Lorena stoves

We've taken a few more steps on the Lorena stove. We laid the block for the base (which Ramon actually did, under supervision from Eugenio, the guy who is teaching us). The stove is actually going to be a lot smaller than I thought, and will use less block than I thought.

And we had to look for different clay today because the stuff we first got was apparently too pure. We needed to find a clay that had a lot of sand in it and was red, which we dug out near the river. That might be illegal to do (an environmental law)- how ironic because one goal for these stoves is that they're better for the environment, because they use less firewood.

Visit from Clear Lake

Man, I wish I had a better picture to post.

On Saturday a group from the Clear Lake Church of Christ came to visit me for a few hours. They'd been in the DR working with a missionary in Santiago for about a week, and came up to see me and go to Los Higos. They put on a puppet show (in the picture), at lunch at Meri's, and toured the garden. It was a quick trip, but great! It was so crazy for me to have my two worlds meld for a few hours.

Keep your eyes open for a better picture in the Clear Lake Mirror Reporter.

Dia del Amor y la Amistad

Valentine's Day in the DR is celebrated similarly as in the states. The kids were allowed to wear normal clothes, rather than their uniforms, to school and most went wearing red. When I went into town, almost everyone I saw was wearing red, too. And it's common for kids to give eachother little candies (mints and Hall's cough drops, ha, ha) and Valentines cards. Even a shoeshine boy gave me a carmel. The picture above shows the cards I got from Yesica, Melisa, and Emelina.

estufa lorena

We're finally getting moving on the fuel efficient stove. Some of the young guys from the church in Los Higos want to learn how to make the Lorena stoves and use it as a part of their ministry to the community. The idea is that they will make the stoves for people free of charge, but the people themselves will have to get the materials (clay, sand, blocks or brick and some cement). It's possible that SI will chip in on some of the cost, but we want the people to at least cover part of it.

So, we are gathering materials to make our first stove at Melu's house. A few days ago we went and dug clay out of a path near the river. The guys carried it in gunny sacks on their heads or shoulders up to a point where I was later able to pick it up with the truck. The picture above shows the clay outside of Melu's house, where it will need to be dried in the sun and broken up into a powder, from what I understand.

The picture below shows Ruben and I showing off our hands after trying to get the sticky clay out of the bags.

FODA

Sorry I haven't written in a while- it's because I misplaced my camera cord, so I couldn't put up any pictures. But today's entry doesn't have a picture anyway, because I forgot to take one.

Today we had a meeting with leaders from all the associations in Los Higos, led by Jose Quezada, and it was great! He led a discussion going over FODA for the community:
Fortaleza (strengths)
Oportunidades (oportunities)
Debilidades (weaknesses)
Amenazas (threats)

I was so impressed with this idea and found it interesting that a lot of the things that were identified as strengths were also identified as weaknesses. For example, they identified the associations in the community as strengths (such as the casabe producers association and the association that is in charge of the community center and sports field). But as they talked about these associations, they identified disunity and lack of purpose in these associations as one of the community's weaknesses.

As they talked about threats to the community, a lot of the things I'd expected came up, like alcohol and drugs. But I was also surprised that they mentioned lack of trust as a threat. I also learned that the aguaduct doesn't charge enough for water service to pay the monthly electric bill (for the well pump), so that could mean that the electric company will cut the community well off.

As they talked about opportunities, they mentioned that the community has a lot of strong leaders that are not being utilized. They also mentioned the power of the associations to bring economic growth to the community, because many organizations will give grants to a community only if they are organized in somethings like an association.

This group is planning to meet again on March 1 and each association leader is going to try to bring at least one other person from their group. Please be praying that theses discussions will lead us to clear vision and promost unity among the various associations.

chicken coop church

The chicken coop church is almost ready for use... they just need to move in. This picture is a few days old. Since it was taken, a gravel driveway was put in from the gate (which now covers the hole in the fence shown in this picture) to the front steps. A concrete floor was poured last week and electricity was put in this week.

Oh, I just found a more recent photo. Here it is: