Bob and Clare in Chiapas

CENTRE NEWS AND RAIN FOREST

2012-02-17T06:08:00.000-08:00

We managed to get out to the Centre for the first time a week ago on thursday. I always wonder what it is going to be like not having seen any photos for a good while, and this time of year is a transition time climate-wise, from rainy season to dry season, so one never knows quite what to expect! Three years ago when we went out there in January there was hardly anything to see. This time, the crop demonsatration area was full of different things - cabbages, swiss chard, lettuce, maize, beans, tomatoes in the greenhouses, radishes, cilandro, bananas on the trees, a rapidly growing coffee grove, macadamia-nut trees and citrus in flower, young seedlings in the nursery, a big pile of bokashi compost, worm manure, plus 3 fat steers and now a herd of 9 sheep! So it was very gratifying to see all that has happened in the last year. Jeremias, Marcelo, Chepe, Gilberto and Pablo are all still working there along with other casual workers. Also a young lad called Mario has started work at the Centre. He is trained in the Universidad de la Selva, with a speciality in the Economics of Sustainable Agriculture projects. He comes with a lot of knowledge but perhaps lacking still in experience but has a great deal to offer.
The same day we went to the Centre, Chris, Clare's brother, was there along with some Honey Specialists from the north of the country. They were presenting a possible project for buying quality honey for export along with technical help. The Centre will act as the collecting point to which people can bring their honey in barrels provided by the company, Hermes Honey (www.hermeshoney.com). They have still to work all this out but there is a proposed meeting of company representatives and honey producers at the Centre on Saturday February 25th. Please pray for wisdom as they seek to set up this new endeavour.
On monday, I went back down to the Centre with the idea of making a visit to see Santiago in Si'bal, a community down in the Rain Forest. I had not been down there to see Santiago since 2010 as I had been ill last year when I was hoping to visit. (Last trip - Day 61 of Sabbatical, March 16th 2010.)
I had set up with Santiago that we would meet up at the Centre on Sunday February 12th, but he didn't turn up. I couldn't call him on the phone so I waited a day and then decided to go and see how he was, as I thought perhaps he or his wife might be ill. Gilberto went with me. It is a nearly 300 km drive taking 6 hours, but at least it is nearly all paved road now - apart from the many wash-outs! Santiago fortunately was at home! His wife Rosa had been very sick a long-term chest infection, and had been to hospital for scans to check out her lungs, which showed she had a lot of fluid on the lungs. However she had gone to another community for medication and also for prayer from a local church there and had returned home last saturday feeling much better.
Sleeping arrangements are always difficult at Santiago's as he has a married son and a married daughter in the compound with their children plus giving board and lodging to two students who are at the local secondary school. Gilberto took over the bed of one of the families and I decided to sleep in the car, which was a bit of a tight fit, but I managed to put a mosquito net around the interior. I did have a couple of friendly little grunting piglets sleeping under the car but managed to have a reasonable night! I also saw my od friend Marcos who was widowed two years ago, and this time he was just coming to terms with losing his youngest daughter who had died of eclampsia in the final stages of pregnancy. The baby was saved, but Marcos and another unmarried daughter were looking after the 3 other children aged 8 to 3 as the father is in prison for fraud! Some people have very difficult lives!
As we were leaving I went round to visit another widower, Rogelio, and we went to look at his cornfield along with his son, with whom he lives, as he needed a bit of advice about what to do. All it needed was some fertiliser, but in the Rain Forest they are paying up to 120% more than the real price which is a real brake on development. Life is very isolated and harsh in the Rainforest environment in every way, and there was a lot of praying with people.
Gilberto and I got home on wednesday evening at 6.00 pm and we are always grateful to the Lord for a safe 600 kms of trouble-free travel.
While I was away, Clare stayed in town and spent some time with her mother and sister and also helped with the liaison between the honey-buyers and the Centre, passing on text messages and e-mails. So all in all it has been a busy week.

BOB AND CLARE - February 2012. Back to Chiapas

2012-02-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

We arrived back here in San Cristobal yesterday after a marathon journey: 5 hour bus ride from Granada to Madrid; 20 minute bus ride from bus station to the airport; 7 hour wait for flight to Mexico City; 12 hours from Madrid to Mexico City; 4 hour wait for next flight; 1 hour 15 mins to Tuxtla Gutierrez; one hour car ride up to San Cristobal. Left Nick's at 11:00 a.m. Monday and arrived in San Cristobal at 2:00 p.m. tuesday. Last night we had a good sleep! We woke up to cold and rain - welcome to Mexico in February (not quite like last year's picture!) But we were very grateful to the Lord for a safe and trouble-free trip.
I had a good time at Archdeaconery Synod in Torrevieja while Clare stayed on in Ibiza. We had some good teaching and Bible Study at the Synod and it was good to catch up with people after not seeing them for 2 years. We finished on the thursday night with some home-made entertainment from members of the Synod, with a specially adapted version of "Pretty Woman"!

After that I drove down to Granada to meet up with Clare at the airport. There was quite a lot of snow above Granada by Guadix but the Sierra Nevada was a pleasure to behold. We had a pleasant weekend with Nick, Emilie and the boys. We enjoyed seeing their new school which had been completely refurbished from one huge room into 4 classrooms, a reception area, an office and a kitchen.
Nick and Emilie were able to do this in the Christmas break thanks to Cyrille, Emilie's Dad who is an experienced interiors outfitter. They have done an amazing job!
We also had some relaxed family time with them but it was freezing cold, but at least with a clear blue sky, and wonderful views. Hugo is old enough to play some board games and card games so we enjoyed the cosy fire and good food which Nick and Emilie always provide us with. Luca was beginning to take his first steps so he will be running around when we next see them later in the year.

Nick and family relaxing together

I had to work splitting logs to keep warm!

Clare with Hugo and Luca on the floor

Luca trying his first steps with Mummy and
Daddy!

Nick teaching one of his more advanced English students.

The beach outside the hotel we used for the Synod at Torrevieja.

CHIAPAS, MEXICO 2011 - March 16th - Post Script

2011-03-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

Had my last 2 days at the Centre on thursday and friday. There were certain things that I never got down to finishing as I had to pull myself out of bed at 11:30 on monday night on being told that Clare's Mum was unwell and she had to fly with her to Mexico City the next day. I was picked up by Avelina, the daughter of Rosa who is the Chamula lady who works with Jeanne. Avelina is a very tough Christian. She was macheted across the face when she was a child, which has left a deep scar, and in the same attack lost 2 sisters and her aunt was shot in the face. She had never driven the road out to the Centre at night but she told Clare she would go and that the Lord would be with her, which would be sufficient. There are over 100 speed bumps to negotiate plus it being a mountain road. She asked me to drive her back, and we got back to San Cristobal about 1:00 a.m. I was up next morning to go with Javier, my Mexican brother-in-law, to take Clare and her mum to the airport in Tuxtla for the flight to Mexico City. Everything turned out better than feared and it seems she has a very bad case of shingles in the eye. She is back home now and we can leave tomorrow knowing she is being looked after.

When I arrived on thursday, there was a small group of students from UNICH - The Intercultural University of Chiapas - waiting for a course. They were from the Languages and Culture department, and wanted to learn about local Agriculture as par to their cultural studies. They had brough along a video camera to film everything, because their professor had not believed that we taught everything in Tzeltal. These were all Tzeltal kids who really cherish their language - that is why they are in the Languages and culture department. They were sying that many youngsters today do not want to speak their maternal languages, but on the whole the use of Tzeltal is still very strong.
We had a good time with them and they really joined in, turning compost and getting their hands dirty!
In the morning they had had another group of 50 students from the same University but from the department of Sustainable Development, and they were given a quick 2 hour course by the Centre team as I had not yet arrived. I think that was providential as it gave them a good opportunity to do this without me.

Friday morning I had a short final teaching session with Jeremias, Marcelo, Chepe and Pablo, as we wandered around the cultivated area deciding on what needed doing in the coming weeks and months and we put together a written plan for the coming year 2011.

They are extremely grateful for all the help and support that has been given them by so many people, and they are a very committed team of workers who really want to share all that they have learnt for the benefit of others.

CHIAPAS 2011 - March 23rd - Winding down...

2011-03-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

Personally we are now winding down here in Chiapas after a visit of 3 months and getting ready to return to Ibiza.
As I mentioned in the last blog, one of my goals was to help get the Centre to be known more widely so as to make their resources available to more people.

Last friday we had a visit from the Government Department of Agriculture who turned up with about 12 people - all either Agronomists or Technicians at various levels. They were led by Ing. Dimas who has been in the state for 30 years and also Ing. Roosevelt. Two very nice men who had both visited the Centre years ago, so it was good to have them back along with their very motivated team of people.
Basically we got our team to show them around the Centre, explaining all the different things that are happening there at the moment. We always start with the Compost-making and Worms because everything is based on that. I think they were impressed with what has been happening and the variety of crops and demonstrations that they have here. Hopefully they will want to visit with groups of people with whom they are working in order to encourage others to make the most of their land. They may also be able to help the Centre in various ways like getting hold of equipment and other things that can be hard to source.
We all had a really good meal made up of a lot of the things that are being grown at the Centre at the moment - potatoes and sweet potatoes, young sweet-corn, beans, tomatoes, corn as tortillas, which made the visitors comment that they live better in the countryside than in the cities!
We were also visited by a couple of anthropologists who worked in the Tzeltal region more than 50 years ago and it was fascinating to hear some of their perspectives.

So that is the end of another session here at the Centre. Below I'll put one or two photos to show the progress that has been made by everyone's hard work and the Lord's blessing over the past 3 months - we may plant the seeds and water, but it is the Lord who gives the increase, both in our spiritual lives and also on the land!

Main vegetables area in March

Potatoes being dug in late March. The plants in January (right)

The potato plants (variety 'Alpha') averaged over 1 kilo per plant.

The bottom-land in January (left) and in mid-March (right)

Terraces with corn and broad beans in mid-March (Left) and the same section in January (right)

Hybrid Tomato "El Cid" in January (left) and same plants in Mid-March (right)

Coffee Grove from above

New growth in Coffee plant after fertilisation and weeding.

CHIAPAS, MEXICO 2011 - March 16th

2011-03-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

Before we left Ibiza, there were two things which were high on my list concerning the work at the Centre. One was "costeabilidad" or "cost effectiveness" of the demonstration and experimental plots on the Centre's land, and the other was helping the Centre become known by the wider community - La Universidad de la Selva, which has a big Faculty of Agriculture where a lots of Tzeltales are training, other Agricultural technical schools, and some of the Government Departments which are working in Agriculture.
With no impetus from our side, a young lad, Waquin, who studies at the Ocosingo Agricultural technical school asked his Professor to write to the Centre to see if his class of 46 pupils could come and have a day practical course at the Centre.
This happened last friday and we had a superb group of youngsters aged 18 and above come armed with notebooks and pens for a field day at the Centre. We had various things planned and the night before it rained 50 litres which was a mixed blessing! It was a bit too wet to transplant cabbages, but they were all so interested in the other things we were teaching about that they would not have had time to do it this time anyway.

Having spent an hour in the morning picking up a truck full of rubbish from around our entrance and the Centre driveway, we began the course talking about the importance of recycling, etc. School-children are the main culprits for throwing away rubbish.

The focus of the course was Sustainable Agriculture, so we started the teaching with the basis of everything - Organic Matter and Compost-Making

We then moved on to the worm bins with Pablo to talk about how worms process compost to make new soil.

Macadamia grows very well in the region and is a good cash-crop as well as being very nutritious. Another long-term sustainable crop. These trees are over 20 years old

The students were very keen to learn about Tomato growing.

Some final words with the teachers after the students have gone to their bus.

Waquin and his friends felt it was such a good day that they have recommended other classes to ask for the opportunity for a Field Day at the Centre. We have also been visited by a teacher from Abasolo who is also very interested in bringing down students for teaching and there is another group from UNICH in San Cristobal and Oxchuc who also want to use the Centre.

This coming friday, the 18th, we have an open day at the Centre when hopefully we will be visited by agronomists from the State department of Agriculture, the Forestry Department and the Environment Department, and also the University of the Rain Forest. We'll let you know how it goes!
So all this has been very positive and we had an excellent team-teaching time.

SOME THOUGHTS FOR LENT FROM CHIAPAS - March 6th 2011

2011-03-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

Cars that won't repair, coughs and sore throats that won't go away...I'm tempted to think that things aren't going very well!

I've had a cough and sore throat now for about the same time as the Centre vehicle that I have been using has been dying on me without warning every now and again. It has had an almost complete transplant! - plugs, cables, fuel pump and filter, cleaned out petrol tank, new sensor, new distributor cap and rotor arm, and I forget what else. But it died on me in the middle of a street at 7:00 p.m. coming into town on friday night - the rush hour! Fortunately it was near our apartment, but I had to push it once again to the side for people to pass. Eventually later it started again so it wasn't terminal, just an inconvenience. Hopefully like my cough!
Last week in church, the preacher was commenting on our reading from the sermon on the mount about not worrying about our daily needs because God knows about them and will take care of them. He was saying how we so ofen come to God with our needs for things - new clothes, shoes, etc., yet we forget to say thankyou to God for the fact that we have feet to put our shoes on or legs which will fit into new trousers. And he reminded us of one of the well-known beggars in San Cristobal who has neither feet nor legs and gets around on a little home-made trolley with wheels.

All this was underlined by our visit to Marta's house. As I mentioned back in February, Marta became paraplegic after a car accident 18 years ago, and has been looked after by family ever since. She has had some help from government hospitals, but after Clare's visit last month, she realised that one thing that would really help was a "ripple mattress". All Marta had on her wooden board bed was a very thin piece of foam with a blanket over it. She has terrible bed sores, deep holes in her skin that need skin grafts, and they never heal because she has been on such a hard surface. Some people from our Ibiza church very kindly sent some money with which we have bought her a new pneumatic "ripple mattress", sheets, and a proper pillow. She was so pleased with them and Cecilia, Marta's nephew's wife who helps look after her gave us a chicken - alive with feathers and all - as a token of thanks, but sadly I didn't get a photo!
Seeing Marta in the small house where she is at the moment (she is moved each month so that different members of the family can care for her), with its dirt floor, 3 bare light bulbs, and no running water, it made me realise how arrogant and thoughtless we are in some of our "shopping lists of wants" we bring to God for ourselves when so many people in the world don't even have their "basic needs". It is so easy to become introverted and self-centred and forget how much we have in our society. I am also reading the Lord's Prayer by Peter Lewis, the senior Pastor of our daughter Christy's church, and commenting on "give us this day our daily bread", he said: "When coming to God for a new blessing, remember to bring the receipt for the last one!" We sometimes take so much for granted and have such high expectations because of the general "grace" we have received as a society.
I think for Lent I am going to try and think of a specific blessing God has given me every day, and say "thank you" to him for it.

In spite of coughing throats and cars, things at the Centre are looking really good, and we have a lot to be thankful for. I think it is the best I have ever seen it, and Marcelo is running out of room to plant the things he wants to plant! He is also struggling to keep up with all the watering, but the Lord has been good to Chiapas this year and we have had some good rain this February and first few days of March, which is quite unusual.

Photo taken in January just after we arrived

Same view - taken at the beginning of March

View of Centre from across the river.

We had continual heavy bursts of rain-showers on Tuesday when teachers from 25 primary schools, along with one student from each school and representatives of Parent Associations and area school co-ordinators used the Centre for their special annual General Knowledge contest "Olimpiada" for 12 year-olds.

Between showers and while the kids were doing the test, Pablo and I showed some of the parents and teachers around the Crop demonstration area.

There were 200 or more people came all together and it was a very good day, and made some excellent contacts with people to come to learn at the Centre.

Saluting the flag - an important Mexican tradition

The flag escort getting soaking wet! They were not allowed to run for cover - they had to march and manouevre in a dignified way while we all sheltered!!

Jeremias, fourth from right, is the local village Agent, as well as Administrator of the Centre.

We watched a short sketch by teachers about not dumping rubbish by the roadside or on trails, a huge problem in the area with refresco bottles and crisp packets.

We have two more teaching days on the next two fridays. On the 11th, the Technical school in Ocosingo is sending a group of older pupils who are doing a course in Sustainable Development and Agriculture, and the follwing week on the 18th we have invited Agronomists and other extension workers and Chiapas University teachers and others to come and see the Centre in order to find out if there is any way they can use our resources and facilities for practical field trips, etc. That will be in next week's post.

CHIAPAS, MEXICO - February 22, 2011

2011-02-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

Well, actually at the moment we are not in Chiapas, we are in the state of Oaxaca (pronounced Wahaca) in the seaside spot called Puerto Escondido. It is still a working fishing port for small family fishermen in spite of being a favorite holiday resort, but it is very predominantly Mexican, unlike the place a couple of hours further south which is called Huatulco which is a purpose-built tourist spot with large hotels on the style of Cancun but much smaller.
We have been coming here for 30 years or so for holidays and even though it has grown a lot it has not lost its particular ambiente and we still stay in the same little hotel on the beach.
One thing that has changed is that there is a wonderfully rustic cliff-path which I am sure would be illegal in Europe because of "'elf and safety" which leads to a quiet beach called Playa Manzanillo just round the headland. It's really nice for a quiet swim in the mornings.

We see some odd-bods in these places!

Things aren't always what they seem!

Another thing though that has changed is that there is now a roof-top Disco with big video screens and totally open just behind our hotel, and the noise fills the street and the hotels until 4.00 a.m.! It's totally against the law to have it on the top floor of a building and for it to be open and for it to go on after 12 midnight, and even though the local hoteliers have complained, nothing has been done for years! Somebody obviously has a lot of influence and a vested interest!

There is some of the best surf on the Pacific coast here at Puerto Escondido, and at certain times they host international surfing competitions. I love going and watching them in the mornings and evenings, and there is nearly always some good sized surf - hard to tell the real height of the waves but the biggest look like 4-5 metres, and that's when it is relatively calm! The sun sets behind the surf in the evening which is reminiscent of our sunsets in Ibiza.It's good for me to be away from the plants at the Centre. As we are only here for a few more weeks, I am anxious that the things we have planted and the other plants that we have been treating are doing well, and so I check their growth very day! The trouble is you can't see much change in a day or two, so 10 days away should show a real difference!! I'm looking forward to getting back next friday!
It's been a good break though as it is quite physically tiring with the work at the Centre and the constant travelling backwards and forwards. Also it has given Jeremias chance to get the vehicle I have been using serviced as it has developed a problem of habitually stalling - twice I have had to push it through the San Cristobal streets, which is no joke with an automatic gear-box people carrier! However it helps keep me fit!

It's also given me time to do plenty of reading, and I usually have a novel (The Deceiver by Frederick Forsyth ) and at least one serious book on the go. I've had an interesting quick read through a book called "The Emerging Church" which is a comment on the alternative types of churches evolving out of the Music and Youth and Club subcultures of the USA and UK. It makes interesting reading with some thoughtful sections about post-modern culture, and has also been a help to understand some of the background to the 24-7 Prayer ministry in Ibiza that Brian and Tracy Heasley have established.
Relating to these changes hat have come over our Western thought patterns was something I overheard today. Two American (or Canadian) tourists were talking and one was complaining about someone he knew who had 'smuggled Bibles into an Islamic country, trying to make them believe a new religion that they don't want.' How people have been brainwashed in our society! Many Islamic countries do not allow their own people to take Bibles back with them into their country when they want to. There is no freedom of thought or belief and that is why people smuggle Bibles in for people who actually want them.
Sadly our liberal thinking today in the West is unable to challenge this cultural and religious repression.

CHIAPAS MEXICO 2011 - February 14th

2011-02-12T14:35:00.000-08:00

RIGHTS AND LAND - WHICH WAY TO GO?
I wonder if you remember that grafiti which said "God is dead - Nietzsche", and somebody had written underneath it "Nietzsche is dead - God"! The modern-day Zapatistas would like to think that Zapata still lives, but actually he died in 1919 betrayed by a so-called friend at the end of the bloody Mexican Revolution. But that wasn't so surprising in that they all changed sides on a fairly regular basis.

He was a great idealist, and his greatest work was his Plan de Ayala, a land reform program. The basis of his movement was "Reform, Freedom, Justice and Law", which later became "Land and Liberty" - "Tierra y Libertad". He was a man of the land who worked his own farm with success. Sadly, after the revolution, and later in the Zapatista rebellion, the land has been distributed but on many occasions poorly farmed causing a lot of environmental destruction. "La tierra es de quien la trabaja" - "the land belongs to the person who works it", is a nice saying of the rebellion, but so often the land has been taken off somebody by force only to fall into disuse once again because of poor management by the new "owners".
Zapata was also an anarchist at heart, and that appears to be one of his legacies in his modern-day disciples.

As I mentioned on January 29th, Bishop Samuel Ruiz in his 40 years as Bishop of San Cristobal, did a huge amount to help the local Mayan indians, especially the 2 biggest groups of Tzeltales and Tzotziles, in their fight for rights and equality in modern Mexican society. He initiated the Human Rights movement in the state of Chiapas, and helped all sorts of indians with their issues of land, abuse, etc. At the beginning it had the Bishop's Christian values as the basis for their work. I'm surehe knew the Biblical teaching - "The land is mine.." says the Lord in Leviticus 25:23. That means our right to the land is not for ownership but tenancy, to use it properly and to ensure that we pass it on to the next generation in as good a state, or better, than that which we received.
Today, as in much of Europe, the Human Rights movement has lost its Christian focus, and the "tail is wagging the dog"! I was talking yesterday to a friend of mine with whom I play Racquet Ball who is a policeman, and he was telling me about more problems between the Zapatistas and the other members of the community of Agua Azul. It is a Tzeltal community and a national beauty spot which attracts many tourists. The government helped the community to organise it and had a little "caseta de cobro" where people paid to go in. The Zapatistas from the community decided to set up their own one as well, so for many years tourists have had to pay twice!
Last week there was a violent confrontation between the two groups, one of them was killed by the Zapatista group, the main Palenque road was blocked and various tourists were prevented from leaving the area. The policeman told me it was instigated by the Zapatistas, but one report in the paper said that the local Commission for Human Rights group said that they were the aggrieved, yet they had illegally blocked a national road, taking away other people's freedom of movement and had also caused a death. Road blocks on public main roads are the favoured way of publicising complaints, but I have never seen this anarchic form of protest condemned by the Human Rights group.
When Solzhenistsyn came to democratic Western Europe, he noticed that Western Human Rights movements spoke of '...rights, rights, rights, but never duties.' When we lose our Christian foundations, the focus inevitably becomes self-centred with little concern for Duty.
I was sad to see in the papers this week that the European commission for Human Rights was disappointed that the UK parliament had rejected their desire for Prisoners to have the right to vote. Prisoners, through stealing, fraud, rape, murder, violence, have deprived others of their rights to property, life, peace of mind, etc., and so while in jail they should also be deprived of some of their rights, e.g. the right to vote. That would be a Biblical perspective, but is no longer part of the thinking of the European CHR.

Here in Chiapas, we are far from Bishop Samuel's original Christian desire for human rights for the indigenous people. Similarly with land. The desire for "personal rights" can become a greedy, LOVELESS, unhelpful influence in society. As the preacher in church said today, referring to Valentine's Day tomorrow, "...we've got to love our husbands, wives, families, friends, colleagues, everyone - not just tomorrow but every day."

THAT'S MY VALENTINE FOR CLARE!

CHIAPAS MEXICO 2011 - February 10th

2011-02-10T11:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some mixed random photos which I don't think I have posted before. You don't need to think to look at these!

Smoking Orizaba volcano in the state of Vera Cruz on our way from Mexico City to San Cristobal.

Mexican army band marching through town.

Mexican army on parade on the Day of the Marcha de La Lealtad.

Zapatista dolls for sale in a tourist shop.

"Honey, I shrank the VW bug!"

Zinacanteca Tzotzil women outside the law school Senate building in San Cristobal.

The backs of a colonial mariachi group in the central plaza of San Cristobal.

Having a meal together in our apartment. It must have been warm as I have my shorts on!

Clare with lady friends at breakfast at the Casa Vieja hotel belonging to Clare's sister's husband's family.

Clare with her new camera! Actually it is an ancient 1930s film projector. It looks like it might have been steam-powered, but I don't know. It was used in Chiapas 80 years ago.

The basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in San Cristobal. The Virgin of Guadalupe was the first appearance of the Virgin as a Mexican indian woman

A decorated cross outside the basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in San Cristobal

4 bats and a rat! They just made too much noise at night so they got the chop! Good job I sleep under a mosquito net!

Marcelo and Filiberto planting beans between the rows of maize corn.

Gilberto and friend digging the final bed of the new large greenhouse. The heavy clay lumps will be completely dried out with a sandy top soil thrown on top. It will then we watered heavily and when the lumps have been penetrated they will crumble and mix with the sandy soil.

Pablo turning the compost pile. Chopped grass, soil, some Urea to provide nitrogen which feeds the bacteria and fungi, and you have a quick-rotting compost pile which heats up and needs turning a couple of times a week.

Marcelo with some radishes he grew. Most of the produce is sold at the Centre to visitors.

Marcelo selling vegetables from visitors from the local village. He sold the equivalent of 6 days wages last month which he was very pleased about.

Banana tree just flowering. When gravity overtakes it, it opens and produces the bananas below.

The first fruit oif the small banana grove planted last year.

A view of the terraces and greenhouses from above the coffee terraces.

Leguminous Coffee shade trees growing along the edge of the terrace. They still have a lot of growing to do.

"Mondo Novo" (New World) coffee, a fairly old variety developed in Brazil

This is what our coffee will eventually look like!

Doing a bit of hoeing round the coffee plants. Greenhouse in the background. I was a bit stiff next day!

The youth group leader and his wife from the Muro Presbiterian Church

A photo with some of the young people of the Muro Presbiterian church.

The congregation at the Muro Prebiterian Church drinking a refresco and having a sweet bread after the church service in which Julian was re-installed as minister for the next 5 years.

I used to regularly have breakfast with Julian and his wife when we all worked together at the Tzeltal Bible School. This was before his youngest daughter, pictured here, was born. She is now 16 and an active member of the church youth group.

CHIAPAS MEXICO 2011 - February 6th

2011-02-03T10:35:00.000-08:00

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE A GIFT OF 40,000 GBPs?
Well, if you are a Tzeltal indian, you could go to the local government agricultural department and ask for backing for a 3 nave giant greenhouse to grow tomatoes in.
Daniel and Gabriel, who have both worked at the Centre did this, and along with another brother and their father, they have now got this beautiful greenhouse which you can see in the photo. They have hardly spend any money towards it, and they provided the labour to erect it with the help of a technician from the greenhouse company. But everything is paid for by the government.
Not only the construction, also all the costs of the first harvest - plants, fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides, drip irrigation equipment, etc., and technical advice from a tomato expert. After the first harvest they are on their own!
There are also less expensive things like a project for Laying Hens - about 4,000 GBP - on the same principles.

Talking about tomatoes, I had a bit of a disaster with some special seed I had got from C'an Malalt to try here in Mexico. They germinated beautifully, but unfortunately when we pricked them out (first transplant as 3 week old seedlings) I got the calculation for the soil mixture wrong and added 10 times too much Urea - 170 grams instead of about 20 grams - and as Hannah described when I told her, I committed Urea genocide! Or perhaps better said, Urea Tomatocide. They all died which was a great shame as it was a deleicious tomato variety. It was good for me to remind me we can all make mistakes!
Anyway, we have other tomato plants in the new greenhouse with a new Drip-Irrigation system which will save a lot of time hand-watering and will also be a saving on water, and therefore on pumping water from the river.

Clare and her mum Jeanne went with me to the Centre yesterday. One of the things they did was visit a lady called Marta who was badly injured in 1994 in a car accident caused by a drunken, supposedly Christian young man, who drove away from the scene of the accident, had no car insurance, repainted his car, and was never brought to book. Meanwhile Marta is paraplegic, lost her sister in the accident as well, and has old parents who find it hard to care for her and up to now there is no really secure government help. But she is amazingly positive and never complains about her lot in life and nor do her elderly parents.
It really makes you think how well people are looked after in our society when these things happen and how we should be grateful for small mercies in a world where suffering is often so much more palpable.

CHIAPAS MEXICO 2011 - Bishop Samuel Ruiz - January 29th

2011-01-29T11:28:00.000-08:00

The big news that hit San Cristobal this week was the death of Bishop Samuel Ruiz, the ex-Bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of San Cristobal. He had been appointed Bishop by the Vatican in 1959 and spent 40 years as Bishop of the Diocese. He was referred to as "Jtatic" - our father - by his supporters, mainly the indigenous Tzeltales and Tzotzils, or on the other hand the "Obispo Rojo" - the Red Bishop - by his detractors. The latter name was due to his leftist leanings and his bias to the poor through fairly militant Liberation Theology, whereas his love and concern for the Indigenous people led to his more popular name. It seems that he was either loved or hated, but by many indigenous people he was seen as a saviour and prophet and was seen to be following in the footsteps of Fray Bartolome de Las Casas, the 16th century protector of the Chaiapas indians.

There were about 3,000 people filling the plaza in front of the Cathedral here in town to send him off, and many of them queued on the tuesday night and wednesday morning to walk by his open coffin by the altar in the cathedral to pay their respects. A large video screen was put up in the square and a platform in front of the cathedral for the participating bishops and priests who came to the funeral. The Pope sent his emissary, a french Cardinal, and there were several other R.C. bishops present.

During his ministry, Bishop Samuel has sought to establish relationships with the Protestant churches, particularly the Presbiterian church, and co-operated in the translation of the New Testament into one of the Tzotzil languages. He encouraged his people to read the Bible in their own languages, and the gospel reading was read in Tzeltal, Tzotzil and Spanish, with the intercessions also being in those three languages along with Tojolobal, Ch'ol, Zoque, and the Quiche language from Guatemala. He did a great deal of work in seeking to protect and help the many refugees from Guatemala who were fleeing the violence in that neighbouring country. For his work for peace he received the Catholic Pacem in Terris award.

He sought to indigenize the leadership of the indian churches by creating a permanent diaconate, which is probably a step less than many protestant churches, particularly the Presbiterian church, which is completely independent as an indigenous church, having its own ministers, deacons, elders, presbiteries, and synods, and is almost totally self-financing. However it provided the basis for an indigenous Roman Catholic church in an area of 80% indian peoples.

Perhaps his most controversial involvement was with the Marxist Zapatista Rebellion which started in one of his areas of influence in the Municipio of Ocosingo but which ended up with a Zapatista army that was never going to make any headway against the Mexican army and left many dead indians. However they did over the years make some good political gains for the indigenous people in Mexico, but sadly the Zapatistas themselves have benefited very little because of their refusal to accept the help that the Governement has offered and have continued to insist on their own political autonomy.
Unfortunately it all got out of control and it divided many communities and in many cases set the poor against the poor which must have been a great sadness to Bishop Samuel. There were a lot of land invasions which still continue, and the damage caused to the Tzeltal Centre in the mid-1990s was inspired by the Zapatista rebellion. There was need for some poorer Tzeltal, Ch'ol and Tzotzil indians to have more land, but there was no parallel teaching on how to look after the land in a sustainable way and many land invasions resulted in areas, like at the Centre, being ecologically decimated, usually by uncontrolled fires.

However he was clearly highly respected for all that he did, and the legacy of his ministry will be felt for many years to come - may he rest in peace.

CHIAPAS 2011 - The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

2011-01-23T09:29:00.000-08:00

JANUARY 18th - 25th - Concord or Discord?
(Beware - sermon!)
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that from the sun-roof patio of our apartment, you could see 10 churches. Since then I have been looking with my binoculars and I have found 20 or more. 15 of those are Roman Catholic and the rest are Protestant of one denomination or another.
Much of life here in San Cristobal revolves around the Christian faith, and its expression in different ways. Fireworks go off early in the morning to celebrate Saints' days. The many churches we can see from our apartment are full when the times come for Mass. "Si Dios quiere..." - "If God wills..." is a constant phrase we hear.
Going up to the market and the more Indigenous part of the city, you hear recordings of Tzotzil preachers, Tzotzil and Spanish music groups singing the latest Christian music. While buying meat from a Tzotzil butcher, Clare listened to a Tzotzil sermon. Wander the streets and many cars have the Ichthus/Fish sign. Some houses have a sign saying "This is a Catholic family." Every barrio has its church and its Christian witness.

In many ways after having lived in Western Europe for the past 18 years, it is very refreshing to live in a community where God is honoured and respected and worshipped on a daily basis. It reminds me that the real enemy to our Christian faith in Western Europe is the growing apathy to all things spiritual and an explicit or implicit opposition to belief in God who is no longer necessary for their affluent and comfortable way of life. This is one thing that should unite all Christian people of all different denominations faced with this growing desire to leave God out of every aspect of life and culture.

The same unity is needed here in San Cristobal, but as the preacher pointed out this morning in church, it is sadly lacking. One of our readings was from 1 Corinthians chapter 1, in which Paul is appealing to the Christians there to agree with each other rather than disagree. The other side of those many churches in San Cristobal is that very often, each one thinks that they are doing it the right way, the way God wants, and that everyone else is wrong! Many of the Protestant ones have split off from previous churches, sometimes because of size but more often from personal disagreements. Paul calls the Corinthian Christians worldly, infants, unspiritual - what would he call us? Do we prefer discord to concord? He later reminds them (ch.3:16) that they - the believers - together are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in them together. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him: for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple."

Ibiza, England, Chiapas - it doesn't matter where - this week is important for all of us who are Christians. As I said a couple of weeks ago, Jesus' prayer for the unity of the believers has not yet been answered! Why? Well, I can only presume, because of us!
In the face of so much spiritual apathy, growing atheism and materialism, it is so pointless that different Christian groups are still opposing each other as if they were the enemy! We were reminded that Jesus told his disciples to "Love one another" - "Amaos, los unos a los otros", but in 1994, at the time of the Zapatista rebellion, people were saying "Armaos, unos a los otros"! "Arm yourselves, against each other."

That seems to be what we are doing within our own camp. Jesus must be crying with grief as we arrogantly insist that we are right and our own brothers and sisters wrong and the Devil laughing to see us destroying each other! I'm sure C.S. Lewis had something to say about that in Screwtape, but I can't remember off-hand where. Perhaps someone can find it!

CHIAPAS 2011 - January 20th

2011-01-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

This week we are gearing up to plant tomatoes. It's quite critical the time of planting because a crate can cost anythingbetween $100 pesos and nearly $300 pesos, depending on the time of year. At present they are very cheap - $100 pesos (6 Euros) but we only have a few which will probably be sold by the kilo. Hopefully in April and May the price will be getting better and so we should not do too badly off them. The new greenhouse which is 18 metres long will have 4 beds of nearly 50 plants each so 200 plants should give a good crop.

With the rain and the warmer weather, the coffee hopefully will begin to send out new shoots and we will then think about pruning but that wil lnot be for a while. There is still rain about and apparently we will be getting some during the next week which is always good at this time of year.

I wasn't going to do my own garden this year as we are only here for 3 months, but Marcelo gave me a little patch to work on so I have made three and a half little beds where I have planted carrots and big-root radish and will put some brocoli and outdorr tomatoes, but I don't expect to harvest much myself. Not to worry, so long as someone gets it!

Meanwhile, back in San Cristobal, Clare has been very busy with her own work. She has been making orange marmalade and has used nearly 30 kilos of oranges. The idea is that Clare's sister will sell them along with her other produce to the parents of the children who come to her English school every afternoon. It all helps her little business. It is very satisfying for Clare to have some relaxed creative time. Unfortunately also she has had to have some dental treatment but there is an excellent dentist just round the corner from Jeanne's house.
She has also had time to meet up with other ladies for a leisurely Mexican breakfast. Sue and her husband Al work with the Tzotzil church, and their daughter lives in the town with her husband and family. There are also two other mexican ladies who work with Sue, and one of them has a husband who is a lawyer who helps Indigenous Christians with some of their difficulties out in the tribal areas.

CHIAPAS 2011 - January 16th

2011-01-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

"Jojmut, Me'el, soc yan Uts'inwanejetic".
You might be tempted to think that once you have got the right fertilisers, weed and pest control, then you are bound to get a good harvest! Of course, if you have had a piece of land where you grow things, then you know that there is plenty more to discourage us.
One of the battles that Marcel has had thi spast season are the 'Jojmut' - big black birds which love to pull up the corn just as it is emerging! They totally devastated one terrace that he sowed a month ago, and when he resowed it, they did the same! This one on the right where Marcelo is looking escaped with only 25% pulled up. He also had some good corn harvests on the bottom land last year, like the one next to where he is working, only to find that a "me'el" (racoon) or "c'ojtom" - two different species of wild animals that feed on corn, beans and squash, had pre-empted his own harvest! Last year while I was here, a rabbit had tucked into a lot of small bean plants before they had chance to get going!
This is the cost of conserving the wild-life, and that is why "townies" cannot legislate for the countryside. There are some beautiful birds at the Centre but they love the crops that are growing there!
Apart from this, one night somebody - "Uts'inwanejetic" - came along and let the sheep out of the pen and they wandered down to the terraces and ate some corn and bean plants! There is a certain amount of malicious envy in people around here and they sometimes play some costly tricks!
One of our main battles now is the problem of the "jojmut", the big, aggressive, black birds which pull up seedlings and also eat the ripening corn. this is omething we will be looking at this growing season to try and evolve ways of putting them off as it is a problem that everyone in the area faces, particularly during the dry season crop.
When I was out at the Centre this week, we tidied up the coffee grove, weeding with hoes, fertilising with artificial and organic fertiliser just in time for the rain to come - an unusually heavy rain on wednesday night and all thursday which was enough to make the river rise and go very muddy. On friday we fertilised the bananas and trimmed off the dead leaves. With the warmer weather coming they should begin to grow well.
They have done a lot of work on greenhouse design, and now have 3 different greenhouses - one a 20 metre structure made of wood, and two smaller 6 metre ones, one being made of metal which was erected just before we left last year. These will all be planted up in the next couple of weeks. I brought some seed which the owner of Can Malalt in Sant Jordi gave me to try - it is a hybrid which I had grown in our garden last summer and has a wonderful flavour and appears to be very resistant. They are also going to try brocoli, which is becoming very popular here in Chiapas amongst both the mestizos (spanish-speakers) and the Tzeltal indians.
There is a lot growing at the moment and marcelo has been very busy, and it is certainly not all doom and gloom as can be seen by these delicious radish which he has grown. There are also lots of small local onions, swiss chard, cabbages, cilantro, large radish and a few tomatoes left from the last crop ready to be harvested.

CHIAPAS 2011 - January 9th

2011-01-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

I'd forgotten how cold it is here in San Cristobal at nights. I have woken up with the cold and have ended up putting on 5 blankets, socks and thermal underwear to keep warm! In the day it is beautiful, as can be seen from the view from the sun-roof patio of our apartment, but at night there have been frosts.
The weather is always unpredictable here and this past year has been no exception. When I got to the Centre , Jeremias and Marcelo were telling me that some of the corn was washed away when the river flooded in July. Then there was an early frost in November which damaged a lot of the banana leaves. These latter will recover but they just look a bit yellow.
Weather disasters apart, things are looking pretty good at the Centre. Certain things had not worked out as well as hoped, but the new greenhouses looked excellent and there were some lovely tomato plants growing in one of them. They have 3 greenhouses at present, all different constructions - more of that later.
Early this morning I went to the nearest church to our apartment to the service. There are 9 Roman Catholic churches in view from our apartment here, which is a reminder of how Catholic this place is. (See if you can spot 5 of them in the photo.) It is a big church and it was full, and the preist gave a very challenging sermon about commitment - it was about Jesus' baptism - and about living out the Christian faith. After the service a lady I didn't know spoke to me and said it was good that I had attended church - I guess there are not many foreigners who do!
I had been thinking what a shame it is that there is so little contact between Christian groups here in Mexico, especially between the RCs and the Protestants. So much has changed over the past 20-30 years and when I looked through the liturgy of this morning's service I realised it was almost identical to our own. This morning I was reading John chapter 17, which is Jesus' prayer for unity in the church. I wonder when that prayer will be answered!

CHIAPAS MEXICO 2011 - January 6th

2011-01-06T08:15:00.000-08:00

Well, we're back in Mexico again. It's been another long trip with 5 flights so far and one to go. Clare and I parted company this morning after breakfast. She has gone to visit her brother and mum in Aguas Calientes and I am proceeding south to Chiapas. Clare will be coming on sunday.
We've had a wonderful time with Christy and Andres and Hannah, although the weather wasn't great and we didn't get out much - I don't think we saw the sun in 10 days. However it was good to spend time together and see our little grandson Gabriel who has been growing apace. The really do grow up so quickly and he had changed a lot since we saw them in Ibiza in October.
We only really had time for visiting the family, and that included my godmother who is 95 next month. She loved seeing Gabriel as well and we met up at my brother Richard's coffee shop in Matlock. My niece Nicola also came but her sister Vicky and family could not make it from France because of the weather.
It was certainly beautiful arriving in the UK with snow everywhere but it was soon gone as the temperatures rose just above freezing. Crossing the Pyrenees was also very impressive.
Last year it was very cold in Mexico throughout January and February so we will have to wait and see how things are this year.
I have to go for my flight now so will finish till next time.

FINAL POST FROM CHIAPAS, MEXICO

2010-05-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

The final Post I did for some reason has placed itself before Sabbatical Day 89. I don't know why or how to move it so if you would like to see it, scroll back! It is Sabbatical Day 125 - 4 months in Mexico.

SABBATICAL DAY 111 - A Nelson Day

2010-05-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

For the title - you'll just have to ask a cricketer!
And any Ibiza cricketers who happen to read this - good luck in 2 weekend's time - I'll be following your progress on the internet!
Well, I'm writing this from Palenque - pretty much where we started our time in Chiapas. However instead of visiting the Ruins here we are taking 4 days of holiday in a lovely hotel in the Forest.
It's called "Chan Kah" in Mayan or "Four Floors or Levels". It's built into several hectares of rain forest and is very peaceful, away from the traffic, and not many people here as it is not a busy time of year. It is perhaps one of the nicest places we have ever stayed in and only a little more expensive than a cheap boarding house/hotel in England. We're treating ourselves as it is our 35th wedding anniversary - Clare has been hinting that it is "Jade"!
Being in a piece of Rain Forest, it obviously has its local inhabitants who occasionally drop by! George here crept up on me while I was writing a sermon outline! He's only one and a half metres long! We also had an early morning wake-up call at 3:00 a.m. when a group of Howler Monkeys decided to have an early breakfast in the Amate tree above our room! The Alpha male wanted to make sure he kept his Alpha male status and certainly let us know!

I had a quick trip to a couple of communities in the Rain Forest (actually what used to be Rain Forest 60 years ago - there's only bits and pieces left) and visited various people. I thought Santiago was going to need a water pump to get water to his demonstration plot in Si'bal, but he can now hook up to the new water system in the village and use drip irrigation. He has been unable to grow anything this dry season as it has not rained at all down in his area whereas at the Centre we have had more rain and cold weather than normal. It is all to do with the "El Nino" effect in the Pacific which happens maybe a couple of times every decade.
On the other hand he could do with a pump. One of the things that is always a bit of a concern when visiting the Tzeltal communities is the loos. Last time I had noticed it was somewhat sluggish in flushing. Having made my way through the turkeys and the pigs I got there and found it was officially "clausurado" - closed. The cess-pit was obviously very full - it did make a concession though - Numero 1 "Si", Numero 2 "No!". The shower next door was also open for Numero 1!
Mariano's in Lacanja' was better, but he also had trouble with his shower drainage. Low-lying areas in the Rain Forest have real problems with getting rid of excess water.

Santiago's wife has been quite ill again (the lady standing at the back) and has had kidney problems and a chronic cough. Life on the whole is very hard for women who have lots of kids, work very hard and come in contact with all sorts of parasites in the hot tropical lowlands. Rosa is at least still alive - Marcos and Rojelio both lost their wives in the last few years and another man Tiburcio lost his wife last year, and they are only the ones I have heard of.
At least Rosa has two unmarried daughters to help her in the home now. It's sad for the girls as they won't get married as so many young men have left the Rain Forest communities and gone up to the north. There are probably getting on for 100 who have left Si'bal to look for work in other places, many as "wetbacks" to the U.S.
Mariano in Lacanja' has fared better. He is a paramedic and his wife has had much less illness, and one of his sons was a school-teacher who has been able to help out economically. But Mariano also has two unmarried daughters. At least they know that they will be looked after well in their old age. In Tzeltal culture, the youngest son lives in the family home and inherits it eventually but is also responsible for looking after the parents as they grow older. Perhaps we could learn from them in our West European culture. (Not about toilets though!)

Mariano and wife.

Mariano's daughter and daughter-in-law

Bob with Marcos's daughters and grandchild

Marcos with his cherry tomato plants

Santiago

Mariano's daughter and grandchild

SABBATICAL DAY 97 - Back to the Land.

2010-04-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I missed getting this in yesterday - Sunday - please forgive me those of you who think that I ought to have a deadline!

Yesterday I took a trip with an old friend of mine, Sergio Sanchez, whom I worked with years ago through AMEXTRA, a Mexican charity doing development work in poor communities. Sergio, after having worked in the State government as head of Fruticultura is now Director of Agros, another NGO. He wanted me to visit one of his projects, Santa Fe, in an area I had never been to before, and to go as both a priest and an agronomist! It was a very interesting day - a 5 and a half hour round trip, with a group of Americans thrown in, and a small community of 30 families of mixed Christian and non-Christian backgrounds, living on an abandoned ranch which had been purchased for them with help from the Presbiterian church from which the group had come. A very tough situation where last year's rains failed and they only have a small area of irrigated land. A very tough community development project. I led a small ecumenical service and then went and looked at their land. If you are interested, you can read about Santa Fe Ajke' on http://www.agros.org.

Nearer home, we went to two fiestas on Friday and Saturday. On Friday we visited Anita who had just returned from a visit to a Middle Eastern country taking Bibles. It is a country where their own citizens can be imprisoned for passing Bibles on to others and where several Christians have been killed for their faith. It was a very moving experience for Anita to visit this country and she wanted various people - us and Jeanne, her local Pentecostal pastor, Lorenzo, seen sitting next to the window, and a local anthropologist lady and husband and others, to join her in giving thanks for a safe and successful trip and to invite us to pray for people in these difficult situations. We met in her sister's home who is married to the Pastor's son.

Saturday night it poured with rain from 3 a.m. until nearly 9 a.m. We thought it would be too wet for Manuel to plant his cornfield but we went up anyway as we had been invited to join in the fiesta afterwards. When we got there it had cleared and they were battling up and down the 2-in-1 hillside, which was very slippy and slidey!

Hard to believe this is a cornfield. This was taken from the road below and you can just see Clare and Teacher Mariana at the top standing on a rock! But there's no flat and fertile land so there is no choice.

Manuel's son Samuel, handing out the seed corn to the planters, who will do all the planting with an iron-tipped digging stick in his left hand. You can see the road below.

A few bean seeds are planted in the same hole on top of the 4 or so maize seeds.

Most of the planters are younger men and boys - easier for them to go up and down the steep slippery cornfield.

Two of the older men who found it too muddy and too steep. Miguel with the walking stick was one of the Centre members and helped translate the New Testament. Dionisio was President of the Centre and is a paramedic.

One of the older men who managed the slope.

Struggling up the hill on the last section.

The final little bit is planted - 3 hours from beginning.

Some of the women who helped cook all the special food for the fiesta.

Special food is cooked for those who helped with the planting - Jugs of a semi-fermented corn drink; boiled eggs; chile sauce, banana-leaf wrapped "petul waj" - lumps of maize dough with big red beans inside them. Plus they are also given normal beans, tortillas and coffee. What they can't eat they put in a bag and take home!

Kids enjoying the feast. Eating the hard-bioled eggs in chile sauce and the special "Petul waj" - cooked lumps of maize dough with scarlet runner beans inside.

One kid especially enjoying it, really getting stuck in!

Manuel, middle left, and all his family get to eat once all the workers have eaten and left.

This is all part of a very old tradition in Oxchuc and an integral part of their Tzeltal culture. It is possibly the most important day for them as it renews the hope they have each year of future food security, and they always share it mainly with relatives - people of the same clan. Manuel is a "Ch'ixna" which means Thornhouse.
When people live hand-to-mouth as many of the Tzetlals do, they are very grateful to God for every mouthful of food they get. Nothing is ever wasted, and anything that is left over is put into a plastic bag (used to be wrapped in banana leaves) and taken home by all the workers.

SABBATICAL DAY 89 - Happy Easter everyone!

2010-03-31T13:35:00.001-07:00

Semana Santa is a very big week here in San Cristobal. There are thousands of tourists flocking around the town, filling the sidewalks, the andadors (the traffic-free streets) and with traffic in the other streets often at a standstill. There is a special Spring Fair that comes to town, various other cultural things going on like an Indigenous Cultures festival, plus all the special Holy Week services that take place in all the many churches in town. Also there will be plenty of fireworks going off as well as that is allpart of the Roman Catholic fiestas here in Mexico.
We headed out to the Tzeltal area to the Church at the "Muro". It's official name is the Divine Redeemer and is one of the large Presbiterian churches in the area. I had been asked to preach - the first one I've done for a few months. We went out on the thursday afternoon, and went to a smaller village church in Tsajalja' where the Centre is. Jeremias is an elder there and we took Maundy Thursday Communion with them.
We had to be off at 7:00 a.m. on Good Friday morning for the service at the "Muro". They feed all their visitors breakfast (black beans, chile sauce, hard-boiled egg, tortillas and coffee) and there were lots of visitors from all the 10 different mission churches they have associated with their main church.
The service started at 9:00, and there was a lot of participation of different people. About 14 of the young people had learned verses of Scripture from the Good Friday story and recited them by heart. There were 9 different choral groups who all sang a song each, with a big electric band from Tenango. This consisted of Sebastian with his younger brother and his children, and apart from being too loud at times were very good. His young son of 8 or so played the drums, and you can barely even see his head behind the drums on the photo!
Sebastian had been one of the main leaders of our agricultural program in Tenango in the 1980's, so it was good to see how he had progressed over the years and had been able to make enough money to equip a very sophisticated Christian band with guitars, drums, and two saxophones! They grow a lot of coffee which would have brought him a lot of his income.
I preached (longer than the Ibiza church would have liked!) but we then had a 45 minute testimony at the end of the service from Samuel who is a teacher.
He had briefly sung a duet with another Tzeltal earlier, but now he told us about how he had ended up in a wheel-chair and a paraplegic. It was 12 years ago in April that he had been riding through the village of Tsajalja' where the Centre is, and he had been hit by a car. He had been brought up a Christian but when he became a teacher, he drifted away and into drinking. I'm not sure whether he had been drinking when he was hit, but he was told he would not recover. A Roman Catholic nurse had asked him if he believed in God, and when he said "Yes", she said that was good because he would be meeting him soon!
He didn't die then against all the odds, but in the following November he was hospitalised with complications, and he "died". He saw his body lying on the hospital bed and he had floated up through the concrete roof. There was a light, and a wind and a voice, and he was told he would go back and that he had to tell everyone about it. He said if he didn't, it would be a sin for him.
Well, he did come back and he is part of a small mission in the town of Ocosingo and he is keen for young people especially to realise that they must follow the Lord and not fall foul of drinking. And they must also drive carefully!
One very impressive thing he said was 'It is better for me to be in this chair and believing and following the Lord than being whole but in a state of unbelief and having a problem with drinking.' He has some new priorities now! You could have heard a pin drop while he was speaking to those nearly 400 people in the church.
After the service and a party political broadcast - a prospective local politican had come to the church, offered everybody a sweet bread and a bottle of pop, and while we were eating them he had spoken for about 15 minutes outside the church - we then were given lunch of beef stew and potatoes and tortillas and coffee. Then, a lot of people wanted to take photos of us (it used to be us taking photos of them) with their cameras and mobile phones, and at last we could go at about
2:45.
However we had only gone 50 metres when a lady shouted to us and asked us to go and see her mother and father who were both ill. Old Tomas had been one of the people who had been on our agricutural program in the 80s and 90s. Now he was blind and his wife very weak with we didn't know what. Rufina was literally skin and bone, and I have never seen an old lady so thin. They are looked after by Elena and Marta, their two daughters, in their tiny house. But in spite of their illnesses, they were both so incredibly positive and uncomplaining. They hardly have anything materially, the daughters and a grandson plant the corn field, but they are at peace in their hearts in their faith in God! They certainly show us what the important things are in life. Which really is what Easter is all about as well.

May you all have a very Joyful Eastertime this year.

SABBATICAL DAY 125 - 4 months in Mexico

2010-03-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

Panoramic view of terraces and Panoramic view Bottom-land

Towards the end of our time in Chiapas, I managed to take some contrasting photos of what everything looked like before and after at the Centre. It is amazing the changes that have taken place. When you see the crops regularly, you don't realise how much growth and change has taken place, but looking back at the record, it is very satisfying.

Organic only Family Garden with raised beds in March

Organic only garden with raised beds in April

Mixed Family Garden demonstration using both Worm Compost and Artificial Fertilisers - January

Maixed family garden early February

Mixed Family garden in March

...a week later...

In April

Brocoli in the Mixed Organic/Inorganmic garden demonstration

Greenhouse planting up the tomatoes

3weeks later

Tomatoes in April

Tomatoes in small greenhouse in April

Bottom-land Corn field

....3 weeks or so later...

Fully grown and beginning to form ears.

Sweet Corn stage just about to perform.

The second Corn field on the bottom-land planted in early March

Bottom-land in late April

Panoramic view of bottom-land

Coffee grove area in February

Coffee are in April

Banana plantation area. The leaves are not yet growing

SABBATICAL DAY 83 - Palm Sunday

2010-03-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

We've just come back from a Palm Sunday service in one of the main churches here in San Cristobal. They have very beautiful palms here in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. There are many people making and selling them and they become extremely cheap - 5 pesos or 30 centimos for each one! However it is one more opportunity for poor people to make a little bit of money for their daily needs.
The Church was very full - fuller than normal - but a little of home from home for us as far as the liturgy of the service was concerned. We went to a Catholic Church as the Protestant churches on the whole do not celebrate Palm Sunday.
It started outside with the blessing of the woven palms and then everyone (apart from older people and us who wanted to make sure we got a decent seat!) processed in behind the priest - he's also behind the palm in the photo! We then had the Communion service, centering on the liturgy of the Word, with the main part being the gospel. Here in Mexico, rather than retelling the Palm Sunday story, it is the beginning of the time when they think about Jesus' Passion, so we had the whole of the account by St Luke, read in dramatic form, from the Last Supper to the burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea. Having stood through that, we then sat down and the priest talked about the different ways in which people had responded to Jesus - the Centurion, the thieves crucified with him, the women, Peter, etc., and asked us to think how we might respond .
While we were waiting for the procession to come in, I meditated a bit on the palm that I had. I had never thought of the palm being a good analogy to God. It is quite amazing how they weave out of one branch the different forms. Ours had three shapes, obviously all inter-linked which I thought might represent God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, joined at the bottom and at the top, and then a background of woven palm behind that showing how God, in all that He is, weaves His way into all parts of our lives.

Last week, when I was at Calixto's, I got a recipe for making BioFertiliser. It is a mixture of different manures - cow, sheep and chicken....

bread yeast and ashes from the fire...

milk....

brown sugar and water. (Gilberto couldn't resist sticking a lump of sugar in his mouth before putting it in the fertiliser tub!!)

Mix it all up and it ferments over 30 days to produce an excellent biofertiliser - I hope! The next day it was bubbling nicely compared to the control that just had manure. The smell wasn't very attractive though!

On Friday, Clare went with me to the Centre, and she spent most of the day showing Adelina, Jeremias' wife, their grand-daughter Ruby and Marcelo, the Centre caretaker, how to make Chicken Tamales from Swiss Chard leaves.

Marcelo had saved some specially big leaves! The tamales are made with Maize Corn dough and fat, with the cooked chicken in the middle and wrapped in the Swiss Chard leaves.

The workmen all had a very good dinner break, including little Ruby!

SABBATICAL DAY 76 - Sunday March 21st

2010-03-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

It took me 39 years from first arriving in Mexico to go and visit the city of Tapachula on the Pacific coast. I had missed nothing as it turns out as it is one of those rather squalid, hot, soulless, crowded and noisy tropical cities which didn't even warrant me getting out my camera! (Nothing like the lovely tourist map!)
The reason I went was twofold. Firstly to visit the 100 year old German-run organic coffee finca of Argovia, 40 kilometres up in the mountains of Xoconuchco. This was well worthwhile, although all the workers were on a day or two's break after a very busy week. However I got to see the worm plant which is what I really wanted to find out about.

Secondly I went to Tapachula as there was going to be a 2 day forum on the Conservation of Native Mexican Maize Varieties. Xoconuchco is one of the areas which gave rise to some very early forms of maize plants several thousand years back, so it was deemed a good place to have this special seminar.
It was held at the Roman Catholic Seminary, and it was a very nice touch when the Administrator started by reading from Psalm 8, saying that if we were going to speak about "man" then we must begin by thinking about God!
I knew from some of the adverts for the forum that there were some "hidden" agendas, and so it turned out. Conversation, questions, comments, and talks constantly moved from anything technical to the issues of "transgenicos" - genetically modified plants, particularly maize, and the underlying power of the transnationals, particularly Monsanto, and the "gringos" (the Americans) with their political and economic neoliberalism. There was even a ranchero singer who had written songs about the terrors of GM foods, the transnationals and the gringos!
This focus also meant that anything to do with agrochemicals was autmatically "bad" and part of the kingdom of evil and on the other hand, everything organic was "good". So again I came across this almost "religious" fervour creating a total divide between the "organic" purists and anyone else who dares to use an agrochemical of any sort. We are the "sinners"! It is interesting how so many people when rejecting traditional faith have to find a religious substitute.
Well, I'm afraid I had to confess my sin once or twice when I was making comments, but the fruits of Dionisio's labour in the evidence of his very large ears of corn(sorry no photo) which I had taken along as a demonstration of the efficacy of 20 years accumulation of organic matter through not burning his land and also using a small amount of artificial fertiliser swayed one or two waverers!! They wanted to plant his corn on their land as it was clearly superior to theirs! But the "high priests" were less favorable!
There was one very good talk by a young student who had done some good research into Mexican maize varieties, (See photo) but it was clear that several others had very little experience of actually growing maize at the coal face, as it were. There are very few agronomists who are actually willing to get there hands dirty in order to be "incarnational" in their agricultural programs.
However, it was a worthwhile exercise and I met some interesting people and it gave me some insights into the present situation. There are serious concerns about GM maize infecting local maize varieties, which has happened in some places in Oaxaca and other states, and maize is particularly at risk because it is an open wind-pollinated crop. However, if these GM plantations are at a distance of a few kilometres from local ones then there should not be too much problem of crossing. Unfortunately, like the Climate Change "believers", exaggeration of future apocalyptic scenarios has tended to cause people to see their viewpoints with scepticism. The organic movement sadly has channelled people away from responsible use of agrochemicals, the uses of which can have enormous benefits to poor people, to an idealism which at times gives poor quality produce. It has also created a paranoia of all agrochemicals, irrespective of their relative dangers.
ANYWAY - ENOUGH SAID!

On friday we had a delightful visit to Mamtic Calixto's land. He and his wife Elena are both retired school teachers, but they are incredibly industrious. They have 2 rooms of their house dedicated to growing edible mushrooms; on their roof they have 10 boxes of worms; he has planted loads of peach trees; he makes his own biofertilisers, has terraced his land and generally they are an inspiring couple. Their son is Sergio who is an agronomist and hopes to work in the middle east somewhere.

At Calixto and Elena's. We ate the rabbit for lunch that had been eating his beans and corn plants!

Calixto and Dionisio on his terraces

Calixto in the mushroom house

Calixto with his worm boxes

Clare with Margarita, Dionisio's wife and Elena on the right up at their land

SABBATICAL DAY 69 - Sunday March 14th - PERSPECTIVES

2010-03-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

CORRECT PERSPECTIVES
Last monday at the Centre I got very frustrated. I had left our apartment very early in the morning in San Cristobal in order to beat the latest road block, which this time was in Oxchuc. It was all about blocked drains and sewage spilling out! I had managed to sit out 3 hours in the queue of goodness knows how many cars from 7:30 - 10:20 a.m., reading, writing a sermon outline and chatting with people. Eventually I got to the Centre at 11:15 having followed the queue of trucks, buses and everything else over the nearly 30 speed bumps in 15 kilometres after the road had been opened up!

I got quite a lot done having had a bit of breakfast, but just as I was sorting out all the irrigation for the evening, the header tank ran out of water. Not only that, it filled up with air. I thought I had checked it earlier, but I had only looked at the float which had got stuck and so gave a wrong reading! I needed to water a large bed before spraying it the next day. We pumped water up, but whatever Marcelo and I did, the water would not come through with enough pressure to work the sprinklers. I was getting very cross about 9:00 p.m after we had been wandering around in the dark opening and closing taps to try to get rid of the air in the system to no avail.
Just then, Marcelo got a message on his two-way radio that there had been a traffic accident just up the valley and the driver of one car had been killed and a lady was seriously injured. It suddenly made my little problem of having to wait for water till we got the pipes unblocked seem very trivial!
We found out next day that this man was a local Pentecostal pastor, and one of our neighbours tearfully told me that he went to his church and the pastor and wife had been on their way home after visiting a sick person. His wife had died in the ambulance before they got to Ocosingo so their 5 children aged 7 to 13 or so had been left orphaned in an instant by the carelessness of a drunk driver crashing into this pastor's car and killing both their parents. What a curse drinking and driving is, and we should all look very carefully at our own habits! There may not be a chapter and verse in the Bible about it, but the second great command to "love our neighbour as ourselves" is sufficient!

What do you do, you may ask, in a service that lasts for 4 hours? Well, it's surprising what is packed into it. Waiting for everyone to arrive - it was supposed to start at 9:00 a.m., takes about 45 minutes. (Photo Clare and Mariana to her left, and her father and mother on her left.) Then there are the welcomes to be made - this was a special service put on by a local teacher who had just retired and wanted to thank the Lord for his faithfulness. So she welcomed the main worship band - La Trompeta de Dios - and ourselves and others. It was in their home patio area but about 130 people came. There were a couple of hymns, a prayer, and then La Trompeta de Dios played their two songs, followed by 2 songs each of a further 4 worship bands that had turned up! So that was already 12 hymns in the first hour and half! After that we had the Bible reading which happened to be Leviticus 25, verses 1 to 38! The poor chap reading was worn out at the end of it and he was an elderly man and had to be helped by various members of the congregation correcting him when he made a mistake as the light wasn't too good and he wore glasses. Then the pastor, Julian, preached the importance of rest, the jubilee year, etc. After that Mariana, the retiring teacher, gave a potted history of her own education and teaching experience, after which everybody was invited to greet her while the Trompeta de Dios played. Once I had greeted Mariana, I went off to eat a banana and euphemisitically "talk to the governor", and chat with people. Clare got caught by the queue and ended up being greeted by everyone too! Then a visiting pastor said a prayer, and there was a final hymn, after which I was asked to close in prayer. Having gone on for nearly 4 hours, I thought it wouldn't make too much difference at that point if I also added my two cents worth before saying the final prayer!
It really was a wonderful occasion, and an excellent thing to do. It was very humbling to hear Mariana's testimony of her work and life as a young teacher, who was also a woman and a Christian, having to go down to the Rain Forest communities before there were roads and where they sometimes faced hostility and misunderstanding, and where they really got very little remuneration for the work they did. The Lord was faithful to her. Being a Christian in teaching circles was not easy, but she stuck at it for 33 years because she loved the children and was there to serve them and the Lord. As she said to everyone, teachers "open the eyes of the children" in so many ways. It is a huge responsibility and we should pray for them as they have such an influence on our children and grandchildren's lives.
So the long 4 hour service was well worthwhile, especially when we sat down to the feast afterwards!

SABBATICAL DAY 61 - March 6th

2010-03-06T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well, we are halfway through our time in Mexico. I usually say that time flies, but it doesn't seem that way today. Looking back we seem to have done an awful lot in the past 8 weeks here and we've still got 2 months to go. I expect they will seem to go faster.
I was away all last week, partly at the Centre and also down visiting a couple of communities (Si'bal and Lacanja') in the Rain Forest area south-east of Palenque. It was horrible "norteando" weather with cold and drizzle all the time and I ended up getting my second cold in 2 months. I probably got it from my host Santiago who had just come down with it. I can't believe that I had to wear two jackets and a scarf in Chiapas in the Rain Forest in march, supposedly one of the hottest months! It appears that El Nino has been exerting its influence here again this year. There are so many different things that influence our climate and weather patterns.
I was as usual well looked after and we even had a Men's Breakfast with Santiago, Marcos and Rogelio, the latter two both being widowers.

Santiago's demonstration plot of vegetables and terraces had suffered through lack of rain earlier but he still has quite a lot growing. Unfortunately he had lost his corn crop as it had not rained in july, just when the maize is flowering, so he has had to buy in maize this year. Some people had fared better and he was able to buy some locally. It is a good area for maize growing but one can still see too many cornfields which are poorly prepared on overexploited pieces of land, which will produce very little return.
The problem is that the soils were so good in the Rain Forest to start with that they produced bumper crops, but it didn't last long, and now some of the soils are worse than the land that they left behind in the highlands 50 or 60 years ago. In many ways, the people in the highlands have progressed more, both agriculturally and economically than those in the lowlands and they have become more ecologically conscious. Santiago doesn't usually burn his land but many still do - proportionately more than in the highland areas around the Centre.
It was a 700 kilometres round trip to give you an idea of the large area in which the Tzeltals live and the mountainous terrain which prevents you going as the crow flies. Si'bal is about two and a half hours drive from Palenque, the nearest market town. So they still live quite isolated lives even though all but 8 kms of the road are now paved.

Meanwhile, back at the Centre, things are progressing well. Marcelo is very pleased with the Maize and Beans that were planted in December, the vegetables are all growing well this year and his cows are getting fatter!

PHOTOS - People not Plants!

2010-02-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

I get the impression that some people are a bit tired of plants, weeds, maize, coffee, bugs, soil, all the agricultural stuff! So here's some photos of PEOPLE! Hope you enjoy them! If you want to see them enlarged, then just click on them!

"Lovers' Leap" at Misolha' near Palenque

Hot soup on a cold evening at in San Cristobal 2,100 metres altitude!

Kevin and Hilary. We had some great times together!

When Pacal, the Lord of Palenque, came out of his tomb, it really spooked the girls!

The Foliated Cross with the Corn God on its right arm - see if you can see it!

Jasmine the Oz and Hannah

Bob's Valentine!

Javier, Clare's brother-in-law, doing an "asado".

Javiercito, Clare, Esther (Clare's sister), Jeanne and Emiliano in Esther's garden

Worship Band playing in one of the many Presbiterian churches in San Cristobal

Tzeltal Presbiterian Missionary Sergio who is an agronomist and planning to work in a Northern Mediterranean country.

Clare doing some weeding

Baa Baa Black sheep with little lamb at the Centre

Mr and Mrs Worm, with children and granchildren! Can you spot mum and dad worm?

Daniel who lives opposite the Centre with his beehives. He also keeps hives on the Centre's land.

Bob trying to keep warm on Valentine's night!

Jeanne receiving award for helping the
Casa Hogar Canaan, home for abandoned children.

Carlos and Yada, Directors of the Orphanage and parents at to the abandoned children.

Eric and Barbara Jarman helped Queen St. Baptist church in Godalming, Surrey raise 10,000 pounds to build another storey on the Orphanage.

Main house at orphanage with new top storey which is dormitories for the children.

Kids at the orphanage enjoying thier lunch

Rodo, and Maria, our ex-neighbours in San Cristobal, making Tamales. She also cuts my hair.

Adventurers on the way to Mayan ruins in Yaxchilan

Looking cool in Yaxchilan

With Jasmine the Oz in Palenque

Bob and Kevin from Ibiza under the great Ceiba tree in Yaxchilan

Kevin and Hilary with Dionisio and family. Dionisio used to be President of the Centre. He is also a paramedic and sorted me out when I had Montezuma's revenge!

Dionisio drying his coffee on his patio

Margarita, Dionisio's wife, cooking with a microwave. Many Tzeltals now have mod cons in the house.

PROTESTANTS versus ROMAN CATHOLICS

2010-02-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

The other week when I was returning back to San Cristóbal in the evening, I came to a road block which had been set up by some local Tzotzil indians in Los Llanos. The reason for it was the decades old conflict that there has been between Protestants, or Evangélicos, and Roman Catholics.
When the first Protestant missionaries came to the Tzeltal and Tzotzil areas of Chiapas in the 1940s and 1950s, what they found were fairly totalitarian and animistic cultures which had a veneer of Roman Catholicism originally imposed by the Spanish Conquistadores in the 1600s. Christianity was poorly understood by the indigenous people as the Christian faith had never been really translated into the language and culture of these Mexican native people. It was therefore, a poor reflection of what Christianity really taught, and was mixed or "syncretised" with their animistic beliefs. For instance, Santo Tomás in the Tzeltal town of Oxchuc became equated with the Rain God, Tlaloc, who had himself been taken over from the Aztecs by the Mayan peoples be3fore the Conquest.
When the first Wycliffe Bible Translator missionary, Marian Slocum, translated the New Testament into the Maya Tzeltal language, the people understood for the first time what the Christian message was all about. The Presbiterian Church of Mexico, the official Protestant church in the country, took them under their wing.
The Roman Catholic authorities clearly didn't like this "evangelisation" of their people. The Mayan people themselves also reacted from a political/cultural perspective as, coming from their totalitarian type viewpoint, they did not understand "difference". They wanted everybody to be exactly the same, and anyone who stepped out of line was either driven out of the community or killed.
This happened to many Tzeltal Protestant Christians in the 1950s and 1960s who had come to an understanding of the Christian faith through reading God's Word for themselves in their own language. On the whole, with the Tzeltal people, this has now calmed down and they are able to accept each other's differences. They have also had to accept differences in denominations as well as there are now a plethora of protestant denominations - Presbiterians, Baptists of various sorts, Pentecostals of varying shapes and sizes, Charismatics, Seventh Day Adventists, etc., many in the same villages.
However in some of the Tzotzil communities, there is still a lot of violent conflict between the groups, and the burning of the Church building and the homes of Protestants in the community of Los Llanos was what led to the blockade the other week on the main Palenque to San Cristobal road.
A missionary friend of ours working with the Tzotzil Church told me that recently he had been talking to the R.C. Bishop of San Cristobal who had said to him that in view of the fact that there are now 40% Protestants in the State of Chiapas, the Catholic Church would now need to re-evangelise the Indigenous groups to get them back into their church! Last year when speaking with the Bishop of Ibiza about our different churches, he said we have more now in common than the differences that divide us. They seem to need to concentrate much more here on what unites than on what divides!

I was very encouraged today to read this article about the healing of the rift between Tojolobal Protestants and Roman Catholics in Las Margaritas, traditionally a violent area between these two groups.

I was also encouraged earlier this week to meet a Tzeltal man who had come to a special campaign for free glasses at a Protestant Institute. He was a Roman Catholic Lay-preacher and needed the glasses so that he could read and teach the Bible better! That is one great thing that as Christians we all have in common!

ORGANIC versus INORGANIC

2010-02-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

WARNING: Don't read this unless you are into this topic!

It seems these days that everything is polarized, everything is black and white and you are either one thing or another. It appears that if you have any possible questions about Climate Change and Global Warming being man-made, then you are a climate sceptic and no better, according to our PM than a "flat-earther". There is no middle way of thinking that it might be possible for there to be more than one reason for climate-change happening - e.g. possible changes in sun cycles as well as man-made pollutants, more cities and concreted and asphalted areas, etc.

The same applies to the Organic/Inorganic debate. It is one versus the other. If you espouse in any way the use of agricultural chemicals, be they relatively harmless artifical fertilisers, or more toxic organophosphate pesticides, then you are beyond the pale! You are a "sinner". If you want to be part of the Organic community, then you cannot be seen to tolerate or recommend the use of any form of inorganic compounds. There seems to be, from the side of the Organic movement, no possibility that there might be some value in the use of certain chemicals, like artificial fertilisers, in certain situations. They have been demonised to the point that they are evil and totally destructive of the environment. It has to be one or the other.

It is a very fundamentalist attitude, and something very common today. I think there is a tendency to intellectual laziness, perhaps because there is so much information that we have to digest. It is easy to be fundamentalist about something - everything is black and white and you don't have to think too much or analyse issues or make decisions because the decisions have been made for you.

I find this very difficult from an agricultural point of view as well as from a Christian perspective. I thank God for people like Norman Borlaug who did so much in breeding new corn, wheat and rice varieties to transform these crops to help feed the world. A lot of people don't like this tampering with nature! Also artifical fertilisers have helped people living in situations with very poor soils to produce enough food for themselves to live on and more. Pesticides and herbicides have also been valuable to many people.

Of course, there have been abuses, which is true of nearly every human invention that has been made. But when used properly, all of these things can be helpful.

The essential thing is to use a balanced combination of organic and inorganic products. Aritificial Fertilisers should only be used where organic matter has been also applied - the Centre's program was always based on people using fertiliser on land they had not burned, where the organic matter worked together with the fertilisers. Without injections of Nitrogen and Phosphorus, land cannot continually produce Corn. And many Tzeltales don't have the luxury of enough land to do crop rotation. Organic green manures can also be used, but nitrogen-fixation in the Tropics is much less than in Temperate climates. There is also more leaching of Nitrogen through heavy rains. Also worm compost, as at the Centre, can be added to the land and crops, but the quality of this compost varies according towhat the worms are digesting.

In many ways, the Organic movement is doing a disservice to people by insisting on purity and by demonising all use of chemicals. I like the theory of being able to do everything organically, but I realise from a practical perspective it just isn't possible for everyone to be able to do so.

That is why I find it very difficult when people make blanket statements about the use of agricutural chemicals, particularly artificial fertilisers, which basically are just plant nutrients. Some soils in some places, one can rely on purely organic input. Others can't because of inaccessibility, type of soil or climate, or physical logistics.

The Centre produces about 6 tons of Worm Compost every year, and nearly all of that is used on their own land. Various people are involved in the production of it - it is a big operation - but it can be moved around the Centre quite easily in a wheel-barrow. However, for a Tzeltal man and his wife producing corn and beans on his plot of land, logistically it is almost impossible to do the same because of the quantities involved and the terrain.

So at the Centre we are trying to show how to work in a balnced way with Organic and Inorganic products.

SABBATICAL DAY 40 - Thursday February 4th

2010-02-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

One of the things which happened during the Zapatista rebellion in 1996 was that the local community of Abasolo was encouraged to invade land around their village, and that is when the Centre was invaded, buildings destroyed and the land burned. Both the Centre's coffee grove and mine as well were burned during this time and have never been replaced. Marcelo began work on replacement in the autumn by planting shade trees on the first terrace. We continued this on the next two terraces this week. We will be planting the coffee grove on the original terraces which were first built back in 1971. They have become overgrown with grasses after the fires, but now we have planted the shade trees - one of the Inga Species, which is a Leguminous tree which provides shade and also fixes Nitrogen from the air. The coffee will go in at the beginning of the rainy season in June.

As so many people grow coffee in the area, it is important that we have a demonstration coffee grove at the Centre. Coffee is a constant source of income for most Tzeltal families and a visit to Dionisio's coffee grove the other evening reminded me that there is always the need for constant maintenance and work. His grove is very old and needs renovating by pruning and replanting. (See Photo)

This January and February have been wetter and cloudier than some years, which is good for growing. Seeds germinate more easily, transplanting plants is less of a problem as they take more quickly and we don't have to use so much irrigation. It also means we have been able to fertilise the dry season corn crop which Marcelo had planted in December - using both worm compost and artifical fertilisers - and also a part of the pasture for the Centre's 3 cows.
The tomato plants which Marcelo planted out last week in the greenhouse are growing nicely along with the cabbages that were planted out the following day. Unfortunately the weeds also grow quite quickly as well!

TRAVELLING IN CHIAPAS

2010-02-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

One of the favorite ways that the Mayan indians have of getting attention for any issues that they have and also getting their own way from the goverment is to block a major road. A group of Tzotzil indians decided to do this last week on one of the busiest roads in the state - the road which runs between San Cristobal and Palenque, a very important commercial and tourist route. It also happens to be the road on which the Centre is situated! It was all about a demand for the release of one of their people who had been jailed forallegedly burning a church down and the houses of the church members. In their enthusiasm to get thier way they also took 5 government workers as hostages!

So returning from my two days out at the Centre last night just as dusk was falling, I ran into this road block. More accurately I ran into the end of the queue which was between 3 and 4 kilometres from the roadblock! I wondered why there were so few vehicles on the road last night!
Well, I was wandering around trying to decide what to do, when a friend Eliseo, son of Dionisio who used to be President of the Centre, driving a collective taxi as part of a shuttle service crossing the block, drove by. He stopped and asked what I was doing, and I said I didn't really know! He said the road would not be opened till midnight at the earliest, and mentioned that there was another road I could take. We drove back down the way I had come about 2 kms.
He stopped and showed me this steep graveled road disappearing up the mountain - worst than the Bambers road in Ibiza! No signposts, no indication of final destination or distances. I asked if he had been on it. No, he hadn't but knew people who had. "Is it okay?" I asked. "Well, there is apparently one difficult bit but you can get through!" he said. Well I quickly weighed up the pros and cons of going all the way back to the Centre or vanishing up this road, possibly to nowhere without a sleeping bag or map or phone (they are useless in the mountains) and made my decision - I didn't have any "small voices" telling me what to do, but I thought Eliseo was perhaps an angel in disguise!

The first person I met and asked the way wasn't sure where the road went even though he was on it! The next person was more positive - it went to Cruzton which was a town out in the Tenejapa Tzeltal area - quite a way from San Cristobal. A couple of kms or so on I saw a man with a chain-saw in the car lights and he was very positive - yes you can get to San Cristobal but he didn't know how far, how long, but just keep going left! I came to a small left turn-off about 200 metres later, but it didn't look big enough to keep left on, so I decided to stick with the bigger road. Fortunately it wasn't the big "broad road that leads to destruction, and many there be that go on it." It was the right road and became very narrow, rocky and steep in places with quite a few forks in the road. The Lord graciously kept me on the right one and eventually after nearly 40 minutes and around 8 kms I came to a better road, lights and houses, and it looked like I would sleep in my own bed that night! The whole episode was more than an hour and about 20 kms, going over the mountains about 2,250 metres. Clare had been patiently waiting wondering if there had been some sort of trouble!

I heard this afternoon from my Rackets playing friend who is a local police man that they had started letting trucks, buses and other vehicles through at 1:00 a.m.!

So I was very blessed and doubly grateful to the Lord for bringing me home safely and said a heartfelt prayer for the people still on the road.

SABBATICAL DAY 33 - Thursday January 28th

2010-01-28T09:20:00.000-08:00

It may seem like all that we have done so far is jolly around! Well we've done plenty of that and we were sad to say good-bye to both Hannah and Kevin and Hilary last week-end. We had some really enjoyable times together.
However between times, we have been doing various other things. Clare has spent quite a lot of time with her Mum and helped her with a mixture of things from visits to the doctor for check-ups and meeting with some orphanage people, doing an overnight with her to keep her company when I was at the Centre, and spending time with her brother Chris who was in town on business.

I have made various visits to the Centre, and things are going along quite nicely there. The warm, dry season is almost upon us and it is a good time for vegetable-growing, tomatoes both in the greenhouse and outside, and of course, corn, which for the Tzeltales is the staple diet. They call it Ch'ul Me'tic - the Holy Mother - and it is still a very central part of their lives. The Mayans had the maize god, yum k'aax, pictured in the temple of the Foliated Cross at Palenque. The main planting season is in May but we have a dry season crop growing which will be irrigated. (See photo)

On Tuesday we planted out the tomatoes in the greenhouse. These should be producing in April/May and will nearly all be sold at the Centre to people who drop by.
I have also started planting part of a terrace which is my little personal garden, partly as a demonstration of a family vegetable garden.

More of what we are doing next week.

SABBATICAL DAY 28 - January 23rd 2010

2010-01-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

It was really kind of Hannah to invite us to go on holiday with her to Puerto Escondido on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca (pronounced Wahaca). It's nice when your own children don't mind us older people tagging along and when they take us out for a meal! We really did have a wonderful time, and for Hannah it was a little bit of reliving her childhood holidays that we used to spend there. This time she hired a surfboard a couple of days and practised and managed to persuade me to hire a bodyboard as well on our last morning! (see photo)
Waves at Puerto Escondido tend to be big and bigger, (See photo) but we managed to find some a little smaller on which to hone our skills!
One of the great things about Puerto Escondido is the fresh fish. It is still an active fishing village with the boats going out every night and people crowd round them early in the morning to get the best buys. (Photo) It's really nice to be in a tourist place which has been able to keep its own identity.
While there, Hannah treated us to some cocktails, we ate lots of delicious food, especially the fresh fish, and enjoyed playing scrabble in the warm tropical evenings!
We also visited Manialtepec lagoon where we saw over 20 species of birds in the mangrove swamps, (pelican in photo) a habitat I have never visited before. We ended up on what must be one of the longest beaches in the world - 40 kms - and saw a lovely sunset.
All in all it was well worth the 12 hour bus ride to get to Puerto Escondido from San Cristobal and the 12 hours back!

SABBATICAL DAY 21 - January 16th 2010

2010-01-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

We got back last night from a 3 day trip - a special treat for Hannah's 25th Birthday. We wanted to make a visit to the Rain Forest and see the Mayan ruins at one of the most inaccessible sites - Yaxchilan. We met up with Kevin and Hilary from Ibiza in Palenque, and also had in tow an Australian girl, Jasmine, friend of an old Mexican friend of ours. So 6 of us, along with some German and French and Spanish tourists, set off at 6:00 a.m. There was a most beautiful sunrise and the cold weather was past. The tour included a buffet breakfast, after which we headed down to the Usumacinta river which borders with Guatemala - a nearly 3 hours drive from Palenque. The boat trip is 45 minutes downriver to the site - still hidden away in the Rain Forest. The condition of some of the old buildings is remarkable considering they were covered with massive trees and forest for over a thousand years. We also saw spider monkeys and a big crocodile!
On the way back we also visited Bonampak (Painted Walls in Mayan) named after the quite remarkable paintings that were discovered in one of the temples.
Finally we dropped into the Centre just before dusk for Hannah to look around where she grew up and to talk with Marcelo the caretaker.

FUNERAL of our friend Jose.

2010-01-16T09:55:00.000-08:00

Last Monday morning we had the sad news that a good friend of ours had died very suddenly. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer which had become untreatable, and he went home to his home at the "Muro". Jose had worked with us in the agriculture program for 13 years, and many of his brothers and cousins were also involved. Some of his 6 boys used to come to our football and Bible study evenings at the Centre in the early 1990s. He had been a deacon and elder in the local church.
The funeral was an amazing event of the local church sharing the burden of sadness of Maria, his wife and their sons. I arrived out there at 7:15 pm (Clare didn't go as she was quite ill after a vicious cold and cough bug), and I was given food and then informed that I would be preaching at the service they were about to have! About 200 people were there in and around the house, along with 4 musical groups and PA system. Jose was lying in his coffin in the house, and it had a glass window so he could be viewed. We finished the service about midnight and everyone was told to return at 7:30 the next morning. I borrowed a bed at Dionisio's house, cousin to Jose and ex-President of the Centre.
Next morning, people started arriving and between 400 and 500 people came. Everybody was fed cabbage and beef stew with corn tortillas aned coffee, and we couldn't start until it ewas sure everyone had been fed. The Pastor, Julian, had returned, so he conducted the service which finished about 1:30. Then everybody filed past the coffin to look at Jose for the last time. He was placed in his tomb outside the back of the house about 2:30 pm. It really was a remarkable good-bye for someone whgo was such an important part of their community. I arrived back in \san \cristobal nearly 24 hours after I had left.

SABBATICAL DAY 15 - January 10th San Cristobal

2010-01-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

We have been reading of the polar conditions in England Europe, and feeling very sorry for everyone, but the temperatures here in San Cristobal are very low as well with clouds hanging over the hills, and I am sitting writing this wrapped in Clare's sleeping bag! There is even less heating in our apartment here than in our house in Ibiza!
Before leaving Palenque we spent a morning looking around the ruins discovering some newly excavated areas. There is always something new to see there. (See photos)
Hannah arrived on time having had an exciting time, first in San Diego and then afterwards at an orphanage near Tijuana. Since her arrival we have been settling into our apartment, visiting with Clare's mum, Jeanne, enjoying the Mexican food and recovering from the nasty colds which Hugo and Nick very kindly gave us!
Yesterday I took a collective taxi down to the Centre where I met up with Marcelo, the caretaker, and Jeremias the administrator. I planted a few seeds with Marcelo and we discussed what we might do in the next 4 months.
Next week we will be visiting down in the Rain Forest area and hoping to meet up with Kevin and Hilary from Ibiza who are also here visiting.

SABBATICAL DAY NINE - tuesday January 5th

2010-01-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

We left Heathrow yesterday in beautiful sunshine after a pleasant evening with Tony and Jane Jefferis from Cambridge days, and arrived in Cancun in pouring rain. It's cleared now this morning and is sunny and windy and cool for here.
We had a lovely time in St Hilaire, Vercors, near Grenoble with Nick, Emilie and Hugo. Emilie's parents were very gracious hosts along with her brother Simon and his girlfriend Servin. We ate our way through nine different tapas on New year's eve at Simon's house and had a very relaxed time seeing in the New Year. Hugo was very good and went to bed, despite a cold, but ended up going back with us to Cyril and Marilo's leaving Nick and Emilie a Hugo-free night!
While there we had a very interesting visit to Hugo's great, great grandmother who is 93. We had 5 generations together! Hugo was the only man! (See the Video) We also visited Saint Antoine's Abbey (Photo)
It is the first time we have been to France together and really enjoyed it. Clare is doing a course in French and so was able to try it out and my schoolboy French was very rusty. Hugo seems to manage all three languages quite well!
Tonight we are off to Palenque. We sleep in the bus and get to Palenque at 6 in the morning. We'll stay a night there and then proceed to meet up with Hannah in San Cristobal on the 7th Jan.

SABBATICAL DAY ONE - Monday December 28

2009-12-28T05:27:00.000-08:00

We left Ibiza in the rain and wind and arrived in England in the rain and wind - but colder! Dropped in to see Alan Cook at his nursing home in Buckhurst Hill and then up to Nottingham.
We went to an inspiring Sunday service at Cornerstone - Christy's church in Nottingham.
We're relaxing today with Hannah and Christy and Andres. We've also visited my brother David and family and other brother Richard came along with godmother Aunt Bess (94 and still going strong) and other family friends.