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.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
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."?
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