This has been another good but exhausting week. I have been a guide for a group from Woodbridge Virginia and translating. There has also been a group here from Aldersgate, a church I worked with last summer when I was here. It has been great to meet new people and make new friends and catching up with old friends and sharing stories. This week we’ve been working in Chucavioc, a community I worked a little with last summer. It’s been great to interact with the women and children of the community. Today I was able to go to a fun church I visited last summer and be a guide for several people. It was great to see places I’ve visited before and remembered! We’re about to take the group out salsa dancing!
Guide! July 18, 2010
These last two weeks in Guatemala have been great but also very busy. We had a week off between groups. 5 or 6 days that week some interns and I climbed Baul, a large mountain in Xela. The first time I felt sick, I think due to altitude sickness. We’re at about 8,000 feet in Xela and then climbing quite a bit. However after that first time I did a lot better!
Last week I was a guide for a group from Staunton Va and had a great time. I was really in my element and had a great week. We worked in a community near San Marcos, Los Alanzos. I was the translator for the group and also the coordinator for activities at night. I tried to make sure everyone was having a good time and doing what they wanted. It was great to get to know all the people from the States and the people in the community. The women were very welcoming and it was great to hear Mam, a Mayan language. Usually we work in areas where we hear K’iche, another Mayan language. I think the group had a great time. Most of the group was from Highland County Va and have thick southern accents. By the time they left I found myself saying Y’all. One of the group members said I’d be trilingual by the time they left- fluent in Spanish, English and Hick-language!
We only had one minor incident this week, one of the team members had an asthma attack from exercising in the high altitude. She was helping with the construction of a kitchen at a school where we were visiting. We were taking her back to where we were staying when we decided it may be best to just take her to the hospital so I had my first hospital visit in Guatemala and served as a translator. Thankfully she was fine after oxygen and a breathing treatment and then of course we made her take it very easy for the rest of the trip.
This week I’ll be working with two groups as a guide and translator. Hopefully it goes as well as it did last week and doesn’t include a hospital visit!
Week with midwives July 5, 2010
This week we had a group from VCU come to learn about Mayan midwives. It was an interesting and great experience. The group was very socially active and clearly believed in what the Highland Support Project and AMA (Association of the Women of the Highlands) is doing. For the week they went to a community in the Highlands that I had actually visited before last summer and sat in on a midwife training. It was fun to walk into the community and remember homes and where a group from Brandermill worked. Some of the women in the community and surrounding communities are training to be midwives while serving as midwives. Two elderly women who are trained and experienced midwives conducted the training. For the first day I sat in on the training and it was so interesting to learn how a midwife can tell if a women is 2 months pregnant without a pregnancy test. The second day I helped translate for a group who was providing basic health training. There was a teacher who had come to train some of the younger women in the community who were interested in being health promoters. Thankfully there was a doctor with the VCU group who works for a free health center who knew many of the health words in Spanish as I don’t know all of the health words. For the second part of the training the teacher talked about how to raise children with love. Thankfully these were all words I knew so I was able to translate as the doctor with the VCU didn’t know these words as well. It was great to have a chance to learn about how children are raised. She stressed not lying in front of your children as they are sponges and pick up everything. She also talked about not hitting your children, especially not when you are mad. The third day I was the only translator for the health promoter group and the group from VCU. It was a lot of fun to be part of the communication between three languages and the interest in the topics.
One of the really interesting parts of the week for me was working with activists who were very weary of religion. I am well aware of what missionaries have done in the name of religion. However I still call myself Christian. It was interesting at times to be with Americans, and not only from the VCU group, who were weary of anyone who called themselves Christian. I heard many times this past week negative things and negative connotations regarding missionaries in Central America. Since I was an assistant guide this week I had many interactions with the group but was never really introduced to the entire group so many did not know that I am a seminary student. As I got to know more of the adults from VCU some of them asked what I do and it was fun to share who I am and what I do. Many seemed interested in my seminary and how it relates to the organization I’m working with this summer.
Today and yesterday I climbed a large mountain right outside of Xela. Today I had great conversations with my co-interns about religion. I realize that my entire life I will be up against those who have done horrible things and hurt people in the name of Christianity and will have to explain my personal beliefs as they may differ from what one assumes about Christians. I know though that I am doing what I am called to do because I enjoy those conversations and enjoy loving people regardless of barriers. It’s been a fulfilling and fun week full of surprises!
back in guate June 28, 2010
I just arrived back in Guatemala after a short trip home. Thankfully my flights all went well and I didn’t get sick on the drive back! This week there are a group of midwives and teachers here. It’s been really fun to learn about midwifery. I arrived just before another tormenta, tropical storm/depression Alex arrived yesterday and has been dumping a lot of rain. We went to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan yesterday but had to leave early due to all the rain and the roads. At some parts the roads had a lot of mud or rocks on them and were down to one lane. Thankfully our driver Josef is very skilled! There was one part where we could see a raging waterfall. I’m glad to be back and have my Spanish coming back!
Recovering from the Storm June 2, 2010
Guatemala is recovering from the tropical storm that hit this past weekend. Thanks for checking up on me, I am fine. The hardest hit in the city where I’m living, Quetzaltenango, was unfortunately the poorer areas. They are still cleaning up from flooding. Most of the villages we work with are ok, their roads were hardest hit. One village did have substantial flooding and I believe a lot of homes were destroyed. Hopefully within the next week we’ll be able to visit and assist in however possible.
Lupe, one of the founders of HSP, flew down today. Unfortunately her airline is not flying into Guatemala City even though the airport has reopened. Her flight was redirected to El Salvador and she will be picked up tomorrow. Hopefully the roads won’t be too bad and she’ll arrive safely soon!
Today I went to one of the local universities to learn about the Mayan Calendar. The courtyard inside the university is beautiful. I was the only white person around so of course stood out! The meeting went well, it was with a Mayan priest. He told Claudia and I his “call story” about his journey becoming a priest.
Since this weekend it has barely rained. Unfortunately that means the dust is very bad. I find myself hoping for rain to keep the dust down! Just hopefully not another tropical storm!
It’s been fun realizing that I know more Spanish than I thought! I seem to be more confident with my Spanish this year and am less nervous when I know I’ll have to understand and speak it. It’s a great feeling after taking soo many years of it in school!
Mother Nature May 29, 2010
This has been a crazy weather week in Guatemala. On Thursday a volcano erupted in Guatemala. The volcano is near Antigua and Guatemala City, at least 2 hours from where I’m living in Xela. I’m so glad I wasn’t to arrive today in Guatemala!
In Xela it’s the rainy season. Usually that means it rains every afternoon, somewhere between 2-7. This week it’s meant rain non-stop. For the past few days there has been nothing but rain. It’s also a bit chilly, in the upper 50s. Last night we went to a discoteca and the road outside the club was literally a river. Today it’s continued to rain, sometimes with very strong rains. One of the other volunteers came over this afternoon and told me that she’d spent all morning trying to save her neighbor’s house. She lives a little downhill from me and her neighbor’s house was flooded this morning. She said water was just spilling out of the toilet and shower. They spent hours trying to get the water out of the house. The roads are all very muddy and wet. I took a walk to the park and saw some roads are closed due to the rain. Everywhere there’s debris and dirt. Needless to say I haven’t gone out much the past few days. I’m glad I have a bit of food so I won’t starve! Hopefully soon the rains will let up and I can get out again!
1st week May 27, 2010
So I’ve had a good but also interesting first week. Because there are no groups here yet I’ve actually been bored, which is an interesting feeling when you realize you’re in another country! However things are beginning to pick up and I’m sure soon I’ll yearn for these days!
On Monday I went to a women’s circle meeting with a group passing through from Chicago. The organization I’m here with, AMA, works toward the empowerment of women. One way they do this is by creating women’s circles where women come and share how things are going, share ideas and do group activities. They were kind enough to do a mock meeting and included us in the activities. Afterward they taught us how to make tortillas and allowed the group to attempt to flatten them. I loved the finished product! Next they made Mole for us, it’s almost like a Spanish version of a grits/oatmeal mixture with black beans on top. My mom would’ve loved it! It wasn’t too bad – and that’s coming from a girl who despises grits! Next the women showed us how they weave, just a table weaving can take up to 2 weeks if it doesn’t have an intricate design, and that’s working 6 hours/day. The more intricate ones can take a month or more.
Tuesday I worked mostly in the office translating, which was fun but very taxing on the brain. I had to take breaks to just read something in English! I also went to the market by myself and bought things for dinner. The time change has been weird on my body and I find I’m getting full very quickly. But I enjoyed eating my American version of sauteed green beans and red peppers Tuesday night!
Today I went with Hilda and Claudia, two AMA employees to a community, Tierra Colorado Alto, to teach them how to make bread for extranjeros- tourists or foreigners. It was great to hear the town gossip about who was pregnant etc before we began the work! I documented the process to show donors of AMA and HSP, the two sister organizations in Guatemala and Richmond. It was really interesting to see how the bread was made. They made wheat bread, and mixed it all by hand, similar to the process of mixing cement in which a volcano is made and the wet ingredients are placed in the middle of the dry ingredients and then mixed. No bowls were used, it was very interesting to watch. I even got to sample the end product- it was delicious! There was one little boy who was 4 or 5 who had developmental delays, and it was interesting to see how the family interacted with him. They were very kind to him but still allowed him to move about some on his own. Another little girl was transfixed by my hair and my skin. It was great to chat with some of the women in Spanish. After baking bread we walked down most of the mountain until a pick-up truck came by and gave us a ride. We then got a ride from a service man and then took a Chicken bus. I’m glad my first chicken bus experience was with other Guatemalans who knew when to get off! A chicken us is the Guatemalan version of public transportation and it is a big yellow school bus. We then went to lunch at a community I worked in last summer- Tierra Colorado Bajo. Several of the kids were at a house that I helped translate. They seemed to remember me and it was fun to talk about people in group who built their family a stove. I love that even a foreign country can feel like a small world! After a delicious lunch of tomales and chicken and what tasted like an apple-cinnamon drink we set out for Xela, and took another Chicken bus and then a local van back to where I’m living. I was glad to be back and ready to speak English with another one of the volunteers here!
Tonight I had about an hour chat in Spanish about what I believe as a Christian. I explained my theology about the Old and New Testaments and how they’re related in Spanish! Seminary and Spanish are paying off!
Arrived in Guatemala! May 23, 2010
Yesterday a housemate’s boyfriend graciously agreed to take me to the airport. After a flight to the infamous Miami international airport, where I swear I walked a mile before getting to my terminal, I had my second flight to Guatemala. Everything went well and my luggage and I arrived safely on-time! Kirsten, who I’d met last year, was at the airport to pick me up along with a new AMA driver Meme. After driving for about an hour we stopped at a gas station for bathrooms and snacks. Since I had only had two bagels, one at 5:30am, and then one at 12pm, I thought it’d be smart to eat. Bad idea. My stomach did not like the two landings and then really didn’t like the windy roads after 4 chips. Needless to say after having to have Meme pull over twice, I was not feeling well at all. Meme graciously went to a nearby pharmacy for me and I took some Guatemalan Dramamine. After arriving at the AMA house, Kirsten took me to a nearby store to pick up some soup for dinner. She also showed me how to use the alarm, key and internet! After she left I decided I needed to shower after throwing up in my hands and felt much better, especially once I discovered how to get hot water! I finally felt well enough to try to eat again so I heated up some soup. I put in a DVD show I’d brought to watch and during the show there was a huge clap of thunder and then the loudest downpour I’d ever heard before in my life! I quickly turned off my computer and decided it was time to go to bed!
I’m having a wonderful time though. I’d forgotten how beautiful everything is in Guatemala. Kirsten and I went to the market today and the vegetables are just so beautiful. The colors are beyond vivid! I’m so excited to see what this trip to Guatemala has in store! Thanks to all who are praying for me and my time here!
