Preparing for Christmas in Union Victoria

Hello all!
We are doing well here in Guatemala. Life here has been pretty quiet lately. The dry season is upon us and with a below average coffee harvest, there just isn't too much going on. So, we have planted a garden of lettuce, cabbage, onions, peppers, beans and strawberries to keep ourselves busy and more importantly, to eat from at some point! Aaron is busy planting ¨hierba¨ today while I have come to Pochuta to the market to buy groceries. ¨Hierba¨are greens, similar to swiss chard, but look like broccoli leaves. People in our community love it, so we thought we'd plant some too.

As all of you know, we are in the midst of the Christmas season. Aaron and I are both sad not to be spending this time with friends and family like we did last year, but at the same time, we are interested to see the traditions that Christmas brings here in Guatemala. So far I have only occasionally heard ¨Jingle Bell¨ type Christmas songs on the radio in celebration...or just to advertise products like sugar and ramen noodles. But, here in the community, the buzz has begun. Everyone is talking about how on Christmas eve, ¨Noche Buena¨ (The Good Night) as they call it, people invite others to come to their houses and eat tomales filled with tomato sauce and a small chunk of whatever meat they have, be it chicken, pork or turkey. Then at midnight there is a catholic mass at the church. The invitations have already started. There are two things I am interested to see: 1. Just how many tomales we are offered and can actually eat in a matter of one night, and 2. How many folks will make it to church at midnight. We will see how things play out.

Aaron and I are celebrating with some gifts from home too. All of you who signed cards and or sent gifts thank you! We have a gift to open each day from last sunday (first sunday if advent) until Christmas day. It has been great fun so far.

I hope you are well! We think of you often and are looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Building rabbit cages

The school kids have done a lot of great work in caring for the rabbits and continue to enjoy them. But there are now 20 rabbit a sufficient number to start the next step of the project. So this past week we have been talking with interested families about gathering the materials for building cages. This week we built a cage for with our neighbor Rosalio.  The cage requires about 3 yard of 3/4" fencing , bamboo,  wire, staples, a pound of 3" nails and a 1x6 piece of lumber.  It took us about 2 day to gather the materials (bamboo grows wild) and build the cage. The rabbits should provide another source of food as well as some great compost for the family. There are several other interested families and we hope to stay busy building cages for awhile. Hope all is well we everyone back home we would love to hear from you all.

Visit home

Johnston family

Ruby Family

Emahry and Baby Jonathan (Allison and Tim's kiddos)

Matt and Aaron patrolling the neighborhood

Gabe, Becky and Josh (our nephews) at Mom and Dad Ruby's

Ashley, Maya, Erin and Becky feasting on Maryland crabs.

Becky and Emahry (our niece) hanging out at mom and dads (Johnston).

Some of you may know that we spent the last two weeks visiting home.  It was a great time of renewal and reconnecting for us as we hadn't been home since last Christmas. We were able to visit friends in Tennessee and Virginia (unfortunately we forgot our camera for that part of the trip) as well as spend time with our friends and family at home in Maryland.

It was a joyful time as Aaron's sister Allyson gave birth to their second child Jonathan while we were home (4 weeks early...just for us??  We'll never know!).  It was also great to see Emarhy who is now 16 months old. 

We also got to visit with Dan and Kelly, Gabe, Josh and Kiersten.  What a bunch!  They are growing up so fast.

It was wonderful to attend our home church, Community of Joy Church of the Brethren, who have been so supportive to us.  We were able to share an update as to how the community is doing and encourage them as they fund raise for education scholarships for young people in the community another year.  Thank you!

We are now back in Guatemala and heading to the community today or tomorrow. 

Thank you all for a great time at home.  We can't wait to see you all again!

Medical supplies needed...update on potable water

The community run heath clinic is low on some important medical supplies. Due to this shortage the community's Health Promotors asked that I post a list of the needed supplies on this blog:

*Eritomicina 500mg Tablets
*Metronidazole - liquid
*Mebendazol 100mg tablets
*Fluoride treatments for children
*Children's toothbrushes
*Penicillin - 500mg tablets
*Multivitaminas (Adults and Children's)
*Sutures #3.00 and 2.00
*Nistatina/Nystatin oral

If you can donate these medications or money for the purchase of the supplies it would be greatly appreciated. Supplies can be sent to:
AARON & BECKY JOHNSTON

1321 Toadvine Rd
SALISBURY, MD 21804

We will be home in September for a 2 week break and can bring the supplies back with us.

 
An update to the water/ electric situation in Union Victoria, Guatemala:

The communities water system which was partially destroyed by land slides on July 4 of this year have been sufficiently repaired. With the cooperation of local government(suppling the funds) and the community (supplying the labor see photos of the digging and carrying cement mix up the mountain) a new spring higher on the mountain was secured for the use of the community and a deal with the municipality is currently being negotiated to rent the additional capacity to the town of Pochuta (about 4 miles from UV). The deal will hopefully bring some needed income to the community and help secure a more positive relationship between the community and the larger town.

Unfortunately, the community remains without electricity since lightning blow out the hydro-turbine about 2 weeks ago. My hope is that at some point a long term solution to the communities electrical problems can be achieved without succumbing to the temptation to connect to the national grid. But for the time being we are without lights which makes for a much appreciated early bedtime.

We are excited to have more friends(Steven and Lindsay Clem) visit this week and have been super busy this summer with the all the visitors, and the tree and bunny projects which are slowly developing into something that looks like a project.

Hope all is well with you all. Look forward to seeing some of you in September!!!!