April 19, 2012
Friends,
We've been so busy at this school! Here is an update from Min followed by a few comments from me:
Something bad happened last Friday. The day started off like a normal day. The whole week, we were preparing for Communion on Friday night, as the worships in the morning where about preparing our hearts...etc.. This day, the girls dean and director of the school took some kids in the big truck to the river for their swimming classes. Now this truck is huge! Its like a huge vegetable truck or like one of those trucks that carry livestock. The cargo area of the truck is hard wood. Anyway, the kids piled in the truck and away they went. I went to the river to wash my clothes and Scott went to town to do some errands. Then around 12pm I saw a small pick-up truck pull up , then all of a sudden people started swarming around it and some were crying and people were calling for someone to come help. I ran over there to find out that there had been an accident. I saw two girls, wet from swimming, one was laying on the back of the truck, crying with some cuts, and the other one was in the cab in pain. Apparently, the kids that had gone swimming earlier in the morning were ready to come home. When the truck tried to do a 3-point-turn and for some reason, the brakes failed and the truck suddenly rolled backwards down the embankment into the river. When this happened the kids couldn't hold on and fell on top of other kids, squishing them against the bottom of the truck.
Five girls were hurt. But at the time I ran over there, we really didn't know what the situation was exactly. One girl told me that the truck fell off the bridge into the river and I was thinking the worst. I saw one of the teachers, who was a paramedic, trying to stabilize one girl just in case she had any spinal injuries...it was a lot of stress, confusion, and not knowing for sure how badly injured the girls were. We didn't know if there were any broken bones..etc. I was scared for one girl because she was pinned to the bottom since all the kids fell on her, and she wasn't moving very much. It was a very stressful time, because some of the kids' parents who live near the river came with and were distressed and crying and telling us that their kid was dying and we needed to do something quick...etc. You know, when a kid is injured and the parent is there, it is very difficult to calm the kid down, especially when the parent is crying. Most parents were angry too. It was a tense situation; very emotionally stressing. During this chaos, one girl found out that her sister was injured and when she saw her sister, she went into a panic and started hyperventilating. The injured girls were rushed to the hospital in town as soon as possible, while we stayed and prayed to God that they would be alright. By then most of the girls were crying and everyone was scared.
This one girl who went into a panic, stopped breathing and it was quite an ordeal to get her breathing again. As soon as I would get her to breathe, she would do so for about 30 seconds or so, then her eyes would roll back, and she would stop breathing again. This went on and on for 15 minutes or more. She wasn't even in the accident, but I was more worried about here, because her pulse was starting to get faint, and I knew that if she didn't start breathing pretty soon, I would have to breathe for her. Long story short she started breathing on her own. Thank God. Three other girls were injured and taken to the hospital. It was hard to just sit and wait at the school not knowing how serious the injuries were, but all we could was pray, and pray we did! At the hospital the girls had to wait till 5 or 6pm just to get the x-rays done. They mostly had muscular injuries, some girls had injured knees and most of them injured their backs, none of them fractured any bones. Thank you Jesus. There was one girl that hit her head really hard and I was concerned that she may have a slight hemorrhage since after the accident her vision was affected and she started getting dizzy. But thank God, she is getting better now. The girls that got hurt got some massages and hydrotherapy from me, which they enjoyed. Today, all the girls seem to be doing better, except for one girl, whom the director took to the doctor to make sure she didn't have any nerve damage to her legs. Apparently her injured leg doesn't have the same sensation as the good leg... We are praying for her too.
It just seemed like the Devil threw an attack at this school and of all days, for we were supposed to have Communion that night. Well it was canceled, obviously. Most kids were traumatized. From 6-930pm Scott and I sat and watched the truck to make sure that no one came and stole parts. This past Sunday they were able to get the truck out, with the help of another truck, but now it has to be fixed since the brakes are bad. Monday morning, Scott drove the truck to town. I didn't want him to do it since I was scared that with the breaks malfunctioning, I didn't want him to be in a situation where he couldn't stop and hit someone or another vehicle. But thank God, Scott went around 5am to town when there were hardly any cars and was able to put it the shop to be fixed. This afternoon we will be checking on the truck to see if they are able to fix it or what kind of parts the mechanic may need. I'm just thankful that in spite of the accident that God protected the kids and that no one died. And that the injuries are not life-threatening. We are still taking care of the girls injured and praying for a quick recovery.
With so many kids here, I'm worried sometimes that something life-threatening may occur and we may not be able to get them to Santa Cruz and they may die. We are out in the middle of no where and even in Guayara, there isn't any emergency type of help or "hospitals" that can take care of something serious. Another reason why the director says "We need a plane stationed here." This is very important because, usually if someone gets hurt and needs to be flown out, the director has to call the pilot in Santa Cruz, but its 3.5 hours flight away, and by the time he is able to come it may be 8 hours later, or even not till the next day. We are praying that there can be a plane stationed here, just in case any emergencies take place, Scott can take them to Santa Cruz. I'm afraid in serious circumstances, the patient may die due to too much time wasted.
As you already know, Scott and I moved to Guayaramerin, which is at the northeastern tip of Bolivia, literally on the border of Brazil. There's a primary and secondary school here that we are helping out with. Scott is teaching Chemistry, Physics and Math, and I'm teaching piano and Choir. Scott has found it challenging to be teaching in Spanish...the first couple days it was frustrating not knowing Spanish terms and looking them up in the dictionary. But he is trying his best and the students seem to be understanding and respectful even when he can't communicate well.
We are both learning Spanish faster than we ever had before :) I have 10 piano students and they seem to be loving it! However, I don't have my keyboard with me since there was a problem with 6 keys and we left it in Santa Cruz to be fixed. Well, it looks like they don't have the right part for it, so for now I don't have a keyboard, but at the school there is one, so thank God we can use that. I've never taught choir before and thought that it wouldn't be too hard...however many of the kids need to learn how to carry a tune. I didn't think I would have to deal with this problem, but its been a challenge just trying to teach kids the melody of a song and making sure that when we begin or end on one note that I'm not hearing 5 or 6 different notes :)
I don't know what to do about the kids not being able to sing in tune... I thought about separating the ones that can carry a tune and the ones that can't. But then again, I don't want to do that because I realize that most of the kids that can't sing in tune were raised in homes where they never heard music or sang before...and I don't want them to feel like they're not good enough...etc. I at the least want them to try and try and improve. Its frustrating, but oh how they love to sing. You know what, I am more thankful that I grew up in a home where my parents sang and that I got the opportunity to learn how to sing and play different instruments. What I consider easy and natural, as in singing, is not to most kids here. I realize that I am blessed. Lately we have been borrowing a guitar that a student has here and Scott has been doing really well, learning how to play it. He really likes the guitar! Someday we want to get one in town.
We've been here 3 weeks already and are starting to get into the routine of things. Its so much different than living in Santa Cruz. Well, for one, we are "faculty" which means that we have some 50+ pairs of eyes watching whatever we do and how we act, say things, etc.. I'm realizing more and more that we are examples to these kids. The kids that are in secondary school just warmed up to us really fast and love talking with us. Over here, half the students have class in the morning while the other half work in the rice fields, cooking, cutting the grass, getting firewood...etc. And then after lunch, they switch. The students here work very hard and aren't lazy for the most part. I've worked in the "chaco", or rice fields, with the kids and I've had numerous opportunities to speak in Spanish for hours and learn not just the language but talk one on one with the kids...and this gives me opportunities to listen to their experiences from where they come from. Other times they have questions about me or just want to talk about something. Most kids come from broken homes, or where the father drinks and is violent or where one or both parents left the home. So they have their baggage with them, but I also see that they are just so happy to be here and they laugh and smile and are really thankful to be at this school. There's a roof over their head, rice to eat every day, and a small river to wash in, and they are thankful!
Since we've been here, there have been challenges I am still getting used to. We eat mostly white rice and beans with a little salad. I like rice, but I may be cured of it by the time I leave here! There are also lots of bugs here. Every week I'm seeing something bite me that I've not seen the previous week.
I really like the worships and the singing kids (even if they don't sing in tune), and the fact that we are out 2 kilometers off the main road, its quiet and you can hear the birds and there's nature all around you. Just the other day I saw a wild pig that was about the size of a piglet. And today as Scott and I were walking the 2 km to the main road to hitch a ride to town, we saw HUGE iridescent blue butterflies that had a wingspan of 8 inches!!! So beautiful.
Anyway, Scott and I are doing fine, praise the Lord! Thank you to my friends and family for your love and support and for your prayers. We need them every day. Thank you so much for being there. We love and miss you.
Min
And from Scott:
Driving the truck to town to get it fixed was a scary thing. Fortunately a student and I went through the cycle of bleeding the air out of the brake system three times and finally I had enough braking power that I decided to make the trip to town. I had to drive very slow through town, shifting down to 1st gear and pumping the brakes rapidly to stop at the intersections. God blessed and I made it all the way to the mechanic without a problem. It turns out there is a hole in one of the rubber seals in the master cylinder. The school uses the truck at least once a week to bring students to town for Service Day, and to bring home food for the school. They fill the tanks with diesel and siphon it out later to power the electrical generator at the school when they need to. On Service Day the students break into groups and go to different parts of our area, doing service for those in need and trying to be a good witness for Jesus Christ. I really like the idea and the kids love to do it. Especially they look forward to going down the river to visit the people who live along side it. They have a long wooden boat with a motor just big enough for a group of kids and teacher to ride in. They load it in the truck early in the morning on Service Day and drop it off in the river.
With all this happening every week I'm determined to fix the truck as fast as possible. I am in town today to get the final verdict on what parts need replacing and what the total cost will be. Then I will be traveling sometime to Riberalta, the larger town 1.5 hours away. There we can hopefully find replacement parts and bring them back to the mechanic.
I really have enjoyed playing the guitar recently. I took some lessons when I was just out of high school, but what I learned never came together very well. Now I've been playing hymns and with some help from Min, it's all coming together. I'm now able to quickly pick out the chords for most songs based on the key it's in and start playing along right away. Often I change to the wrong chord the first time through, but by the 2nd or 3rd time through it sounds good! I'm so thankful. We should be getting our own guitar soon. Originally Min wanted to learn, and I'm getting all of the practice. I want her to learn too.
I've gotten to see God's hand at work here. The students are great. They are teenage kids, but for the most part very respectful, helpful and caring. During their free time I often hear the sound of their plastic recorder flutes playing hymns. Or I hear singing. The boys are skilled at construction and one showed me how to lay bricks this week. I went to harvest rice with them, and got a visual lesson of "the harvest is great but the laborers are few" (Luke 10:2) There is a huge area of wetland in the back of the school where rice is growing. As I looked over it and at the 10 students that were with me I didn't know how it was all going to be harvested before it fell over and was not harvest-able. I'm sure the practical labor teaches the students valuable lessons, and working alongside their teachers gives them more love and respect for us. Fruit is scarce here and expensive, so we've tried to maintain a little stock of it at home to supplement our meals. We ran out last week, but God provided in different ways. Some of the students wanted to thank Min for massaging them after the truck accident, and gave her oranges and tangerines from a stock their parents had given them. As I was waiting by the truck when it was in the water, some students came on a motorcycle from the nearby village, carrying fruit. They gave me some oranges and a big chirimoya (custard apple)! The students were without calculators and needed them for my class, so Min and I looked for some simple solar powered calculators in town, hoping to get enough for them at least to share. Praise the Lord, we found a school supply shop with just the kind we were looking for, and for only $2-$4 apiece. We were able to get enough for each student to share with one other. They were very pleased!
God is clearly working on me and I know He's using me to help these students. I hear that many of them want to be missionaries when they leave here. I pray that they will be a blessing wherever they go. Please pray for us and the students.
God Bless,
Scott
