Our first day of work is over, and Dorie's Promise Guesthouse is filled with some tired people! We're so thankful for the dinner [and lunch for those of us who were here during the day] that was delivered, and are making the second pot of coffee!



AT DORIE'S......

We split into two groups this morning, and one of them went to the Dump to do a project there [Ellie is going to write about that one at the end of this], and some of us stayed here at Dorie's. I think I mentioned that there is a premature baby who was delivered here about two weeks ago. Her name is Sophia, and there is absolutely no known information about her. In fact, Desi named her when she arrived here! She is tiny, and currently resides in an isolette in the corner of the eating room in the Baby House. Her isolette is draped with a sheet to try to keep her as separate as possible from the rest of the babies, and she has a warm humidifier blowing in her direction all the time. I have yet to see her awake [and believe me, it's not for lack of trying, I was in there many times today to peek at her!], but am told that she is just content and sleepy. Anyway, there is an area downstairs where they were planning to create an Isolation Room, and now there is clearly a pressing need.



So today, all of the babies moved out of their house for the day, and our guys went to work. There was a lot of mold on the plaster walls, which needed to be bleached off, and then the cracked plaster needed to be scraped off and replaced. Ryan, Mark, Lindsay, Bob, Joe, and David worked in the house all day, and got several bathroom ceilings cleaned and painted as well. The replastering is done, and there is hope for painting tomorrow. It was a big job, and I was impressed at how much they got done!



Meanwhile, I went shopping with Desi this morning for GF food and team supplies. We returned a little before lunch, and then after lunch I went shopping with Desi, Ali, and Abel to buy a new washing machine for the Baby House. They have been without a washer for some time, and have been trekking the laundry over to the other house to be done during the night. And then last week that machine broke! It's fixed for now, but we found a great, super-sized machine on sale, and even got a discount for paying cash! It's being delivered tomorrow morning [although we realize we are in Guatemala, on Guatemala time, so that could be anytime this week!], and our guys are going to install it.



When we got back from the last shopping trip, I was walking down the driveway when I heard several babies crying. After a little investigating, I found them in a bedroom of the bigger kids house, where they had been exiled to during the construction. There were seven babies under the age of 1 in the tiny room, with a handful of toys to keep them happy with their Special Mother. It was changing and feeding time, and I decided to stay and help the poor woman, who wasn't too happy about her location [and who can blame her?]. I picked up little Jireh, who needed to eat, and fed him while she changed a couple more diapers, and thus went our afternoon. Two of them are walking, and kept trying to escape whenever a bigger kid came in to use the bathroom attached to the room [we were in Brayan's room, for those of you who know the layout], and we had to keep catching them from running away AND from playing in the toilet when they bathroom door was open. Little Alejandra ended up getting her fingers pinched in the bathroom door a time or two, and Abraham just walked the length of the room endlessly all afternoon. I ducked out for a little while to make the GF dinner, and then I heard crying again. I fed Mauricio, and as soon as he settled down, Juan Carlos started fussing, so I picked him up, never to put him down until he went to bed. I have to say, as the mother of 5, that being a Special Mother is a tough job! How many babies will eat exactly on schedule, and mess up their mother's day? Imagine having seven of them at once! It was a very fun, but tiring afternoon.

And I get to do it again tomorrow, until the messy smelly stuff in Casa 5 is done! ......Amy

IN THE DUMP
We had a very busy day in the Guatemala City dump today. When we first got there, we went to this lot that the dump community has set aside for a community center. There were two little houses there that were in the way, so we tore them down. They were basically just frames with sheet metal and tarp sort of things nailed to them, so it wasn't very difficult work, and it only took us about hour. We made two piles of any salvageable materials (one for each house, becasue they were owned by different people). Some of the women from houses nearby helped pick up the scraps and other trash, which was easy to get rid of, since we were already in the dump. There was this one litle boy who probably worked harder than any of us. He always ran to catch up with anyone carrying anything and grabbed an end. It's hard to say how old he really was, but I think he was about 5 or 6. At the end, we gave him one of our water bottles, and he drank the whole thing in like 30 seconds. It was probably the first clean water he's ever tasted.

The living conditions in the dump were way worse than anywhere else we've seen. I don't think many, if any, of the house have showers inside, so they can only bathe if they pay to use some sort of public bathroom. Judging by their appearance, they can't do that very often. The running water they do have (for bathrooms, dishes, and laundry) is drained directly into little trenches that flow openly in the streets. It smelled pretty bad, and there were tons of flies. I guess there are about 20,000 people living in the dump. Almost 80% of them are women and children because the fathers often abandon. Most of them are indegenous (Mayan) people who move from the highlands to the dump to work there, collecting and sorting trash. They make about $3 a day. There's also problem with extremely high death rates due to exporsure to methane gas. Most people in the dump only live to be 40 or 50. It's appalling how horribly people can learn to live.

After we finished at the first lot, we went to the house of a woman named Blanca and her daughter, Jasmin. It was pretty much one big rectangular room with wooden frames and sheet metal walls and roof. The floor was dirt, and she had asked for concrete for it. She couldn't pay the $40 it would have cost her for labor. We worked all day leveling the floor out as much as possible and putting down concrete. We had to mix it all by hand, so it took a while, but we got it done. Blanca and Jasmin were so happy. God, as usual, provided the perfect opportunity.
The plan for tomorrow is to go back to the first lot (the community center one). We hope to have time to finish the floor, which will also be concrete, and at least start framing the walls. We're having the concrete poured (well, pumped) from a truck because the area is much too large to do it all by hand. The cement truck can't come until Wednesday, so tommorrow we'e just going to level it all out. We're renting a Bobcat or something to help with that. Hopefully everything goes smoothly.

Please pray for the people in the dump. Obviously, they need straight-forward, physical help. But we've been talking a lot about how we can't fix problems unless we get to the root of them, which is sin. They, quite simpy, need Jesus. Pray that He will reveal Himself to those people through us this week, despite how insignificant the structures we leave behind may be. Thank you again for your prayers for our safety and health. We are excited to see what God has in store for us tomorrow!
(Ellie)