| 6th August 2002 Dear all, Here’s a short update from my trip to Moyobamba last week. I travelled to Tarapoto on Sunday 28th (Peruvian independence day), and met a team from a Church in North Carolina (Walt, Gerry, Ben and Chip - who are helping support the water projects in Moyobamba) in the airport. We couldn’t travel to Moyobamba due to protests around Moyobamba by agriculturalists, who had blocked the roads. But we did organise flights, and flew to Moyobamba the following day, in a light aircraft. It was good to greet old friends, and I stayed at Juan Ruiz’ house. On Tuesday, Walt, Ben, Gremburg and Elias (Luke Society) and myself travelled to Guillermo and Nuevo Milagro villages to look at needs for water projects. It was excellent to meet up with ‘German’, who used to be the village Mayor. He took us up to the spring which they’re wanting to utilise as a water source for the village (see photos). The village has already cleared a straight path between the village and the spring (about 1km), ready for a water line. We discussed the project, and German informed us that the village is waiting to hear from the municipal authorities of Moyobamba, as to whether they will fund half the costs of the projects - they should let the village know by October. Walt informed us that his Church (in North Carolina) would be very willing to pay the other half of the costs for the project. So we’re waiting to hear what the municipality decides, and hopefully the project should start soon after (around November time). After seeing the spring (and having a snack of Gauva and Cacao from the forest!), we went on to Nuevo Milagro. There are various sources of water (streams) close to the village which the villagers showed us, some of which are contaminated or do not have enough water. However, we decided that a spring just outside the village could be a safe option, and a start to helping meet the villagers water needs. It is roughly the same level as the village, and would be able to provide water to the lower part of the village, through a short water line (about 200 metres), and would provide clean water for about half the population of the village. The lower half of the village would have about 2 or 3 standpipes from which they could collect water, and which villagers from the upper part of the village could also use. A sand water filter could be built into the system. It’s possible that a second water source could be utilised in the future to provide more water to the village. The Church in north Carolina are willing to provide funds for this project immediately - so the project could start within the next few weeks. The village will be holding a meeting to finalise the project this week. On Wednesday and Thursday I accompanied Walt and Ben to some other projects that their Church is helping support in Moyobamba itself, and helped translate. They’re helping with a project in Annie Soper Christian school which will enable students to treat, filter and bottle tap water, which can be used in the school canteen, and also sold to raise funds. Walt also gave a workshop on alternative technology to villagers, which was very interesting. It included information about solar water heating, designs of composting latrines, and solar cookers. The team built a solar cooker (using aluminium as parabolic mirrors) and successfully cooked a saucepan of rice in it in under an hour! On Friday we flew in hired plane to Trujillo on the coast (because of the demonstrations and road blocks). I stayed with the team from North Carolina and helped translate for them as we visited the work of another Luke Society in a shanty town area of Trujillo. They are building a school and health clinic in the neighbourhood, and are wanting help from the Church in north Carolina to pipe water to the neighbourhood. At present there is very little water (Trujillo is located on the desert coast), and villagers have to pay for water that is delivered by truck to a tank. A water system would involve drilling wells into a dry river bed about 1 kilometre away, and the first phase will involve surveying for water in the strata. On Saturday night we accompanied Felix and Betty from the Luke Society there to a service of thanksgiving of Christian medical workers in Trujillo, which was a real blessing. Please pray for these projects, and the plans being made. Please also pray for my continuing Spanish studies here in Lima. Next Monday I’ll being starting a course using new materials with my tutor. Please also pray for the situation in Moyobamba and Tarapoto. The agriculturalists have now reached an agreement with the government, who will buy and try to export more rice from the region (rather than buying cheap rice from central America). In the long run, farmers in the region will probably have to diversify into growing other products that aren’t so variable on the national and international market. Thankyou very much for your prayers. I’ve put some photos from the trip in Moyobamba on the internet. The web address is: http://www.oocities.org/martinboneperu/moyophojul2002.html Yours in Christ, Martin Bone |