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Marco is a one of my new favorite
people. One day, I drove around
with him and saw what he and God where up to. Marco covers this ground every day. Marco lives
in the town of El Tezate which is a right outside of Antigua. While he is not the mayor of El Tezate, he
certainly is the father who looks out for everyone. As we walked around the town, I met many
people whose lives had been changed because of Marco.
When asked, “what is your ministry?”. Marco simply replies, “I help
people.” If you need a ride to
the hospital, some work, a water filter, an environmental safe stove, or a house, Marco knows someone who
can help. He is a connector by
nature. Always thinking of ways to help
people help themselves. God has brought
many great organizations in contact with him. Together they have helped so many. Together they have met the needs
of people crying out to God. These are just a few stories.
This woman lives in El Tezate with her children. One of the ministry that works with this community is Global Share. They build house and schools for the community. Usually they will stay at a house and make improvements to the home as part of their ministry. One team came and added on to her house so that she would be able to better host future teams. Hosting teams is one way that she produces income. Her hope is to begin a bakery. One of the teams trained her how to bake. All she needs is an oven and then she and her children can support themselves. Recently, she just took in three young children from the community. She told me that Marco and his wife have done so much for her that she wanted to serve someone the way they have served her.
BicycleMachines
Another one
of the ways, Marco is trying to help Guatemalans help themselves is Bicycle
Machines. Basically, it is a bicycle
frame that powers any number of different functions. I saw two different types of machines. One
that was designed to power a blender and another designed to fabricated roof
tiles. Marco is praying that some
engineer would be able to design a machine that would serve a more universal
purpose. These two machines can only
perform one task. Marco’s vision is for
the machines to serve in many different capacities. Bicycle machines provide a cost efficient
means for people to support themselves with a trade.
A few years
ago, a doctor was treating patients in Guatemala on a medical missions
trip. He noticed many of the same
respiratory and eye problems. He concluded that it was due to the smoke with which the
women had constant exposure . Helps International started a program to build a different kind of stove. Marco Tulio, a native Guatemalan began working
with Helps International. He would go
into the villages and set up the stoves for a demonstration. At first the women did not believe the stoves
would make good tortillas. However,
Marco Tulio would show them the new stoves were as good as the old. The stoves that Helps International made are
a square base with a metal top. The comals the women traditional use could not be fixed on the square based stoves Helps International produced. An idea was born to invent a stove
that would be able to be used with the comals. Today,
Marco and Marco Tulio have teamed up
to on a project call Ecocomal. Comals
are the traditional stoves that Guatemalan’s use. Marco Tulio designed
a circular based stove and a more permanent rectangular base stove that
allows for
the smoke to be vented outside of the home and still make a great
tortilla. Also it uses less wood. Marco has purchased some of these
stoves for
members of the El Tezate community. This business started in May of
this year.
Here you will see the process of making these Ecocomal stoves.
