On February 4, 1976, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake rocked the Latin American country of Guatemala. Because the quake occurred in the early morning hours, most people were still asleep in their adobe style houses. These structures came crashing down: many were completely destroyed and more than 23,000 people lost their lives. An additional 76,000 people were injured and hundreds of thousands were left homeless.
It was this disaster that brought the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) to Guatemala for the first time. It also introduced a local Guatemalan man, Pastor Moises Colop, to the work of CRWRC—work that he would later be a part of for more than 34 years.
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On February 4, 1976, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake rocked the Latin American country of Guatemala. Because the quake occurred in the early morning hours, most people were still asleep in their adobe style houses. These structures came crashing down: many were completely destroyed and more than 23,000 people lost their lives. An additional 76,000 people were injured and hundreds of thousands were left homeless.
It was this disaster that brought the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) to Guatemala for the first time. It also introduced a local Guatemalan man, Pastor Moises Colop, to the work of CRWRC—work that he would later be a part of for more than 34 years.
“I was working as a supervisor of schools in Totonicapán,” recalls Pastor Colop. “I am passionate about education, and I was happy doing my job because it contributed to improving the education of the rural poor. I had also taken many courses in community development and learned how it could improve infrastructure in rural areas. On weekends, I served as a pastor to several congregations and shared my knowledge of the Calvinist doctrine – specifically the importance of diaconal outreach and the concept of loving your neighbor.”
In 1978, Pastor Colop met Peter Limburg and Edgar Fuentes who were carrying out an earthquake response program on behalf of CRWRC and Church World Service. They wanted assistance in transitioning these programs into long-term community development initiatives.
“I worked with them for four days, and they wondered if I was interested in joining them more permanently,” said Colop. “I initially said no because I had commitments to the Ministry of Education of the government of Guatemala. They gave me several weeks to think and pray about it. After that time, I accepted the position and began assisting brother Limburg.”
Colop felt that CRWRC’s commitment to Christian service and community development as part of its expression of faith was an ideal match for his own philosophy. He knows what it is like to be poor, and what it is like to be given a chance to improve his way of life. He grew up in a poor rural family. When it was time for him to start the sixth grade, he went to his teacher and told him he could no longer attend. His parents could not pay the 25 cents needed to cover the school fees. To Moises’ delight, the teacher paid the fees for him.
Moises found old newspapers, made them into notebooks, and wrote his school notes between the printed lines. After sixth grade, he was encouraged to go to seminary to become a preacher in his community. He went to school barefoot since the family could not afford to purchase shoes. At the age of 15, he found a book of sermons by Charles Spurgeon. He used those as a reference, taught himself, and studied hard. By his second year of seminary, he started to preach.
His sermons were theologically sound, but his teachers were concerned about what his impoverished appearance would communicate to congregations. They made a deal with him. Moises could preach every Sunday, but needed to wear shoes as was befitting a pastor’s role. Moises was down-hearted. He knew he could not ask his family to buy him shoes. He resolved to preach only at the seminary during the week rather than in the community.
Weeks later he saw his father come to school and bring him a pair of shoes. His teacher had secretly asked the father to bring a pair of shoes because he knew the people needed to hear the words that Moises spoke. At age sixteen his preaching career had started – in part because of his own hard work and determination, but also because his parents, teachers, and community had believed in him and worked together to give him a chance. Pastor Colop wanted to provide others with those same opportunities.
“When I started with CRWRC in 1978, Guatemala was very different than it is now,” he says. “There was no electricity in rural areas, the roads were not paved, and means of transportation were scarce. Many people lived in poverty. Children died from hunger and preventable illnesses in front of me and I couldn’t do anything about it. Prenatal care and delivery were carried out by untrained midwives, 87% of the residents in rural communities were illiterate, and farmers were using ineffective agricultural methods. The most shocking situation was that civil war and unrest had swept up potential leaders living in rural areas. Many good men went missing and were never heard from again. Their loss still haunts me when I visit these villages.”
To combat these challenges, Pastor Colop and other CRWRC staff partnered with the Presbyterian Church of Guatemala. They met with community members, and put together programs to improve health, increase literacy, increase agricultural production, and develop local leaders. As the communities grew to be able to meet their own needs, CRWRC and its partners would move on to new communities.
“Much has changed,” said Pastor Colop as he reflects on the current situation in Guatemala compared to what it was in 1978. “At that time women were excluded from meetings. Now they participate fully. Children used to be their parents' helpers, working the land to raise crops for food. Now they go to school. There also used to be divide between the Protestant and the Catholic Church, now there is on-going dialogue between the two as well as joint projects in rural areas. Communities are also using improved agricultural techniques to grow more and a greater variety of crops. Farmers that used to harvest a maximum of 30 pounds of corn on a 400 square meter plot are now harvesting 160 pounds of corn on the same land. Mothers are no longer dying in childbirth. And in communities where CRWRC has been working for some time, there are no longer malnourished children who are dying. Instead, you are greeted by smiling children with cheerful faces.”
Colop played a key role in this success. While he started as an assistant to Peter Limburg, he has worked in a variety of roles for CRWRC over the years. Currently, he serves as the CRWRC Country Consultant for Guatemala and also manages CRWRC programs in Mexico.
“In all of these changes, the Word of God has been the true bread of life to me,” he concludes. “In the thirty-four years I’ve spent with CRWRC in the mountains of Guatemala, my true ally was the Word of God. With it I helped to raise awareness and helped people understand the will of God and seek His Kingdom. Through that, people found the threads of hope for new life in Christ.”
~ by Kristen deRoo VanderBerg, with reporting by Tom & Kris Kiel, and translation from Rob Bronson