Author: GMSM

Arrived to the city late in the evening and Doctor Kenny picked me up and dropped me off at the Caprizzio Hotel. Arose early and headed for Escuintla. This town is pretty much ground zero for Fuego relief work and the base of our operation. I am with a young man named Makko and he will be with me today. We went to Alotenango where some new homes have been built for some of the Fuego victims. This town is on the back side of the volcano. We passed through Los Lotes, ground zero, and drove around the base of the mountain. I wanted to see what other NGO’s were doing Shelter wise. After the look see, we went to another camp where many people still are living. Several days ago the government moved all out of the camps and sent them back to their land and home remnants. In less than 24 hours the volcano erupted again and they moved everyone back to the camps. There is no dignity or privacy in these camps. And know one really seems to know what direction CONRED is going. I think the situation is worse now than before. From there we went back through Escuintla and headed north to the property we are considering. We now have a legal survey and that will allow me to walk the property but I first must gain permission before entering the land. I like the land and I hope we can negotiate a fair price. There is much work that will have to be done before anything can be done. I met a Cuban doctor here today. He is a surgeon that specializes in neck, throat and abdomen surgeries. For now I won’t mention his name. He is seeking citizenship here in Guatemala. He made $20.00 a day in Cuba and was allotted rice and beans each month just like everyone. If you want meat,sugar, milk etc. you have to buy it. When I get back I’m gonna suggest our family doctor cut his rates down to $20.00 a day…… yeah right. He is very humble and is a new believer. Not sure yet what happens tomorrow but I will push hard to enter the property. Things are moving in a good way but it’s hard to be patient. I must always remember that it’s His work not mine. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Kenny

CI/GMSM are jointly headed back south again. We are hoping to finally get our plan of relocating several families moving forward. Our desire is to purchase property to build 10 homes on. That means 10 families will have a new beginning. We have found property and have paid to have a survey to see exactly where the property lines are and make sure the title is clear. Now that all that is complete I can walk the land knowing where all sides of the property are. We are hoping to make an offer on this trip and put down some earnest money. Should be an interesting process. PTL that we have some great locals who are helping us through this process. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Kenny

Last week brought an opportunity that was made possible by what Give Me Shelter Ministries has done over the last 12+ years in Mexico and Haiti. We have invested time and resources into pastors who truly want to serve their people. By building a continued trust and relationship with these pastors it has opened up so many opportunities through out each country. Conscience International and GMSM sent funds via Pastor Felipe Hernandez from Nuevo Laredo down to FBC Oaxaca. From there their group traveled south to Ixtepec where the first wave of migrants from the Guatemala border were headed. They along with a small church in Ixtepec were able to bring aid to about 2000 people. Food, water and hygiene products were distributed. This small village is next to Ixtaltepec where we continue to build latrines due to the damage of the earthquake well over a year ago. As this was taking place we also sent Pastor Harry and a helper up to the north of Haiti to check out the damage from the resent earthquake and to see if we needed to consider aid of some sort. He went to Port des Paix and visited several small communities. When he came back, he felt that the damage was minimal and things were already being done response wise. The consensus was to stay focused on the roof project in Cayette. How blessed we are to be able to send out our brothers and sisters to do mission in their countries with out having to be micro managed every step of the way. That’s true investment.
Kenny

We headed out at 5:00 this morning to make sure we were at the red zone by 7:00 am. On the way we stopped by a local bakery to pick up some pastries to hand out to the officials at the road block. Sometimes to reach someone’s heart you gotta go through their stomach. I’m not saying that this really helped but they were stoked to get sweet bread and they put our name on the list to enter with the rescue workers.

We were able to walk in to Los Lotes a small town that has been on the news as one of the hardest hit areas. Most of the town is covered with ash, lava and mud. Many lives were lost and there is a large number of people missing. At least 300 is a number I keep hearing. The relief workers are working from dawn to dusk digging out the homes looking for bodies. At this point I do not believe they are expecting to find survivors. The flow looks to me like it was about a quarter of a mile wide.

Once we came back down I met with CONRED to discuss our plan of shelter once the relocation process starts. We are working with a local architect to draw up a simple, indigenous permanent structure. CONRED will submit the plan for approval. We will certainly need financial gifts for this project. Our goal is 10 homes to start the project. The homes will cost between 3500.00- 5500.00 per house. These homes will have concrete footer, floor, block walls and metal roofs.  We will use local labor but teams are welcome to join our efforts. Our readers can make this possible. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny

After a great night of sleep, Russ and his brother in law picked us up and we headed back towards Escuintla. Today’s agenda was to hopefully get close to ground zero. We stopped by Clinicas Vida and Doctor Kenny came along to help us try and get permission to enter the red zone. Once we got our merry band of gypsies together we headed to COMRED.

COMRED is the government agency in Guatemala that oversees all relief efforts in time of crisis. We did have a fruitful talk with them and they gave us their blessings. But, it’s really up to the police. Soooo, here we go down the trail of red tape. We arrived at the road that goes up towards the volcano Fuego and sure enough the road was blocked. The military and police are present and after telling them our desire to go up the mountain they just smiled and said no. Mostly because it was raining and the rain compounds the problem. What they did say was, be here at 7:00 in the morning and they would let us in with the rescue workers. It was getting late in the afternoon so we decided to go find ice cream. Which we did. Tomorrow is another day. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny

I met Jim Jennings with Conscience International  in Atlanta and headed to Guatemala City to begin an assessment on the Fuego eruption. This is the first time Jim and I have worked in the field together. I am very excited about this opportunity. I’m usually solo. We met Russ and Vickie who are missionaries here at a hospital about 10 hours from the city. They will be working with us while here. Once we left the airport we headed to Escuintla a small town where there are staging areas for shelter, food, clothing and medical assistance. Russ introduced us to a doctor named Kenny who runs a social clinic for the desperate called Clinicas Vida. He took us to the distribution areas, a field clinic and a shelter of 1200 displaced people. Tomorrow we will try to approach ground zero. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny