Stuck in Guatemala

Unfortunately, things have not been going smoothly here in Guatemala and I have run into some bad luck. As you may have heard, Thursday night, the day before my flight home from Guatemala a volcano erupted and shower Guatemala City in ashes and sand. The airports have been shut down indefinitely as they try to clean off the runways. To make matters worse, we are being hit with what is now being designated Tropical Storm Agatha. It has been pouring for two straight days and with no end in sight. Roads are closed, streets and homes flooded. I'm currently at the CFCA headquarters in San Lucas Toliman where we are experiencing our own water problems.

My rescheduled flight is for Tuesday, June 1st at 6:30AM. This is, of course, assuming that the airport is open by then and that the streets are accessible as I am about 3 hours from the airport.

Wish me luck getting home!

MAT April 2010

A few weeks ago we ended another great Mission Awareness Trip in Guatemala. It was the smallest group that has ever come to San Lucas (15). The nice part about having such a small group is that everyone gets to know each other really well, and I definitely felt that this was one of the closest groups I have seen in my time down here. Some MAT groups are quiet and reserved but April group was very outgoing and hands-on.

Some highlights of the trip:

Sunday: Lunch in Patulul; first interaction with sponsored families
Monday: Meeting sponsored children and families and having the sponsors dance the YMCA on stage
Tuesday: Visit to Santa Maria; boat ride to San Pedro La Laguna; intense drive up a mountain; eating typical Guatemalan lunch; visiting sponsored family homes
Wednesday: Mayan Prayer; parrish projects; talk with Fr. John

Thursday: Solidarity walk; playing soccer with sponsored children; eating about seven meals; 
Friday: Antigua Guatemala

Thanks so much to all the sponsors who came down and made this trip one of the best yet!

I have posted pictures from the trip on Facebook so click here for the link.

Solidarity Walk in San Lucas

The staff of Hermano Pedro in San Lucas will be completing a walk of solidarity with Bob and all the walkers on the 29th of every month. There is a prayer service held and then about a 15km walk to Cerro de Oro. Here are some pictures from the walk in January.

St. James Academy MAT March 2010

On March 15 Luis and I headed to Guatemala City again to pick up a group of high school juniors and seniors from St. James Academy, KC. The group arrived all in red and we drove them to lunch. I found it funny that their first experience of Guatemalan food would be...McDonalds. Oh well. Afterwards, we drove them the 3 hours back to the center. There, the staff was waiting with song and a ribbon to cut. The kids were pretty tired from all the travel so after dinner and a quick intro presentation about CFCA, it was bedtime.

Tuesday we took a boat across the Lake Atitlan and made our way to Nahualá to help out with their reforestation project. We got to play some soccer with a few of the scholarship students and then afterwards we started our long walk to the project site. Upon arriving, we ate lunch (hamburgers i.e. more Guatemalan food) and learned how to plant the trees. The kids were given 100 trees to plant and after lunch they got to work. Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves and worked really hard. The people of the community were very appreciative of the effort. Maybe we´ll all go back in 10 years and see how it looks. That evening the kids were shown a video of Bob Hentzen and his walk. Afterwards, we took the group outside to a bonfire and had an activity where everyone wrote down one thing that they wanted to see disappear from our world and they burned that in the fire. Then they replaced it with something positive by lighting a candle.

Wednesday was a tough work day for everyone. We walked down to Lake Atitlan which is still very much contaminated. At the lake a community leader showed us how they are cleaning the lake. Essentially, the algae that has formed carries bacteria that is damaging the lake so the idea is to simply get it out. And that´s what we did. Many got sunburned and were exhausted by the end of the day. Luckily we got some ice cream in the afternoon and got to ride the cattle truck back up to the center. That evening was our soccer tournament. We invited staff from other projects to come and play and the kids really had a good time playing late into the night.

Thurday we took the group to a subproject in Mazate where they were greeted with a grand reception including flower pedals, singing and dancing. At the end of the presentation, the little sponsored children came up and gave everyone hugs. In the afternoon, we went to an amusement park called Xetulul where the kids got to go on rides, eat lunch, bumper cars, and we even saw a magic show. Later back at the center the team had prepared an obstacle course for the jovenes which included egg balancing, mummies, marshmellows, sack races, and a scavenger hunt. We followed that up with dancing and, of course, more soccer.

Friday was a special day because we had the opportunity to visit the home of a sponsored family. The kids were able to see and hear the struggles of a single mother with her 8 children and how CFCA is helping. It was very emotional and moving for many of them. After the visit, we went to Antigua and everyone was free to go shopping and eat lunch. That night we headed back to the capital and ate dinner at the Conquistador hotel. We wrapped up the week with a sharing circle where everyone could talk about what they experienced and how they can bring what they have learned back with them to KC.

Saturday morning we drove the St. James group to the airport at 4:30AM and said our last goodbyes. It was a wonderful trip and I was really glad I got to be a part of it. Thanks to all the wonderful people I met from St. James and good luck the rest of the school year!

Here you can find links to more CFCA pictures from the week

...and here too!

Encuentro deportivo

One of my activities here in Guatemala is organizing "sports days" with sponsored children of the eight different subproject in Solola. The projects invite the kids and on Saturdays I go to help facilitate the event. A lot of times I referee and therefore, I get yelled at a lot :) The first project I went to invited just boys and we played soccer at a nearby field. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed getting out and playing some organized ball. The next week I visited Santiago Atitlan and, although not to man kids were able to show up, we still had a good time playing fut. Last week I was in Santa Lucia Utatlan. Not only did the sponsored boys come to play soccer but sponsored girls and mothers of families came to play basketball. It was a wonderful event and the mothers really got after it on the court. They've got some skills! Finally, yesterday I was in Santa Maria Visitacion where we played both soccer and basketball with both girls and boys.

The idea of the games is to get the kids out and have them get to know one another. CFCA talks a lot about how we are one big family from the sponsors to the sponsored children, from volunteers to CFCA staff. These events really foster that idea and most importantly they are a lot of fun!

To see more photos please visit this link to my facebook photo album

Mission Awareness Trip December 2009

Photos of December MAT 2009

OK, so I’m going back in time about two months but I really wanted to write about my first MAT experience as Mission Awareness Trips are really at the heart of CFCA and represent what our organization is all about. For those who don’t know, I will explain a bit about what a MAT is. A MAT gives sponsors the opportunity to come and meet their sponsored child and family in person, learn about CFCA, visit the homes of sponsored families, and observe and explore the hosting country. It is really a life-changing experience for sponsors who have been receiving pictures and letter from children in another country for years and years, but in a MAT, the relationship becomes “real”. There really is a child at the other end receiving benefits every month, waiting anxiously for cards and letters, and praying daily for their sponsor. And I say all this without having experienced it in its true form. I have not had the opportunity to visit our families sponsored child in Mexico. I simply witness this remarkable exchange between sponsor and sponsored child as an outsider.

As part of my volunteer responsibilities, I work as the translator for Mission Awareness Trips, helping with the planning and organization of the week’s activities along with the MAT coordinator. MATs are generally between 20-30 sponsors, but because of Bob’s walk starting in December, there was no limit put on this particular one. Over 70 sponsors attended making my first MAT experience an unforgettable one (and quite busy as well).

I arrived at the airport to pick up the sponsors with Dani, another CFCA volunteer. We were coming from our Christmas trip in Santa Rosa, Honduras. Because of the number of sponsors coming, we took one group to San Lucas in the afternoon leaving the other group in Guatemala City in the hotel. I accompanied the first group along with Bob. After dinner at the Hermano Pedro Project everyone headed to bed early. Usually, the HP project can provide rooms for all sponsors on a MAT but because 70+ were coming, we booked a hotel in town. I stayed with the group in town and we were able to walk around and I showed them a bit of San Lucas.

The following day we visited a subproject in Cerro de Oro which is about 30 minutes away from San Lucas. There the sponsors were entertained with a number of presentations by sponsored children. We later split into groups and visited the homes of sponsored families. The home visit is a real eye-opening experience. The sponsors are able to see the reality that the families are living in. The mothers talk to the sponsors about their families, what they do, and their experience with sponsorship program. They are very excited to have visitors and are extremely hospitable.

Monday of a MAT is probably the most exciting day. Beginning very early in the morning, the sponsored families start to arrive in San Lucas. Some of the families come from so far away that they must leave the day before just to get to San Lucas in the morning. One family I met traveled over 12 hours. The sponsored families are then met by their sponsors and the hugging begins. It was incredible for me to watch these families, from different parts of the world, many of whom had never even met, crying with joy upon seeing one another. During this visit, I was translating for one family who had 3 sponsored children. Many sponsors bring special gifts for their sponsored children. The family I was working with brought backpacks filled crayons, markers, coloring books, candy, and games. I spent much of the morning helping explain UNO to the young Guatemalan boy. Not only do the US families bring gifts but the sponsored families occasionally do as well. The mother weaved the name of her child’s sponsor into a beautiful cloth and the father hand-made a bag as well. At times I found myself caught between working/translating for the families and just watching and being swept up in the emotion of the whole encounter.

In the afternoon, sponsors and sponsored families are invited to come forward to give a testimony about their experience of the day and or sponsorship in general. It’s so interesting how both sponsor and sponsee are equally grateful for one another. Everyone had such wonderful things to say and you can see that the MAT experience is already changing lives. Later, in the outdoor gym there were cultural performances done by children from all different subprojects. Even sponsors got up on stage to participate. Mass followed and was dedicated to Bob and Christina who were to start their walk in the morning. After mass, the sponsored families headed back home. This is always a sad time as everyone must say goodbye, not knowing if they will ever meet again in person.

Although exhausted from an eventful day, the sponsors stayed up for one final activity call the Mayan Prayer. This is a special prayer lead by Bob which is based on the beliefs of the Mayan people. The ground is covered in pine needles (a sign of celebration), flower pedals, candles, and more. The prayer includes songs, “Love the Children” in this case, lighting of candles, and prayers facing each of the four cardinal directions. I’ll leave it at that and simply encourage you to make a MAT to learn the rest. Everyone was anxious now for bed because the walk was to begin in the morning…4:00 in the morning that is.

With fireworks blasting overhead and the mariachi band singing away, the Walk 2gether Second Pilgrimage of Faith was about to kick off. All the sponsors were there along with special staff from Kansas to document the event. A prayer was said by Father Juan from the local parish and at 4:00 exactly the walk began. The streets of San Lucas were filled with people and fireworks continued to explode everywhere. Although still dark, I could make out many of the banners and balloons that had been put up all over the town. It was one big party in the streets. Each new town that we entered brought with it a fresh group of walkers. We were thousands walking down the narrow roads of Guatemala with shouts and cheers breaking the calm of that Tuesday morning. We stopped every 10 kilometers to rest and eat. When we arrived at the 30km marker, we all had lunch in Patulul. I stopped there to lead the sponsors on another home visit, while a few sponsors toughed it out and went for the full 40. It was an incredible day for all involved and it was just a taste of what was to come in Honduras.

Wednesday was spent in Santiago Atitlan. Presentations were performed and we visited another home. There we met a sponsored aging who made baskets (check the link for photos of this visit). We also went to the church and learned a bit about Fr. Rother, a martyr who was assassinated during the civil war in Guatemala (1960-96). The sponsors were also able to shop in the town market.

Thursday we went on a tour of the San Lucas Parish projects in town. We visited the women’s center, the coffee plantation, clinic, and the reforestation project. In the afternoon we returned to the parish and listened to a talk done by Fr. Greg Schaffer. I have now heard him speak to sponsors twice and he is simply an amazing man. He has dedicated his entire life to the people of San Lucas and just last week he celebrated 50 years of priesthood. If you would like to know more about Fr. Greg or the San Lucas Mission click here.

That evening was New Year's Eve and the HP staff put together quite a little party. Good food, drink, mariachi music, dancing, and finally, firework. A perfect end to great week in San Lucas.

Friday we left early to Antigua, Guatemala. Here the sponsors were able to eat and shop for a few hours before we went to the Guatemala City for the final dinner. Saturday morning we drove the sponsors to the airport group by group and said our goodbyes.

My first Mission Awareness Trip was unforgettable and I’m excited for the 14 (!) more that there are this year in Guatemala!

Please note that due to the very slow uploading program at blogspot, I have posted links to a facebook photo album with all the pictures from this MAT. Check it out!

Mission Awareness Trip December 29, 2009

How you can help Bob and CFCA

Remember to check out the website following Bob from Guatemala to Chile


http://www.walk2gether.org/en.aspx


I'll be walking the first 2 weeks in Honduras! Follow me!

Update

Just an update on what I’m doing now in Guatemala. After spending Christmas in Honduras, participating on the Walk2gether send off, and just finishing up my first Mission Awareness Trip, I am back in the office in Sololá. I began teaching English classes in December to the social workers of the Sololá region and am holding a special class for translators every Friday. I teach classes two full weeks out of the month. I travel to the 8 different subprojects of Sololá. I have to travel by bus, van, pickup, boat, mototaxi, and by foot to get to all the different locations. It’s a lot of traveling but I am really enjoying teaching these classes and I am excited to continue. I also began organizing soccer tournaments for each subproject on Saturday mornings. The winner of the subprojects will then face off in an inter-regional tournament later in the year and we will crown a Sololá champion.

My schedule for the coming weeks looks like this:

Jan 5-7 I will be joining the walk for some activity days with my co-workers from the regional office to say goodbye to Bob as he leaves Guatemala and crosses into El Salvador.

Jan 14-28 I will be participating on the first leg of the walk in Honduras. There are usually 3-4 days of walking and then a rest/activity day. I hope I can make it the whole way. We start walking at 4AM and each day will walk between 35-40 kilometers (about 25 miles). We will be camping out in tents and sleeping bag, or in churches and schools.

Feb 1 My schedule will be back to normal and I will be back in the office working/translating/teaching.

Feb 6-13 Mission Awareness Trip where I will be the translator and help to organize and lead all of the weeks activities.

That’s about it for now. Feliz Año Nuevo!

Christmas 2010 Santa Rosa, Honduras

This year, I got to spend Christmas 2009 in Santa Rosa, Honduras at the Hogar de Niñas, an orphanage for girls. Dani, a volunteer herself, has been living there and working for CFCA for over a year. She was pulled out because of the political instability of the country. Dani and I left on December 21 at 5:00AM to catch a bus into Guatemala City. In Guate, we had to go and pick up my passport, which was being kept by Guatemalan Migración.

Just a quick back story on how it ended up there: I had gone the Friday before to the city to renew my passport as my 90 days were about to expire. I had a co-worker with me, Don Santiago, who was familiar with the city. We left at 3:00 in the morning to get a bus and avoid traffic. It’s about a 3-hour trip if you are lucky. The bus was on time, but that was about all that went right. First of all, we went to the wrong location. My guide lead me to the US Embassy and after waiting in line for a while and finally getting up to the window, the woman said that I was mistaken and needed to go to immigration. OK. No problem. I arrived about an hour later at the correct place after asking for directions, taking a number of buses and then walking the majority of the way. The woman at the window asked me if I had a passport size photo. I said I did not as this was never mentioned on any information I had about renewing passports within the country. She told me it was required so I had to go across the street to a mall and get pictures taken there. So I did. 50 Quetzales later I was back with copies of my passport, credit card, photo and the passport itself. She then tells me that I can pay for the renewal at the bank next door. Fine. So I wait in line at the bank to pay. It ended up being around $20 (a large amount of for a volunteer living on $100 a month).

Finally, I think that I am finished. I go back to the original window with my receipt and I’m thinking, you know, it was a big pain, I’m sweating, I’m tired, but it will be worth it to not have to leave the country to get another stamp. I’m ready for her to hand back my passport and in a very chipper voice she says to me “You can pick up your passport on Monday at 10:00AM”. I just stood there staring at her. “You’ve got to be kidding,” I thought. Maybe I had heard wrong. She looks at me funny and gestures her arms so as to indicate “We are done here. See you Monday”. I turned around and looked at Santiago who had been with me waiting around all day and told him the news. He couldn’t believe it either. We took a bus back to San Lucas arriving at around 4PM. After a 13-hour trip, I was returning with less than I had started with. No passport.

Luckily, picking it up that Monday was not much trouble. Armed with my documentation and fully legal, we set out to look for the bus that would take us to Esquipulas. It took some doing but we found it and were headed for the boarder. From Esquipulas you have to take a taxi across the border. At immigration in Honduras we had a little scare as they wanted to charge Dani $154 for still having a piece of paper in her passport that they were supposed to have taken out when she left the last time. We finally convinced the employee that we were volunteers and we didn’t have that money and that it wasn’t her fault that the paper was still there. We then arrived in Acotepeque, Honduras and saw one of Dani’s co-workers there. She told us they would take us to Santa Rosa in their pickup. One less bus for us to take. We slept most of the way an arrived in Santa Rosa at around 10PM. A full day’s travel.

I stayed close to the orphanage in the Hogar de Ancianos, or old-folks home. The nuns there were so nice and I had my own room all prepared when I got there.

The next day, Dani came by and we walked to the orphanage to meet the girls. When we got there, I was immediately mobbed. Everyone wanted a hug and to know my name and, more than anything, to touch my beard. The girls were so sweet and we played games all afternoon. I met the nuns who run the home and everyone there was so welcoming. In the afternoon, Dani showed me around town and I met more friends and co-workers. Later that night we even went out for Chinese food. The next day, Dani and I went with Ricardo and Iris, the people who drove us from Acotepeque, to visit a community in San Miguel. It was a long drive and the roads sort of disappear after a while. This will be one of the places that Don Roberto will stop and visit on the activity day of his walk through Honduras. It was really neat to see and be involved in the community itself and see how excited they were to be able to host Bob Hentzen in their town. What is even more exciting for me is that I will be on the walk with Bob for 2 weeks in Honduras so I will get to go to the community again and see what they have prepared. We went back to Santa Rosa that night, stopping on the way at a sponsored families home, where they served us tamales (a traditional Christmas food).

Thursday was Christmas Eve, or La Noche Buena. This is the day were most of the Christmas celebrating takes place in Central America. Everyone stays up late to see the fireworks at midnight and eat a special late-night dinner. It preparation, we spent the morning decorating the orphanage with holiday drawings done by the girls. I even drew a Santa Clause for my group. Many of the girls helped the nuns to make the tamales that would be eaten later that night. In the afternoon, Dani and I lead the girls in making gingerbread houses. Ours did not turn out very good due to the fact that it had expired a while back. The girls still had fun with it and were very dedicated.

We had Mass at 5 and all the girls dressed in their Sunday best. That night for dinner, I learned to make tortillas (although mine lacked a certain “roundness” quality typical of the staple food). Later that night we watched “Elf”, a Christmas favorite of the girls. and as midnight approached, everyone came outside to watch the fireworks and receive presents. It was a very different Christmas for me, being away from home for the first time, but to spend La Navidad with the girls from Santa Rosa was a great experience and one that I will always remember.

On Christmas day, we said our goodbyes and thank you’s and headed back to Acotepeque to meet Bob and Christina Hentzen who have a house there. The following morning, we accompanied them to Guatemala City to greet the sponsors who were arriving for the December 2009 Mission Awareness Trip. More to come on this incredible week.