News from Judith and Alekcey: New Things

This is what the Lord says -- “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19

A very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! We realize it’s been awhile since our last post. This is, in part, due to the many new things that are happening in and around our lives and the work God has given us, which is why we feel that the verse above is so appropriate for this moment.

New Life

Many of you have already heard the surprising and welcome news that we will be having our son join our family sometime around the end of May. Already, he has been a blessing to our lives, and we are thankful that his development and the pregnancy have been going well.

New Endeavors:

In addition to continuing the responsibilities and programs in which we have been involved (Agribusiness Partnership Program, Art Mentorship Program, Directorship of Centro Emanuel, infrastructure projects, etc.), we find ourselves in the position of pioneering three major new endeavors:

Puentes de Vida (Bridges of Life)

As many of you know, the problem of infant mortality and maternal health has been a concern of ours from early on. Last year, the infant mortality rate for the Chirripo district was approximately 66, compared to 8.5 for the entire country of Costa Rica. Our earlier efforts to partner with the government healthcare system in addressing these concerns have failed, largely due to resistance of the government healthcare authorities to work with a private organization such as ours.

In August of last year, after facing again the frustrations of closed doors to our having a working relationship with the local government healthcare system, an idea began to form in our heads: “What if we just went ahead and started a program addressing the problem of infant mortality and maternal health that would complement, but be completely independent of, the government healthcare system?” As a result, “Puentes de Vida” was formed.

One of the main recognized problems for the Cabecar people is timely access to the healthcare system and general education regarding the importance of preventative healthcare. Few Cabecar women have prenatal care, in large part because they don´t come to the appointments. Well child visits are often sporadic, and many women wait until their children are very sick before coming to the clinic - sometimes until it´s too late.

Puentes de Vida seeks to train and eventually employ young Cabecar women to be maternal-infant health promoters to their own people. The idea is that each promoter visit the pregnant women in their homes at least once a month during pregnancy, and then at least once a month through the infant´s first year of life for health surveillance and education. The mothers will still be encouraged to go to the government clinic for regular prenatal and well-child care. The goal is to reduce the infant mortality rate by at least 50% within the first five years of the program.

In January of this year, we launched the first training program for the health promoters, with eleven trainees in this program. This training will last through January of next year, after which we will employ 5 of the women (sponsored by individuals, organizations, and churches) to start the pilot program covering approximately half of the reservation.

The launch went very well, and it is great to see how the Cabecar women are excited about their being a part of the solution to helping their own people. It has also been particularly exciting for Judith, as she is able to use her own pregnancy to train these women in practical skills (doppler tones, fundal height, etc.).

CoopeDuchí

We have been given the opportunity to be part of forming a Co-op for the district, formed by both indigenous and non-indigenous affiliates, with the purpose of promoting economic development in the area, particularly for the agricultural sector. This co-op seeks to improve the price the farmers receive for their products, as well as give added value to their products by processing them in the area. Alekcey is the president of the co-op Council, and has been working hard along with a Peace-Corps volunteer and several locals in getting this going.

The name of the co-op is CoopeDuchí - “Duchí” being the Cabecar word for Chirripó (the name of the district). We’ve been learning a lot, and have been working to teach what we have learned about how a co-op works to the local people. The co-op has approximately 350 affiliates at this point in time, and things are moving forward to starting the first co-op project.

The first project will consist in having a fruit-processing plant - starting with processing guava, a fruit that is widely found throughout the area and which every year lies rotting on the ground. We hope to have the plant up and running by March-April, which is when the guava season starts. After the guava season, we will look at using the same equipment to process other fruits in the area. As the co-op begins to produce, we´ll also look at other options for agricultural development in the area.

Aerovital

This is the helicopter program we have talked about in previous posts. Aerovital (roughly translated- AirVital) is the commercial name for the operation that will be working under the company Horizontes de Esperanza (Horizons of Hope). This will be a social business which will provide rotor-wing air ambulance and other services to those who can pay, while using the profits to subsidize these services for the underserved, remote areas of Costa Rica (especially Chirripó).

The plan is for Aerovital to be launched sometime around April of this year. Things are falling nicely into place, and God has opened the doors to having us work alongside a local helicopter transport business to use their helicopter and other services at a low cost. The owners of this small, family-run business are Christian men of integrity, and we feel very privileged to be working with them.

Missionary helicopter pilot Paul Abbott and his wife, Bridget, are planning on moving down to Costa Rica from Oregon to start language school and operations this year. They are both talented people of integrity who love the Lord and want to use their skills for Him. We very much look forward to seeing what God has for them here, in the helicopter ministry and beyond.

Thank you, again, to all who support us and these projects financially and in prayer. You are a vital part of all that goes on here.

Prayer requests:

Healthy pregnancy and delivery for Judith and our son. Also, with all that is going on, for wisdom as to what and how much Judith should be doing these days.
Puentes de Vida program: wisdom for Judith in directing the program; for all teaching- that the teaching would be understandable and practical for the women; that the women would have discipline to study, learn, and stick-with-it in the training program.
CoopeDuchí: For wisdom for Alekcey in making decisions at this critical stage of start-up in the process. For the people to understand the importance of working together in community to better all of their lives.
Aerovital: Continued wisdom for Alekcey for this start-up process. For Paul and Bridget Abbott as they raise support and make preparations to come down to Costa Rica.