martes: El Rincon

It’s martes, martes, martes…

It was a late start this morning, because in Guatemala it is difficult to always make things happen the way they are suppose to happen.   When I started writing this, we were on the road to Amatitlan, a city about 45 minutes from Guatemala City, a second, rather poor, gritty location of Groundwork Guatemala.  The traffic was gross.  The condition of the roads is better than they were when I first started coming to Guatemala, but the speed of travel in the City hasn’t changed much nor has the quality of the air…lots of diesel exhaust particulate that pollutes the air, covers the floors, and fills the lungs.  I’m not sure how Guatemalans do it, although life expectancy in Guatemalan compared to North America is quite low.  We have been extremely lucky with the weather which has helped with the pollution, and today the rain is back.

Guatemala has a presidential election every four years.  A president may only serve one term, so a scramble for office takes place every three and a half years.  There are 18-22 candidates running at the moment; Kevin tells me that Guatemalans are convinced it makes no difference who wins the election; none of the candidates will improve Guatemala.  He also mentioned that one of the candidates, Baldzion, has a campaign slogan, “No lies, No promises”.  Think about that.  (I am only mentioning this because we are on the road and there are thousands of campaign signs plastered everywhere from Guatemala city to Amatitlan.)

El Rincon (the corner) outside of Amatitlan is always interesting. It sits at the base of a volcanic mountain, where folks live in shanties scattered along dirt roads and on mountain sides.  Corn grows in places on a grade that must be about 70 or 80 degrees.  If you can look past the poverty and human suffering, it is beautiful, except you can’t.  Our first stop as a group was a shanty I have been to six out of the past seven trips.  The ministry stops to check on Carlos who is a paraplegic and cared for by a family who lives in extreme poverty at the base of the mountain.  A one room shanty has been divided into two rooms with an old table cloth.  The kitchen is  lean-to-ish with a wood fire and basically nothing else, and that seems to include food.  I believe they subsist on corn tortillas made over the fire and I suppose some beans and rice?  There is even more to this story.  Some of you reading this, already know it.  Parents, ask your kids when they return to tell you about the incredible background to Carlos’ story, and about Margarite who cares for him.

After cranking up a bucket of hot water from Margarite’s well (heated by the volcano but not suitable for drinking), we divided into four groups with the Guatemalans and each went on a home visit.  Shelby and Jeannie were with me.  I wish I could tell you about all of the visits, but I can only quickly tell you about mine.  We met a sixteen year named Yomiran, who is developmentally impaired and pregnant.  It was heart-breaking because this situation in Guatemala is the rule rather than the exception.  It even shocked me to learn that Groundwork Guatemala provides prenatal vitamins to mid-teens when they have them, because the girls are likely to become pregnant if they are not pregnant already.  The fathers have moved on and the young teen is left to care for a child in a home of extended family that is already stretched beyond thin.  You see it everywhere here.  We talked and prayed with her.  She was so young, basically the age of our girls, and yet we could clearly see the fear in her eyes.  There is very little childhood as we know it among the poor in Guatemala.

After a lunch of PB&J, we played with the kids that began to gather at the salon…not what you picture…and then we presented our lesson.  The kids did a great job of operating “out of the box”…and honestly as much fun as we had with the songs and dress-up stuff, the most powerful part was when they talked honestly to the Guatemalan kids about what they each worry about.  They were “real” and it was powerful; I think they even surprised each other with their honesty…and everyone began to understand we all worry about many of the same things.  They even shared what they do to stay focused on Jesus and not on what they might otherwise worry about….kid to kid.  Wish you could have been there.  I think many days I have the best job in the world.  By they way, we did it almost entirely in Spanish thanks to Jennifer’s translations done before we arrived, which is really fun…or will be until I create an international incident with a random pronunciation.

We headed back to Guatemala City in the late afternoon and are getting ready to do some tweaking of our lesson before we head to Buena Vista tomorrow.  Everyone is in good spirits and relieved to have a day of lessons behind us.  Dinner was festive, beginning with Jordan tipping over a cup of a Tang-ish like drink that went EVERYWHERE. (Thank you Soenens, from Jordan, for sending disposable shop towels.)  Ginny described the sponsorship program than enables the kids we work with to go to school and the Guatemalan ministry workers to reach out to their people.  Later Emma and Jeannie learned from Marta , Manuel’s wife, how to make a tortilla. I had a taste; it was good.

The kids are high on life right now.  It feels good to make friends, share our stories and faith walks, and hopefully be role-models, all the while learning more about the people in the world they never could have known otherwise.  The good stuff just keeps on coming.  (By the way, there are plenty of Guatemalan roles models for us too.  It definitely goes both ways!)

Blessings to all. I wanted to include pictures of the kids today, but ran into a little problem... me.  They will be there to see tomorrow, sorry.  Keep us in your prayers tomorrow; Buena Vista is a life-changer.

Kelsey, Kara, Emma, Jennifer, Jordan, Nick, Lonnie, Jeannie, Shelby, Emily and Sally