Category: Guatemala

Lluvia de Gracias, Guatemala

Agua Viva has new friend named Wily Zapeta! That is what Agua Viva is made of… friendships. Wily has helped Agua Viva sign yet another Covenant this year at Lluvia de Gracias. This church is about 30 minutes away from Quetzaltengo, Guatemala, and they were so excited to hear that they had been selected for an installation THIS YEAR!! Pastor Cesar Amton explained how difficult it is to find purified drinking water, and it is too expensive for the local people to purchase bottled water at the local tienda.

They have already begun Water Room preparations, and two of our FEARLESS volunteers, yet to be selected, will fly the suitcases to Guatemala, CoVid and all! Agua Viva is very pleased to have such wonderful friends and the need is so great in this area for purified drinking water.

2019 Travel Plans

Cuba

• Operating Partner: Iglesia Unidad Metodista
• Location: Baitiquiri, Guantanamo, Cuba
• Approximate price: $2,200.00
• Leaders: Dale Wilson, Dale Bain

Honduras

• MARCH 2, 2019 THROUGH MARCH 9, 2019
• Operating Partner: Telanga Orphanage
• Location: Ojo de Agua
• Approximate Volunteer Cost: $1,800.00
• Leaders: David Watts, Steve Wagner

Guatemala

• MAY 18, 2019 THROUGH MAY 25, 2019
• Operating Partner: Iglesia Monte Sinai Presbyterian
• Location:  Nimasac, San Adres, Xecul, Totonicopan
• All Women Trip
• Approximate Volunteer Cost: $1,800
• Leaders: Nancy Allen, Melissa Caton

Ecuador

• JULY 13, 2019 THROUGH JULY 20, 2019
• Operating Partner: Universidad Estatal Amazonica
• Approximate Volunteer Cost: $2,400
• Leaders: Jerry Johnson, Curt Mader

Kenya

• SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 THROUGH OCTOBER 5, 2019
• This trip is closed. Contact Jim Allen for more information.
• Leaders: Curt Creason, Curt Mader
• Operating Partner: Bernard’s Vision Orphanage
• Location: Wahcarra, Kenya

Notice

• All Volunteer Costs are subject to change without notice.
• Dates may vary.
• Travel is dependent on the state of political affairs in the country.
• Interested Volunteers should complete the application process on our website.
• Indicated leadership may change, based upon availability.
• Volunteer Health Release, Passports, and Vaccinations are required.

2017 Annual Celebration Recap

Curt Mader Receives Honored Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat

Curt Mader, CEO of non-profit Agua Viva International, will be the proud recipient of the Buck O’Neal Legacy Seat when the Kansas City Royals play the Boston

Red Sox  at 7:15 pm, on June 19, 2017.  Please watch us on TV!  Or, better yet, come to the Royals Stadium and watch us on the big screen!  Curt Mader and Agua Viva International have installed 15 water purification systems in poor indigenous communities of Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, and Tanzania, Africa.  Each system serves a community of about 2,000 people.  More than three million people die each year from water related illnesses and nearly one billion people in our world have no access to clean drinking water.  Agua Viva also brings health and hygiene education and dental serves to these communities touching the lives of thousands.  Curt Mader, in addition to his full time employment at Olsson and Associates, has worked tirelessly to build this Kansas City based humanitarian organization from scratch to lift up and embrace the needy people of our thirsty world.

For more information about the Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat click here:http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/kc/community/buck-oneil-seat/

Blog Five; Teamwork

On this trip to Ecuador we have assembled quite a team. Our teams of volunteers almost always consist of several divine appointments.

To begin, we have three volunteers from the United States. Nobody is paid… straight up volunteers.  Many of us gave up vacation time…  We all gave up family time.

But, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Our team also included Mario Mejia from Quetzaltengo, Guatemala.  Mario is an excellent translator but he is much more than that.  Mario knows our purification system inside and out.  He also understands the rest of the program:  Health and Hygiene Education, Covenants, Micro-Economy strategies, and (most importantly) water diplomacy.  And, he speaks very fluent English and Spanish.

Our team also included two Quechue indigenous (and ingenious) young ladies Elena Fernandez and Melissa Guaman. These young ladies are fluent in Quechue and understand the “ways” of these isolated and forgotten peoples where Agua Viva focuses much our attention.

Campo Morillo also joined our team. Campo is a mathematics professor and researcher at a University in Puyo. He has travelled with us on many trips and knows how to keep us out of trouble.  That is a tall order.  He knows where to buy material and he knows the roads!

So altogether we had seven, but that is still only the beginning. What about our constituents back in the United States that make it all possible?  What about the preachers, teachers, school principals, system operators, and others who have come before us, like Pastor Truesdale and Don Pablo Poz Pom?  Yes, by no less than divine appointment, we have assembled quite a team!

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10, ESV.

Honduras 2016

Houduras 2016
The Agua Viva Team arrived in Quisgualagua, Hoduras, today, Sunday, just in time for church. God was with us and it was such a pleasure to meet our new friends. It was also troubling to see the extreme poverty in the area and I think we were all wondering what God has in store for us this week.

The Water Room is ready. It was painted a pretty blue. The bottling table was completely installed with bottle washer, three floor drains, lights, tanks, bottles, everything. What a surprise and what a blessing. Victor Galo has worked very hard with Pastor Jamileth to get things ready to go!

Volunteer Steve Wagner immediately started assembling the Dental Chair (donated by Church of the Resurrection). Our new dentist, Dr. Isreal Mejia, is ready to go with his own personal assistants Volunteer Andrea Sester and Guatemala Volunteer Ana Van Seumeren. Dr. Mejia is meeting with the local elementary school in the morning to begin fluoridating the children’s little teeth.

All our 16 suitcases are safe at the church and we are ready for an early start tomorrow.
Our two Translators, Paul and Melissa, are doing a great job. Mario Mejia, from Guatemala, is also here and it is a great comfort to us all to see our good friend again.

2016 Year in Review

Writing this post it is hard not to get emotional! God has done so much through this organization, touched so many lives, decreased disease and malnutrition risks for so many children as well as brought us into new uncharted territories! We could never have dreamed 6 years ago that installing one little water purification system at an orphanage in Guatemala would have birthed such an impact just 6 years later.  Agua Viva is reaching more and more poor communities and our capability is expanding rapidly. Our volunteers just got back from Ecuador on September 23 and are now packing for our next trip to Honduras on October 22nd. It is amazing that our Volunteers are able to serve so many people in so many different countries.  “Clean drinking water” truly is a universal necessity! Below is a quick recap of all we have accomplished in 2016.

Guatemala

This year, 10 Agua Viva Volunteers provided our first full installation in an orphanage in Huehuetenago, Guatemala. One hundred orphans are now drinking purified water, literally, for the first time in their lives. It was an amazing trip. Agua Viva provided health, hygiene, and dental care training to a full house of new teachers. Our friends were surprised to see that we came equipped with two “full blown” dentists with a full complement of equipment, materials, and supplies. They are already selling water! It is a real joy to see these concrete results so quickly!

Ecuador

In Ecuador, Curt Mader is leading our next volunteer group to a large school in Pomachaca, Ecuador. The school is beautiful and it is hard to believe that these 500 children have never been taught the importance of clean drinking water; nor have they had the opportunity to drink it. Agua Viva has been so blessed in Ecuador. We have our largest of group of in-country volunteers there and we have very strong group of leaders there are committed to serving the poor.

Honduras

To top it off, we have a large volunteer group headed to Quisgualagua, Honduras, on October 22, 2016. Again, we are providing water purification systems, education, and dental services. And, yes, we are taking precautions against the Zika virus! This is undoubtedly one of the poorest areas we have served. In cooperation with the Methodist Church, Agua Viva will be providing our very first installation in Honduras, just 10 miles from Nicaragua.

Tanzania, Africa

In April of this year, Agua Viva sent a small team to Zinga, Tanzania. In a brand new children’s hospital, Agua Viva signed a covenant and agreed to provide a water purification system there in 2017. This will expand Agua Viva to three continents! That is a big step. There are lots of new challenges there but one thing is NOT different; their need for pure clean ozonated water. Can you imagine a “hospital” with no clean water? Well, we are going to fix that!

Kenya, Africa

The same team visited two orphanages in Kenya. We have great opportunity there and we hope to return… soon… We are building relationships there and we have 1,000 orphans waiting for Agua Viva to grow enough to respond to the needs. One thousand people died in this area in January of this year from Cholera… a water borne disease.

Please, please, please… if you have not already purchased tickets to our Annual Agua Viva Celebration please do so now by clicking on this link: www.aguavivainternational.org. 100% of the proceeds will go directly toward bringing clean water to those in need!

Huehuetanango Team Refections: Education and Evangelism

The Education Team:

Jared, Deanna, and Nancy along with interpreters Anna and Stephanie, trained a group of four adult Guatemalan teachers to share the principles of hygiene to the rest of the community, using the curriculum that AVI compiled. These teachers were so great. They took the material and really made it their own. As the adult educators presented information they learned to students, both students and educators were very engaged and responsive.  Everyone especially enjoyed acting out the Bible story, “Crossing the Red Sea!”  We are confident they’re going to do a great job and help change the attitude of the community with regard to the need to use of purified water for drinking, brushing teeth, cooking and childcare.

The Evangelism Team:

On the evangelism side of things, Nick and I (Jared Orr) had the chance to pray with several different individuals in the marketplace and at a local college. The reactions varied. A couple of the ladies in the marketplace started crying because they were having trouble making ends meet. But no matter who we were praying with, we made sure that they knew that a relationship with Jesus was what they needed most. I look forward to doing even more evangelism on the next trip. I think this trip was a “priming of the pump” for Agua Viva evangelism. God was clearly moving in the interactions that we had.
  

Huehuetanango Team Reflections – The Dental Team

The Dental Team

Lea and Jim (team members) and Raquel and Wendy (Locals from Guatemala) comprised the very dynamic and hard working dental team.  Jim was the set up man, while Lea assisted Raquel and Wendy, the dentists who serve with AVI, but live in Guatemala.  Their friend and fellow dental student, Neddy, also joined the team for two days.  In just three and a half days the team completed 243 fillings, and 176 extractions.  The operation of the dental clinic was seamless.  Even the younger children who were frightened to come, were calmed by Wendy and Raquel’s sweet, reassuring nature.  We are so blessed to be able to provide this very needed service to children and adults who otherwise do no have access.

Lea Watson’s Testimony:

I had no idea what to expect when signing up for this mission trip. I was looking for a mission experience to go on with my daughter who is a civil engineer student. I wanted to volunteer for a medical/child base mission and my daughter wanted to volunteer with environment issues. Agua Viva was the perfect match for us. My daughter worked on the instillation of a water system and I was assisting 2 fabulous Guatemalan dentist. My background is in the medical field and so cleaning, disinfecting, and setting up sterile fields was not foreign to me, but learning and helping with dental work was awesome.

We saw about 90 children and staff from the orphanage and put in long hours. Knowing that we help these people who otherwise would not have this care is enlightening. The staff at the orphanage and my mission team actually showed my what working for the Lord means. I LOVED my experience, I love the children and staff at the orphanage, I love my mission team, and I am thankful that God gave me the opportunity to serve and learn. It is amazing to me that when you go to help others in need that you yourself are the one who come back with more than you give.

Huehuetanango Team Reflections: Getting There

The following are stories gathered from members of Agua Viva’s recent trip to Huehuetanango, Guatemala. Stay tuned over the course of the next 5 weeks for the series of reflections.

Getting There: June 11th, 2016 

On June 11, ten well-equipped Americans arrived at KCI at 4:00am to fly to Guatemala City via Houston.  By well equipped, I mean we were loaded with 16 checked bags with water purification equipment, educational supplies, peanut butter and jelly just in case, dental equipment, including lydacaine, syringes, and other questionable items.  Extra bags (we had 6) now cost a shocking $84 each.  We are looking for ways to transport less equipment and store more things in country to lower these costs, but you can’t always find K-Y Jelly (for the o-rings in the system!) in country as we learned.  Ideas are welcome!

We hustled through our connecting flight in the Houston airport lugging the dental unit which Jared protected with his life as a carry-on, to make our quick connection to Guatemala City.

Upon entering the security checkpoint in Guatemala, a camo-dressed guard approached the group.We were nervous for a second until we noticed that he was wearing a big smile. He introduced himself… he said that he knew we were Christians, because he could sense the Holy Spirit as soon as we stepped in the room. He told us more about himself and complimented us on being willing to take the good news of Jesus to his country. That was our first ten minutes in Guatemala.

We collected our bags and were delighted to see Mario’s face peering through the crowd to receive us and guide us to the bus. Settling in for the usual 30 minute drive though the city, we spent three hours trying to get OUT of Guatemala City traffic.

We learned that Saturaday afternoon traffic is horrendous turning our four hour itenerary into about 7 hours.  We finally arrived in Quetzaltenango, our first overnight stop.  Hotel Anna in Xela (Quetzaltenango) was quiet, very comforable, and we all slept soundly.