Appropriate Technology & Special Education Sites

Appropriate Technology

 

At the Appropriate Technology site, we have been making molds for the stoves for the past couple days.  Carlos, our site leader, has had our site focused on making stoves because it is extremely beneficial to the Guatemalans here.  Many families who just use a simple wood fire to cook their food have a higher likelihood of health problems in the future, since using a wood fire is equivalent to smoking 6 packs of cigarettes a day.  However, the stoves our site is making reduce the smoke inhalation by 90%, which is absolutely amazing!  Carlos describes our site as a means for meeting both physical and spiritual needs.  Every family is required to attend "discipleship meetings" before receiving a stove, and our site does house visits to check in on how well the stoves are working as well as asking how the families themselves are doing and offering to pray for them.  Appropriate Technology does not only make stoves but also seeks to share Jesus with and minister to as many families as possible.



One amazing story was a house visit in San Miguel.  We visited to check up on the stove that had already been installed, not realizing that we were about to be blessed beyond measure.  This impoverished family of 3 kids, a mom, and a dad (who is having a hard time finding work) gave each member of the site 4 duraznos (peaches) out of their immense hospitality.  Our site simply visited because Carlos wanted us to see a recently installed stove, but the family blessed us instead.  Each peach was worth quite a bit of money for this family, and they just gave them to us! (4 peaches x 6 site members = 24 peaches...that's crazy!)  It was such a huge blessing to both of us that this family struggling with their own needs were so very generous to us!


- Kyle Bui and James Calvin

Special Education

 

At the Special Education site, we work with all sorts of people such as those with autism, down syndrome, turrets.

Each day is a new experience as you never know what to expect.  There are schedules that are different for certain students.  Our oldest is 41 years old and our youngest is about 9 years old, and our students have hearts of pure gold!  It's so very hard to describe their behavior, but all I can say is that they have a form of joy that I have never encountered.

The first student I met was named Saúl.  Every time he sees me on the street, he will run to me with open arms excited to hug me.  These students, although they have behavioral problems and physical disabilities or a difficult time speaking, have the ability to warm up anyone's heart.  I've fallen in love with all of my students, and I've only met most of them once!  It's a privilege to help them learn and understand what or how some of them think.  You need a lot of patience with these students, but it's all worth it to see the big smiles on their faces.  Our number one goal at our site is to help all of our students achieve their life goals.  Whether it's being a bus driver or owning a car wash, we are constantly saying, "¡Si se puede!"


- Kristine Rivas