Bonus Trip for Calvin College Spanish Majors AND Water in El Encinal!

Last month I was surprised by an invitation to join a group of Calvin College students.  Lety, my supervisor in Diaconía´s credit program, planned a trip to El Guanábano, San Pedro de Catacamas to visit the rural credit union and the construction of a new well in one of the neighbourhoods.  These dozen Spanish Majors are currently doing their required semester abroad here in Honduras.  They are taking a full course load, practicing their Spanish and taking in a whole new cultural experience.  Joanne Verbeek of the Association for a more Just Society (AJS) in Tegucigalpa was leading this group in their bonus trip to Olancho.  Her goal was to give these students the opportunity to see how people live in another part of Honduras and to see how other CRWRC partner agencies are working towards community development. 

We got up early that Saturday morning and clambered into a little bus and made the 45 min trip to El Guanábano.  We met with many community leaders in the local Christian Reformed Church.  The Calvin students eagerly engaged the community members as they heard a bit of the history and struggles living in rural Olancho.  They weren´t afraid to ask some excellent questions which showed an appreciation for the work of transformational development and also demonstrated their well-developed Spanish skills.  We discussed everything from the San Pedro de Catacamas water project and its challenges, to the family garden program from Diaconía, to the rural credit union in Guanábano. 

On our way out of the community we ventured a little off the beaten path up to a remote neighbourhood called El Encinal.  This poor area of El Guanábano is located on the top of a hill and dotted with small and sagging little houses.  Matt DeKam, the previous CRWRC volunteer with Diaconía, had a soft spot for the people of El Encinal and advocated for funding for water storage pilas in 2010.  They were so happy to have these new pilas but the last couple of years have been a struggle to fill them as they have to haul water from a well almost 3km away.  However, things are looking up in El Encinal as the Carpenteros and Friends from Ontario have sponsored the construction of their very own well!  We stopped by with the Calvin students to check on its progress and some of the girls even rappelled down to get a sense of how deep they´ve already dug.  They were all very impressed with the all the hard work required to excavate that well with just a pick axe, shovel and bucket.  

Last week Isaí, Arturo and I went for another visit to the well in El Encinal.  We were so happy to hear that after months of digging under a beating sun, after hauling thousands of buckets full of mud, sand and rock, and after reaching an impressive depth of more than 17 metres… THEY HAVE FOUND WATER!!!  They have just grazed the main water vein and will have to continue digging a little further before installing the pump and tubing.  However, the winter rainy season has already begun so they won´t be able to excavate while the well walls are so soft.  The residents of El Encinal will have to wait until next March to restart the digging but the good news is that they have water – even if it is with a bucket and pulley system.  You can just imagine how ecstatic they are knowing that their pilas will always have water from now on!