Green light to 2023 season

From Ted van der Zalm Facebook post February 6, 2023.

Once again, Wells of Hope has hit the ground running in 2023! Thanks to the numerous active volunteers and donors who continue the behind the scenes work of constantly fundraising, the ground work has begun for many of the projects for this season.

Our first group of volunteers to arrive mid-February are students from Western University. Their 10-day mission experience will allow them to participate in many of the projects on the go to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters in the mountains of Santa Maria, Jalapa. Their priority project will focus on building a home for Etelvina and her two children, Manuel and Nidia. Their present single room dwelling is deteriorated to the point where the entire family, with their meager belongings, gets soaked each evening during the rains.

A long-time volunteer from British Columbia, Pat Carrol, with our camp technicians, are busy fabricating a steel bridge that will be installed in mid-March by our long standing group of volunteers who have already installed many safe walking bridges over dangerous seasonal rivers. This bridge will replace the planks that students presently use to cross the raging stream on their way to school in the village of Durazno. Many times, the boards get washed away or a child will accidently slip and fall in to the turbulent waters.

Some finishing touches to the Ben Center and soon the team of young adults who have graduated from a welding program sponsored by Wells of Hope, will be fabricating much needed school desks. Wells of Hope continues to support education by building schools and classrooms but requests continue to pour in for desks. Students from the schools asking for help with desks will be required to collect all the plastic that they can find strewn along the roadside and around their homes. The plastic will be melted down and become the seats and desktop. To coincide with the plastics collection, the teachers of the participating schools will teach a section on the benefits of recycling. The students will witness the positive outcome of their efforts by having cleaner communities and brand-new school desks locally fabricated. In partnership with Intecap, a trade school funded buy businesses, welding courses will continue to be taught in the Ben Center. It is an opportunity for the young adults from the mountain communities wishing to develop new gifts and talents which could, and has, led to gainful employment in the trades.

Water and medical are two other main focuses of Wells of Hope. The Regional Medical Officer has approached Wells of Hope for assistance in bringing a new maternity medical facility into reality for the town of San Luis Jilotepeque and the many surrounding communities. The lack of available water has stopped the project. Wells of Hope has begun drilling a well that will allow the life-saving maternity hospital to become a reality.

The Women outreach program in the form of agriculture continues. Many women come to Campo Esperanza to learn and participate in new growing methods, water conserving irrigation systems and experimenting with new crops to the mountain region. This year pineapples have been grown for the very first-time in this area. This is a crop normally reserved for the hot, coastal plantations. Along with coffee, oranges, avocados and any kind of vegetable imaginable, Guatemala’s rich climate proves once again that, with water, the agriculture possibilities are endless.

Much more is on the go. We’ll keep you posted!