In early March, two enormous trees fell on the workshop of our Guatemalan partners AJPU, causing significant damage. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the entire roof and portions of the external walls were destroyed. To witness the damage up-close, view this five-minute video taken just hours after the tree fell. Please be sure your Subtitles/Closed Captioning is turned ON in order to read the translation in English.
With the resilience and resourcefulness that is so typically Guatemala, AJPU had a crew working onsite within 24 hours. We are pleased to report that they are now back up and running at full capacity!
The trees also damaged 2 fuel-efficient stoves, 10 water filters, and the concrete bases for eight VIP latrines. The original funding for these specific items came from donations made by individual members at Westminster (Wilmington). Therefore, Westminster’s Church in the World Committee felt called to cover the cost to replace these items. AJPU will rebuild these items immediately and install them in the homes of members of the Association of Mam Christian Women for Development who have been waiting.
We appreciate so many of you asking how you could help with the rebuild. Moving forward, we hope that you will consider supporting the work of AJPU and the Association by contributing directly to their projects.