MARCH 2002
PHOTOS:
   
       
JOURNAL ENTRIES BY: ERIN LEPPER
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.
 
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!
Well, the drive took about two hours, but we finally made it. Several of the children have parents, yet they can not afford to raise them and send them to school. Others were abandoned when they were only infants. It turns out that most of the children had gone to their parents' home for the week because of Holy Week and there is no school. However, there are about six children whose only home is the orphanage. Little Carla (Carlita) was one of them. Supposedly her father killed her mother and he is serving time in prison. You would never know her terrible family situation by looking at her. She is a happy little girl and is all smiles.
We got a chance to see the drillers today just as they were pulling the pipe because they thought the hole might collapse at 720 feet. They are drilling to a total depth of 1000 feet.
We also met the two American missionaries this evening, Chuck and Irene Skala.

 

The bomberos picked up Dr. elmore and I at the airport in Guatemala.

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.
I had a little bit of an upset stomach in the morning from dinner the night before, but I understand that's all a part of coming to Guatemala for the first time.
Drilling today seemed very slow, and it was. Only twenty feet of depth was obtained today. This was partly due to the driller only having one working bit, which happened to be the wrong one for the formations that were encountered (mainly clay). Luckily the driller encountered the stiff clay formation at the end of the day. Unfortunately however, this caused the bit to be clogged completely and circulation of the drilling mud was lost. It was really kind of exciting to see, but unless someone is able to bring a bit all the way from Chichi, they will not be able to drill tomorrow. I also took samples today with a strainer to log the well. I thought it added some excitement to the day, plus "dirt"!
Today I also met the other residents of the orphanage Byron, Maria Alexandra, Edwardo, Benjamin, and Juan.

 

One of our drill bits clogged by a stiff red clay.

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.

 

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.
Today the kids and Elysa, the director of the Hogar, opened a pool that they had received from Samaritan Hands', Jerry Russell. Although it is normally very warm here, the water was cold. Only Byron, Maria Alexandra, and Carlita went swimming, all the rest of us just had fun watching.

 
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.
I learned so much more than I thought I would know about these kids. Marian, the director, is 21 years old and has been living with, and raising these kids since she was nineteen. There are nine kids that live in the orphanage, all of which Marian has sole responsibility. Four of these children are infants.
Marian told us the story of the orphanage and how it had begun. She spoke of how they began with no money, no food, and no house. She credits all of the success of the orphanage to God. For the one year they have been open, they have been taking in abondoned, and abused children. Now they are ranked as the second best orphanage in the city. Marian takes on the role of mother of nine at the age of 21 with no regret, and the will to only serve God. It was truly memorable experience.
Adida gave us a tour of the hospital where she works. It seemed to be a very nice hospital and clinic. Here, many poor indiginous people come to receive free medical sercvices. We took Adida and Frida home and they invited us in for a glass of Coke. They had a beautiful home and were very hospital hostesses.

 

Frida with her parrot.

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.
We went to the Hogar in the afternoon to check on things one more time and to map out the area around the lake and church camp across the road. For lunch, we all went across the street and had a picnic lunch. When we got back to the orphanage, the front gate had fallen down and so Curt, Cecilia and I helped push it back up and re-attach it to the wall. Later on, we all went to Santa Cruz del Quiche, where Elysa lives, to see the Easter processions there. Again, I think nearly the whole town was there. On the way back to the orphanage, Chuck offered to drive us straight back to Chichi. There was a chant in return from the kids, "CHICHI, CHICHI, CHICHI!!!!" And so that's what we did. When we arrived at our hotel, I wondered if I'd ever see these kids again. I hope so. I don't think that anyone could meet these kids and not want to see them again. Each and every one of them is very special.

 

A glimpse of the natives preparing for the Good Friday processions.

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.

 

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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Last updated: December 17, 2003