Peter Hunter is on the Mission Paraguay team in the Chaco.

Rio Verde, The Chaco, Paraguay
As I write this on Friday morning, the sky is overcast, wind blowing and temperature about 25 degrees Celsius…. very pleasant.

After a day in Asuncion and a Sunday service in English (and a refreshing cup of tea and relax with Linn) we headed out to the Chaco (the country), saying goodbye to Laura, Debbie and Mike as they left for the coach to Concepcion. We had a 4-5 hour Landrover trip along the only tarmac’d road to reach Rio Verde where the local garage is also the local store, hardware shop and cafe.
Either side of the road are various homes. Some are of brick, a few official places like police barracks, quite smart……. others small and made from corrugated iron and local trees. The local trees are very hard.

I’ve spent 31/2 days finishing an Indian family’s home. They were slowly making the room from pieces of wood and ‘chapas’ (corrugated iron)…..  all held together by wire and a few nails…. a great example of recycling, with the additional factor that most of the wood is so hard that it bends nails! 3 or 4 of us were working on it. Every time we stopped for a break some of the family gathered around. They are very friendly and we try communicating by sign language, or singing!! The smallest girl was astonished when 2 of us joined in humming ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’.

Luke has been with another group working in a different church community, repairing water reservoirs and building a meeting room. All the team are really friendly and the banter through the day is great.

Whenever we come across Paraguayans there is a very sociable greeting and exchange. Most people in the Chaco in Indian communities have very little, if anything. But they are very friendly and smiley. It has been lovely to see the impact on the family of the house we completed. It is more than a building, it is a gift of hope.

The Lord has kept us safe, which is a real gift here where the opportunities for accidents and injury are legion. Thursday there was a huge storm with hailstones, the size of golf-balls and very high winds……… fortunately not where we are. David Orritt, Tim Curtis and I went 3 hrs towards Concepcion to visit another Anglican community where the church roof had been ripped half off and 30 houses had lost part of their rooves. The damage will take a while to repair. It will need outside funding…….. but the people appear not upset.

Thanks for your prayers.

Love Peter

San Lorenzo is a very poor area with little work.  Dusty earth roads are a quagmire during periods of rain.  Some roads are on an incline so that deep ruts are formed, subsequently setting rock hard making the movement of vehicles extremely difficult…

Read the full report.

“Wonderful, fantastic, brilliant and any other superlatives you can think of are how it felt to be able to show ladies from a shanty town called San Lorenzo how to make garments for themselves and their children.  The look of sheer ecstasy on their faces was amazing as they learnt and completed the task.  In the end several pairs of trousers were made.   One elderly lady looked resplendent in a pink suit (jacket and skirt). Her daughter and granddaughter had made trousers and inserted a zip.  Children and adults made scarves.

In Paraguay nothing is wasted and scraps were tied together with string to make dusters.

This has been an amazing experience. 
Thank you God, for giving me this opportunity.”
Moira Lindsay, From St.Saviour, Church of Ireland, Co.Armagh.

This summer there are six BTN teams going from Northern Ireland to South America. The work will be varied, but wherever they are, the volunteers will have the opportunity to encounter South America within a supportive environment. Participants form part of a team within a local community working alongside local Christians in outreach and development projects.

“I’ve never been on a mission trip before, so this makes the idea of going to Argentina an exciting prospect but also quite daunting at the same time. I’m looking forward to exploring the Argentinian culture and meeting different Christians over there and seeing how they worship. I hope to gain a great experience from this trip and have a great time while I’m there!”

Two teams are going to the Red Box project in Salta Argentina where they will be helping Cecilla Valdiviezo with outreach through the soup kitchen and children’s clubs. Another team from Down and Dromore Diocese are linking up with the Diocese of Northern Argentina to refurbish a retreat centre in La Caldera and experience the life of local churches in the foothills of the Andes. A further two teams will be joining David Orritt in Mission Paraguay focusing on practical projects in Asuncion and Concepcion. Finally, the Love for Life team will again go into schools in Paraguay with their multimedia presentation on relationships.

David Orrit, the man behind Mission Paraguay 2008, has sent us an update. He leaves on the 30th June to make preparation for the teams that arrive in July and August.

David writes, “A new venture this year is to provide training workshops in the use of sewing machines, which were sent from the UK a few months ago, to enable mothers to make simple children’s clothes and develop this as a self sustaining cottage industry. ”

“The second August group will be based in Concepción a town of about 40,000 people where motor cycles, horses and carts abound, pigs and other animals wander the earth roads. Unemployment and social problems are high. The work here includes home improvements, extending facilities for the work of the church and a range of child based activities arranged through Claire Holmes who for many years Claire has worked tirelessly amongst the children in Concepción and the surrounding area. ”

You can read his full artlicle here.