Santa Elena Village

Hello from Guatemala,

I know I'm are not supposed to have favorite villages or favorite people, however I want to share a little slice of our life with a special village we love called Santa Elena. About 6 years ago Riechelle and I went to a village in the jungle called Los Flores. We began evaluating the medical and dental condition of the people and set up a date to return and do a medical clinic. We noticed the road (if you could call it that) kept going out of the village and up a steep mountain. We asked, "Is there a village up there?" They said, "Yes." We said, "Should we do a clinic for them also?" They said. "Oh they can walk down here when you do a clinic here."

So, we drove up to invite them. After driving up the mountain on a road that looked like a Goodyear Tire Test, we realized this was way too far for sick (or healthy) people to walk. So we scheduled a medical clinic for their village the day after Los Flores.

As we entered the village we noticed the people hiding behind their stick home and peeking around corners. We could see their heads and eyes looking over their window holes in their homes. They were very afraid of us. They had never seen white people and many of the women had never been out of the village. Thus began a long relationship with the village of Santa Elena.

One of the things we documented on our statistics was how mal-nourished and slow the children were. Their stomachs were very distended and full of worms. There eyes glazed over and almost looked mildly retarded. I commented to Riechelle that maybe due to in-breeding they were retarded. They finally came out and received free medicine and the magic pill that would change many of their lives. A simple multi-vitamin. We started a vitamin program for the village and with in 90 days the teacher of the school told us the kids were 100% more active and now were able to do math and learn for the first time since he began teaching.


This was the typical look of the children when we first got there	Today they are totally different kids, believe me….

You may remember we built a set of bathrooms in the villages because they did not have bathroom and this was causing all kinds of health problems. One of our rules was that they could only use the bathroom if they washed their hands after. This has improved health in this village tremendously. We went up two weeks later to check on the bathrooms and they were not using them. I asked why. The Chief said, "We would never use them until we dedicated them to you." So as I say, I am one important fellow to have bathrooms dedicated to me. I bet president Bush does not have a bathroom named after him, huh? Bryan's Banos!

That day we played games and Riechelle had the women actually play and participate for the first time in their lives. The whole village laughed so hard.

The children and even the chief had the time of their lives. To them it was like Disney World.

We have been doing medical and dental clinics up there now for about 6 years and have watched the kids grow up. But now it was time for them to know Jesus. So that is when Pastor David Alvarez’s church took over and started doing the feeding and evangelism program. You cannot believe how hard there people work to feed every child and then give classes on the Bible, Health, and Leadership skills. This has changed the lives of these children. But Santa Elena is a very poor village. Even the pigs are skinny. They basically survive by clearing the jungle and planting corn on the side of the mountains. Then they cultivate it, harvest it and carry it all by hand so they can grind it into tortillas and eat three times a day.

One of the problems they have is crossing this small river when it rains very hard. They can be stuck for days until the river subsides and it is difficult for a vehicle to get into the village to bring supplies. Also due to the dip of the river a vehicle can get stuck very easy. I have not been able to bring my bus into the village for years because of this one spot.

So I have been praying for a bridge. I thought the government needs to build a bridge here. But they did not seem to hear my prayers. So I thought well maybe the Lord is telling me to put in a bridge. But I am not an engineer. (I can't even build shelves that stay up.) But then a Christian Architect contacted me early their year and said we want to come down and help you with a project. Do you need anything built? Helloooooo! So, Mark Carter from Presque Isle Maine is bringing a team down to help build the Bridge over the River Qui. (OK, this was a movie made about building a bridge long long before I was born, but I have heard about it.)

The plan is, if we can put in cement tubes and fill around it with rocks from the river and then build forms we can hand mix cement and lay a cement road over the rock and tubes and then I can drive the bus right into the village and do medical, dental and women’s clinics. This will also give other trucks and vehicle access to the village which again will improve their lives. The family and I went up the mountain today to coordinate the work schedule with the chief. I was going to ask if they could help us collect rocks to save money on cement. But they beat me to it!


This is what we saw when we arrived.

The entire village, men, women, and children had collected and carried these rocks yesterday in anticipation of the team's arrival next week. I got an e-mail tonight from Mark telling me they have raised what I think will be half the money for the project. Please pray that we can get the rest of the funds to buy cement, rebar (steel), lumber for forms and sand. I believe as these people are coming to the Lord and the children are learning about the Bible principals from Centro Christiano Church, they are coming out of their cycle of poverty and God is blessing their hard work.

I guess, to me, this is what it is all about, going into a village and showing them with action Gods love first, let the National Christians teach them the Word in their own language and culture and then watch God work in changing lives and villages one by one.

Please pray that this work will show these people, that God will use people that don’t even know them to help them when they are willing to help themselves and work hard. This will be an example to the other villages that we will not give them welfare, but if they work and give 100%, so will we. Americans give to other countries more than any nation on earth. Thank You for helping us to show these people God's love and American Generosity.

God Bless,,
In His Service,

Bryan & Riechelle and Kids

Junglemedic Missions
Rio Dulce, Izabal
Guatemala Central America

E-Mail: Bryan@JungleMedicMissions.org
Web Site: http://www.junglemedicmissions.org/

This page was last updated 11/14/07