News from Judith and Alekcey: Tsimari Update

Hello all,
We’d love to give you an update on what is currently happening in the community of Tsimari.

Bridges:
It has definitely been a long-haul for the bridge project, but we trust that God has his perfect timing for everything. As you know, we were able to complete the first phase of the construction of two bridges in the remote indigenous community of Tsimari in March-April of this year. In May, we hired a Cabécar friend of ours to cut the boards for the flooring of the footbridges. He spent the month of June in Tsimari with his chainsaw cutting boards for the bridges as well as for the floor of the school. Plans to complete the second and final phase of the bridges in July have been postponed until August-September 2009 due to complications in the health of the head engineer, Don Pablo.

School:

As some of you may remember, the school in Tsimari has been on our hearts ever since our first trip to Tsimari when we were told that the boards of the school building were “lent” by one of the elders of the community, who wanted them back. Thankfully, we were made aware of a donation by the Japanese embassy of the materials for five schools on the reservation, and were able to secure some of these materials for Tsimari.

Perhaps the most challenging part of building the school is the transportation of materials to the school site in Tsimari. Thanks to generous donations by the Village Parkway Baptist Church (San Antonio, Texas), Hospital Clínica Bíblica, and individuals, we were able to finance the flooring for the school (not covered by the Japanese embassy donation) as well as the cost of transporting the materials by helicopter.

Last week, we were blessed to be able to begin the process of building the new school with the help of some volunteer friends and the community. We were joined by Dustin Gauthier (Dan and Lori’s son), family physician Margaret Gill (One of our mentors from our residency program at Mayo), and Margaret’s three oldest sons: Sean, Erin, and Collin.

The process began with the transportation of the materials by external load (materials loaded onto a basket, suspended from the helicopter by a steel cable), which is a precarious process. We are thankful for the skill of the helicopter pilots who expertly flew the loads over the mountains to the narrow valley of Tsimari.

The goal last week was to finish the flooring for the school. Everyone worked incredibly hard and together we were able to finish Friday morning, the day before we were scheduled to hike out. The last day, we were able to deworm a large part of the community, as well as provide school supplies to the school children of Tsimari.

Although we have faced (and continue to face) certain challenges and complications in seeing these projects through, we are thankful for God’s faithfulness and His perfect timing in it all. It is thanks to Him, and to you all, through your prayers and support,that we are able to move forward in demonstrating God’s love and care for the people of Tsimari.

Thank you and God bless,

Judith and Alekcey

Disclaimer: The following pictures are not in chronological order due to technical issues!