Familia Dyrst

We have finished our time with MCC in southern Mexico and are now living with Martin's dad in Bluffton Ohio.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tlaquilcingo

Here are some pictures from Tlaquilcingo. Together we submitted a grant proposal to Canada Fund, part of the Canadian embassy in Mexico City. The project for 18 cisterns was approved ($150,000 pesos). Now we'll work together so that the group can manage and run the project themselves. Exciting times.


Water collected from the nearby water hole.


Containers used to haul water.



Site for future cistern.


Another site for future cistern.

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Cienega

Some pictures of from La Cienega. The municipal president, Luisa, contributed 200 bags of cement to the project.




At Home

Some pictures from our home.

....the boys' science table

.....flowering cactus

Happy Birthday Merideth!

We had a surprise birthday party for Merideth in June.


Isaiah and Micah helped get the house ready.








Friends came over. We sang, ate, laughed....
FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS MERIDETH! We´re thankful to be on this part of the journey with you.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Friday, June 5



Today we spent time with friends and celebrated their deceased father's birthday. We started by attending mass at the Catholic church. Isaiah' school was there as well. They attend mass the first Friday of every month. Then we went to the cemetary with flowers, confetti and sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Later on at the house we ate goat, salads, and flan. The priest came over for awhile. Then the municipal president. And a few other extended family members. All the cousins (of which they include Micah and Isaiah in) played really well together. We stayed into the wee hours of the night talking and laughing. Everyone shared about his or her struggles, and we all supported one another. Happy Birthday Eloy.

Why Garden?

I harvest very little from my garden. Compared to the time I put into it. So I feel, most of the time. So why do I keep trying? Well, I do find it very thearaputic. The oregano, basil, thyme and mint are growing well. And now lots of zinnias have come up. Enough that I was able to take a small bouquet along to a lunch invitation the other day.



AND because Isaiah often cooks eggs (from our chickens) in the morning and always asks me to bring him some oregano and basil from the garden to add to his eggs. For now, that's enough reason to keep trying.

The Big Necessity - Adventures in the World of Human Waste

Martin recently read The Big Necessity Adventures in the World of Human Waste by Rose George. A fascinating book that he highly recommends. (We heard an interview with the author on NPR awhile ago.)

From the back cover:
"Prepare to embark upon an eye-opening and unprecedented tour through the world of human waste - one of the biggest unchallenged causes of death worldwide, and, for many, to their immense cost, the last remaining taboo."

I, Liz, just started the book. And just from the introduction I want to post all kinds of quotes.

From pages 2 and 3:
" ....2.6 billion people don't have sanitation. I don't mean that they have no toilet in their house and must use a public one with queues and fees. Or that they have an outhouse, or a rickety shack that empties into a filthy drain or pigsty. All that counts as sanitation, thought not a safe variety. The people who have those are the fortunate ones. Four in ten people have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket or box.

One sanitation specialist has estimated that people who live in areas with inadequate sanitation ingest 10 grams of faecal matter every day. Poor sanitation, bad hygiene and unsafe water - usually unsafe because it has faecal particles in it - cause one in ten of the world's illnesses. Children suffer most. Diarrhoea - nearly 90% of which is caused by faecally contaminated food or water - kills a child every fifteen seconds. The number of children dead from diarrhoea over the last decade exceeds all people killed by armed conflict since the Second World War. Diarrhoea, says the UN children's agency UNICEF, is the largest hurdle a small child in a developing country must overcome. It is estimated that 2.2 million people - mostly children - die from an affliction that for most Westerners is the result of a bad take-away. Public health professionals talk about water-related diseases, but that is a euphemism for the truth. These are shit-related diseases."

From page 7
"90% of the world's sewage dens up untreated in oceans, rivers and lakes, and a fair share comes from the sanitary cities supplied with sewers and treatment plants."
"Despite the technology, the engineers and the ingenuity of modern sanitary systems, despite humans still don't know what to do with sewage except move it somewhere else and hope no-one notices when it is poured untreated into drinking-water sources. And they don't."

Okay, that's all the quoting I'll do. For now. :)

36 Dry Latrines in Chiaucingo



Distributing the last few materials to complete the dry latrines in Chiaucingo.

Micah Lion


The other day I wrote how Micah enjoys being a tiger. Here he is in his colorful mane.

Blocks




Isaiah being creative with the camera after building with the dominos that his aunt and uncle sent him last year.

Jan, Jonathan, Isaac and Seth come to visit!






Our very dear friends Jan, Jonathan, Isaac and Seth came to visit us in May! It was wonderful to be with them.

More Cistern Detail Pictures

Martin took these pictures to show the mold improvements that have been made - the standing platforms and the inner cross supports.




May Pictures

If I can't keep up with stories, at least I can post some pictures!
A Work-And-Learn group came in May and helped build 4 cisterns in Rancho Bonito. I posted a video of everyone working on facebook. Here are some more pictures from our time in Rancho Bonito.