Recent happenings, part 2

I. Visitors
At the beginning of November, we were visited by two celebrities of the Old Colony Mennonite world we work in. Kennert Giesbrecht and Wilfred Neufeld, editors of the newspaper Die Mennonitische Post, stopped in Charagua on their Jeep trip from Manitoba, Canada to the Paraguay Chaco. The Mennonites in our area had been asking for weeks when the two would arrive, so when they did, we took them to Durango Colony for an evening of hearty eating, story-telling, and much more visiting by kerosene lamp until 10.30pm.


II. Guarani-Mennonite women's exchange

Also in November, we helped arrange for a group of indigenous Guarani women to spend a day at a Mennonite home in Durango Colony. The main purpose was to see how Mrs. Doerksen makes laundry soap--something these women are learning to do in order to sell for a bit of family income. They also took in how Mennonite farmyards typically operate, exchanged gifts (see photo above), asked many questions of each other (through translators) over terere, and enjoyed a huge "typical" Mennonite meal. It was striking to realize how similar the roles and tasks of women are in these two communities: caretakers of family and animals, handiworkers/aritsans, little exposed to the "outside world" and usually not able to speak/understand Spanish, and much more.
Above: Ramont serves the hosts terere, which was much joked-about.
Below: The group which met at the Doerksen home. We are now planning for a group of Mennonites to visit the women's home communities in January. It's been a pleasent surprise to work with Mennonites who are so enthused about this kind of cultural exchange.

III. Food
Above: our first ripe mango
Below: bocaditos and cheesecake for a recent cafecito with our neighbors (I'm into all things cream cheese since I recently learned to make it from yoghurt :)

23 weeks

Five months down and all seems to be going well. A recent ultrasound didn´t show the baby´s sex, but it did (finally) give us a better idea of when to expect it: 24 February 2010.

Water projects

We are working on two water projects for MCC in the Charagua region. The first is to finish up a previous project of helping low-income families finance wells, cisterns, and/or windmills (or motorized pumps). The first photo shows a well on a Durango Colony yard. Up until this week, water was pumped into the green barrel by the horse walking in circles for hours each day. Last week a new 10,000L cement cistern was built on this yard, as well as a pump jack installed.

A second water project is to encourage families in Durango Colony to use newly accessable water to produce food for their family in gardens and orchards. We´ve been experimenting with our own gardens all these eight months we´ve lived in the Chaco--trying to see if it´s possible to grow vegetables all year round (or, which vegetables can produce when). The latest stage has been to put up ¨half shade¨ to protect the more vulnerable plants from the scorching sun. The photos below show what our version looks like. We did it just in time: it´s been over 102F every day for over a week now.

In general

We've stayed pretty close to home for the last two months, but we've had a number of visitors to link us to the world beyond Charagua and Durango. Thirteen MCC folks stayed two nights at the end of August, the Heppner family of five came for a long weekend in mid August, and the Schroeder family brought our German host family (Peter and Lena Fehr from Morganland) down for a few days last week. There isn't too much in the way of tourist diversion around here (unless you count cheese factories, which we do), but we do offer lots of terere, food, and relaxing--the things we love.

Here Ramont makes breakfast pancakes with Asha, Joel, and Keziah Heppner:

Breakfast with the Fehrs and Schroeders:


Our house, now connected to the back of our MCC center building (construction is more or less complete, hallelujah!):

Extra onions from our first planting. We're now eating fresh ones along with our carrots, lettuce, beans, tomatoes, peppers, and of course, herbs.

Ramont chopping maralfalfa--eventually to be fed to a milk cow, but for now used as garden mulch:

It's that hot

Grand opening!

At the end of August, we officially celebrated the opening of the new MCC center in Charagua Station!

The MCC Bolivia directors, Cesar and Lizette Flores, together with Hans and Elma Schroeder (Low German Mennonite program coordinators), Irina and Jerry Hiebert (LGM staff from Santa Cruz) and kids came for a few days to mark the event. We were open for usual business on the day of the open house, but also had prizes, refreshments, and lots of terere. Ramont and I were pleased with how many folks came by--mostly Mennonites, particularly from Durango Colony--and how long they stayed and visited. Colony Mennonites are our biggest customers generally, but we've been pleased with how many Bolivian community members (especially school kids) use the library. It's a good way for us to meet people and connect with them in their interest areas. The center is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which allows us time to visit the colonies and do other work as well.

A few more scenes from the grand opening:

Observing a few moments of [something] before a dedicatory prayer in the morning.













A common scene in front of the center.

Visiting in front of the center, on our town's main street.

Durango Colony leadership in a lighter moment with Jerry Hiebert and Ramont.

Irina Hiebert checking out books for the women.














Irina, Elma Schroeder, Lizette Flores, Elisabeth.















The group stayed at our house for several nights, so we had some good visiting time as well. Here finishing up breakfast, while below Cesar and Hans are heating up to make giso for dinner.

Scenes from Durango Colony

Durango Colony is the Old Colony Mennonite community we work most closely with, namely on water systems and promoting gardening. Thanks to the Schroeders for sharing these photos, taken on a recent trip of theirs.

Bringing in the cows. This is the dusty time of year--no significant rain since about March.

Home of the young Kroeker family, which includes 5 young children. What you can't see in this photo is their amazingly lush garden.

Both photos here are of cheese-making at the main Durango cheese factory; there are several, but all colony inhabitants are "members" of this one. The finished cheese is shipped to Santa Cruz twice a week and sold in the markets and supermarkets. It's quite dry and salty, which helps preserve it in less-than-refrigerated conditions...

Going home.

MWC and the city

We were lucky enough to attend the Mennonite World Conference, 14-19 July, in Asuncion, Paraguay. It was a feast of meeting folks from most of the different worlds we've lived in--Mtn. Lake, N. Newton, Goshen, D.C., Ukraine, Bangladesh, India, Iowa City, Elkhart, as well as many relatives from Paraguay. The worship services, particularly the music, were a highlight as well.


We stayed with cousins Karl & Miranda Toews,


and got a tour of downtown Asuncion from cousin Albert (meeting friends along the way!):

A grand family visit!

We've had a pretty crazy (good) month of July, which all started on the 6th. Willmar (Liz's older brother), Hannah, Elias, and Amos arrived in Santa Cruz in the morning, while David (Liz's younger brother) and Rachel arrived a few hours later. We packed them all up into the double-cabin MCC pick-up--Willmar & David in the back--and headed to Charagua that same day (record time for the trip...as in, the longest it's ever taken...).


We were at home in Charagua for about three days--drank lots of terere/mate (here in front of our "centro menno"),

visited our friends in Durango Colony and watched cheese-making,

drove up the river through our mini-mountains,

ate fresh garden/tree produce,

the boys built a house out of all the construction materials on our yard,

and of course, figured out who is strongest (the smartest are notably absent from the photo).

We returned to Santa Cruz for the MCC Bolivia 50th Anniversary celebrations on Friday and Saturday, and then headed to Morganland Colony to visit the Toews relatives all day Sunday. Monday was spent exploring the city and market, and in the evening David, Rachel, Liz, and Ramont took off on the 23 hour bus for Paraguay (David and Rachel got off in the Chaco to visit more Toews relatives).

It really was a grand time, and we're grateful to have spent the time with close family members.

Recent sights and so on

We are sitting in Santa Cruz, counting down the minutes until Willmar & Hannah and family touch down tomorrow morning, and then David & Rachel a few hours later. This last month in Charagua has been both rewarding and, as usual, incredibly frustrating. The latter is, as usual, related to the mayhem (construction, etc) on our yard, which just will not end. But good things are happening in our "work" world!

First, the mini resource center on our yard is now open! There are two rooms--one to sell books, maps, and German newspapers and just hang out, and the other is a library with books in German, Spanish and English, as well as a reading/coloring table. It's altogether a bit rustic yet, but people are starting to come in on the two days/week we're open.




Second, we've begun working with a nearby Guarani community to help put up a windmill pump and water tank for their existing (but unused) community well. It's slow going, but this seems to be a good way for MCC to be involved in this area. We also recently toured the large Guarani area of Isoso together with a Belgian NGO worker, who assists women's leadership and artisan groups. Quite eye-opening to look into some very poor-looking homes of what used to be semi-nomadic people. Below is a woman weaving in their traditional style, in her adobe home.


Third, our Mennonite colony work has gotten a bit more focused. At the moment we are finishing a previous project, which provides certain low-income families with well water systems. We've also recently had some positive meetings with the Durango Colony leadership about our plans to promote drip irrigation for gardens and pastures.



And finally, we're becoming better friends with our neighbors (though we're pretty sure they're helping themselves to our chickens' eggs :) and the other gringos living in Charagua--a European NGO worker, a Mennonite missionary couple from Canada, and a whole group of European Jehovah's Witnesses. What a mix it is!

And finally, we're eating lettuce, carrots, onions, and herbs from our garden; tomatoes and peppers are just about ready; and as always, fruits from the trees--papayas just started, avocados and lemons are ending, and figs...well, we're not sure.