I finished up at Salem yesterday.
It was harder than I thought.
I´m not even sure why, up until the actual goodbye part I felt pretty calm and collected, and ready to leave.
But they made a big deal of it and made the day special…so somewhere in between the pizza for lunch (a big deal for salem!) and the road trip to the city and seeing the girls delight and fear when using escalators for the first time in Tikal Futura (shopping centre) and eating ice creams in Pollo Campero while each girl took a turn to say nice things to me and realising that there´s a good chance I might never see these people again, my heart started to ache…
And then when they dropped me off at my house late at night and prayed for me and each gave me a hug the tears started, and didn´t want to stop.
And I realised how much this country has taught me about loving people, about living in communities and about taking the time to make the effort to encourage someone and tell them when you appreciate them.
And I realised how much these precious girls have taught me about enjoying each day and making the most of opportunities despite the challenges life throws at us.
And I realised how much they´ve all taught me about generosity as they all piled my arms high with presents from their own limited treasure collections…stuffed toys, yo-yos, posters.
And I realised that children can actually become my really, really good friends, even if they are a third of my age; when I was having lonely-far away from friends and family-moments they gave me so much in the way of friendship and hugs and love and encouragement.
And I realised in spite of all the language difficulties and cultural differences that I have really connected with the people I´ve worked with and come to care for them so much.
And I realised that people and community and family and love really are the most important and fulfilling things in life…even though I´ve missed some comforts from home, like hot showers and carpet and having a car and speaking the language, they just don´t seem as important to me now and I would trade them in an instant for those real, true connections with people if I ever had to.
I have honestly never felt such sadness during a goodbye before…weird, deep, strange achy feelings…
But I am so glad I spent that time there in Salem, and so glad I let myself love these girls so much, and looking forward to opportunities to love more precious kids like this in the future….
Filed under: Life in Guatemala
Just over a week to go.
Life has been pretty uneventful actually, as have only had a quiet few days resting up to try and get some strength back for my last days at El Castillo (on top of the stomach bugs had a full on head cold). Have taken the opportunity to sleep, prepare farewell gifts like a photo collage for Salem, write cards to people, spend way too much time online getting reacquainted with the world and what is happening outside of Chimaltenango, watched TV for the first time in ages and discovered the TV show ¨I survived a Japanese gameshow¨. Also had to speak in spanish in front of a crowd. That was interesting! But I think I got my message across ok. Was a training day for all the host families and mentors for the new striders (volunteers) coming.
Where I locked myself out of. Photo was taken while I was locked out.
This was my second time to break in somewhere recently, and it turns out it´s easier than I would have thought considering all the barbed wire and barred windows you find in this part of the world. I managed to crawl through one of the tiny windows at Salem a few weeks back when I arrived to find an empty house. The kids do it when we forget the keys, so I figured if they could, why couldn´t I? Where there´s a will, there´s a way! (window has since been fixed to avoid randoms crawling in)
Emotions are a bit up and down these last days…At times I am excited to be returning home and seeing everyone, and relieved to have the chance to get my health sorted; tired of feeling so run down. But I have had too much time alone to think, and since this is the kind of work I hope to devote my life to helping (whether in Australia or here) I keep battling the feeling that I could have done more in my time here in Guatemala; could have learned more, could have visited more projects, improved my spanish more, made more of a contribution to Salem, looked after my health better. I keep feeling scared that as soon as I leave I am going to remember something I really should have done these last few days. I don´t know why. But that´s what I keep feeling. And honestly I feel a bit strange about going home after so long, and just trying to slot back into my old life. Things will have changed. And so I have I. May be strange. Or may be completely fine. We´ll see. Wow ok lots of rambling and honesty on my blog…can you tell I have been alone for 3 days with no one to talk to? Gah, I´m such a girl! Kudos to you if you read all of that!
There are 3 new volunteers coming from England and Switzerland to work at El Castillo, 2 of whom arrive this week. Glad to see more help coming in and will be fun to meet them before I go.
Finally back off to Salem tomorrow (they won´t let me work more than 3 days a week now…said, and I quote, they ¨don´t want to send me home dead¨) to spend my last mornings getting up at 5am, cooking ridiculous amounts of food and helping out with homework. Going to share a bit of Australia…anzac biscuits and cadbury chocolate…should be good.
Entonces, hasta luego!
Filed under: Life in Guatemala
These guys do amazing work in Guatemala City. My mission organisation Latin Link sends short termers there.
Filed under: Life in Guatemala
I have always enjoyed receiving letters from the little chinese boy I used to sponser through World Vision. Although he did always draw me the same picture, a red circle with spikes. Either a flower or a crown of thorns, was never sure which.
This week in Salem, all the girls had to write a letter to their sponsors through Toybox in England.
And it felt really, really strange to see the process from the ¨other end¨.
To be with the girls that to their sponsers in England are just a picture and a few words, but to me are, well, people. With smiles, personalities, quirks. To know them by their laughter, tears, jokes and struggles.
It was pretty cool actually.
But I hate to tell you, writing the letters wasn´t all fun and games.
Very limited time (one afternoon. not long with 12 kids). And had 12 kids to direct at once.
They each had one sheet of paper on which to draw and answer a set list of questions. All the drama started when some misunderstood the order of a ´small´ drawing, followed by the realisation that there was now no room to answer all those questions. Then we realised the letters had to be written in black pen. Then we realised there wasn´t a single black pen to be found in the house (I have really, really bad luck with pens in this country). Then they started getting frustrated that they couldn´t draw as well as the next girl. Pictures somehow disappeared, crayons fought over, words were exchanged, tears shed. It was a little messy.
Then when we finally got some pens arranged and smaller drawings sorted, we had to write. Fine for the older ones, but for the younger ones who struggle to put words, let alonge sentences together, and can´t write letters less than an inch tall, answering all those questions was a little challenging. Especially when they are all asking for help at once.
Anyway. It got done in the end. Late night. But photos were taken, letters finished, tears stopped.
So when you get your sponser letter, appreciate it!
Filed under: Life in Guatemala
McDonalds in Antigua
Who would have thought that you would find what quite possibly is the nicest McDonalds in the world, here in Guatemala.
I would have thought maybe you´d find such an impressive Maccas in some extravagent place like Dubai, or New York…
But no. It´s here. Amongst the poverty and the hunger and the huge amount of litter.
Situated in Antigua (tourist central…), it is complete with a large McCafe decked out with couches and huge tables; as well as a large patio adorned with fountains and hedges that could easily be mistaken for a wedding reception venue if it weren´t for Ronald McDonald sitting on a bench.
Go figure.
[Most of the fast food joints in this country seem to be pretty huge...I´m guessing being massive companies in a country where the economy isn´t very strong, that their money goes way further here than at home so they can afford to splurge a bit...]
Filed under: Life in Guatemala
You can buy your bread already toasted here. Pretty cool, huh?
They don´t eat much toast. They think I´m a little strange in the home when I put my bread in the grill to toast.
When cooking lunch every morning with Seño Sandra, we have nice chats about all sorts of random things. Ok, restricted as I am by my basic spanish, she definitely does the majority of talking (I can understand better than I speak it).
Tuesday morning, while chopping and peeling and dicing, she told me something that actually rather shocked me.
How when she found out that her third child was a girl, she was devastated.
Not because she doesn´t like girls, but because she felt so sorry that this little person had to face life as a woman. She told me she has suffered a lot for being female, and she just wanted to have sons because life is so much easier for them.
This surprised me because although I´ve seen a lack of respect for women from a lot of guys here, I never really considered that the situation is all that bad in this country. Women can go to school, work, choose who to marry (most of the time).
But then I started to think about all the women and girls I know here who have told me stories of being cheated on, abused, or harrassed in their families, churches and workplaces. And the majority of women have stories to tell.
I have heard multiple horrible stories of married pastors hitting on teenage girls when they are new to the churches, of husbands cheating on their wives multiple times, of ridiculous amounts of domestic violence (although unfortunately this applies to the women too).
All the girls in this home have suffered abuse before coming to the foundation.
One of our most intelligent girl´s mother doesn´t want her daughter in school because she thinks girls only need to know how to run a home and not how to read and write. She doesn´t see the point in trying to improve their lives…never mind that they live in a house made of scrap pieces of corrugated iron.
When I was staying with a catholic family my first month here, I was surprised to see how the wife waited hand and foot on her husband and didn´t sit down to eat until his every need was met. Culturally this was very new for me.
As fair skinned foreigners us volunteers get a ridiculous amount of attention from guys here, who will openly look you up and down, whistle, shout out suggestive comments. I´ve never felt threatened, but it does get annoying after awhile. When walking along roads a good half of the cars will beep their horns for your benefit (and sometimes you even get police cars flashing their lights and sirens).
So I realise life is a little tough for women here. You are generally expected to marry, young, cook and clean and have a truckload of kids. It appears much worse in indiginous country communities, where there seems to be very little education for women, very young marriages and the husband is definitely the head of the home.
We are so blessed as women in our western culture to have the freedom and respect that we have. But unfortunately this isn´t the reality for the majority of women in the world. Centuries old stereotypes and prejudices still remain strong in most of the planet that men have more value than women. Horrible abuses and things like honour killings are the norm in certain countries.
70% of the world’s poorest people are women and girls; one in three women is beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused; and women account for just 17% of all parliamentarians worldwide. WomanKind
It made me so grateful to have the opportunities and protection and freedom that I have. Let´s do what we can for suffering sisters in the rest of the world.
One last thought…in spite of the problems here in Guatemala I do know some incredible, respectful and decent guys here. There is a real mix of poverty and wealth, ignorance and education in this country, so both extremes exist. This means that there are parts of the culture that are very similar to ours. And I also want to say that Sandra´s daughter, Dulce, is very much adored and a happy little 4 year old girl.
Filed under: Life in Guatemala
Monday Arrive back at Salem after my weekend in Mexico. Unpack. Cook lunch. The food money hadn´t come through so very little fruit and vegies. Wait at the road and wait for the bus to drop the girls home. Lunch, supervise cleaning chores, supervise showers, wash some dishes, listen to story about school day, help with home work (lots of maths…), sort out a few disputes. Beautiful weather, play outside…football, marbles, monsters, and then a pretend funeral for a pretend baby that died. Cook while girls are having devotions, dinner, wash some more dishes, teach Linda how to moonwalk. Sleep.
Tuesday Get up 5am, tell the girls to hurry a million times while they get dressed ridiculously slowly, make school snacks, breakfast and lunch, supervise cleaning chores, make sure everyone has their snack and homework and hair done and walk to wait for the bus. Go to a staff meeting, which in true Latin American style goes all morning. Come back in time to meet the school bus, lunch, cleaning, showers, homework, explain division for the hundredth time, play outside (still amazing weather), cook dinner. Sleep.
Wednesday 5am. The usual snacks, breakfast, supervise chores and getting dressed and walking to the bus. Then go with 3 of the kids to the city (an hour and a half drive with stops), try and study spanish while waiting for 3.5 hours in the psychologists while they each have their appointment. Afterwards wait at the office for another hour or two with the kids, until we´re finally ready to head home. Lunch at 3pm, homework, eat cereal for dinner cos still no money for food. Find a fly in my cereal. We have so many flies it´s ridiculous. Worse than Australia believe it or not. Go to church (half an hour late), try to keep the girls from falling asleep on me but don´t succeed. 10pm, sleep.
Thursday same 5am routine. Finally have a quiet morning, finally get to wash clothes, finally get to sleep a bit. Normal day, girls home an hour early; cooking, cleaning, washing dishes, explaining division, sorting out disputes, breaking up the occasional fight, teaching how to say ´cry baby´and ´crazy´in english, playing marbles, giving lots of hugs. Great weather still, strange for rainy season. Get a massive bruise while playing football but totally worth it. Cook, clean, sleep.
Friday 5am normal start. The couple who run the home very kindly took me out to breakfast at Pollo Campero; afterwards, run some errands, then get home in time to cook lunch, pick up the girls, and then to shake things up a bit we took lunch over to the swimming pools in our housing estate. 2 of the girls are sick and were very sad that they weren´t allowed to swim. Ran some races and games and then ate in the sunshine. Supervise showers, cleaning, pack my backpack, then leave to sleep the weekend away in the city….
Filed under: Life in Guatemala
Frijoles con crema, huevos estrellados y pastel…
[The cake isn´t normal....only for girl´s birthdays. But a lot of them are having 2 birthdays this year as the first time around they forgot to take photos, so to replace the gaps in the Salem album we are celebrating birthdays for a second time round....]
Filed under: Life in Guatemala
The couple that work in Salem, Victor and Sandra, work 15 days on then get a 3 day break, before starting 15 days again. They are on duty 24/7, with no lunch or coffee breaks. I have never heard them complain.
One of the teachers in the spanish school I went to gets up at 3am to start work in her family bakery, where she works through til the morning and starts teaching at the school. If there are enough students, she will work through til the end of the day. Week in, week out.
I have also met many people who work 2 jobs during the week, and attend university on the weekends to try and get a degree.
As someone who has grown up in a country of unions and rights and labour laws and government handouts, I´ve had a thing or two to learn about hardwork and appreciating options. Many people here have the mundane job of selling snacks or pens on buses simply because it´s the only option some of them have to try and earn a living. I often wonder how many bus vendors or shoe shiners could be Einsteins or Da Vincis, but just haven´t had the chance? I have spent so much thinking about what to study, what kind of job I would like, what to do with my life; and have unfortunately taken these opportunities for granted.
How frustrating it must be to have an unfulfilling job and no opportunity to change. And yet, these incredible survivors of the human race in countries all around the world get up and keep going and work hard and make life happen; waking up at 3am to work in bakeries, or looking after 12 kids for 15 days straight.
Are we too spoiled? Have we forgotten the meaning of hard work, of realising that not everything in life can be fun? Certainly labour laws and your health are important. But the difference I see in the general attitude toward work here is so completely different than at home.
I just wonder, if we were willing to work a bit harder, what might get done. We sing in church week after week about how we will go no matter what the cost and how we will be His hands and feet; but then we go out for coffee and have a good time and actually do very little about the millions of children living on the streets of this world´s cities or the thousands of people dying each day of preventable diseases or the new churches in remote communities desperate for some good Bible teaching.
At first when I started work here I found it hard that I was living at my job, not being able to leave it behind at night, settle back for an easy evening of food and chatting online to friends at home. But what if living a life of service isn´t a job, but a life? What if the cost (not just financial) is really high, but the children or families or whoever oh-so-worth it? Victor and Sandra aren´t just singing about it. They´re doing it, serving the least of these, feeding the hungry, being His hands and feet, giving their lives.
These are the people I really, really respect.
