MARCH
2002
PHOTOS:
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JOURNAL ENTRIES
BY: ERIN LEPPER
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The
Hogar del Niño Huérfano is the
home for orphaned children in the small village of Lemoa in the department
(state) of Quiche' in an area of Guatemala which is known as the central
highlands. There are currently 15 children living in the orphanage, two
full-time adult staff members, and an American missionary couple. The only
'utility' the orphanage has is electricity. For drinking water, they must
buy purified water, a cistern catches rainwater during the wet season, which
they can use for washing. During the dry season, they must pay water trucks
bring them water to fill their cistern once or twice a week. This can become
very expensive, and for the orphanage it is almost impossible to afford.
Attempts have been made to remedy this problem since the orphanage was built in 1999. The common method of developing a water well in Guatemala consists of having a well hand-dug. Two attempts have already been made to hand-dig a well, and both attempts were met by a hard surface (bedrock) which could not be dug through by conventional methods, and no water contact. Another method of bringing water to the orphanage would include piping it from the near by lake. Installing pipe would be very dangerous because it would have to cross the main road. Also, avoiding theft of the pipe would be near to impossible, as it would be a valuable commodity to anyone who might be able to take it. The final and most appropriate option for fixing the water shortage problem at the orphanage was to drill a well inside of the orphanage walls, which would produce water for washing and drinking. My name is Erin Sommers, and I am a fourth year Geological Engineering student at the University of Missouri - Rolla. I traveled to Guatemala over spring break this year to begin collecting data as part of a future research project with Dr. Curt Elmore. We contracted a driller in Guatemala to drill the well and Dr. Elmore, Cecilia Elmore, and I logged the well, mapped some of the area and received the opportunity to do this service for the Hogar del Niño. |
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Sunday,
March 24, 2002
Today we arrived in Guatemala in
the late afternoon. The Bomberos (firemen) met us at the airport and drove
us out to Chichi so we could drop off our bags before went to the orphanage.
The "highways" here remind me of Arkansas roads in the mountains,
you hardly ever see a straight stretch! |
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The bomberos picked up Dr. elmore and I at the airport in Guatemala. |
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Monday, March
25, 2002
I think there are more dogs in this
town than I have ever seen before (and roosters)! The roosters crowed
from about 3am until we left this morning at 5:30 am. The drillers were
going to start at 6am so we wanted to be there as soon as they began work.
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One of our drill bits clogged by a stiff red clay. |
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Tuesday, March
26, 2002
This morning Jose, one of the firemen,
picked us up at eight and took us to la escuela de technica (the technical
school) in Chichi. There we spoke with Brother Tony from Spain, who showed
us their reciently installed water well and two submersible pumps. No
drilling took place today at the orphanage in Lemoa. I would guess that
because this is Holy Week no one was in any great hurry to drive to or
from Guatemala City for a new bit, for one day of drilling. First thing
as soon as we reached el Hogar, was to log the samples collected by the
driller. That took most of the morning. Then after lunch with los Ninos
we worked on mapping the orchard and courtard areas of the orphanage.
Chuck Scala drove us back to the hotel. This evening we had a chance to
walk around Chichi a little and see the produce market and a few other
stands set up. There wasn't much of a crowd because the regular market
day is Sunday. |
Dr. Elmore and I are logging samples collected by the driller. |
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Sister Helen and I. |
Wednesday, March
27, 2002
Today we went to the Hogar first
thing. We were going to meet Sr. Machorro, Professor of Hydrogeology from
Guatemala City today, but he was leaving for Honduras this weekend. We
mapped out a loop from the courtyard of the Hogar to the lake across the
road, then to the Methodist church camp. Also we taped up the samples
collected by the drillers and stored them in the pump room of the Hogar.
Irene Skala took us over to see the nuns at the neighboring Catholic Church.
Sister Helen, who is about 80 years old, welcomed us and answered some
questions about the other water supply systems in Lemoa. Sister Virginia
and Sister Mary, the "traveling nuns", came in, greeted us warmly
and answered a few more of our questions before heading off again. |
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Thursay, March
28, 2002
This morning Chuck and Irene picked
us up and we went to Rayito de Luz, an orphanage in Xela. There we met
Lidia Garcia, Adida, and Frida Hernandez. Adida is a doctor at the San
Juan de Dios Hospital in Quetzaltenango. |
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Frida with her parrot. |
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Friday, March 29, 2002 Today is Good Friday
before Easter. This morning we saw the Good Friday processions and artwork
in the streets of Chichi. It's really something that draws out a lot
of people. These processions went on from about ten in the morning to
at least six in the evening. The women of the church would carry statues
of the Virgin Mary and other female saints, while the men would carry
the statues of Jesus and male saints. |
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A glimpse of the natives preparing for the Good Friday processions. |
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Saturday, March
30, 2002
Today Marco and Daniel, the bomberos picked us up at our hotel in Chici. They drove us to Antigua, which was about a three-hour drive. The drive didn't seem very long because Daniel spoke very good English and so we were able to talk with him. When we got to Antigua, we dropped off our bags at the Hotel Carmen and began walking around to see all the sights. We toured two large ruins of convents from the 1800s that were pretty much destroyed by earthquakes. We came back to rest later in the afternoon, and then headed out again to do a little shopping and find a place to eat. I had wanted to buy a blanket from one of the street vendors, and so when I found one I liked, we stopped to bargain. Curt and Cecilia Elmore helped out a lot and I got the price I wanted. It went pretty well, short of Curt almost trading his watch to the vendor for a small rug. Anyway it was pretty entertaining and I think that the vendor was having some fun too. We also saw another Easter procession today. There were some incredible statues, one supposedly weighing four tons! Altogether, today was a lot of fun. |
This is me displaying one of the blankets we "haggled" for. |
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Some of the kids and I got to play at the park. |
Sunday, March 31, 2002 This morning we got up early to go to church. The service that we had hoped to go to was not at the time we thought it was, so we ended up following a woman who looked like she was going to church in a hurry. Luckily, she was. After church, we had breakfast and walked around the street market for a little while. We checked out of our hotel about nine o'clock and began our trip back to the U.S. Over all, I must say it was an adventure. |
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Related Websites: |
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This Document is maintained by Dr.C.Elmore |
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Last updated: December
17, 2003
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