leaving home

A milestone - our filthy, icky, paint-spattered, over-used clothes into the garbage. After 2 months of daily use in fixing up the house, the clothes are discarded and we are on our way at last! I never thought the day would come. But we leave knowing our house is in good order. On to Guatemala until sometime in the Spring (you know how definite our plans have been...) and then on to Europe to bike tour for the rest of the year.

But first we drive through Mexico to Guatemala - land of unbelievably gorgeous textiles, stunning (and active) volcanoes, a multitude of different indiginous Mayan languages and one of the worst educational systems in the Western Hemisphere, third only to Haiti and Nicaragua.

The rural highland village Kent and I will work in is on Volcan San Pedro, above Lake Atitlan, a popular tourist destination. In Panyebar, kids suffer from skin disorders and worms gained from lack of shoes. Families farm small plots of land on the volcano. Most women cook over open wood fires in their homes and families have medical conditions associated with the smoke. Up until the recent past, Panyebar had only elementary schools and children did not receive an education above 6th grade. But about 3 years ago, a middle school opened, supported by friends and churches in California and Alaska. This community will be most of the focus of Kent's and my time.

Our roles are still fairly undefined. Most likely, Kent will be working with a research project that is endeavoring to quantify how cooking with clean-burning, vented stoves affects the health of families that have always used open fires. I will work with the middle school, teaching science and English and assisting the teachers.

Many of you have donated funds and materials for both the stove project and the school - we do not go empty-handed. In fact we bring FOSS science kits, school supplies, financial donations and good wishes. Just hope those FOSS kits make it through the border crossings intact! "Uh, officer, that white powder is just citric acid..." Maybe our mountain bikes will distract them!

So we leave, knowing that we bring much but will receive more as is usually the way in such things. In the mean time, it's Motel 6 and roast chicken from the grocery store until we hit the taco stands in Mexico!