November 9, 2009
After a wonderful omelette breakfast at the Vista Real Hotel, we loaded the bus and left for Zacapa. The team decided to wait to do errands in Zacapa instead of Guatemala City. The skies cleared up for us and we had beautiful blue skies most of the way. A HUGE answer to prayer!
We arrived at the orphanage just after noon, unloaded the bus, and determined what we could get started on. A couple of the men decided to stay and get started on the well pump while the rest of us went for lunch and to take care of a little business.
Let me tell you how awesome Gary, Randy, Scott and Tony are. The first task was to get chain link fence put up to keep out curious children. The Solar panels are on the roof and mainly just need to be wired to the batteries that are being installed in a storage room. They think it will take about 1 1/2 hours to complete. The well pump is installed in the cistern! Water filters have been replaced. They were able to accomplish much more than they had expected at this point.
There are 96 children here now. They range in age from 6 months to 17 years old. There are many children still here since my last trip a year ago, and probably 3 or 4 from two years ago. We could see the excitement in their faces when they recognized us from the previous trips. This is a government-run transitional orphanage where the children weren't intended to remain for long, but since international adoptions have been suspended, many are staying here longer. Also, many of the children are social orphans-they are placed here if their parents are going through a custody battle or if their parents are not able to take care of them. Many of them are visited by their parents periodically.
So today we got loads of hugs and tickles. Lots of kids way too big to be carried begging for it. Lots of requests for help to do things that they know the Gringos will help them with. The monkey bars are high up off the ground and some of the girls want help because they are afraid to fall. Jennifer latched on to me early on and took me on a tour to see the raised vegetable garden and their chicken coup. They are growing onions, carrots and tomatoes-if I was able to understand correctly. They seem to be especially proud of the chickens-as we were on our way out, another child was leading another of the ladies on a tour.
I know there's a game plan tomorrow, but I'm not quite sure what it is. I just know if someone hollers "Help!"-that's where I come in. The kids are going to be taken to a park to be kept out of the way as much as possible. They are expected to fill the cistern with water before 2:00pm when the city turns off their supply for the day.

Arrival at Guatemala City

11/08/2009
Guatemala City-Vista Real Hotel

We are here!! The flight was uneventful-which is always a good thing. And all of our bags made it! Woo Hoo!! We arrived in Guatemala City to an empty airport, and more importantly, empty streets. Traffic is usually quite heavy and we arrived at the hotel in only a few minutes. It was raining when we loaded the hotel vans, but stopped by the time we left the airport. The forecast is calling for a chance of thundershowers all week-but we are praying for a reprieve as we have a lot of work that can't get done in the rain.
We had a late light dinner when we arrived at the hotel. Soup and sandwiches. Wonderful Tortilla soup. We are loading the vans at 8:30 in the morning and have a little business to take care of before we head to Zacapa. We should be getting to the orphanage at about 2:00pm tomorrow.
This is going to be a fun group to work with. Oh, my goodness! Already lots of goodnatured teasing going on. But everyone is excited to get to work.

5 days to go. . . . . . .

......so, naturally I can't sleep again. Music lessons plans floating through my head. Do I have everything? I'm pretty certain that I do, but there's that nagging thought that is saying that there's got to be something that I'm forgetting. It can't be this easy, can it?

Did some more shopping. I bought stockings and stocking stuffers for all of the kids and the workers, too. Everyone seemed to like everything that I bought. Last year, the kids went crazy for the few tennis balls that we had taken, so this year everyone is getting one in their stocking. I also bought bubbles and candy to go along with the sunglasses, trinkets and small stuffed animals that we already have. The workers are getting lotion, Christmas socks, lip balm, a hair brush, note pad and pen and candy. I also went to Teacher's Tools and picked up a few musical rhythm pieces to use. I still need to make copies of the music and insert them into sheet protectors. I hope one of the translators can read music and knows the musical terms. I think that the kids will enjoy the recorder lessons. Donna found some nice colorful ones that will make it fun. This will be another first for me. Perhaps that's why I am having a hard time getting to sleep.

We spent nearly 3 hours last Sunday at the church packing all of the Buckner bags. Heather and Donna sorted through uniforms. They barely made a dent in the huge stack of boxes that are there. There will be a lot left over to send to the private Christian school that we help send several of the kids to. They are excited to be getting them. The Choir was faithful in providing lots of toothbrushes and toothpaste. Just these took up almost half of a bag.

There will be so much to do while we are there. The well is the most important need right now. Hardly any water is being sent in right now. They are even doing without showers and are flushing the toilets with buckets. The electrical system has to be upgraded to handle the pump for the well and more pipes need to be buried. We found out that the electrical system that they currently have could not handle the water filter pump and run the computer at the same time, so they have been turning off the pump during the day. Also, the current is so weak, that all of the appliances that we have installed quickly burn out. Please pray that we are successful in installing the well pump and completing all of the electrical wiring. We only have about 3 1/2 days to do it.

So, today I had jury duty. I was placed on a panel that has to reconvene on Wednesday. At least we do know that it is for a misdemeanor case. I was a little nervous about being placed on a trial that would last more than a week. There is still a chance that if I am not placed on this particular jury, I can be placed on another. Today's pool was one person short of filling all of the juries that are needed this week. Chances are that we will all be placed on a jury unless some of the cases are settled beforehand. Hopefully, I will be placed on the one that I am being sent to on Wednesday. I'm praying for that.

Can't sleep

Okay, so it's 3:15 am and I woke up with an idea for our trip, and of course now I can't go back to sleep. I've been looking online for resources for teaching the recorder at the orphanage. I found some sheet music for some simple songs that I downloaded and printed. And now I'm even running through a script in my head for lesson plans. I am using Rosetta stone to learn to speak Spanish (although not as much now as I need to be). So the scripts in my head are to teach music in Spanish. I need to learn some new words. And make some note cards.
We found some recorders online for about $2 each. Much cheaper than I had expected. I know they won't be the greatest, but in a week's time, there's no telling what most of them will look like anyway. It's just meant to be an introduction to music. That's how most of us band nerds got our start, isn't it? :-)
I've also got images of visual aids going through my head. The first thought is obviously going to be posterboard, but that would be kinda hard to pack on a plane. We may have to use huge sheets of paper that we can roll up or fold into our suitcase. I'll have to think about that some more. I wonder what the Spanish version of "FACE" and "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" is? See why I am losing sleep?
I also have to consider how each child is going to be able to keep their own recorders separate. I thought about making little bags for them with elastic around the top to keep them closed. But a hundred of them?????? I looked up a map for the N1H1, and there are some cases of it down there, so we need to be mindful of that.
What else???? Oh-I wanted to do a t-shirt project, too. But I'm not doing so well with coming up with a project that I am happy about. I tested a tye dye project with a spray-on fabric paint, but didn't like the results. The next thing that I may try is to use a large stencil (star, heart?) and spray paint around it so that the shape is left clean with paint around it. Then they can use fabric markers to further decorate the shirts.
You know, logically I know that all of this planning and sleep deprivation will probably end up futile anyway. Last year, we only ended up making it through two partial rotations. The first year, we made it through every day, so we need to be ready. My thought is that even if we don't get to all of the rotations, we can still teach the music to the kids that want to do it during play time.
So homework for the next couple of days is to do some music translations; go through my fabric and decide if making the bags is realistic; set aside a plastic tote to take to choir to collect toothpaste, etc; make note cards; test the t-shirt idea.
If there's anyone reading this, any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Getting ready for Guatemala

So I thought maybe I could write about my next mission trip to Guatemala. It is coming up next month. 13 of us are leaving on the 8th of November to work at "our" orphanage in Zacapa. Our church goes there three times a year to help out with whatever they need. This will be my third time to go. I'm already working myself up and I still have a month to go! I don't sleep very well before I go, but usually that doesn't start until the week before. I hope I can get settled back down soon, or I will be worthless once we do finally get there.

So, this orphanage is only one of very few government-run orphanages in Guatemala. There are also several private orphanages there, but the government ones are not funded as well and have to rely on volunteers and outside help to get a lot of their needs met. It is meant to be a transitional home, but since adoptions in Guatemala have been virtually halted, many of the children have been there for quite a while. When we first started going, the conditions there were deplorable. Windows had been broken out and the glass was lying all over the ground. There were feces smeared all over the walls. The toilets did not work. The entire campus was just plain run down. Water and electricity is very limited. We went to work and got a lot of the surface work taken care of-cleaned up all the glass, painted everything, lots of general maintenance work. We also installed a water filtration system so that the children could have clean water.

The best part of the trip is actually getting to love on all of the kids. They are so hungry for adult attention. When we first arrive on campus and the kids catch sight of us, there is literally a stampede to get to us. Lots of smiles and hugs for everyone. We get to spend a whole week there. From morning until about 5:00pm.

OK, so I said that I was going to write about my NEXT trip. See how excited I am?

We had our first meeting last night. Our main project for this trip will be to get our well up and running. The city had cut funding again and is not providing running water into the orphanage. We raised funds to have a well dug. Now we need to get the pump in. They also want us to do some more painting and drop one of the ceiling down. Since they don't have air conditioning, dropping the ceiling keeps the room a little cooler. We also will come up with activities to do with the kids. We usually divide the kids into groups have have rotations: ESL class, sports camp, VBS, Crafts. One of the orchestra members and I thought we might see if we can come up with a plan to take musical instruments. Maybe teach a little recorder. I think that would be awesome.

Our November trip usually involves leaving clothing for the caregivers to give as Christmas gifts. This year, someone donated a huge crate of school uniforms. WOO HOO!! Lots of jumpers, skirts, polo shirts, shorts and Khakis. That opens up funds that we normally would have spent on the clothing. God is good!!

So current preparation goals: collect toothbrushes, toothpaste, and deodorant. See if I can come up with a good deal on some t-shirts for a craft project (dual purpose-right?) Gather or make a variety of musical instruments-recorders, sand blocks, rhythm sticks, etc. More time spent on the Rosetta Stone. Lots of prayer.

My first blog ever

Okay, so I set up this blog in order to search for someone else's. I didn't find their's, but maybe I'll go ahead use this one. I have never really considered blogging before and have no idea what I even want to talk about, so who knows what I'll come up with?


This morning I am fresh from a great evening of worship at choir rehearsal. I love our choir family! I am excited about our upcoming fundraising performance on the 27th, benefitting the CCA in Lewisville, TX. Several local choirs will be joining together in an evening of fabulous music. I can't wait! It promises to be an evening of great worship, fellowship and outreach. We have so many talented people in our community. If I only had the amount of talent that one of them carries in their little finger.......

Okay, just so that you know I am human-I do engage in much more mundane activities. I have recently gotten drawn into the allure of a couple of games available through Facebook. Specifically, Farmtown, Farmville, and Yoville. I admit to their taking up way too much of my free time lately, but I just can't help it! They have all presented me with different goals to achieve, so my naturally competitive nature won't allow for me to quit until I've reached them. Oh, if you want to look for me on Facebook, I am Chris Trotter Calverley on there.

Hmmmm What else???? My basketweaving has slowed way down of late. I really enjoy doing it, but I really need to figure out how to pawn some of them off on some unsuspecting people. I have accumulated so many, that they are taking over the house. People have suggested selling them, but I am way too lazy to weave enough for a show and not nearly disciplined enough to maintain an online site to sell them. I'll have to post a couple of pictures later to show off. Maybe later.

This post just seems plain boring to me. I guess I'll sign off and spare you anymore of this for today.

Chris