed.  I tried to grab my bunch of keys, and my attaché case, but they stopped me and rather took everything in my pockets (wallet, folding money, even coins) only leaving my dirty handkerchief! They drove off and  turned a corner out of sight.
Within less than 1 minute a Police Jeep came around the corner and I flagged them down, and quickly told them what had happened.  They said they had seen just a block or so away my pickup, with two guys looking into an attaché case on the hood of the truck. 
I jumped in with the police and we raced all over the place hoping to find them, but they had disappeared.  At the police station I gave them all the details, and then reached down underneath my dirty handkerchief for my emergency $20 bill,  and made my way to the bus station to catch the last bus for Alta Verapaz.  
On the bus, by pure coincidence, I found myself with a close friend, Marta Elena Hun, 1985 Indian Queen from San Cristobal, "Princesa Tezulutlan," and the runner-up for the National Indian Crown.

Note:  In May of this year on my supervisory trip to Guatemala, interestingly again on the bus between Guatemala City and Coban, I ran into Marta Elena Hun--the first encounter in 29 years! I'll insert our picture to the right.

In the dark, the bus stopped at the Cruce del CID and let me out, and with just a shirt on my back hiked the mile to the Central House under a tropical downpour, shocking everyone with my appearance and my story.
I had just got through paying for the truck that would be sorely missed for work and the Foundation's projects, and the next day I felt so mad and emotionally upset that I sensed it was making me physically sick--and so I got hold of myself and thanked the Lord in prayer for the blessing of being alive, and able to return to the family, and my people and our work at Valparaiso.  We still had the delivery vehicle, and the tractor & trailer for hauling,  so business could proceed as usual.  In the U.S. I had a relatively new 2x2 Mazda pickup that I soon brought back to Guatemala  to keep the Foundation projects going.  But not having a 4x4 vehicle, and the overall loss of around $28,000,  deeply affected all our work--from which we never completely  recovered.

While on the trip to the U.S. to get the Mazda pickup, the Foundation trustees agreed  to replace at least the stolen vehicle as soon as enough money was available--which  "availability" has never happened.......yet!
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NOTE:  The passing of my mother, Ines Andersen, in late 1986, and the Project in mom & dad's honor in Chuluc will be covered in the 1987 newsletters.
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"PROJECT GARBAGE DUMP"
This is not our project, rather our part in it is a scholarship the Foundation is giving to Aura Andersen who is working to complete her Master's Degree in Social Work.  Her last step is an "Internship" with 
The ASOCIACION COMUNIDAD ESPERANZA. It is a project initiated 13 years ago among the poorest of poor people who live around Coban's garbage dump, and scratch out a living sorting through the garbage for food and items they can convert into saleable items--from plastic bottles, tin cans, etc. 
You can see a 6 minute YouTube video on the project, clicking on 
Proyecto Comunidad Esperanza


The project was started by Father Sergio Godoy who started by playing soccer with the young men, and bringing "atol" for all to drink.  As he won their friendship and trust, he began raising money from his religious community in Spain, and first began helping abused and needy children and youth. It has grown to include an orphanage with 15 children, a school, recreation center, a clinic, and a dinning room where meals are served daily to 400 children and youth.



Aura's internship involves specifically studying the nutritional needs and giving classes to mothers,  children and youth, helping them to understand what is a proper diet for optimum health, and related matters. 
Her work is expanding as she becomes more knowledgeable of the problems confronted by the community.


Helping the Foundation provide a scholarship for Aura is making a huge contribution to the success of this wonderful project, and will prepare her for a lifetime of serving others.
PLEASE HELP ALL YOU CAN  
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DONATIONS FOR THE SUMMER MONTHS HAVE BEEN VERY LOW SO WE NEED YOUR HELP!

  DONATE ONLINE OR SEND YOUR DONATIONS TO:

Newsletter #11 August 2016 New "1986 Historical Documents," & 1986 Toyota Hi-jacking






Sunday, August 7, 2016

NEW HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS: 1984-85; Photo/essay "TASKS FOR WHICH WE MUST NOT FAIL"

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HISTORICAL REVIEW CONTINUES WITH 
NEW HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS FOR 1984-85
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Photo/essay for Newsletter #8 JULY 2016 
"TASKS FOR WHICH WE MUST NOT FAIL!"
 WITH UPDATING  August 7, 2016  from, 

 email Newsletter #10 August 7, 2016  PROJECT UPDATE
Just titles of previous post follow then UPDATING of projects follow:  





To the right we see an email version of said newsletter  for your information.
Click on it to ENLARGE   

AFTER ABUNDANT GRATITUDE EXPRESSED BY GUATEMALANS FOR THE FOUNDATION & DONORS
WE NOW TRY & MOVE ON WITH OUR WORK
BUT NEED HELP TO DO SO


OUR PRESENT TASKS FOR WHICH WE CAN'T FAIL!
1.  Finish the year helping the ARIEL & INES ANDERSEN CHULUC VILLAGE SCHOOL, paying the wage of one teacher, plus matching community donations to pay the monthly electric bill, nutrition program & related school needs. The need:  An average of $450/month x 12 months, for a total of $5,400/yr. with $2,700 still pending to finish this year.

Our teacher, Carmen Canux, whose wage the Foundation pays.
All the children send you their "grateful hello!"


At the "Celebration of Thanks" back in May, Don Maximo was there having come from his home on his own in his electric cart..... he expressed profound gratitude for the Foundation and its donors having blessed his life with this marvelous machine--
He couldn't imagine anyone giving him such a gift.....to actually be his!
Mario, we see here,  with his daughter, is also very appreciative of our help now half-way through his final year to finish Law School.  
We need to keep the donations coming even during our summer in the U.S. as they aren't on vacation in Guatemala and  every month need our help.
2.  Help for our volunteer Regional Director, Mario de la Cruz, to finish his last year in Law School.    The need:  Including living & educational expenses=$7,847/year with $3,882 still pending to finish the year. 

WE NEED MORE HELP TO MEET THIS COMMITMENT! 
Here we see Mario, his wife, Elena, and their two children, along with me and my adopted 
   daughter, Aura.    
FOLLOW A COUPLE OF PHOTOS JUST RECEIVED FROM THE SUPERVIORY TRIP
Visiting Don Maximo in his home


Breakfast with Mario & Elena in Patzicia -- and me with their son.

3.  Help Aura Andersen, my adopted daughter, finish her Master's Degree in Social Work.  She has suffered greatly being separated from her family since 2002, due to a terrible injustice in the U.S. Immigration system to give  her a U.S. Resident Visa, during which time I tried to not waste time by helping her get her university education.  My funds were eventually exhausted, so I have requested Foundation help, in a sense helping me as compensation for having served as a volunteer for all these years.
  She is now working in a necessary internship with a project under the direction of a Catholic priest who has a fascinating project helping a whole community of very poor people who live and survive in the garbage dump  in the Coban area.  We will be reporting with photos of her internship. 
The need:  Approximately $400/month for the remainder of the year.
4.  PROJECTS IN THE SANTA CRUZ VERAPAZ AREA, supervised by Federico Veliz (Pacay).  Federico has worked with us as a volunteer for at least 43 years, this year distributing educational materials to over 4,000 school children in the rural villages of his area, plus much more, including recently organizing and providing transportation for me  to  the events reported on during June.
We have now provided the money Federico needed to get new tires & fix his brakes.
Here you see me with Federico during one of the Events of the Supervisory trip.
THE URBAN SCHOOL IN SANTA CRUZ  NEEDED  OUR HELP WHICH WE HAVE NOW PROVIDED
Follows pictures of the project to the beginning of August--soon to be completed
 For several months we have been helping the government URBAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in Santa Cruz with their urgent need of a water tank.  The school you will see in the following pictures is an elementary school in the morning, and in the afternoon the facility is used for a high school level technical/vocational institute.  


We began helping them construct the base for the needed water tank, and now have added re-constructing the deteriorated stairway up to the school, as well as a needed retaining wall.  We need around $600 to complete this project.  



The project pictures below include some of the high school level students hiking out into rural areas to help several rural schools.  You will note them crossing a suspension bridge, which was also a Foundation project a number of years ago.

NEW PROGRESS WITH THE Santa Cruz Verapaz URBAN SCHOOL PROJECT
 We now see above the water tank mounted on the raised platform we constructed








FEDERICO VELIZ, OUR REGIONAL DIRECTOR HONORED AT GALA EVENT
& OUR  INDIAN QUEEN REIGNS OVER THE VERAPACES
On June 16, 2016 Federico was one of two retired teachers honored, by the Association of Teachers in the Region  for his humanitarian service as a volunteer representative of the Guatemalan Foundation over a period of many years, and literally hundreds of projects he has spearheaded and supervised.    You can see by the pictures I'll insert below that this was a big event attended by all the important people of the area. The Foundation's work has been blessed by having the partnership of this great man, who deserves our gratitude, respect and support in dedicating his life to the needy.


On June 18 in the Regional "TEZULUTLAN" Indian Queen competition in Coban,  the Santa Cruz Queen, Dora Patricia Caal Ho, sponsored by the Guatemalan Foundation, won and became what is known as
"LA PRINCESA TEZULUTLAN"
She will now compete in the National Indian Folklore Festival, at the end of July, the winner becoming known as
"THE DAUGHTER OF THE KING"
To the right we see Dora Patricia sitting. 

PLEASE HELP THE FOUNDATION FINISH ITS WORK!