Friday, August 15, 2008
Pictures of the Yuqui in Bia Recuate
Here are several images from our recent trip to visit with the Yuqui in Bia Recuate. To see more on my photo gallery click on the above title bar.
Out There with the Beams -- July 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Okay, I know it isn’t July anymore, but this is still our July newsletter. We have been super busy with teams and visitors all summer. Now that our kids have returned to school things are starting to get back to routine. We had a fantastic week with a huge (28 people) Crossroads Christian Church mission team in July. If felt like the whole church had come to help with our ministry here in Bolivia. I just want to thank them again for coming and to thank all of our Crossroads family for supporting us so much in our ministry here. And while I am at it—thanks to everyone who prays for us and supports us. We have been overwhelmed this year with the interest in and support of work by our partners all over North and South America. The Crossroads team worked on three different fronts while they were here. One group finished the interior work on a Bakery/Café at the Cristo Viene girls home here in Santa Cruz, a second group of two doctors and assistants held five days of health clinics in churches and orphanages around Santa Cruz. They attended several hundred patients per day. And finally, a third group built a storage room and some shelving and work benches at our water well drilling workshop here in town. You can see pictures of the team’s visit at: www.pbase.com/beamsclan/ccc0708.
During the medical clinic we met a New Tribes missionary from Santa Cruz, Steve Parker, who came to Bolivia in 1982 to share Christ with the Yuquí, a group of indigenous hunters and gatherers who lived in the tropical forests of eastern Bolivia and who had had very little contact with the outside world. He shared with us that in 1985 he and two other missionaries attempted to befriend a group of previously uncontacted Yuquí on the Rio Víbora. He thought things were going well. They spent the night near their jungle camp and where invited to go on a hunting excursion early the next morning. While on the trail, the Yuquí shot a six foot arrow through his back, which punctured his lung and came out the front of his chest. I don’t have the space to recount the whole story, but he did survive the attack and went on to work with the Yuquí Indians for many years afterwards. The man who shot him also came to know the Lord before he died of tuberculosis several years later. Through our conversations with Steve, I found out that all the Yuquí now live in a community founded by the New Tribes mission called Bía Recuaté.
In Bía Recuaté, they do not have any clean drinking water. They drink from the river, collect rain water, or drink from a contaminated shallow well. Since we are in the business of drilling wells, I and three friends traveled to Bía Recuaté to meet, Mariano and Leonarda, Bolivian national missionaries living and working among the Yuquí, and to see if we could drill a well or two. It would be an understatement to say we were shocked to see the conditions in which the Yuquí are living in Bía Recuaté. The poverty and their social and political context within larger Bolivia is complicated and difficult to sort out. As well as sharing the Gospel, New Tribes and other Christian and secular organizations have tried for decades to help the Yuquí adjust to living as citizens within a connected Bolivia—to protect them as a culture and people group, to educate them, to address health issues, and to help them earn a living within economic reality of Bolivia today. If you take a look at my photos from the trip (http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/yuqui), you may question the effectiveness of any contact or intervention over the past 40 years. Many of them live in houses without walls, or just under plastic tarps. They cook fish or an occasionally monkey over wood fires. Their yards are littered with discarded tattered clothes and toys that have been given to them by many well meaning mission teams. With the money they earn from selling bows and arrows, or hand woven bags to tourists, they buy cookies and soda for their kids.
The Yuquis may be on the verge of extinction. In the last two years the number of families has fallen from 70 to 52. There are currently only about 215 people who still speak their language, a dialect of Guarani. In the last year alone 20 people have died from pulmonary mycosis, a fungal lung infection. 115 people are currently receiving treatment for this disease.
We are going back in September to drill a well with a mission team from our Bolivian church, Trinity Union. We hope to establish a working relationship with the local missionaries and with the Yuqui people that will share God’s love and help them overcome their social and economic struggles.
We also visited two other indigenous communities of Yuracaré on the Chimoré River who need clean drinking water as well. So pray for us as we strive to bring clean water and share Christ with these people.
On a technical note, we are changing how our partners make donations to our ministry. My Dad retired as pastor of Owingsville Baptist, so now we are asking that supporters send contributions to the EFCCM through our sister organization in the U.S., the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). This will insure that our U.S. supporters receive tax receipt. The lower portion of this email has the new address and details. We will also continue receiving donations made through Owingsville Baptist through the end of the year.
Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and encouraging words.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Okay, I know it isn’t July anymore, but this is still our July newsletter. We have been super busy with teams and visitors all summer. Now that our kids have returned to school things are starting to get back to routine. We had a fantastic week with a huge (28 people) Crossroads Christian Church mission team in July. If felt like the whole church had come to help with our ministry here in Bolivia. I just want to thank them again for coming and to thank all of our Crossroads family for supporting us so much in our ministry here. And while I am at it—thanks to everyone who prays for us and supports us. We have been overwhelmed this year with the interest in and support of work by our partners all over North and South America. The Crossroads team worked on three different fronts while they were here. One group finished the interior work on a Bakery/Café at the Cristo Viene girls home here in Santa Cruz, a second group of two doctors and assistants held five days of health clinics in churches and orphanages around Santa Cruz. They attended several hundred patients per day. And finally, a third group built a storage room and some shelving and work benches at our water well drilling workshop here in town. You can see pictures of the team’s visit at: www.pbase.com/beamsclan/ccc0708.
During the medical clinic we met a New Tribes missionary from Santa Cruz, Steve Parker, who came to Bolivia in 1982 to share Christ with the Yuquí, a group of indigenous hunters and gatherers who lived in the tropical forests of eastern Bolivia and who had had very little contact with the outside world. He shared with us that in 1985 he and two other missionaries attempted to befriend a group of previously uncontacted Yuquí on the Rio Víbora. He thought things were going well. They spent the night near their jungle camp and where invited to go on a hunting excursion early the next morning. While on the trail, the Yuquí shot a six foot arrow through his back, which punctured his lung and came out the front of his chest. I don’t have the space to recount the whole story, but he did survive the attack and went on to work with the Yuquí Indians for many years afterwards. The man who shot him also came to know the Lord before he died of tuberculosis several years later. Through our conversations with Steve, I found out that all the Yuquí now live in a community founded by the New Tribes mission called Bía Recuaté.
In Bía Recuaté, they do not have any clean drinking water. They drink from the river, collect rain water, or drink from a contaminated shallow well. Since we are in the business of drilling wells, I and three friends traveled to Bía Recuaté to meet, Mariano and Leonarda, Bolivian national missionaries living and working among the Yuquí, and to see if we could drill a well or two. It would be an understatement to say we were shocked to see the conditions in which the Yuquí are living in Bía Recuaté. The poverty and their social and political context within larger Bolivia is complicated and difficult to sort out. As well as sharing the Gospel, New Tribes and other Christian and secular organizations have tried for decades to help the Yuquí adjust to living as citizens within a connected Bolivia—to protect them as a culture and people group, to educate them, to address health issues, and to help them earn a living within economic reality of Bolivia today. If you take a look at my photos from the trip (http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/yuqui), you may question the effectiveness of any contact or intervention over the past 40 years. Many of them live in houses without walls, or just under plastic tarps. They cook fish or an occasionally monkey over wood fires. Their yards are littered with discarded tattered clothes and toys that have been given to them by many well meaning mission teams. With the money they earn from selling bows and arrows, or hand woven bags to tourists, they buy cookies and soda for their kids.
The Yuquis may be on the verge of extinction. In the last two years the number of families has fallen from 70 to 52. There are currently only about 215 people who still speak their language, a dialect of Guarani. In the last year alone 20 people have died from pulmonary mycosis, a fungal lung infection. 115 people are currently receiving treatment for this disease.
We are going back in September to drill a well with a mission team from our Bolivian church, Trinity Union. We hope to establish a working relationship with the local missionaries and with the Yuqui people that will share God’s love and help them overcome their social and economic struggles.
We also visited two other indigenous communities of Yuracaré on the Chimoré River who need clean drinking water as well. So pray for us as we strive to bring clean water and share Christ with these people.
On a technical note, we are changing how our partners make donations to our ministry. My Dad retired as pastor of Owingsville Baptist, so now we are asking that supporters send contributions to the EFCCM through our sister organization in the U.S., the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). This will insure that our U.S. supporters receive tax receipt. The lower portion of this email has the new address and details. We will also continue receiving donations made through Owingsville Baptist through the end of the year.
Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and encouraging words.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Out There with the Beams -- June 2008
Hi Folks, Do higher gas prices have you down this summer? Well you can still buy a gallon of gasoline for about $2 here in Bolivia. Just thought you would like to know.
We trust you are having a wonderful summer. We have had a great time hosting teams and visitors from back home over the past month or so. A team from Brazos Pointe, my brother’s church in Lake Jackson, TX, came down and helped drill water wells in several rural communities near Yapacani. We had a great week and completed three wells. The team even stayed up and worked almost all night to complete the last one. On our return trip to Santa Cruz we were caught behind a political road block that prevented us from driving back to Santa Cruz. At first we attempted to drive “the long way around” through Cochabamba, but all the gas stations were out of gasoline and we could not have made it around the 20 hour detour. We spent an extra night in Buena Vista and the following day we tried to drive our rented bus over some slippery mountain roads that went around the road block. On each climb everyone had to get off the bus and help push it up the slick clay. After about 6 hours of pushing and pulling the bus the 40 miles to Santa Cruz, we finally made to back to civilization. That was one trip we will not soon forget.
At the end of this week we will be hosting a team from our home church, Crossroads Christian, in Lexington, KY. Pray for this team as 28 people are coming to work on three different projects. One group will complete construction and decorating of a bakery/coffee shop at the Cristo Viene girls home here in Santa Cruz. The older girls in this home have learned how to make bagels and other baked goods and will soon be opening this coffee shop to the public. A second team of doctors will host several medical clinics in neighbourhoods around the city. Each clinic will be hosted and assisted by a local church. Church members will invite neighbors to the clinic and it will be a great opportunity to share Christ with those who participate. Finally, a third group will help with several construction projects at our water well drilling workshop and training center.
So pray that this team has a great impact on the people they are serving this next week and that each member of the team carries home with them a greater appreciation for mission and for what God is doing around the world.
Also continue to pray for a number of the older girls who have recently left Talita Cumi and Cristo Viene. Especially for Vilma, Shirley, and Lily. Vanessa is excited about her vision for a halfway house and coffee shop where a number of the older girls can live and work after they leave the orphanages. We are starting to raise funds for this project so if you would like to contribute to this or want to know more about it, please let us know.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support of our work here in Bolivia. We have been here over four years now and we love being the hands and feet of Jesus here in Santa Cruz. We could not do it without you all at home supporting us as well. If you haven’t already done so, please consider making a monthly pledge to support our efforts. I know there are many pressing financial needs at home, but sacrificially giving to God’s work will pay a higher return than any earthly investment.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Friday, May 23, 2008
Out There with the Beams -- May 2008
Dear Family and Friends, It is so much fun to be able to communicate with all of you. Especially because I know that you guys are always reading our letters and praying for us. We have started a very busy but at the same time very fun time of the year. So far it looks like we will be hosting four missionary teams and several friends are also coming to visit!!! We are all excited and can’t wait to see you, hug you, and take you out for some good Bolivian food! I hope each one of you all is doing great and enjoying the beautiful season! We love hearing from you and praying for you. I always feel like we are covering each other’s backs when you guys let us know how we can pray for you all. As I write this letter, Danny is frantically trying to pack for a mountain trip he and Nathaniel are taking together as a special time before Nathaniel has to go back to the US for a whole school year. Please pray for them, for safety and fun. Also pray for all five of us as we again have to say good bye. Today was also Nathaniel’s and Luciana’s last day of school. Isaiah has officially graduated from Kindergarten. He is not very excited about first grade, instead he wishes to go back to KY. I think this is due to some comment about the new principal being really mean (not true). Thank you so much for praying for our kids. We are very proud of them, we are proud of the people they are in and outside the school. Nathaniel is now a Junior, Luciana is an 8th grader and Isaiah a 1st grader. Wow! Time flies! During the time that Nathaniel and Danny are gone. I will be working as an interpreter for a wonderful lady called Bernadette Todd. She has a very touching testimony about the healing power of God. She is from Jamaica. We will be going to the local jail (men’s and women’s), also to a factory, a couple schools, three churches and several ladies meetings. My two other kids will be home with a sitter. So please pray for them and for me as we pull through this coming ten days. Right after Nathaniel leaves we will be getting our first team and heading for the jungle to drill some wells. I will be cooking because I still don’t know how to drill wells and to be honest with you I don’t really enjoy playing in the mud! My dear friend Erna Friesen and I have a dream. We have felt and seen a huge need for a half way house for girls who are too old to stay in the orphanages but not totally ready to get out into the world on their own. This is the dream: To somehow purchase or rent a building in a good central location where we could use the first floor as a coffee house and a big apartment on the second floor where about three to six girls could live with a couple of house parents. Erna is a wonderful chef. So she would train the girls in culinary arts while I would in managing and dealing with clients. The girls would have to attend a technical school and work at the coffee shop, pay rent and pay for their own food while they have a safe place to come home to. Through this project the Lord would also be providing a really cool and safe place where both Christian and non Christian youth could hang out without having smoke blown in their faces (hard to find here in Santa Cruz). We would have games, books, ping pong, yummy foods and snacks…I even thought of some dancing classes with Christian music of course. And of course we would link all the people who came here to our church that will be by then bilingual. As you can tell I am really excited! That’s it so far. I am sure there is a lot more to it. Erna is going to Canada on furlough for six months so we (us and all of you) have that time to pray, plan and pray again! Two other ladies from our mission have a very successful coffee house in Tarija, another city in Bolivia, that would serve as a model for ours. So the first step would be to visit Tarija as soon as Erna gets back. I better let her know! I know that I can always count on your prayers so here are some requests:Please pray for the safety and protection of all the people who are coming here to work with us.Please pray for Danny and Nathaniel on their trip.Lift up Nathaniel as he readjusts to the USLift Luciana and Isaiah when the miss their big brother.Pray for Lily, Fernanda and Shirley. All three of them have recently made really poor choices which the Lord has used to show me the huge need of a half way house!Pray for Bernadette and I as we share her testimony. And for the Lord to open the hearts of those who are not safe yet who will hear her message.Pray for protection for our family in general ( traffic, robberies, etc)Pray for our friends Lucy and Pedro who are going through really tough times in their lives right now.Pray for the coffee house dream to come true! Thank you so much for your faithful support of our ministry. We could not be hear without you all backing us up. We are still a somewhat short of meeting our budget each month. If you would like to make a monthly pledge or send a one time gift to help support our ministry, please print out the appropriate attachment and send a check to our mission office. Blessings,Vanessa Daniel and Vanessa Beams EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, BoliviaEmail: beamsclan@yahoo.comBolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.comPhoto Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Out There with the Beams -- April 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
I would like to relate an experience I had while out drilling a water well yesterday in a community of Ayoreo Indians a couple of hours from Santa Cruz. This tale is a bit longer that what I usually share, but please take the time to read this. We want our supporters and ministry partners to understand the reality of life in Bolivia so they will know how to pray for the people of Bolivia.
This week we are working alongside, Charles and Hannah, friends and fellow missionaries from SAM (South American Mission) who have a ministry with the Ayoreo Indians in the community of Pozo Verde. We are drilling a water well for a national missionary couple, Cesar and Myrtha, who live in the village and who and pastor the local evangelical church. This was my first time in an Ayore village. While I was at first shocked by the humble and filthy living conditions (mud and stick huts with tin roofs and dirt yards full of trash), what truly disturbed me was the story of cultural bankruptcy—I don’t know what else to call it— that Hannah shared with me later.
Although not many tourists end up in Pozo Verde, which is quite a ways down a dusty bumpy dirt road, the local women and girls quickly find any visitors and offer to sell them hand woven bags made from the fiber of cactus plants. Although they all dress in Western style clothes, the Ayore have distinct facial features that set them apart from their Quechua and German Mennonite neighbors. The children are extremely cute with big round faces and sparkling eyes. They chat excitedly among each other in their own language, of which I do not understand a word. The kids practically mobbed Hannah as she taught them a Bible story and let them color a hand-out depicting the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. Because of the hard life in the hot scrub country where they live, the adults, especially the women, age quickly. Women in their thirties and forties are already grandmothers, and they look like they are in their fifties and sixties. I noticed that several of the community elders had fingers twisted and curled with arthritis. One of the older men in the community, and an elder in the church, was permanently crippled from a jaguar attack. Yes, there are jaguars here in the bushes.
There used to be about thirty-five families living in the Pozo Verde, but now there are only twenty-two. Yesterday most of the men were absent from the village because they were out cutting sugar cane on the large plantations several hours to the east. They will probably be gone several weeks, just long enough to get a little money in their pocket. The women and older men stay at home in the village to take care of the kids.
I read that there are currently about five thousand Ayore Indians in Bolivia. They have traditionally occupied the Gran Chaco area of southern Bolivia and Paraguay. This is a hot dry scrub brush country that is sparsely uninhabited because of its inaccessibility. The best lands of the Ayore have been settled Bolivian and German immigrants over the past fifty years. Large tracts of Ayore land have been designated for German Mennonite farmers and as well for highland Quechua Indians who are leaving poor soils of the Altiplano and coming to Eastern Bolivia to start a new life. Before these settlement schemes began, the traditional territory of the Ayoreo in this area covered hundreds of thousands of acres. Now the Ayore of Pozo Verde are confined to an reserve of only about 3000 acres. They have been living in Pozo Verde for about forty years now. Traditionally the Ayore were nomadic hunters and gatherers who moved their villages depending on the seasons and the abundance of game. Evangelical missionaries first attempted to contact the Ayore in the early 1940s when a group of five missionary men went deep into their territory near Robore, Bolivia. They attempted to befriend the Indians by leaving gifts for them in their camps. The missionaries never came back out of the forest. Their families finally learned in 1950 that all the men had been murdered because one particular Ayore didn’t like his gift.
Over the past fifty years the Ayore have either come to live in settlements on the periphery of Bolivian society or they have moved deeper into the bush to avoid all contact with the outside world. As recently as 2004 a group of seventeen previously uncontacted Ayore came out of the bush. They said they could no longer survive in their traditional way because ranchers have encroached on their territory and taken control of all of the water sources for their cattle. It is probably a safe assumption that these were the last of the “wild and free” Ayore Indians.
Although the Ayore in Pozo Verde appear “poor but happy” on the surface, a darker sadder reality surfaces as you begin to understand more about their culture. The men continue to hunt and fish—this is a big part of their identity. They also raise some livestock and farm a bit. Although farming is not an activity they particularly excel at or put much effort into. Most men only work enough to earn a little money to buy food for the day or week and do not think about a better or more secure future. As Hannah explains it, the women are the dominant leaders in the family. They control the men, the children, and the finances. Women sit around for many hours each day weaving the rough fiber hand bags they sell at the tourist shops in Santa Cruz. After sending a month working on one bag, they might be able to sell it for about 50 bolivianos (equivalent to $7.00 US). Because this is not enough to live on, the women have begun going into the regional town of Pailon to sell their services as prostitutes. Hannah estimates that 90% of the women in Pozo Verde work as prostitutes. Mothers even take their daughters to town when they are 13 or 14 and introduce them to the business. Women continue in the sex trade well into their fifties. Working as prostitutes, women can earn as much in one hour as they might earn in a month or more weaving baskets. I assume the men tolerate this practice because the women bring home a fist full of cash. Hannah said that if the husbands complained the women would abandon them. Although the practice is not discussed in the village, everyone knows what is going on. It is like the big white elephant standing in the middle of the room that no one wants to talk about. Hannah said the girls will often get their clients drunk and then steal their wallets. Several weeks ago a Mennonite boy came into the village looking for his wallet. The men and boys of the village came out of their houses and beat the living-day-lights out of him. He went home empty handed.
Needless to say, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, abortion, and child abuse are all rampant in the community. So is drug and alcohol abuse. On my walk around the community I saw discarded plastic bottles of rubbing alcohol and cans of rubber cement. Yes, they drink rubbing alcohol and sniff glue.
So now I think you understand why I used the term “cultural bankruptcy” to describe the Ayoreo Indians. It is hard to point a finger at any one thing and say “this caused their problems.” Certainly the loss of their traditional lands and the loss of their cultural identity has a lot to do with who they are today. But they have to take some of the blame well. If you don’t count the emotional scaring across generations, prostitution is certainly an easy way out of a bad situation. Then again, you cannot blame children who are forced into prostitution by their parents. The cycle of abuse and depravation perpetuates itself. The only hope I see is though grace and truth of Christ. Although there is an evangelical church in Pozo Verde and many Ayore claim to believe in the truth of the Bible, they continue in the same patterns of sinful behavior.
Pray for true spiritual transformation in the lives of the Ayore in this community. Pray that Cesar and Myrtha can lead the church towards renewal and spiritual growth.
We hope to continue drilling water wells and sharing our faith in this community. After we finish the well at the missionaries home we plan on drilling some other wells with several of the Ayore men who have shown an interest in putting in some wells for their livestock and garden plots. Pray that we can make a positive spiritual, social and material impact in Pozo Verde.
Thanks so much for your partnership with our ministry in Bolivia. We appreciate your faithfulness in praying for and supporting this work. We love hearing from you, so please write when you get a chance.
Blessings,
Danny
P.S. If you would like to see some pictures of Pozo Verde, please visit our photo gallery at: http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/sanjulian. I have a couple of pictures up already, and I will have a few more in the coming days.
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
I would like to relate an experience I had while out drilling a water well yesterday in a community of Ayoreo Indians a couple of hours from Santa Cruz. This tale is a bit longer that what I usually share, but please take the time to read this. We want our supporters and ministry partners to understand the reality of life in Bolivia so they will know how to pray for the people of Bolivia.
This week we are working alongside, Charles and Hannah, friends and fellow missionaries from SAM (South American Mission) who have a ministry with the Ayoreo Indians in the community of Pozo Verde. We are drilling a water well for a national missionary couple, Cesar and Myrtha, who live in the village and who and pastor the local evangelical church. This was my first time in an Ayore village. While I was at first shocked by the humble and filthy living conditions (mud and stick huts with tin roofs and dirt yards full of trash), what truly disturbed me was the story of cultural bankruptcy—I don’t know what else to call it— that Hannah shared with me later.
Although not many tourists end up in Pozo Verde, which is quite a ways down a dusty bumpy dirt road, the local women and girls quickly find any visitors and offer to sell them hand woven bags made from the fiber of cactus plants. Although they all dress in Western style clothes, the Ayore have distinct facial features that set them apart from their Quechua and German Mennonite neighbors. The children are extremely cute with big round faces and sparkling eyes. They chat excitedly among each other in their own language, of which I do not understand a word. The kids practically mobbed Hannah as she taught them a Bible story and let them color a hand-out depicting the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. Because of the hard life in the hot scrub country where they live, the adults, especially the women, age quickly. Women in their thirties and forties are already grandmothers, and they look like they are in their fifties and sixties. I noticed that several of the community elders had fingers twisted and curled with arthritis. One of the older men in the community, and an elder in the church, was permanently crippled from a jaguar attack. Yes, there are jaguars here in the bushes.
There used to be about thirty-five families living in the Pozo Verde, but now there are only twenty-two. Yesterday most of the men were absent from the village because they were out cutting sugar cane on the large plantations several hours to the east. They will probably be gone several weeks, just long enough to get a little money in their pocket. The women and older men stay at home in the village to take care of the kids.
I read that there are currently about five thousand Ayore Indians in Bolivia. They have traditionally occupied the Gran Chaco area of southern Bolivia and Paraguay. This is a hot dry scrub brush country that is sparsely uninhabited because of its inaccessibility. The best lands of the Ayore have been settled Bolivian and German immigrants over the past fifty years. Large tracts of Ayore land have been designated for German Mennonite farmers and as well for highland Quechua Indians who are leaving poor soils of the Altiplano and coming to Eastern Bolivia to start a new life. Before these settlement schemes began, the traditional territory of the Ayoreo in this area covered hundreds of thousands of acres. Now the Ayore of Pozo Verde are confined to an reserve of only about 3000 acres. They have been living in Pozo Verde for about forty years now. Traditionally the Ayore were nomadic hunters and gatherers who moved their villages depending on the seasons and the abundance of game. Evangelical missionaries first attempted to contact the Ayore in the early 1940s when a group of five missionary men went deep into their territory near Robore, Bolivia. They attempted to befriend the Indians by leaving gifts for them in their camps. The missionaries never came back out of the forest. Their families finally learned in 1950 that all the men had been murdered because one particular Ayore didn’t like his gift.
Over the past fifty years the Ayore have either come to live in settlements on the periphery of Bolivian society or they have moved deeper into the bush to avoid all contact with the outside world. As recently as 2004 a group of seventeen previously uncontacted Ayore came out of the bush. They said they could no longer survive in their traditional way because ranchers have encroached on their territory and taken control of all of the water sources for their cattle. It is probably a safe assumption that these were the last of the “wild and free” Ayore Indians.
Although the Ayore in Pozo Verde appear “poor but happy” on the surface, a darker sadder reality surfaces as you begin to understand more about their culture. The men continue to hunt and fish—this is a big part of their identity. They also raise some livestock and farm a bit. Although farming is not an activity they particularly excel at or put much effort into. Most men only work enough to earn a little money to buy food for the day or week and do not think about a better or more secure future. As Hannah explains it, the women are the dominant leaders in the family. They control the men, the children, and the finances. Women sit around for many hours each day weaving the rough fiber hand bags they sell at the tourist shops in Santa Cruz. After sending a month working on one bag, they might be able to sell it for about 50 bolivianos (equivalent to $7.00 US). Because this is not enough to live on, the women have begun going into the regional town of Pailon to sell their services as prostitutes. Hannah estimates that 90% of the women in Pozo Verde work as prostitutes. Mothers even take their daughters to town when they are 13 or 14 and introduce them to the business. Women continue in the sex trade well into their fifties. Working as prostitutes, women can earn as much in one hour as they might earn in a month or more weaving baskets. I assume the men tolerate this practice because the women bring home a fist full of cash. Hannah said that if the husbands complained the women would abandon them. Although the practice is not discussed in the village, everyone knows what is going on. It is like the big white elephant standing in the middle of the room that no one wants to talk about. Hannah said the girls will often get their clients drunk and then steal their wallets. Several weeks ago a Mennonite boy came into the village looking for his wallet. The men and boys of the village came out of their houses and beat the living-day-lights out of him. He went home empty handed.
Needless to say, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, abortion, and child abuse are all rampant in the community. So is drug and alcohol abuse. On my walk around the community I saw discarded plastic bottles of rubbing alcohol and cans of rubber cement. Yes, they drink rubbing alcohol and sniff glue.
So now I think you understand why I used the term “cultural bankruptcy” to describe the Ayoreo Indians. It is hard to point a finger at any one thing and say “this caused their problems.” Certainly the loss of their traditional lands and the loss of their cultural identity has a lot to do with who they are today. But they have to take some of the blame well. If you don’t count the emotional scaring across generations, prostitution is certainly an easy way out of a bad situation. Then again, you cannot blame children who are forced into prostitution by their parents. The cycle of abuse and depravation perpetuates itself. The only hope I see is though grace and truth of Christ. Although there is an evangelical church in Pozo Verde and many Ayore claim to believe in the truth of the Bible, they continue in the same patterns of sinful behavior.
Pray for true spiritual transformation in the lives of the Ayore in this community. Pray that Cesar and Myrtha can lead the church towards renewal and spiritual growth.
We hope to continue drilling water wells and sharing our faith in this community. After we finish the well at the missionaries home we plan on drilling some other wells with several of the Ayore men who have shown an interest in putting in some wells for their livestock and garden plots. Pray that we can make a positive spiritual, social and material impact in Pozo Verde.
Thanks so much for your partnership with our ministry in Bolivia. We appreciate your faithfulness in praying for and supporting this work. We love hearing from you, so please write when you get a chance.
Blessings,
Danny
P.S. If you would like to see some pictures of Pozo Verde, please visit our photo gallery at: http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/sanjulian. I have a couple of pictures up already, and I will have a few more in the coming days.
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Barrio Nueva Esperanza
Click on this link -- Barrio Nueva Esperanza -- to see a gallery of pictures from our recent work in this refugee community near the town of Cuatro Canadas, about 3 hours from Santa Cruz.
Mennonites in the Market
I went out with Rudy Friessen yesterday to take picture of Mennonites in the Los Pozos market here in Santa Cruz. Click on the title to see a few more pics. Rudy and Erna wanted some pictures of the Mennonites in the market to take back with them on furlough to Canada. I was a little concerned that they might get upset with me taking candid pictures. But I didn't have any trouble and we had some good conversations with several of them.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Out There with the Beams -- March 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Hello from Santa Cruz-Bolivia. This is a special letter because Danny is dictating to Vanessa due to a broken hand which happened last Thursday at a well site. Praise the Lord he is fine and does not need surgery at the moment although he is not able to type, drive, write, ride his bike, tie his shoes, button his shirts or spank our kids for the next six weeks. He needs me and I love it!
We have enjoyed working in the community of Nueva Esperanza this last month where we have drilled three water wells and are helping get a church started. Nueva Esperanza is a community of about 120 families of flood victims from flooding in 2006. They all come from nine different rural communities along the Rio Grande River where they were all peasant farmers. The flood waters took away their homes, animals, crops, schools and churches. The town of Cuartro Canadas gave them some land to build a new community, but these are only small lots so they cannot continue to farm for a living. Each family has been given a small garden plot, but these are not nearly big enough to support a family. Several have tried to return to their flooded farms to begin planting again but the old communities flooded again this year. Most men are now having to spend weeks or months away from their families looking for wage labor jobs on big farms or in the cities. They first lived in tents but soon built one room wooden structures. Now through the help of a Spanish charity they are building small brick homes. They hope to soon have electricity and water in each house. Nueva Esperanza is now overflowing with kids. The new elementary school has 180 students. They do have a nice health post (where the nurse took care of my broken hand). And now an older gentleman named Juan, is meeting with a group of believers in his house. They will soon begin construction on a church on the plot of land we bought with a donation from a Bible study group of some faithful supporters in Texas. We were also able to pay for the wells with several designated gifts from supporters in Canada. This is truly a team effort. If you would like to see some pictures from the community and the work please visit our photo galleries at http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/nueva_esperanza. I will continue to add to the gallery as the work continues.
Prayer Concerns
Our EFCCM mission family is meeting this week in a conference (April 9-12) with a team of directors and staff from the home office in Canada. Pray for a great time of sharing, planning and spiritual renewal.
Two volunteers are in Santa Cruz this month learning to drill water wells using the manual percussion method. Jake is well driller from Canada, and Mario is a mission volunteer from Sonora, Mexico. Pray that these men can use these skills to provide water and spiritual enlightenment for thirsty people around the world.
Continue to pray for the girls that Vanessa is working closely with, especially Fernanda, Shirley, and Lily who are all leaving the shelter of the Cristo Viene home and beginning to live on their own and to make critical decisions about the direction of their future.
Danny’s grandmother, Margaret Beams, passed away last week in Texas. Pray for his family as they grieve this lose. His grandfather, Blackie, passed away a little over a year ago. Both Margaret and Blackie were wonderful grandparents and were such an encouragement to me through their examples of Christian commitment, love, and courage. I am so glad they have now been reunited in heaven, but I will miss them dearly here on this planet.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Hello from Santa Cruz-Bolivia. This is a special letter because Danny is dictating to Vanessa due to a broken hand which happened last Thursday at a well site. Praise the Lord he is fine and does not need surgery at the moment although he is not able to type, drive, write, ride his bike, tie his shoes, button his shirts or spank our kids for the next six weeks. He needs me and I love it!
We have enjoyed working in the community of Nueva Esperanza this last month where we have drilled three water wells and are helping get a church started. Nueva Esperanza is a community of about 120 families of flood victims from flooding in 2006. They all come from nine different rural communities along the Rio Grande River where they were all peasant farmers. The flood waters took away their homes, animals, crops, schools and churches. The town of Cuartro Canadas gave them some land to build a new community, but these are only small lots so they cannot continue to farm for a living. Each family has been given a small garden plot, but these are not nearly big enough to support a family. Several have tried to return to their flooded farms to begin planting again but the old communities flooded again this year. Most men are now having to spend weeks or months away from their families looking for wage labor jobs on big farms or in the cities. They first lived in tents but soon built one room wooden structures. Now through the help of a Spanish charity they are building small brick homes. They hope to soon have electricity and water in each house. Nueva Esperanza is now overflowing with kids. The new elementary school has 180 students. They do have a nice health post (where the nurse took care of my broken hand). And now an older gentleman named Juan, is meeting with a group of believers in his house. They will soon begin construction on a church on the plot of land we bought with a donation from a Bible study group of some faithful supporters in Texas. We were also able to pay for the wells with several designated gifts from supporters in Canada. This is truly a team effort. If you would like to see some pictures from the community and the work please visit our photo galleries at http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/nueva_esperanza. I will continue to add to the gallery as the work continues.
Prayer Concerns
Our EFCCM mission family is meeting this week in a conference (April 9-12) with a team of directors and staff from the home office in Canada. Pray for a great time of sharing, planning and spiritual renewal.
Two volunteers are in Santa Cruz this month learning to drill water wells using the manual percussion method. Jake is well driller from Canada, and Mario is a mission volunteer from Sonora, Mexico. Pray that these men can use these skills to provide water and spiritual enlightenment for thirsty people around the world.
Continue to pray for the girls that Vanessa is working closely with, especially Fernanda, Shirley, and Lily who are all leaving the shelter of the Cristo Viene home and beginning to live on their own and to make critical decisions about the direction of their future.
Danny’s grandmother, Margaret Beams, passed away last week in Texas. Pray for his family as they grieve this lose. His grandfather, Blackie, passed away a little over a year ago. Both Margaret and Blackie were wonderful grandparents and were such an encouragement to me through their examples of Christian commitment, love, and courage. I am so glad they have now been reunited in heaven, but I will miss them dearly here on this planet.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Out There with the Beams -- February 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
How is everybody? This is Vanessa writing this month. We miss you a lot! I want to start this letter by thanking the Lord Jesus Christ for his awesome faithfulness and love. And also by thanking you all for your prayers and support. Thank you for letting God use you by helping us.
We have been really busy lately. Our water well project is growing very fast. Please pray for Danny and his team (Carlos and now Pedro) as they will be traveling to a community called Cuatro Canadas to drill wells. It is about three hours away (not very far) but our roads do tend to get in really bad condition due to rain and sometimes even disappear! As I just mentioned, Pedro, is the new member of our water team. He is a 19 year old boy who used to be a little boy when we met him. He is making his transition out of the Talita Cumi Home. So please pray for this transition to be smooth and successful.
Something else that is super exciting and recent is the Monday morning Spanish Bible study for men that Danny and friends from our mission have started. These are the names of the men attending so you can lift them up in prayer: Pedro, Marcos, Carlos, Warren, Rudy, and Danny.
As for me, I will be doing something new and fun this time. I will be helping at the Centro de Vida (the Life Center) to create (painting, organizing and decorating) a boutique for moms! I know it sounds very superficial but it is not! Moms who seek help at the center will be given points for attending church, reading their Bible, going to Bible studies, etc… those points will then allow them to purchase baby items as well as mommy items and clothes! As you can tell I am very excited and ready to start. The Centro de Vida is a wonderful ministry and I love working with them.
Our kids are doing great both at home and at school. Isaiah will be starting Tae Kwon Do classes. We attended one and he did great. He is very excited about the white suit!
Luciana has the lead role in a school. This is huge! So please pray for her.
And Nathaniel is getting very tall and handsome! At 6’2” he is taller than Danny now. He and his daddy are racing bicycles on a local Bolivian team. Praise the Lord for our children. I am grateful to have such wonderful kids and plan on enjoying them every minute we have them at home.
We will be having lots of teams this spring and summer. If you are planning on coming here please know that the Beams are praying for you. And also that we are ready to work and have fun together! We are already discussing all the possibilities and there are so many!
Another praise is that we have started the process of sending two of the oldest girls from Cristo Viene Home to technical school thanks to a gift we received from one of you! Here are the names three ladies with whom I have been sharing Jesus and could really use some prayer:
Lucy, Angie and Susi.
Please know that we love you and cherish every moment we have spent together. Our prayer for you and your family is that the Lord will give you ten times more for every blessing you give us and that his Spirit will go with you wherever you go!
Vanessa
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.comPhoto Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
How is everybody? This is Vanessa writing this month. We miss you a lot! I want to start this letter by thanking the Lord Jesus Christ for his awesome faithfulness and love. And also by thanking you all for your prayers and support. Thank you for letting God use you by helping us.
We have been really busy lately. Our water well project is growing very fast. Please pray for Danny and his team (Carlos and now Pedro) as they will be traveling to a community called Cuatro Canadas to drill wells. It is about three hours away (not very far) but our roads do tend to get in really bad condition due to rain and sometimes even disappear! As I just mentioned, Pedro, is the new member of our water team. He is a 19 year old boy who used to be a little boy when we met him. He is making his transition out of the Talita Cumi Home. So please pray for this transition to be smooth and successful.
Something else that is super exciting and recent is the Monday morning Spanish Bible study for men that Danny and friends from our mission have started. These are the names of the men attending so you can lift them up in prayer: Pedro, Marcos, Carlos, Warren, Rudy, and Danny.
As for me, I will be doing something new and fun this time. I will be helping at the Centro de Vida (the Life Center) to create (painting, organizing and decorating) a boutique for moms! I know it sounds very superficial but it is not! Moms who seek help at the center will be given points for attending church, reading their Bible, going to Bible studies, etc… those points will then allow them to purchase baby items as well as mommy items and clothes! As you can tell I am very excited and ready to start. The Centro de Vida is a wonderful ministry and I love working with them.
Our kids are doing great both at home and at school. Isaiah will be starting Tae Kwon Do classes. We attended one and he did great. He is very excited about the white suit!
Luciana has the lead role in a school. This is huge! So please pray for her.
And Nathaniel is getting very tall and handsome! At 6’2” he is taller than Danny now. He and his daddy are racing bicycles on a local Bolivian team. Praise the Lord for our children. I am grateful to have such wonderful kids and plan on enjoying them every minute we have them at home.
We will be having lots of teams this spring and summer. If you are planning on coming here please know that the Beams are praying for you. And also that we are ready to work and have fun together! We are already discussing all the possibilities and there are so many!
Another praise is that we have started the process of sending two of the oldest girls from Cristo Viene Home to technical school thanks to a gift we received from one of you! Here are the names three ladies with whom I have been sharing Jesus and could really use some prayer:
Lucy, Angie and Susi.
Please know that we love you and cherish every moment we have spent together. Our prayer for you and your family is that the Lord will give you ten times more for every blessing you give us and that his Spirit will go with you wherever you go!
Vanessa
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.comPhoto Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Carnival in Santa Cruz -- Deadly Fun
We just finished the week of Carnival here in Santa Cruz. This is a holiday much like Marti Gras in New Orleans. This is the first year we have actually stayed in Santa Cruz. The majority of Bolivians love this holiday, but most ex-pats have advised us to either get out of town or stay locked up in our house for the four-day-long party. The festivities started out mildly enough with a parade on Saturday, and people throwing water balloons, buckets of water, shooting squirt guns, etc. But the party degenerates fast, with the majority of people getting stumbling drunk on Sunday through Tuesday. They say Tuesday is the day that God leaves earth and forgets about his people, so we (they) are free to do whatever they want. On Ash Wednesday, Catholics go to church to confession. I don't want to stereotype Catholics, but I think this is really their holiday. The Evangelical Christians I spoke with said they do not participate in any aspect of Carnival. As the days progress, people begin throwing mud, oil and paint. Many of the taxis and busses actually smear their entire vehicles with mud so that the other nasty stuff that people throw will not mess up their paint.
To escape the madness on Monday, we rented a cabin near the Lomas de Arena (sand dunes), half an hour out of town. It was a great time of hiking, swimming, horseback riding, and (for me) photography—truly a relaxing couple of days. I didn't try to get any pictures of the maddness that is Carnival, but here are couple of pictures from our tranquil little get-away.
To escape the madness on Monday, we rented a cabin near the Lomas de Arena (sand dunes), half an hour out of town. It was a great time of hiking, swimming, horseback riding, and (for me) photography—truly a relaxing couple of days. I didn't try to get any pictures of the maddness that is Carnival, but here are couple of pictures from our tranquil little get-away.
As we drove back into town on Tuesday evening, the roads were full of drunk drivers swerving from side to side, and drunk people stumbling down the middle of the road. I have never in my life seen such a large percentage of the population drunk in the street like that. At the time I thought that it must be an extremely dangerous time to be out and about, but I didn’t know exactly how dangerous until I heard the next day that 30 people had been killed on the streets of Santa Cruz over the holiday weekend (and that was just in our city).When I talked to Carlos the next day I found out that one of our neighbors out at the workshop had become a statistic as well. The son of the neighbor lady who washes Carlos’ clothes was killed on the highway on Tuesday night. Coming home drunk at 10:00 that evening, he stepped out in front of a car as he tried to cross the highway. The car sped away without stopping, leaving him dead on the side of the road. He was only 22 years old.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Out There with the Beams – January 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Hi everyone. This is Danny writing this month. We trust you are surviving well through a cold winter up north. Here in Bolivia it is summer and the rains will not let up long enough for anything to dry out. Although we have not flooded here in our house, several of our friends homes have flooded and even Talita Cumi, the orphanage we work with that is a couple of blocks away, flooded and the girls all had to move into the upstairs portion of the boys home next door. Please especially pray for the flooded farm areas around the Rio Grande and Yapacani rivers several hours east and south of Santa Cruz. These areas get hit year after year with flooding and this year is no different. We have several well projects planned in these areas but right now travel is too difficult to begin drilling.
Thanks to all of your prayers and financial support, our water well drilling ministry is poised to begin making a great impact on the lives of people in rural communities around Santa Cruz in 2008. Many of you have made specific donations to this ministry and this has allowed us to rent a farm and workshop where we are building drilling equipment, experimenting with new drilling techniques, and training people to go out into the communities to teach them how to drill their own well. We normally use manual labor to drill wells, but this takes teams of 8 to 12 people, so we recently built a small motorized drilling rig that enables us to drill wells with only three people helping. With a little more innovation we hope to build a combination percussion/rotary rig that will be better equiped to drill through harder clay and rock. So many areas of Bolivia could be farmed, but for lack of water during the dry season, these areas are not being utilized productively. If we can help poor farmers drill water wells and gain access to water year round they will be able to improve farm and livestock project and ensure their families a brighter future. And of course most importantly, we want to share the love of Christ with them and help them get plugged in to a healthy growing churches in their communities. You can see a video of our new drilling rig in action at www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com.
We have a great start with this ministry, but there are so many needs in Bolivia we cannot even begin to meet the demand. If you would like to help us expand our water well ministry, we hope you would consider a special designated gift. Just to give you an idea, each well costs an average of $250 to drill and to install a hand-pump. Thanks also to everyone who has followed through on your monthly pledges to support our regular budget . Aside from special project funds, we also need to raise about $5000 month to support our family and ministry here in Bolivia. Just so you know, we are at about 75% of what we need for our regular budget. It would be such a blessing if you would make a commitment to help us reach our buget this year. We are including a attachment to this email that explains how to make contributions if you are not already doing so.
I hope you don’t think we only write these monthly updates to ask for financial support. We really want to share with you how God is working in and through our family here in Bolivia. We are super excited about the individuals and mission teams that are coming to Bolivia this year to participate with us in God’s work. It is so much fun to share our home and our lives with friends who are experiencing Bolivia with fresh eyes.
Vanessa’s work with the orphanages is going well. She is teaching aerobics, arts & crafts, has a summer reading club, and is working through the book, “The Healing of Memories” with a group of older teen girls. And of course she hosts big birthday bashes for the Talita Cumi kids every other month. Also through a special gift from a supporter, we have started a scholarship fund for kids who graduate from high school and want to go on to study in college or a trade school. We have been looking for a way to help the kids make an easier transition from orphanage to independent living as adults in the workplace. Through this fund we are offering to pay tuition and to give them a small living stipend as they leave the homes and seek to make their own way in the world. We will certainly keep you updated as this new ministry progresses and will ask you up hold up these kids in prayer.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Hi everyone. This is Danny writing this month. We trust you are surviving well through a cold winter up north. Here in Bolivia it is summer and the rains will not let up long enough for anything to dry out. Although we have not flooded here in our house, several of our friends homes have flooded and even Talita Cumi, the orphanage we work with that is a couple of blocks away, flooded and the girls all had to move into the upstairs portion of the boys home next door. Please especially pray for the flooded farm areas around the Rio Grande and Yapacani rivers several hours east and south of Santa Cruz. These areas get hit year after year with flooding and this year is no different. We have several well projects planned in these areas but right now travel is too difficult to begin drilling.
Thanks to all of your prayers and financial support, our water well drilling ministry is poised to begin making a great impact on the lives of people in rural communities around Santa Cruz in 2008. Many of you have made specific donations to this ministry and this has allowed us to rent a farm and workshop where we are building drilling equipment, experimenting with new drilling techniques, and training people to go out into the communities to teach them how to drill their own well. We normally use manual labor to drill wells, but this takes teams of 8 to 12 people, so we recently built a small motorized drilling rig that enables us to drill wells with only three people helping. With a little more innovation we hope to build a combination percussion/rotary rig that will be better equiped to drill through harder clay and rock. So many areas of Bolivia could be farmed, but for lack of water during the dry season, these areas are not being utilized productively. If we can help poor farmers drill water wells and gain access to water year round they will be able to improve farm and livestock project and ensure their families a brighter future. And of course most importantly, we want to share the love of Christ with them and help them get plugged in to a healthy growing churches in their communities. You can see a video of our new drilling rig in action at www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com.
We have a great start with this ministry, but there are so many needs in Bolivia we cannot even begin to meet the demand. If you would like to help us expand our water well ministry, we hope you would consider a special designated gift. Just to give you an idea, each well costs an average of $250 to drill and to install a hand-pump. Thanks also to everyone who has followed through on your monthly pledges to support our regular budget . Aside from special project funds, we also need to raise about $5000 month to support our family and ministry here in Bolivia. Just so you know, we are at about 75% of what we need for our regular budget. It would be such a blessing if you would make a commitment to help us reach our buget this year. We are including a attachment to this email that explains how to make contributions if you are not already doing so.
I hope you don’t think we only write these monthly updates to ask for financial support. We really want to share with you how God is working in and through our family here in Bolivia. We are super excited about the individuals and mission teams that are coming to Bolivia this year to participate with us in God’s work. It is so much fun to share our home and our lives with friends who are experiencing Bolivia with fresh eyes.
Vanessa’s work with the orphanages is going well. She is teaching aerobics, arts & crafts, has a summer reading club, and is working through the book, “The Healing of Memories” with a group of older teen girls. And of course she hosts big birthday bashes for the Talita Cumi kids every other month. Also through a special gift from a supporter, we have started a scholarship fund for kids who graduate from high school and want to go on to study in college or a trade school. We have been looking for a way to help the kids make an easier transition from orphanage to independent living as adults in the workplace. Through this fund we are offering to pay tuition and to give them a small living stipend as they leave the homes and seek to make their own way in the world. We will certainly keep you updated as this new ministry progresses and will ask you up hold up these kids in prayer.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Raining Frogs and Worms
It has been raining non-stop in Santa Cruz since last Friday. The Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center (our kids school) is flooding and they have called off school for the rest of the week. All of the grassy areas and sidewalks are under water and Isaiah's classroom has several inches of water in it. The kids said there are frogs and worms everywhere. They even found a three foot eel and a one foot catfish. There aren't even any rivers or lakes near the school so who knows where these came from. Thankfully our home has not flooded, but we have friends who are having to leave their homes. Even in Talita Cumi the girls are having to leave their home and move in upstairs in the boys home next door. Both major highways to Cochabamba and La Paz are closed do to washed out bridges and mud slides. It is a good thing we got back from Sucre before the highways were completely closed.
Photos from Our Trip to Sucre
Click on the title of this post to see pictures from our recent trip to Sucre, Bolivia. Sucre is the old capital of Bolivia, in the mountains of the Chuquisaca department. It was about 14 hour drive from Santa Cruz. About half of the drive was on gravel and dirt roads. We had a great week with our friends the Wilkes, who are also missionaries in Santa Cruz. We also got to meet the Emmons, new friends in language school in Sucre. If everything works out they will be here in Santa Cruz next year teaching at the Santa Cruz Christian learning Center.
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