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November 1999
Dear Friends,
We are wholly engaged in the work here again after a marvelous
month-long visit to the United States. Our time there was full
of blessings, including the smooth sale of our home in Hillsboro,
Simone and Darien's move to Atlanta, Damian's move into a new
apartment and a new job, and the revitalizing renewal of friendships
and family ties on both coasts.
It's Bob here. Night has fallen fast as it always does in El
Salvador, the sun vanishing suddenly behind the horizon of the
Pacific Ocean. I hear the persistent songs of tree frogs and crickets
interrupted by screech owls and muffled by the electric fan pushing
humid air. But the buzz of mosquitos is gone. There has been too
much rain for them to breed! I am thankful!
Alfalit's president is currently in Europe to solidify support
for the ecotourism project for this area. The organic sugar cane
growers met to consider an offer from a sugar mill interested
in milling their cane to produce "transitional" natural
sugar. Presbyterian churches in Oregon are considering buying
this sugar for distribution within their congregations as a gesture
of solidarity in the great task of detoxifying the Earth's deadened
soils. El Salvador's new minister of the environment recently
visited Colima and expressed her genuine excitement about the
integral community development model for restoring the failing
forest and local economy. We have her support. We received a generous
donation from friends in Guatemala to help in the construction
of the restrooms for the hacienda's swimming pool. That is a big
step closer to getting this pool open to the public and generating
funds for the restoration of this colonial structure. And Julie,
in an act of faith, got hold of a snow-cone machine for the future
pool-side snack shop. It is a hand-cranked cast-iron ice shaver,
truly an appropriate technology for this sun-soaked land. We hope
to top the snow cones with real tropical fruit purees. Mmmmm!
Some of you who have been here will fondly remember Chepe Anaya
who has told us the powerful story of his surviving the 1980 massacre
at the hacienda. He used to maintain the swimming pool, among
other chores, for Don Francisco, the "patron." Now he
has been hired to continue that work and has learned how to manage
the new pump, the vacuuming, the chlorinating of the pool. He
also works part-time as the garbage man for Colima, converting
the organic waste into compost and hauling the inorganic waste
to a landfill. As far as we know, Colima is the only community
of El Salvador undertaking such a project. Each participating
family contributes about $1.50 per month for his salary and for
the diesel for the coop's tractor, which hauls the sugar cane
"gondola." For many families this sum is difficult to
come up with and the project is always at the point of collapse.
We ask for prayers that this project prosper as it is so important
as an inspiration for other communities to do something about
the contamination of the environment.
It is wonderful to cheer on the reawakening of the "can-do"
spirit that was nearly extinguished five hundred years ago and
was buried in tens of thousands of graves during the war. The
transformation is slow. But any resurrection of life is a miracle.
It is such a privilege to witness.
When we pulled out of the hacienda on Friday, I looked back to
see the electrician standing by the newly installed control panels
for the electrical substation for the fuel log machine. Believe
it or not, things are moving along at a smooth rate for El Salvador.
The electric company installed the two transformers and ran wire
to a point about 100 feet from the hacienda. Our electrician then
installed two 20-foot poles and ran the four wires over to the
hacienda. We are amazed to be at this point already! The electrical
company actually did its work weeks ago, far ahead of schedule.
José Angel Rosales, Alfalit's new on-site manager for this
enterprise, has screened the solar-dried sugar cane residue and
extracted the most useable 30 percent. We have high hopes that
a hammer mill might convert 100 percent of the bagazo to useable
material. We will be experimenting this week with a borrowed mill,
and if successful, we will definitely look into purchasing one.
We'll keep you updated on the fuel log production. We should start
up again this next week. All we need is for the electric company
to hook up the wires to the grid. We feel your support and your
love so much.
Love,
Robert & Julie Dunsmore
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