good poem

I just read this poem, by Allen Harder, in a book called People in Rural Development by Peter Batchelor. It was originally printed in INTERCOM Vol. 14, no 11 (1974) which is a newsletter put out by the Mennonite Central Committee. It speaks well to the experience of a missionary working in development and it gives me hope:

A boy came to Zaire
brimming with courage.
Change the natives,
build new houses,
give them food.
They're bound to change for a peace-man.

Why, why won't they
build chicken houses
plant corn
breed rabbits?
Why! Why!
And he began to resent
his people,
then to hate them.

But the people still said
"Come, live with us,
learn our ways.
We like who you are."
And he sat with them, in front of the fire
a pot of manioc and a dish of
hot caterpillars between them.

Until
one day
an elder came to him and said,
"My children are weak.
They hunger for chickens corn and rabbits.
Can you help us?"

answers

I don't know how many people actually guessed on the little quiz, but here are the answers anyway:
1. This is bamboo. It's growing all over the place here at ECHO and they have all kinds of varieties- purple and yellow'ish and green. I really was shocked with it's semblance to asparagus.

2. this is a dry composting toilet. The idea is that the urine is separated from the solids. The urine goes to a tank with water in it and can be used to fertilize plants (it's basically urea, a Nitrogen source) or if you think that's nasty, it can go through a drain field of gravel that has bananas planted at the end of it and it ends up just fertilizing the bananas. The solids go to a holding area below, which is divided into two sections. Every year or so you move the toilet to the other side of the building so that the solids fall into the other side, leaving the first side to naturally compost. After several months, the solids are basically just compost and can be removed and used as fertilizer.

3. This is a pummelo. It's the largest citrus fruit there is.

4. This is a wheel chair! It's made by a group of farmers in Nebraska who will give them to anyone working in a developing country with someone who is in need of a wheel chair. They're great because they're pretty rugged, and are easy to maintain because it's basically made of tricycle parts. They also make higher versions, which I guess can go over rougher terrain.

ECHO

So, I'm at ECHO! ECHO is an organization that does technical support for people working in agricultural development. It's a Christian organization, and mostly works with missionaries, but also works with other development workers, like Peace Corp people or university researchers.

Anyway... I'm loving all there is to learn here and am going to give you all a little quiz about some of the things I've seen. Answers will be posted later. You can leave comments if you want to make any guesses.

The above plant is what:

a. Aspargusis grandis

b. Joint weedis grandis

c. bamboo

The apparatus shown above is a:

a. medical research collecting toilet

b. dry composting toilet

c. chair

The fruit shown above is:

a. Citrus grandis, pummelo

b. Cucumis melo, muskmelon

c. Lycopersicum esculentum, tomato

The above contraption is:

a. a primitive gator

b. a tricycle

c. a wheelchair

general update

So, I'm realizing that I need to give a general update about our work in Los Higos:
This summer Andre and I were technically split into two different 'sites'- Andre working in 'social work' and I working in 'agriculture'. Our daily work basically looks the same as before- Andre works with the kids club and I garden with kids and continue to hope to work more with adults. The only difference now is that when students come to work with us they work in either one or the other, whereas before students would split their day between the two of us.

I am actually in the states until September 21. I'll be in Iowa until Sept.3 and will be at ECHO in Ft. Meyers, FL from Sept. 4-21. ECHO is an organization that gives technical support to agricultural missionaries. (They're pretty cool folks and you can check them out at www.echotech.org). I'll fly back to the DR on the 21st.

Also, be praying for Andre. He had a family emergency last week. I haven't been able to communicate with him since he left to be with them on the 10th of August, so I don't know details. It appears that one of his brothers was killed under suspicious circumstances.

more info on knitting...

So, this knitting class is getting to be one of my favorite things I do in Los Higos. The last few classes, I'm guessing that about a dozen people have come!

So, Yomairi has come to a couple classes. Yomairi is 18 years old, the oldest of 5 kids, and deaf. Surprisingly, we find ways to communicate. Anyway, she came to her second class a few weeks ago and I was trying to think of how to explain to her the difference between a knit and a pearl stitch using body language. By chance Amy, an American who knows sign language and knits, happened to be visiting the ag site that day! She was able to make up signs that seem to make sense to help Yomairi learn the difference.

Mayra, Yomairi's mom, said that it's probably that Yomairi will not continue to go to school. She has been attending a deaf school in Jarabacoa since she was about 12, and would be going into 6th grade. Since the school is really only supposed to be for kids, not adults, Mayra doesn't think it would be good for Yomairi to continue studying. She's like for Jomairi to learn a trade and begin working. I don't know if knitting will fill that role, but even if it doesn't, it's so nice to see that she can take a class with people who can hear and follow along just fine.

Another note about knitting... I'm actually in the states right now for a visit, so I left my knitting supplies with 15-year-old Marileici and told her that she could meet with the ladies and continue to practice on Fridays even while I'm away. (Marileici has been a big help during class, because she often helps her neighbors when I'm not able to get to everyone). Last Saturday, I had to swing through Los Higos to do a few last-minute things before my trip to the states, and as I drove through I spotted Marileici on a porch, apparently knitting. I stopped to ask what was going on and learned that Marileici was teaching another girl, Mary, to knit! I felt like that was a gift from God-- letting me see that, reassuring me that some of what I'm doing is working in ways that are beyond myself. It's a beautiful picture of discipleship-- Marileici isn't that far along in knitting, but what she knows she is passing on. And I hope that that is happening in other ways, too, that each new thing we are learning from eachother we might put into practice and pass on to others.

painting

Meri's house is now in the painting stage! Yesterday, Friday, several young guys from the community were busy priming it. It's hard to paint because the block really soaks paint up and because there are lots of holes and cracks to be filled. In the picture above, one of our summer interns, who is living with Meri, is helping out. In the picture below, Miguelo, is sitting on the dividing wall painting. They put sawdust onto the floor to protect the floor from falling paint.

last saturday's retiro

Last Saturday, July 28, there was a retreat in Los Higos. Several people participated from the Kids' Club, the Los Higos church plant, and also from a youth club that Andre works with in Jarabacoa. The retreats that Dominican churches do are a little different than what would come to an American's mind.

The retreat was help in a beautiful spot in a pasture near Los Higos. First we had worship together (see picture above), followed by a talk from Francisco (who runs SI's art school). Then we had some free time (in which I and some kids explored the hills nearby). Then we had lunch, moro and puerco guisado (rice with beans and pork in a red sauce), prepared by Meri. In the afternoon they played volleyball and then returned to Los Higos to have more worship in the pink house.