Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Elections
This past Sunday the people of Honduras voted in the general elections. Since then, the counting of votes has been very slow, and the two main opposing candidates for president have both claimed victory with a lot of confidence and passion. Please pray that the process of determining the actual winner of the presidential election will be peaceful, transparent, and that the final result will be accepted by the society at large. The final votes are supposed to be counted early Thursday morning. There have been plenty of marches this week, and it is almost certain that there will be more. There is a lot of misinformation circulating, and plenty of accusations of fraud. So, we appreciate your prayers for peace and unity in Honduras.
Friday, July 21, 2017
Sunday, December 4, 2016
El Coyolar, Olancho with a group from New West
In the first week of November I was able to spend some time in a community called El Coyolar with with a church partnership group from New Westminster CRC (British Columbia). The community members and the group from "New West" were working on an addition to the education center in the community. This center allows high school aged youth to get an education without having to pay a lot of transportation fees to attend classes outside the community. Since there is still no electric power in El Coyolar, the computers of the education center are powered by solar panels and batteries.
Back in 2009 when I was volunteering with Diaconia Nacional (one of World Renew's partners in Honduras) I worked a fair amount in El Coyolar. It was motivating to return seven years later and see how the community had changed. Many of the houses had gone from having dirt floors and walls of adobe to having cement floors and plastered walls.
The leaders of the community also seem more organized. They have a documented community plan and are working toward meeting the goals they have established. They are busy trying to raise money by selling cattle as a contribution for the project of bringing electric power to the community.
Back in 2009 I got to know Raul because he was one of our agriculture program promotors. He has a lot of good leadership skills, and he is still putting them to use. It was good to see a lot of the fruit trees we planted with Raul back in that time maturing and giving production. He has an experimental plot of corn using conservation agriculture principles that he learned from World-Renew / Diaconia Nacional. I was impressed at how much better this corn looked compared with a conventional plot just on the other side of the road.
It is clear that the partnership between El Coyolar and New West has made an impact on the people of El Coyolar and the people of New West over the past five years, and that the work Diaconia Nacional is doing in the community is helping people improve their livelihoods.
Pastor Andrew from New West was able to continue a Timothy leadership training for pastors during the trip. The pastors traveled from surrounding towns to El Coyolar to receive the training. Here he is with Arturo from Diaconia Nacional.
Digging to set foundations for the new classroom (notice the existing classroom and solar panels in the background). I know it looks like we are doing a lot of leaning on shovels, but trust me we all worked hard and got plenty of blisters. Some youth from the community were the hardest workers of all. They will be able to say they built their classroom with their own two hands.
The leaders of the community also seem more organized. They have a documented community plan and are working toward meeting the goals they have established. They are busy trying to raise money by selling cattle as a contribution for the project of bringing electric power to the community.
Back in 2009 I got to know Raul because he was one of our agriculture program promotors. He has a lot of good leadership skills, and he is still putting them to use. It was good to see a lot of the fruit trees we planted with Raul back in that time maturing and giving production. He has an experimental plot of corn using conservation agriculture principles that he learned from World-Renew / Diaconia Nacional. I was impressed at how much better this corn looked compared with a conventional plot just on the other side of the road.
The experimental plot of corn grown with plenty of compost and organic matter added to the soil
The corn right next door (50 feet away) looks stressed from lack of moisture
Raul is on the right with his daughter
It is clear that the partnership between El Coyolar and New West has made an impact on the people of El Coyolar and the people of New West over the past five years, and that the work Diaconia Nacional is doing in the community is helping people improve their livelihoods.
New West team cooking a special meal to share with the whole community (it was very good)
Landscape of the countryside of El Coyolar from a nearby hilltop
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Project Management Training
One of the first things that I did when I started working for World Renew was to attend a week long project management training called PMD Pro (Project Management for Development Professionals).
http://www.apmg-international.com/pmd-pro.aspx
It was a very intense training, held in Valle de Angeles, Honduras. Staff from many partner organizations around Central America attended including Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala.
It was a good exercise to get me thinking, reading, and writing in Spanish again. The manual was 173 pages and the course culminated in an exam with 75 questions which you needed to pass in order to be certified. My engineering friends will be glad to know that the training included work breakdown structures (WBS), network diagrams, the critical path method, gantt charts, and of course, earned value (etc).
Many of us stayed up late into the night, and got up early to study for the exam. This shared challenge made for a good environment to get to know colleagues. It felt like we were in University again.
I am happy to see that this level of professionalism and rigor is being applied to development projects and programs that World Renew is involved in. The training provided a good framework for carrying out my job as a program consultant, and also provided some special tools that apply specifically to the complexities of community development. I´m also happy that I passed the exam.
http://www.apmg-international.com/pmd-pro.aspx
It was a very intense training, held in Valle de Angeles, Honduras. Staff from many partner organizations around Central America attended including Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala.
It was a good exercise to get me thinking, reading, and writing in Spanish again. The manual was 173 pages and the course culminated in an exam with 75 questions which you needed to pass in order to be certified. My engineering friends will be glad to know that the training included work breakdown structures (WBS), network diagrams, the critical path method, gantt charts, and of course, earned value (etc).
Many of us stayed up late into the night, and got up early to study for the exam. This shared challenge made for a good environment to get to know colleagues. It felt like we were in University again.
I am happy to see that this level of professionalism and rigor is being applied to development projects and programs that World Renew is involved in. The training provided a good framework for carrying out my job as a program consultant, and also provided some special tools that apply specifically to the complexities of community development. I´m also happy that I passed the exam.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Olancho and Olanchito
One of my first activities after arriving to Honduras and getting the family settled was to review the work of two of the partner organizations along with the Food Security and Agriculture Technical Adviser at World Renew: Angela Boss.
We traveled out to Olancho, where Katie and I had lived for two years, to visit the communities where Diaconia Nacional is working. It was great to be welcomed by a lot of familiar faces in the communities. I was also impressed by the work that Cesar is doing with the producers in that area. They had set up test plots where they are experimenting with different planting and fertilizing methods that can conserve moisture in this dry valley and greatly increase corn yields. The side-by-side comparisons showed clearly that the new practices were making a big difference.
For me it was great to see Cesar having success in his role with Diaconia. Six years ago I got to know Cesar because he was involved in many of the youth activities that the Honduran Christian Reformed Churches were doing in the area. Even at that time it was clear that he had good potential for leadership. He is from Guacoca, one of the communities served by Diaconia in that valley. We visited Dos Quebradas, Los Charcos, and La Avispa.
From there we drove back to Tegucigalpa, then took a ten hour car ride to Olanchito to visit the communities where Alfalit works. Carlos, Alfalit's coordinator, took us up into the mountains on some pretty rough roads. We saw lots of tilapia and snail production.
We also met a farmer who uses velvet bean as a cover crop, which allows him to get good yields while buying less fertilizer while not burning the hillsides to prepare the land. Carlos is a busy man. He has 11 communities to support in a variety of programs including credit unions, plantain producer groups, conservation agriculture, agroforestry, honey production, and more.
Later, on back in our office I was compiling data from a community agriculture diagnostic and I did some conversions to compare Honduras' average corn yield to what I am used to seeing in Minnesota. The results were so surprising that I thought I had made a calculation error. The average yield of corn in Honduras is between 15 and 30 bushels per acre, the US average is around 180 according to the USDA. http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=corn&graph=yield
Needless to say there is a lot of room for improvement. Maybe it is an unfair comparison to look at farming the flat prairies versus the rocky hillsides, but it is clear from the work being done here that a few small changes can make a big impact which can help a lot of people have a more stable food supply, and better incomes.
Experimental Plot, Dos Quebradas
Cesar, Ag Program Coordinator, Diaconia Nacional
Showing off the results of worm composting
From there we drove back to Tegucigalpa, then took a ten hour car ride to Olanchito to visit the communities where Alfalit works. Carlos, Alfalit's coordinator, took us up into the mountains on some pretty rough roads. We saw lots of tilapia and snail production.
Tilapia and Snail Pond
We also met a farmer who uses velvet bean as a cover crop, which allows him to get good yields while buying less fertilizer while not burning the hillsides to prepare the land. Carlos is a busy man. He has 11 communities to support in a variety of programs including credit unions, plantain producer groups, conservation agriculture, agroforestry, honey production, and more.
Hillside cornfield that used velvet bean cover crop with no burning before planting
Later, on back in our office I was compiling data from a community agriculture diagnostic and I did some conversions to compare Honduras' average corn yield to what I am used to seeing in Minnesota. The results were so surprising that I thought I had made a calculation error. The average yield of corn in Honduras is between 15 and 30 bushels per acre, the US average is around 180 according to the USDA. http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=corn&graph=yield
Needless to say there is a lot of room for improvement. Maybe it is an unfair comparison to look at farming the flat prairies versus the rocky hillsides, but it is clear from the work being done here that a few small changes can make a big impact which can help a lot of people have a more stable food supply, and better incomes.
Friday, July 22, 2016
We're back!
By Katie
It's high time I get around to writing a blog post about this huge life change we've had. On June 30 we arrived in Honduras and started settling into our new home. Since we haven't done much about communication, I'll start at the very beginning. Matt accepted a job with World Renew (the new name of the organization that we went with before when we lived in Honduras). He's now a Program Consultant, which means he works with programs such as the agriculture program he was a part of before, and helps them design and carry out goals so as to stay on track with grants. We live in the city which is a pretty big change from the small town we lived in before. This time we have a kitchen sink and cupboards! It feels pretty swanky.
The kids and I are settling into new life here. We still haven't received our boxes that we shipped from home, so we're running a bare-bones operation around here. The kids get a little lost sometimes, so they look to me more often to guide them for what to do. We spend lots of time outside, but there's a lot that I have to do inside too.
I originally was thinking I might stay home and maybe even home school for the first year. I can only find 5-day options for preschool and I thought that was a little much. But, a few days into living here, we all decided that homeschooling was a bad idea and that five days of preschool sounds great! I hear from other moms that there are way fewer options for getting out such as moms Bible studies, library story times, fewer parks to visit, all of which help make five days of preschool make sense. I've applied for a job at a Pre-K-12 school where the kids could go to preschool and I'm scouting out other options too. Would you pray with me for discernment and opportunity in finding a good fit for our family? Thank you!
Matt's been gone all week out in various communities, some of which were ones that he worked with when we lived in the department of Olancho. Hopefully he'll have some pictures and stories to share when he gets back.
It's high time I get around to writing a blog post about this huge life change we've had. On June 30 we arrived in Honduras and started settling into our new home. Since we haven't done much about communication, I'll start at the very beginning. Matt accepted a job with World Renew (the new name of the organization that we went with before when we lived in Honduras). He's now a Program Consultant, which means he works with programs such as the agriculture program he was a part of before, and helps them design and carry out goals so as to stay on track with grants. We live in the city which is a pretty big change from the small town we lived in before. This time we have a kitchen sink and cupboards! It feels pretty swanky.
The kids and I are settling into new life here. We still haven't received our boxes that we shipped from home, so we're running a bare-bones operation around here. The kids get a little lost sometimes, so they look to me more often to guide them for what to do. We spend lots of time outside, but there's a lot that I have to do inside too.
I originally was thinking I might stay home and maybe even home school for the first year. I can only find 5-day options for preschool and I thought that was a little much. But, a few days into living here, we all decided that homeschooling was a bad idea and that five days of preschool sounds great! I hear from other moms that there are way fewer options for getting out such as moms Bible studies, library story times, fewer parks to visit, all of which help make five days of preschool make sense. I've applied for a job at a Pre-K-12 school where the kids could go to preschool and I'm scouting out other options too. Would you pray with me for discernment and opportunity in finding a good fit for our family? Thank you!
Matt's been gone all week out in various communities, some of which were ones that he worked with when we lived in the department of Olancho. Hopefully he'll have some pictures and stories to share when he gets back.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Hydraulic Ram Pump
In September I was able to take a leave of absence from work and spend a month working with Walter, the new agriculture and environment program coordinator. It felt very good to be back in Honduras! I got to see a lot of old friends, and the looks on peoples faces when I showed up on their doorsteps was priceless. I think many people thought they would never see me again.
Anyway, during this trip we tried out an interesting pump design that uses the flow of water to pump water up a hill.
It is called a hydraulic ram pump. The design I used is from Clemson University. http://www.clemson.edu/irrig/equip/ram.htm
So, thank you Clemson. I assume since you posted this design info on the internet that it was fair game for me to use.
I did update the design a bit (basically stripped it down of anything not totally necessary to make it cheaper and lighter). One was built and tested here in Minneapolis which I brought with me in an extra suitcase. We built another one in Honduras. The components turned out to be cheaper in Honduras which was a nice surprise. Who knows about the quality, only time will tell.
The basic concept of the pump is to capture a large flow of water going down a decline, convert some of it's momentum into pressure, and use this pressure to pump a smaller portion of the original water up hill to the destination.
Here is a video of it installed in a field of one of the promoters in the community of Nueva Palestina, Patuca.
Here is Omar and his little girl showing the resulting flow of water up the hill in the plot where the group is growing plantains.
I did make up a little training manual in Spanish much of which is just the Clemson material translated.
You can also access the document by clicking here.
I also need to Thank Engineer 775 on Youtube for the video ram pump lessons (1,2, and 3).
Some of the design changes are taken from him as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y_WWxWdn5A
Anyway, during this trip we tried out an interesting pump design that uses the flow of water to pump water up a hill.
It is called a hydraulic ram pump. The design I used is from Clemson University. http://www.clemson.edu/irrig/equip/ram.htm
So, thank you Clemson. I assume since you posted this design info on the internet that it was fair game for me to use.
I did update the design a bit (basically stripped it down of anything not totally necessary to make it cheaper and lighter). One was built and tested here in Minneapolis which I brought with me in an extra suitcase. We built another one in Honduras. The components turned out to be cheaper in Honduras which was a nice surprise. Who knows about the quality, only time will tell.
The basic concept of the pump is to capture a large flow of water going down a decline, convert some of it's momentum into pressure, and use this pressure to pump a smaller portion of the original water up hill to the destination.
Here is a video of it installed in a field of one of the promoters in the community of Nueva Palestina, Patuca.
Here is Omar and his little girl showing the resulting flow of water up the hill in the plot where the group is growing plantains.
I did make up a little training manual in Spanish much of which is just the Clemson material translated.
You can also access the document by clicking here.
I also need to Thank Engineer 775 on Youtube for the video ram pump lessons (1,2, and 3).
Some of the design changes are taken from him as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y_WWxWdn5A
Monday, October 17, 2011
Pila Project Update
By Matt:
It has been almost a full year since our last post on this blog. A lot has changed. We now live and work in Minneapolis, but we still keep in touch with our Honduran friends, and we had the chance to go back recently. Katie and I took a week off in late August to go visit our friends in Honduras.
Here is an update on the water storage tank project that many of you helped support. In 2011, during the dry season the community members in El Guanabano along with the support of Diaconia Nacional built the "Pilas".
Here are two of my favorite people in the world: Toribio Reyes and his wife Genoveva. Toribio likes to joke around and is very animated. He also knows about a million hilarious honduran "sayings" which are really hard to translate. Genoveva is a very sweet honduran mom. They thanked us over and over for helping out with the Pila. They are very proud of it, and of the new house they have built. I was there when the old house fell over because the wood had rotted out. That was a bad time for them, but now it is nice to see them getting ahead.
Here is Maria with here pila. It was raining on this day, and part of the project included gutters so that rain water could be easily gathered and stored.
That brings up one of the difficulties the project has encountered. The water project that previously served this community has come to a halt because the electricity bill for the electric pumps that move the water is too high for the community to pay. That, combined with the fact that even when the system was functioning a lot of people didn't get water regularly made people not very motivated to pay the monthly bill (everyone got charged a base price regardless of usage). The price isn't very high, but most of these people make around $5 per day working in the fields as hired hands. It is hard to make ends meet with that kind of income, especially if you have a bunch of kids in school.
To solve this problem these folks have decided to dig a well closer to their group of homes so that they can have a nearby source of water that is dependable. They plan to dig the well in the dry season of 2012. It will be dug by hand by the community members. Diaconia will provide materials, and technical assistance of an experienced builder who knows how to dig wells in this way.
Sadly, in the time we have been gone another house has fallen over due to rain and rotting wood. Noel's house fell over when nobody was home, thankfully nobody was hurt. He is working on a new one, slowly. Walter, the environment program coordinator with Diaconia is working to organize a community work day where everyone pitches in to help put up a new house for Noel, his wife Claudia and there little boy.
Here is a picture of a bean called Alacin (a type of cowpea) that we promoted in this community. It is producing well and is edible as green beans and also as dried beans. It is also used as a cover crop for helping maintain soil fertility.
Here is a local mother preparing some of the beans to be eaten.
To date they have built 7 pilas. A little money is left over, which will be used to build the well this spring. The funding has focused on a sub-community of El Guanabano called El Encinal where the need is greatest. It was decided to meet this need first, including building the well, before spreading out with more pilas because the other houses are lower down, and have more access to good water. The full amount of funding for the project has not been met yet, but I believe it was around 3/4 of the way there as of August.
I did some checking, and any other funds that are given to CRWRC for this water project will be used in this community, even if the amount raised exceeds the original budget.
Thanks for all who helped support this effort and have helped our friends have better access to water. They thank God for this blessing.
We will keep you updated as we hear more about the project.
Also, I was able to go back to Honduras for a month this past Septepmber, so I will be blogging little bits of that from time to time.
-Matt DK
It has been almost a full year since our last post on this blog. A lot has changed. We now live and work in Minneapolis, but we still keep in touch with our Honduran friends, and we had the chance to go back recently. Katie and I took a week off in late August to go visit our friends in Honduras.
Here is an update on the water storage tank project that many of you helped support. In 2011, during the dry season the community members in El Guanabano along with the support of Diaconia Nacional built the "Pilas".
Here are two of my favorite people in the world: Toribio Reyes and his wife Genoveva. Toribio likes to joke around and is very animated. He also knows about a million hilarious honduran "sayings" which are really hard to translate. Genoveva is a very sweet honduran mom. They thanked us over and over for helping out with the Pila. They are very proud of it, and of the new house they have built. I was there when the old house fell over because the wood had rotted out. That was a bad time for them, but now it is nice to see them getting ahead.
Here is Maria with here pila. It was raining on this day, and part of the project included gutters so that rain water could be easily gathered and stored.
That brings up one of the difficulties the project has encountered. The water project that previously served this community has come to a halt because the electricity bill for the electric pumps that move the water is too high for the community to pay. That, combined with the fact that even when the system was functioning a lot of people didn't get water regularly made people not very motivated to pay the monthly bill (everyone got charged a base price regardless of usage). The price isn't very high, but most of these people make around $5 per day working in the fields as hired hands. It is hard to make ends meet with that kind of income, especially if you have a bunch of kids in school.
To solve this problem these folks have decided to dig a well closer to their group of homes so that they can have a nearby source of water that is dependable. They plan to dig the well in the dry season of 2012. It will be dug by hand by the community members. Diaconia will provide materials, and technical assistance of an experienced builder who knows how to dig wells in this way.
Sadly, in the time we have been gone another house has fallen over due to rain and rotting wood. Noel's house fell over when nobody was home, thankfully nobody was hurt. He is working on a new one, slowly. Walter, the environment program coordinator with Diaconia is working to organize a community work day where everyone pitches in to help put up a new house for Noel, his wife Claudia and there little boy.
Here is a picture of a bean called Alacin (a type of cowpea) that we promoted in this community. It is producing well and is edible as green beans and also as dried beans. It is also used as a cover crop for helping maintain soil fertility.
Here is a local mother preparing some of the beans to be eaten.To date they have built 7 pilas. A little money is left over, which will be used to build the well this spring. The funding has focused on a sub-community of El Guanabano called El Encinal where the need is greatest. It was decided to meet this need first, including building the well, before spreading out with more pilas because the other houses are lower down, and have more access to good water. The full amount of funding for the project has not been met yet, but I believe it was around 3/4 of the way there as of August.
I did some checking, and any other funds that are given to CRWRC for this water project will be used in this community, even if the amount raised exceeds the original budget.
Thanks for all who helped support this effort and have helped our friends have better access to water. They thank God for this blessing.
We will keep you updated as we hear more about the project.
Also, I was able to go back to Honduras for a month this past Septepmber, so I will be blogging little bits of that from time to time.
-Matt DK
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Water Tanks for El Guanabano
Many people have been asking us if there is a way to keep supporting the work that we were doing in Honduras. At this point we are asking our supporters to stop donating to the "Matt and Katie DeKam" account. We encourage you to continue supporting the ongoing work of CRWRC by giving to their general fund. Or if you want to make a difference in the lives of our dear friends in el Guanabano you can send your donations to CRWRC and write "Water Storage Honduras-505848" on the check or donation card.
Just before we left this water tank project was approved.
Here is a powerpoint that will explain the project a little more:
Every little bit counts, so please consider helping bring clean water to these families.
Just before we left this water tank project was approved.
Here is a powerpoint that will explain the project a little more:
Every little bit counts, so please consider helping bring clean water to these families.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Insured!
By Katie
About 10 minutes ago we got a call from our insurance agent with the good news: Matt got accepted for insurance! Thank you for everyone who was praying for that specific need. Once again God opened the door just in time, his time.
Matt is hoping to start chemotherapy this week sometime. He'll have two strong doses with three weeks of recovery after each dose. We had spent a lot of the last week looking around and settled on an oncology clinic about a half hour from where we're living. The social worker, financial counselor and doctor there have really gone to bat for our case, so it was a great choice.
In the mean time I am hoping to substitute teach, although I still haven't gotten a call to work. Today I'm applying to another school district. Matt's still putting in a lot of time on reports and things that still need to be wrapped up from Honduras and I've been translating some of those things when he's done.
We're looking forward to getting rolling on the treatments and now that we are both insured, that will be a little easier on the mind. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and encouragement.
About 10 minutes ago we got a call from our insurance agent with the good news: Matt got accepted for insurance! Thank you for everyone who was praying for that specific need. Once again God opened the door just in time, his time.
Matt is hoping to start chemotherapy this week sometime. He'll have two strong doses with three weeks of recovery after each dose. We had spent a lot of the last week looking around and settled on an oncology clinic about a half hour from where we're living. The social worker, financial counselor and doctor there have really gone to bat for our case, so it was a great choice.
In the mean time I am hoping to substitute teach, although I still haven't gotten a call to work. Today I'm applying to another school district. Matt's still putting in a lot of time on reports and things that still need to be wrapped up from Honduras and I've been translating some of those things when he's done.
We're looking forward to getting rolling on the treatments and now that we are both insured, that will be a little easier on the mind. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and encouragement.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Back in Minnesota
By Katie
After a whirlwind series of goodbyes in Honduras, we boarded the plane last Thursday and arrived in Minnesota. We spent the weekend with our families who all drove up to see us and bring us our fall and winter clothes. We're getting things all set up now and still working on wrapping up unfinished business in Honduras too.
Matt will have his first doctor appointment with an oncologist on Friday, so we're really looking forward to that. We had the clinic translate all his medical documents from Honduras and do another pathology report, so those will be ready by the first appointment. We still haven't gotten a confirmation that Matt has insurance, so if you're looking for something specific to pray for, that would be what we need most.
Matt's been feeling ok, but still gets pretty tired sometimes. There's a lot to adjust to right now, and on top of recovering from the surgery, that seems pretty normal. Another prayer request is our transition and patience in the face of a lot of uncertainty. But, we have seen how God has brought us this far, and we know that as long as we continue to trust in Him and pray for His help and guidance, He will be faithful to complete what he started.
Thank you to everyone for all of your support. Thanks to those of you who have emailed us to show us that you are there with us (and sorry I haven't been great about responding). We have never been lonely on this difficult road thanks to all of you.
Here's proof that we're in Minnesota, in case you didn't believe us. Fall really is beautiful here!
After a whirlwind series of goodbyes in Honduras, we boarded the plane last Thursday and arrived in Minnesota. We spent the weekend with our families who all drove up to see us and bring us our fall and winter clothes. We're getting things all set up now and still working on wrapping up unfinished business in Honduras too.
Matt will have his first doctor appointment with an oncologist on Friday, so we're really looking forward to that. We had the clinic translate all his medical documents from Honduras and do another pathology report, so those will be ready by the first appointment. We still haven't gotten a confirmation that Matt has insurance, so if you're looking for something specific to pray for, that would be what we need most.
Matt's been feeling ok, but still gets pretty tired sometimes. There's a lot to adjust to right now, and on top of recovering from the surgery, that seems pretty normal. Another prayer request is our transition and patience in the face of a lot of uncertainty. But, we have seen how God has brought us this far, and we know that as long as we continue to trust in Him and pray for His help and guidance, He will be faithful to complete what he started.
Thank you to everyone for all of your support. Thanks to those of you who have emailed us to show us that you are there with us (and sorry I haven't been great about responding). We have never been lonely on this difficult road thanks to all of you.
Here's proof that we're in Minnesota, in case you didn't believe us. Fall really is beautiful here!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Adios, Honduras. Hello, Minneapolis.
By Katie
Prior to our appointment with the doctors yesterday, we had prayed that God would clearly show us what to do. He did just that. There were a few cancer cells that had spread outside of the original tumor and into the lymph system, rendering observation here in Honduras a non-option, and a diagnosis that was just a little more serious. We had made a little series of "if this happens, then we'll do this" statements, all which ended up pointing us home. We had been working on "if we come home" plans, and today so many of them fell into place, that it was obvious that God opened the doors wide open for us to return. (This includes insurance! Our policy we have here doesn't cover us in the US, but it looks like an insurance agent we have been working with has found us a plan that will likely accept Matt). In the US Matt can get the care that he really needs and we'll be supported by a bigger network of friends and family.
So, in the next seven days, we'll go back to say goodbye to our friends in Olancho. We'll try to do our best to share with them what they have meant to us. We'll pack up our entire house into two suitcases each and figure out what to do with what remains. Now we can focus on closure here, or closure as best we can with such short notice and such a long to-do list left of unfinished projects here in Honduras. But God will be with us, and we'll need him this week and as we return to life in Minnesota. I'm not really sure what to think about it all.
We'll arrive in Minneapolis/St. Paul on Thursday, September 9 and go to live with Matt's sister Megan and her husband Shaun. We don't have jobs, but those will come soon, we hope. Pray for us and the big transition ahead! Thank you. A big thanks too to EVERYONE who helped us make the preparations to come home. This has not been a lonely experience with so many people helping out. More of that to come, I'm sure :)
Prior to our appointment with the doctors yesterday, we had prayed that God would clearly show us what to do. He did just that. There were a few cancer cells that had spread outside of the original tumor and into the lymph system, rendering observation here in Honduras a non-option, and a diagnosis that was just a little more serious. We had made a little series of "if this happens, then we'll do this" statements, all which ended up pointing us home. We had been working on "if we come home" plans, and today so many of them fell into place, that it was obvious that God opened the doors wide open for us to return. (This includes insurance! Our policy we have here doesn't cover us in the US, but it looks like an insurance agent we have been working with has found us a plan that will likely accept Matt). In the US Matt can get the care that he really needs and we'll be supported by a bigger network of friends and family.
So, in the next seven days, we'll go back to say goodbye to our friends in Olancho. We'll try to do our best to share with them what they have meant to us. We'll pack up our entire house into two suitcases each and figure out what to do with what remains. Now we can focus on closure here, or closure as best we can with such short notice and such a long to-do list left of unfinished projects here in Honduras. But God will be with us, and we'll need him this week and as we return to life in Minnesota. I'm not really sure what to think about it all.
We'll arrive in Minneapolis/St. Paul on Thursday, September 9 and go to live with Matt's sister Megan and her husband Shaun. We don't have jobs, but those will come soon, we hope. Pray for us and the big transition ahead! Thank you. A big thanks too to EVERYONE who helped us make the preparations to come home. This has not been a lonely experience with so many people helping out. More of that to come, I'm sure :)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Stage 1!
By Katie
Yesterday we talked to the pathologist who studied Matt's tumor. She told us that the cancer was only in stage 1 and very likely did not spread to any other part of his body. She said he has an excellent prognosis. Praise the Lord!
Today we'll meet with the doctors who operated on Matt. They'll give us their advice for a treatment plan. Also, yesterday I got three emails from people saying that there are three oncologists from the States who are all willing to look at Matt's pathology report and CT scan and give their opinions too. We're going to take them all up on it.
Matt's been doing better and better after the surgery, but certainly not 100% yet. That will take a while.
Please continue to pray for us. We will have a big decision to make in the next few days about when, where, how and whether to do treatments. Also, we've been holding up pretty well, but the stress of all this is certainly something we are contending with. Pray that God's hand is strong to hold us up and guide us. We can certainly feel God's presence and thank you for your prayers so far.
Yesterday we talked to the pathologist who studied Matt's tumor. She told us that the cancer was only in stage 1 and very likely did not spread to any other part of his body. She said he has an excellent prognosis. Praise the Lord!
Today we'll meet with the doctors who operated on Matt. They'll give us their advice for a treatment plan. Also, yesterday I got three emails from people saying that there are three oncologists from the States who are all willing to look at Matt's pathology report and CT scan and give their opinions too. We're going to take them all up on it.
Matt's been doing better and better after the surgery, but certainly not 100% yet. That will take a while.
Please continue to pray for us. We will have a big decision to make in the next few days about when, where, how and whether to do treatments. Also, we've been holding up pretty well, but the stress of all this is certainly something we are contending with. Pray that God's hand is strong to hold us up and guide us. We can certainly feel God's presence and thank you for your prayers so far.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Update
By Katie
Matt had his surgery today as planned and it turned out well and almost exactly as the doctors had predicted it would. They removed the tumor, which had grown a little bit since Thursday, but had not spread to any other part of his body, so it was a relatively simple surgery. The pathologist determined that the tumor was malignant, and the type of cancer was seminoma. On Monday we'll have another appointment with the oncologist to find out the extended results of the biopsy. From there we'll know whether chemo or radiation will be best. Chemo or radiation won't start for another two to three weeks, so that buys us some time to figure out where to do the treatments and if they happen in the States, how to find a solution for our insurance because our insurance doesn't work in the US.
We've been holding up quite well, thanks to your prayers. God is certainly using the people who are here in Honduras to care for us. I had a little crowd of folks to sit with during the surgery and we've had some nice distractions over the last few days too with going out to the movies with friends and eating good meals together. The phone has been ringing off the hook with folks we work with here, church people and folks from the communities.
Thank you so much for your prayers for the surgery. Now we begin the road to recovery and treatments, and we'll still need your prayers. God is good!
Matt had his surgery today as planned and it turned out well and almost exactly as the doctors had predicted it would. They removed the tumor, which had grown a little bit since Thursday, but had not spread to any other part of his body, so it was a relatively simple surgery. The pathologist determined that the tumor was malignant, and the type of cancer was seminoma. On Monday we'll have another appointment with the oncologist to find out the extended results of the biopsy. From there we'll know whether chemo or radiation will be best. Chemo or radiation won't start for another two to three weeks, so that buys us some time to figure out where to do the treatments and if they happen in the States, how to find a solution for our insurance because our insurance doesn't work in the US.
We've been holding up quite well, thanks to your prayers. God is certainly using the people who are here in Honduras to care for us. I had a little crowd of folks to sit with during the surgery and we've had some nice distractions over the last few days too with going out to the movies with friends and eating good meals together. The phone has been ringing off the hook with folks we work with here, church people and folks from the communities.
Thank you so much for your prayers for the surgery. Now we begin the road to recovery and treatments, and we'll still need your prayers. God is good!
Answers to Prayer
By Matt
We know a lot of people in the U.S., Canada, and Honduras are praying for us right now. We have already seen answers to those prayers. On saturday God provided us with some very experienced and trustworthy doctors.
Last night Katie and I read from the Bible and a daily devotional that we follow. The verse was Isaiah 43:1-7,
"But now, this is what the LORD says-
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.
Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.'
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth-
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."
As I read these words I felt that God was in the room saying these things directly to me, to us. Tears streamed down our faces as we were comforted by God's presence in a very tangible way. Thank you for praying for us. We trust that God will take care of us and bring us through this.
We know a lot of people in the U.S., Canada, and Honduras are praying for us right now. We have already seen answers to those prayers. On saturday God provided us with some very experienced and trustworthy doctors.
Last night Katie and I read from the Bible and a daily devotional that we follow. The verse was Isaiah 43:1-7,
"But now, this is what the LORD says-
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.
Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.'
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth-
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."
As I read these words I felt that God was in the room saying these things directly to me, to us. Tears streamed down our faces as we were comforted by God's presence in a very tangible way. Thank you for praying for us. We trust that God will take care of us and bring us through this.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Medical Update
By Katie
It's been quite a different few days for us. Last Wednesday we traveled to Tegucigalpa to start a series of doctors appointments and tests for Matt. After a battery of tests and shopping for just the right doctor, Matt is scheduled to have a testicular tumor removed tomorrow (Monday) at 2pm. During the surgery we'll find out whether or not it is cancer, and what kind of cancer it is if the tumor is malignant. Matt's CT scan and blood tests point to a positive prognosis, so we are hoping that with just the removal of the tumor the problem will be solved. Chemotherapy or radiation are likely, however.
We've been staying with friends in Tegucigalpa, Leanne and Caspar Geisterfer of CRWRC and CR World Missions. Caspar recently went to the same hospital for back surgery, so it's been very valuable to have them to help guide us through this foreign medical system. In the end we settled on a pair of experienced doctors that we trust and are very willing to teach us what we need to know. Doctors from the Luke Society Clinic near Catacamas set us up with these doctors and we have a lot of trust in them. We've been getting a ton of help from the doctors at the Luke Society Clinic too. It's been quite a web of folks here to help us! Praise the Lord for all of these wonderful people!
Thanks so much for your prayers in this. Already we've seen how he's been working through the situations we've been presented with. God provides all that we need, and he's doing that. Keep up your prayers that all goes well and that Matt is healed.
It's been quite a different few days for us. Last Wednesday we traveled to Tegucigalpa to start a series of doctors appointments and tests for Matt. After a battery of tests and shopping for just the right doctor, Matt is scheduled to have a testicular tumor removed tomorrow (Monday) at 2pm. During the surgery we'll find out whether or not it is cancer, and what kind of cancer it is if the tumor is malignant. Matt's CT scan and blood tests point to a positive prognosis, so we are hoping that with just the removal of the tumor the problem will be solved. Chemotherapy or radiation are likely, however.
We've been staying with friends in Tegucigalpa, Leanne and Caspar Geisterfer of CRWRC and CR World Missions. Caspar recently went to the same hospital for back surgery, so it's been very valuable to have them to help guide us through this foreign medical system. In the end we settled on a pair of experienced doctors that we trust and are very willing to teach us what we need to know. Doctors from the Luke Society Clinic near Catacamas set us up with these doctors and we have a lot of trust in them. We've been getting a ton of help from the doctors at the Luke Society Clinic too. It's been quite a web of folks here to help us! Praise the Lord for all of these wonderful people!
Thanks so much for your prayers in this. Already we've seen how he's been working through the situations we've been presented with. God provides all that we need, and he's doing that. Keep up your prayers that all goes well and that Matt is healed.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Lots of Gardens
By Matt
In June we distributed seed and fencing material to the groups we have in the seven communities where we work. We also had trained the community facilitators in how to plant the seeds and on some natural pesticide recipes that they could use. The idea is to get people into the habit of growing food in their own yard. Gardens are actually quite uncommon here in these communities. It seems to me that it is because it is hard to buy very small amounts of seed, and becuse everyone's chickens are out roaming around. I experienced this the first time I tried to grow a garden in my back yard. I don't have chickens, but my neighbors do, and they would come and scratch in my garden until almost everything was dead. So, I put up a small fence of chicken wire about 2feet tall. It works well.
At first the people in the communities didn't believe that the chickens would stay out of such a short fence, but now they have the experince too that it actually does work. Here are some women in a village called El Encinal, where the soil is very rocky and infertile. We taught them to bring in rich soil from degraded cow manure and plant in small trenches. We are really impressed with the care they have given to their gardens.
Sheep on the other hand are another story! In the village of El Coyolar there are some naughty sheep that like to leap and eat cabbage, radishes, cucumbers, and peppers. The gardens look really good, in fact we have already been given salad in the community! This is amazing because I have NEVER never been given salad in any of these places. Here is Dulce showing off her veggies.
People rarely eat salad in Honduras, especially in the countryside where there is no refrigeration. It was a great salad with cucumber, tomatoes, and radishes with lime and salt, very refreshing. Here is my co-worker David giving his approval.
In June we distributed seed and fencing material to the groups we have in the seven communities where we work. We also had trained the community facilitators in how to plant the seeds and on some natural pesticide recipes that they could use. The idea is to get people into the habit of growing food in their own yard. Gardens are actually quite uncommon here in these communities. It seems to me that it is because it is hard to buy very small amounts of seed, and becuse everyone's chickens are out roaming around. I experienced this the first time I tried to grow a garden in my back yard. I don't have chickens, but my neighbors do, and they would come and scratch in my garden until almost everything was dead. So, I put up a small fence of chicken wire about 2feet tall. It works well.
At first the people in the communities didn't believe that the chickens would stay out of such a short fence, but now they have the experince too that it actually does work. Here are some women in a village called El Encinal, where the soil is very rocky and infertile. We taught them to bring in rich soil from degraded cow manure and plant in small trenches. We are really impressed with the care they have given to their gardens.
Sheep on the other hand are another story! In the village of El Coyolar there are some naughty sheep that like to leap and eat cabbage, radishes, cucumbers, and peppers. The gardens look really good, in fact we have already been given salad in the community! This is amazing because I have NEVER never been given salad in any of these places. Here is Dulce showing off her veggies.
People rarely eat salad in Honduras, especially in the countryside where there is no refrigeration. It was a great salad with cucumber, tomatoes, and radishes with lime and salt, very refreshing. Here is my co-worker David giving his approval.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Go Dogs, Go AWAY!
By Katie
My classroom management skills have had to extend to a new species recently. A pack of dogs has been coming to the after school classes at our house. Princess, Blossom and Tail follow their owners to class and then attract a few other strays from the neighborhood. They get a little territorial and growl at each other or try to get a piece of the shade by entering the front porch. The running joke with the kids is that the dogs want to come to learn to read and do math too. But, the rule is: NO DOGS ALLOWED! 15+ kids on a 10 x 10 porch is enough, so I have to send the owners of the dogs home so their dogs will follow them and hopefully not return.
On a similar note, this happens at Luz y Verdad too. Stray dogs wander into the classrooms during class looking for food. Sometimes even chickens wander in through the open doors. Chickens are pretty skittish though, so the they only come in during recess when the kids aren't in the room.
I wonder if I can add a line on my resume that says, "Effectively manages any living species that wanders in to the classroom."?
My classroom management skills have had to extend to a new species recently. A pack of dogs has been coming to the after school classes at our house. Princess, Blossom and Tail follow their owners to class and then attract a few other strays from the neighborhood. They get a little territorial and growl at each other or try to get a piece of the shade by entering the front porch. The running joke with the kids is that the dogs want to come to learn to read and do math too. But, the rule is: NO DOGS ALLOWED! 15+ kids on a 10 x 10 porch is enough, so I have to send the owners of the dogs home so their dogs will follow them and hopefully not return.
On a similar note, this happens at Luz y Verdad too. Stray dogs wander into the classrooms during class looking for food. Sometimes even chickens wander in through the open doors. Chickens are pretty skittish though, so the they only come in during recess when the kids aren't in the room.
I wonder if I can add a line on my resume that says, "Effectively manages any living species that wanders in to the classroom."?
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Teacher Conference
By Katie
Right after we got back to Honduras from our trip to the States, I got to go to a teachers' conference with other teachers from my school. The conference was for the five schools in Honduras whom Worldwide Christian Schools supports financially. Teachers from these five schools all over Honduras met at a conference grounds outside of Tegucigalpa. The purpose was to both hold teacher trainings and to have a spiritual retreat.
Here's the teachers who came from Luz y Verdad working together to name our strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities as a school. It was a great opportunity to talk and reflect on our school.
One afternoon we got to take a little get-away trip to a near-by town that sells artisan goods. I appreciated all the time we got to get to know other teachers and share in motivating one another in the work we all do. In the photo below, you can see our two conference coordinators on the left; Gloria (who also works with us at Diaconia Nacional) and Heidi (who came from Canada to help with the conference).
I went to the conference a little defeated because only half of our staff chose to go and the group attitude has been a little low. But the time we had with other teachers and getting to know my own coworkers even better, on top of lots of time spent on spiritual encouragement, was good for me and those of us who went. The positive change has rubbed off at school a little too. Pray with me that God uses what we took away from that conference to strengthen the school even more.
Another positive thing to look forward to is this Friday two teachers from every school are going to meet in Tegucigalpa to make preparations for a possible event like this next year. In the past Canadian teachers have planned this conference and Worldwide has funded it. Those opportunities are unlikely for the future due to budget cuts, so a group is forming to see if they can solicit funds and elbow grease to make the conference happen despite those challenges. I see this as a perfect opportunity for strengthening the unity and collaboration between the schools.
Right after we got back to Honduras from our trip to the States, I got to go to a teachers' conference with other teachers from my school. The conference was for the five schools in Honduras whom Worldwide Christian Schools supports financially. Teachers from these five schools all over Honduras met at a conference grounds outside of Tegucigalpa. The purpose was to both hold teacher trainings and to have a spiritual retreat.
Here's the teachers who came from Luz y Verdad working together to name our strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities as a school. It was a great opportunity to talk and reflect on our school.
One afternoon we got to take a little get-away trip to a near-by town that sells artisan goods. I appreciated all the time we got to get to know other teachers and share in motivating one another in the work we all do. In the photo below, you can see our two conference coordinators on the left; Gloria (who also works with us at Diaconia Nacional) and Heidi (who came from Canada to help with the conference).
I went to the conference a little defeated because only half of our staff chose to go and the group attitude has been a little low. But the time we had with other teachers and getting to know my own coworkers even better, on top of lots of time spent on spiritual encouragement, was good for me and those of us who went. The positive change has rubbed off at school a little too. Pray with me that God uses what we took away from that conference to strengthen the school even more.
Another positive thing to look forward to is this Friday two teachers from every school are going to meet in Tegucigalpa to make preparations for a possible event like this next year. In the past Canadian teachers have planned this conference and Worldwide has funded it. Those opportunities are unlikely for the future due to budget cuts, so a group is forming to see if they can solicit funds and elbow grease to make the conference happen despite those challenges. I see this as a perfect opportunity for strengthening the unity and collaboration between the schools.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Back at it
By Katie
We made it back from our trip to the States about a week and a half ago now. It was great to see many of you, although we felt the pressure of having only a short time to see you and didn't hardly get to see as many people as we had hoped. Regardless, it was good to take a little time to give a couple of presentations and reflect on our work and life here and to get some time being plain old Americans in our own country. The greeting cards and coffee all got sold, so thanks to the many of you who rushed to buy them!
Sometimes it's good to leave things here in Honduras for a while to be able to come back and see how well things went. There were a few successes to share. The youth board planned a retreat to a mountain-side cabin with a variety of area churches. Kids from our church got themselves there, and the success of that is that we didn't drive them! It shows that they had the initiative to do what wasn't easy to get themselves to the event. Also there was a substitute Sunday school teacher who did a great job, and could maybe take over for us when we're done. Also, in our presentations to the churches I talked about giving the front porch kids a bunch of homework to see if they could find others to help them do it. Some, but not all, of them did with reasonalbe success, so that was good to see too. The last thing that we want is to leave Honduras in December with gaping holes in leadership. The two-week test while we were in the States gave us a good indication of how we all are doing on that.
We made it back from our trip to the States about a week and a half ago now. It was great to see many of you, although we felt the pressure of having only a short time to see you and didn't hardly get to see as many people as we had hoped. Regardless, it was good to take a little time to give a couple of presentations and reflect on our work and life here and to get some time being plain old Americans in our own country. The greeting cards and coffee all got sold, so thanks to the many of you who rushed to buy them!
Sometimes it's good to leave things here in Honduras for a while to be able to come back and see how well things went. There were a few successes to share. The youth board planned a retreat to a mountain-side cabin with a variety of area churches. Kids from our church got themselves there, and the success of that is that we didn't drive them! It shows that they had the initiative to do what wasn't easy to get themselves to the event. Also there was a substitute Sunday school teacher who did a great job, and could maybe take over for us when we're done. Also, in our presentations to the churches I talked about giving the front porch kids a bunch of homework to see if they could find others to help them do it. Some, but not all, of them did with reasonalbe success, so that was good to see too. The last thing that we want is to leave Honduras in December with gaping holes in leadership. The two-week test while we were in the States gave us a good indication of how we all are doing on that.
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