A letter from Marcia Towers in Guatemala
December 2011
Angel (center-left) with Blanca (center-right) during the visit of Peaks and New Covenant presbyteries from the U.S.
CNN has a program called “CNN Heroes,” heralding the efforts of special people making a difference in their communities. In Guatemala we work with amazing local faith leaders, and I’d like to celebrate the lives of two of these local heroes! In PC(USA) partner Cedepca’s response to the damage from Tropical Storm Agatha in 2010, we met Blanca Avendaño and Angel Jimenez, who live in the town of El Pedregal, Amatitlan, about an hour outside of Guatemala City. Together Angel and Blanca pastor the local Church of God congregation. Angel is a tentmaking pastor, also working full-time in a plant nursery.
In El Pedregal in May 2010 the rains from the tropical storm provoked a landslide of mud and boulders from a mountain near El Pedregal that destroyed 31 houses, damaged another 19 houses, left 2 dead, and affected a total of 88 families in the community. In the evening when they heard the mountain rumbling, about 100 people ran for Blanca and Angel’s house to take shelter because they saw it as a refuge, both physically and emotionally. They considered their house safe physically because in previous years the river that flows through town had overflowed its banks and Blanca and Angel’s house had been unaffected since it is slightly elevated. And they considered the house an emotional refuge as well, because of this couple’s love of their neighbors and the leadership that the couple showed in their community.
When the landslide happened, Angel was returning home from a neighboring community that had suffered falling rocks and ash from a nearby volcano two days before. (Usually not so many disasters happen together!). He had gone to offer support and help for those affected by the volcanic eruption who were seeking shelter outside of their houses.
Blanca and Angel recall that they never thought that their house, which they too envisioned as a refuge, would be in the direct line of the landslide. Those 100 neighbors gathered in the highest part of the house and saw mud and boulders fill the road beside the house and mud and water fill the lower part of their house up to their waists. The group stayed there during the night, praying for God’s protection and for their community.
In the aftermath of the disaster, Blanca and Angel mobilized the community to respond, and they continued to provide care for those around them. They donated a piece of land they owned on even higher ground so that the community could build a shelter in which to gather in future emergencies. Then they led the effort to request and receive funds from a Rotary Club branch for the materials to build the shelter, and they organized the community to provide the labor to build the shelter.
Blanca and Angel's house in the town of Pedregal, in Guatemala was affected by a landslide during a 2010 tropical storm
Most of those 100 people went home, cleaned the mud and rocks out of their houses, and continued to live life. The same cleaning work and a bit of reconstruction were required for a large part of Blanca and Angel’s own house. But some of the neighbors who lost their houses and didn’t have the financial possibility of paying for new land or new construction didn’t have a place to go. More than a year later there were still more than 10 townspeople living in their house, and now a year and a half later there are 4 people living there.
Cedepca has had the honor of knowing Blanca and Angel through their continued involvement with Cedepca’s response to this disaster. They invited community members to participate with them in Cedepca’s psychosocial support to help people work through emotionally what had happened and to dream and work with hope toward a different future. They came to a workshop organized by Cedepca and taught by staff from CONRED, the Guatemalan government’s Committee on Disaster Reduction, where they learned about early-alert systems, running a shelter, mapping risk in the community, and coming up with actions to lessen the risk of future disasters. Blanca and Angel followed up on this course by requesting to be recognized with other neighbors as a COLRED, or local branch of the Committee on Disaster Reduction, and they’ve qualified.
Blanca and other participants in a workshop on spiritual attention in disasters at Cedepca, a PC(USA) partner organization
They opened up their church twice as a site for a medical clinic with a visiting group from the United States and spread word to the community to come and get attention.
They’ve also participated in a focus group and a workshop with Cedepca on spiritual attention in disasters, where we talk about grief and normal reactions after a traumatic situation and how to accompany people during those difficult times. At these workshops they shared a story about how as the day dawned after the night with those 100 people in their house, they heard someone from outside their community pass, playing a loud trumpet blast, and shouting, “Repent, this disaster happened as a punishment for your sin!” To the contrary, they believe that God walks with them during these hard times. And today I celebrate their passionate work for the good of their community, for their ability to praise God in the midst of crisis, and their incredible ability to reach out to others even when they themselves are suffering.
As we give thanks for this marvelous couple, please also keep Blanca in your prayers as she undergoes chemotherapy in late 2011 for breast cancer and Angel as he recovers from a recent accident, the latest challenges they face even as they support others. Praise and prayers be to God!
Marcia Towers
The 2011 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 286
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 6
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