A Walk Through Our Neighborhood

 We have met many lovely people during three days of clinic, two church events and one excursion up Volcano Pacaya.

The immediate neighborhood around the church where we work is an amalgam of homes all built by people who saw the opportunity to build a dwelling on land that was not owned by anyone else. The narrow-gauge railway of a fruit company was no longer being used. The fruit company wanted to deed the land to the government; the government did not want to improve the land; the matter went to court, and in a short time, the abandoned strip of land began to be built upon by people from near and far. We’re told the people there came from El Salvador, from the south coast of Guatemala, and many other places in between.

Unlike many parts of highland Guatemala, these are not members of any Maya-dialect community. The residents are not farmers since there are no plots for subsistence crops. The homes start as huts made of scrap metal and wood; but as the residents accumulate some savings, they improve them by putting in cement floors, cement block walls, and better roofs. Some residents manage to connect to electricity, an expensive proposition. Running water and plumbing are other more difficult projects to be resolved.

Pictures here tell a thousand words. In some, the residents have been able to use “permanent” materials; others haven’t moved up the income scale. These are our brothers and sisters the Iglesia Luterana Confesional reaches out to. The fact that about forty children routinely show up for “Club de Ninos” on Saturday afternoons, that fifty community members attend the church service Sunday afternoons, and that medical clinics, eyeglass clinics and dental clinics receive lines out the door is testament to the impact Dr. Elry and his church leaders have here.