No I don't want no grub, a grub is a bug that can't get no love from me

Our final jungle trip of this year was a success!  We traveled into 6 different Shuar communities that are in need of clean water.  The communities had all submitted requests to our Clean Water Project office about 2 years ago, and we are finally staffed and ready to take on some of these projects.  The plan is for the 3 of us here until April/May, myself, Steph and Lizzie, to take on 3 of the 6 communities and each take the lead on one of the projects.  The projects will consist of only the first phase for supplying water which is actually getting a clean water source.  Once that is accomplished, the possibility of pumping the water to each home will be considered.  Most of the communities have springs that are relatively close to the centers and can be protected to provide clean water.  Other options that are being considered are rain water harvesting and wells.

The Travelers:
*Me 
*Steph - Civil Engineer from England
*Lizzie - Civil Engineer from England
*Alex - Alfredo's wife and our teacher, teaching us all she knows before she heads to England the end of the month, from England and has been doing Civil Engineering work here in Ecuador for 5 years
*Benjamin (Alfredo & Alex's son) - 14 month old Civil Engineer in training
*Miriam - fellow North Carolinian, a nurse who has been serving in Ecuador for the past 25+ years

The Communities and our work:

As I mentioned above, we visited 6 communities, San Carlos, Santa Rosa, Washintsa, Karama, Iwia, and Wusui.  All these communities currently get there water from a river or an unprotected spring.  In each community we had a community meeting to explain our thoughts and expectations and then we went and looked at the different water sources within the community.  We then would have a final meeting to give our thoughts on what options would be available based on the water sources we saw.  We have spent some time this week in the office reviewing the projects and deciding what 3 communities we are able do projects in the new year.  The Lord has been giving us wisdom and clarity about the communitites to help us see where He is opening the door for us to work.

This trip was a bit different because we had Miriam along with us.  It was such a blessing to work with her.  She would meet with patients during the day as we went and looked at the water sources and had our meetings.  She challenged my attitude many times as she was up late seeing patients, up early seeing patients, hiking our long treks with bad knees, and still having a smile and a zeal to know that God has brought us there for a purpose and wants to use us in every moment.  Many times the heat, bugs, sleeping arrangements and the like would drive my attitude down, but to learn to grab hold of all that God want's to do through us even when things are hard.  I pray that the Lord continue to teach me how to react with His love and His strength in not so ideal situations.  I want to be His hands, His feet, and His love in this place!

On Thursday and Friday we were in Wusui because we could not get a flight until Friday night.  God did so much in that time.  On Thursday night we were able to talk to a young girl who wanted to commit suicide.  We were able to talk and pray with her, and she prayed to accept Jesus in her heart!  We continue to pray that the Lord will do such a work in her.  On Friday I was sick with a fever, but Miriam was still able to see patients all day.  She had the opprotunity to share hope and scripture with a lot of people and pray for them.  Steph and Lizzie took time to teach and sing with the kids of the community.  It's wonderful to be able to bring Jesus into that jungle.  When we hike we sing praises to the Lord to usher in His presence, to proclaim Jesus as Lord in that place.   Thank you for your continued prayers for these people and for the work we are doing here.  We are praying for the Lord to do the unexpected through us in this time! 

The Hiking Experience:

Our daily hikes ranged from 30 minutes to 3 hours.  It normally took us about twice as long as the Shuar's to navigate the trails.  We actually had some really nice trails to hike on at some points.  I almost felt like I was hiking back at home, well until I actually looked around and saw all the jungle plants, beautiful!  We also had the not so nice trails that were covered in mud and where we had to hike over logs.  One day we had 2 river crossing... we were praying for no rain because the rivers can become uncrossable with too much rain.  The Lord answered our prayers and we were able to cross with water level only just past our knees.

 

 

The Food:

Many many interesting meals this time around.  We were in 6 different communities so we got a variety of different delicacies of the area.  One morning for breakfast we were served a bowl of chicken soup and a bowl of duck soup, snails, papachinas (white potatos), and some kind of fruit.  Another breakfast was heart of palm (good) and GRUBS (not so good) along with some papachinas.  The grubs had been cooked somehow, but were cold when we ate them.  They were about 2.5 inches long, chewy on the outside, and soft and mushy on the inside... I finished my whole grub but not too easily.  When I took the first bite I must have had a really weird look on my face because the guys of the community sitting around were laughing at me :)  They actually don't have much flavor, but it's just the concept of it all.  Unfortunately we had brought no camera with us to breakfast that morning.  Another meal was chicken inerds with heart of palm wrapped in a palm leaf (see pictures below), it was actually pretty good.  When we arrived in Wusui on Thursday the men of the community were gone, supposedly they had left on Tuesday to go hunting for us.  What they came back with was a master piece, wild bore!  They grilled it over the fire then put it in some broth.  It was such good meat!  Well if you know me well you know why I just spent all this time explaining all this food, I'm pretty into food so I hope you enjoyed :)

The BEAUTY of the jungle...

The BEAUTIFUL Children (the little one has a little monkey on his head!)...

The view from a Latrines and creepy crawly tarantula

Thank you so much for your prayers and thank you so much for being a part of this time in my life as we continue on this adventure with the Lord!  I'm headed home for Christmas next week so I will see some of you then!!

A place called Cusuime

The journey to Cusuime...

What an adventure! In order to save some money and be able to bring the heavy bags of cement we needed for our trip, we decided to drive/canoe instead of fly into Cusuime (1 hour flight OR 8 hour drive & 3 to 4.5 hour canoe ride). WOW what a time we had. We began in Shell and drove 2 hours to Macas which was all a paved road. For the next 6 hours after Macas we had a combination of road under construction and gravely rocky road. Unlike at home, there are no detours or alternate routes, and when a the road you are driving on is under construction the journey can be haulted for many reasons. On our journey in we only had minor delays as they graded portions of the road and pulled buses out of sticky situation.

The views during the drive were amazing...

After our 8 hour drive we arrived in Kashpime, which is only 10 minutes from the end of any driveable road. Folks in that community were then waiting with a canoe to take us upstream to Cusuime.  The canoes were quite large and  powered by motors.  We loaded up the canoe and continued on our way.  The canoe ride began well.  We were enjoying the sun and the beauty of the jungle. 

We had some concern initially because there has been a lack of rain and the river was low... little did we know what awaited!   About two hours into the ride the skys opened and there was certainly no lack of rain.  It poured down rain for the rest of our 2.5 hour journey!! We attempted to use the umbrellas for an hour or so, but then gave up.  Steph and Lizzie were bailing out the boat and the rest of us would get out and push when we got to lower spots in the river.   I can say it was one of the more unpleasant situations initially, but once we were drenched it wasn't too bad.  We arrived in Cusuime in water wars and completely drenched from head to toe!  :)

Our time in the community:

The work we did in Cusuime was a bit different from the rest of the work we have been doing.  The engineering portion of it was only to replace the damaged pump, paint the inside of the concrete tank that was deteriorating, and paint the water tower that was being invested by termites.   That being the case, we were able to work in the school with the kids running a sort of VBS program.  It was so wonderful!  The clase was about 38 students Grade 1 to 6.  We did songs, Bible stories, coloring, hygene teaching, and games.  When we were walking into clase on our last day we heard the kids singing... they were singing one of the songs we taught them and remembered it all.  The song is about having faith the size of a mustard seed and telling the mountain to move and the mountains move!! It was so powerful singing that with them because the message is so powerful and helps them learn the truth. 

 

 

For a parting gift the kids gave us papayas and sugar cane.  We had such a wonderful time with the kids and have continued to pray that Jesus be working in their lives and bringing others to show them His love.






















The guys that work working on the water project were really funny.  We had a great time being on site and helping out where we could and getting introduced to new jugle creatures.  Here are some fun photos:

 

The adventure going home...

So getting home turned out to be quite the adventure as well!  We didn't have rain during the canoe ride and it only took 2.5 hours heading downstream.  Initially the drive was going great!  We thought we were going to be able to make it home on Thursday night, making the journey in 1 day.  Once we were about an hour and a half outside of Macas, the road construciton got us!  We wound up having to wait 4 hours for them to install and culvert and then fill the hole back in.  The view where we were stopped was incredible though, and we stayed there so long that we got to see the stars come out and there were sooooooooo many!  It was gorgeous.

The road block:

The view:

Waiting patiently :)

We had a blessed time in Cusuime and thank the Lord for the opprotunity to be a part of what He is doing there! 

ViVa Cuenca!

So there is pretty much a celebration day for every larger City here in Ecuador that includes parades, food, dancing, and music. We were able to travel to Cuenca for the celebration on November 3rd. The journey was quite long... about an 11 hour travel day by bus. It was very worth it though. The City was amazing! Our first night we went to the movies!!  It was so exciting because it was our first time to the movies since I've been in Ecuador.  It actually felt normal :)  We saw "The Time Traveler's Wife", complete with popcorn, sprite, twix, and skittles.  What a wonderful night!

A group of 4 other girls from Shell were going at the same time we were so we were able to spend a lot of time with them. We toured the City, with so many beautiful churches, ate good food, followed bands that were marching down the streets, went to modern art musuems, watched a parade of military tanks? (a bit strange to say the least), and had a blast!  It's so wonderful to get out and experience the country of Ecuador.

                                      Afternoon Tea in the garden

 

Water has Arrived

We spent last week in a community called Cangaime.  It was about a 35 minute flight from Shell and then a 15 minute walk into the center of the community where we would be staying.  I got to fly in the front seat with the pilot for the flight in so that was very exciting!  The community already has an existing elevated water tank and distribution system.  The system was installed about 6 years ago by others with two different types of pumps which were either too costly to maintain or unable to pump up to the elevated tank.  Our goal for this trip was to install a solar pumping system with enough pressure to reach the elevated water tank.  Praise the Lord we did it!

We worked hard from Monday to Thursday preparing the site and installing the pump.  This included cleaning the existing tanks, installing the solar panels, assembling the pump and piping, and clearing a lot of trees.  It was amazing to see how the Shuar men went through and cleared massive amounts of trees with only machetes.  It got a little scary at times with trees falling towards the pump station site, but God's protected us all.  Every afternoon Steph, Lizzie and I would go and survey the existing distribution line.  We used a GPS, a tape measure and a notebook.  We had guys going ahead of us with machetes to clear the path.  It was quite challenging to hike through those areas with the heat and all the bugs.  We were able to get survey of the entire system and now can determine if we will be able to serve all the homes in the community with the existing system.  We have left the community with the responsibility of checking the existing systems for leaks and problem areas and digging up the entire system to make a deeper trench so that the pipe can have a sufficient amount of cover.  We will return in December or January to re-evaluate the existing system and to make any necessary repairs.  We praise the Lord for the opprotunity to serve this community and to show them the love of Christ.  We were able to start establishing friendships as we worked beside them for the week and are excited to return and be the hands and feet of Jesus. 

New Experiences in Cangaime:

*Eating fish every day, sometimes for all 3 meals, with boiled yuca and bananas
*Chicha, a traditional Shuar drink:  consists of pieces of washed, peeled yuca root that are thoroughly chewed in the mouth, and the resulting juice is spat into a bowl. The fibrous mass that remains in the mouth is used elsewhere. The bowl is set aside for a few hours to allow the juice to ferment.  (You can guess I didn't actually drink any due to my past stomach issues... it was offered many times though)
*More tarantulas hiding in the leaves
*Fun times with pit latrines:

• Very unstable boards around the pit -> Question: will I fall in the latrine?

• LARGE spiders outside and inside of the latrine pit -> WOW really big!

• Bats inside the latrines  ->  Question: Are they going to fly up and bite my bum?

*Ants, flies, ants, wasps, more ants, spiders, what just stung me?, so many ANTS
*Shuar women running and screaming because a very poisonous snake came by... a man of the community killed it after about 10 hits with a log
*Eating rice and sardine soup on a "picnic table" on site that was just made moments before lunch
*Not showering for a week
*Learning how to install a solar pump
*Being in God's beautiful creation
*Watching a people group interact whose lives and customs are so different then my own
*Eating dinner and watching a incredible display of lighting from afar
*Listening to my iPOD with Lizzie in the tent and not being able to hear it at full blast from the sound of the rain on the tin roof
*Enjoying lemongrass tea and a breakfast of rice and a fried egg
*Eating the most organic I have ever eaten in my life!

So many new experiences and adventures!  Who said living for the Jesus was boring... He rocks my world!  I leave for the jungle again on Saturday.  We are going to Cuisime... it will be a 10 hour car ride and then a 3 hour canoe trip.  More updates to come!  Thank you for your continued prayer.  Our God is so amazing!!

Water Projects in the Jungle

Our first trip into the jungle communities was a success! The Lord was certainly with us proctecting our safety and our health. We flew with MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). The plane are 5 passanger, and the flight was incredible.  The picutre hardly do it justice.  As I looked at God's amazing creation from that plane and was in total awe, I realized that it was only a piece of everything that He is...what an incredible God we serve!

We visited 2 communities on this trip, and passed through 1 community on the hike in.  We flew into Macuma on Tuesday morning and arrived about 10 AM after a 30 minute flight.  We had many adventures in our 3 day trip, but here are the highlights.  It began with the invasion of the tarantulas... one safely in between the window and the screen, but the other in the study right out side of my bedroom.  That one was killed using a machete as to protect us from any encounters during the night.

We discovered many biting and stinging bugs that find their home in the jungle.  The hikes were beautiful yet challenging.  In order to align with the culture we hike through the jungle wearing skirts.  In order to hike through the mud we wear knee high rubber boots, also known as "wellies" to the English.  It's quite the get up when trying to manuver through rivers and over logs.  Our hike on Tuesday was only about 1 hour round trip to Amazones, while our hike on Wednesday/Thursday was approximately 6 hours round trip to Mutints.  The 2 and half to 3 hour hike into Muntints on Wednesday ended with a torrential downpour.  Everyone was throughly soaked by the time we arrived in Muntints.  Not only did it downpour as we arrived, it also rained all night.  We had to leave 3 hours later than planned on Thursday in order to let the rivers go down enough so that we could cross.  We still crossed three rivers that were almost waist deep.  You kind of get used to hiking with wet socks and with your boots full of water.

We enjoyed many interesting meals during our visit as well.  It began with a soup.  I had gotten the leg in my soup and the nails and all were still connected to the animal.  They wouldn't actually tell me what I was eating until I was done eating it :)  It was Watusi, which is a rabbit sized rodent.  The men of the community had went out the night before to hunt and were successful.  The meat was really good!  It was really neat too because they would lay big palm leaves over the table and then place boiled yucca and plantains so we could eat those during the meal.  The people group we are working with is the Shuar.  They were so hospitable and kind.

The engineering...Tuesday we hiked into Amazones.  The water system that was installed there consisted of a solar pump collecting water from the spring, a water tower and a distribution system.  The water tower and the pump both serve the distribution system.  There are two houses at the end of the line that are not receiving any water.  We are in the process of trying to determine why these houses are not receiving water.

The water system in Mutints was collecting water from a spring and the water is fed by gravity to the community.  There is only a community tap at the moment for the families to come and collect water.  It is wonderful to see how the communities are so grateful for the clean water source and give the glory to God for His provision.  Here are some pictures of Mutints, so pretty...

We leave in the morning for Cangaime.  We will be installing a solar pump and testing the existing distribution system.  Please pray for God's continue protection upon our group and that the installation of the system will be successful.  We will be in the community until Friday so I'll tell you about that next week... until then!