These two women are among the many who have been waiting to get an
onil stove. As you can see their cooking conditions are very
difficult. They were both fortunate to receive a stove yesterday.
Thanks to Families for Guatemala 08!
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This stove was one of others enabled through the Heartland South DIstrict of United Methodist Women.
Thank you Kim.
Below the photos is a message from Kim which provides some interesting background about this project.
I first heard about Mayan Families on another yahoo group when I was waiting for the adoption of our Angi Grace. I took an extra suitcase of clothes on my trip and wrote Sharon who sent someone to pick them up. Of course, I fell in love with the Guatemalan people during the visit trip, last April, and was trying to think of ways to give back already.
When we took Angi Grace to church ( Archie Missouri United Methodist Church ) the first time when we got home, a cool thing happened. One of the church ladies said the group wanted to give me a shower for Angi Grace. I thanked her and said I would rather the ladies not spend the time or the money. I said I would much rather each of them give me a dollar or so to send to Mayan Families. After church another lady named Pat Reed came running down the sidewalk and called out to me as I was putting Angi Grace in the car.
When she got to us, Pat pulled a $100 bill out of her wallet and said she wanted to give this to me for the children where Angi Grace came from. She said it was the strangest thing but her Dad had died 3 years ago. Just a few weeks ago, she was cleaning out his wallet and found $600 in new bills. She told her siblings and they all said they didn’t want the money, for her to choose what to do with it. Pat had given most of it to other good causes and had this $100 in her wallet today and didn’t really know why.
Pat went onto say that she wasn’t planning on going to church that day, but her Dad “came to her” and told her to go, so she did. (This is not odd to me as my Daddy passed 30+ years ago and he still “comes to me”). She sat in the pew behind us and she entertained our year old Angi Grace much of her first church service by making faces and giggling at her. She said while she was in church, her Dad “came to her” again, as clear as day, and told her to give that $100 to me, for “Angi’s People”.
I sent the donation in time for a tamale basket at Christmas. Soon after, Pat asked me if I would speak to the Heartland South District of United Methodist Women about our adoption experience and “Angi’s People” Well, I hate public speaking, truly. However, I really do remember begging God for this little girl. I made lots of promises and God had delivered. So, I accepted knowing I had to get past my fear.
Pat is the Secretary this year for this area group of United Methodist Women. She planned this years district conference around our adoption Angi Grace and the Guatemalan people. The (between 75 and 100) ladies took a love offering for Angi’s people before I spoke. They also prayed for me and I didn’t even cry during my speech, an amazing feat in itself. Another adoptive parent came and spoke about her recent trip, the extreme poverty, and the challenges of the women and children specifically. Anyway, this is where the $757 came from and Sharon thought it best used in 5 stoves, and I agree. The check should be on it’s way.
Pat is feeling the need, as I am, to do more for Guatemala . She is trying to get a local group of younger Methodist Women together to fellowship and do some projects to raise more money. She has asked me to speak at the first gathering and, of course, I said yes. I’ll know more about it in the next month or so.
My husband has also given me a $500 annual budget to sponsor a child. I am waiting for Carmen to come up with a boy around my sons age (11) with a younger sibling that we can (hopefully) help through school and make a positive difference in the lives of a family. It is my hope to organize a mission trip someday too, but that is a long way down the road.
In my speech, I talk about starting this journey for a purely selfish motive. I wanted a daughter and a sister for my son. As I have learned about Guatemala and the wonderful people, it has become so much bigger than that. I want to, need to, find ways to give back. It’s the least I can do to express how grateful I am for my blessed child.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Use any or all of it, however it might help.
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The womens group of El Barranco made this beautiful gift for us. This gift was in appreciation of having recently installed Onil stoves in their community.
The community of El Barranco is a very rural, agricultural community and this is the first time they have ever received help from outside.
It was a pleasure to install so many stoves in their village, many people had been cooking over open fires on the ground.
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Through your donations and the help of visiting volunteer groups many families have recently received new Onil cooking stoves. Having these stoves means no more crouching over the open fires on the ground. It means not having to worry about one of the little children falling into the fire and it means no more smoke
filling the house. Below are photos of some of the families who have recently received new stoves.
Marta Morales Suy
Sponsored Student 174 Oneida Marily
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Florence and her group are very busy putting in stoves. These are some of the families that will be receiving stoves in the agricultural community of El Barranco.
Some of the women are cooking over open fires on the ground, some are cooking over tin drums, others have huge wood burning stoves that take an enormous amount of wood to make them function. You can see the amount of smoke that is in the house when they cook and do not have a stove that removes the smoke. This causes severe respiratory problems for all of the family.
They will all benefit greatly from these energy efficient Onil stoves.
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The family of sponsored student Gladys has received a new stove.
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This young mother was cooking on the ground with this makeshift “stove”. She was very grateful to receive an onil energy efficient stove. Thanks to your donations to the Stove Program we are able to give stoves to families like these.
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