Life in Retirement -
Guatemala
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By Vicki McCudden (co-authored by David S)
VOLUNTEERING IN GUATEMALA
Chichicastenango
TEAM CANADA
We started our fundraising, back in October, with a goal of US$4,500; the cost of building the 3 homes and stoves that we signed up for with Missions Frontier, an American Missionary group that has worked down in Guatemala for many years.
Our families and friends came through with the most incredible generosity, that we far…far exceeded our goal!
Altogether, the Team raised just over US$13,000 plus clothing, tools, books and library supplies from friends, families and colleagues. As a result, not only were we able to help the three Mayan families that we originally set out to help, but we were able to donate the balance of the money towards the micro-financing fund that Matt Capehart and his team have established. This fund provides loans to families, so that they can build and own their own homes, rather than pay rent for what is typically an utterly miserable and squalid room or shack.
We left Toronto in the very early hours at the end of January and flew to Guatemala City and then a three hour trip north to the market town of Chichicastenango high in the mountains. Our first full day was Sunday; we all headed down toLa Colonia in the valley below the hotel. It was so great to visit with the families we’d worked with before, when we helped build their homes and stoves. We had toys and dolls for the kids, as well as Canada badges to hand out.
The afternoon was spent ‘supporting the economy’ in the Chichicastenango market! Our first working day saw us higher up in the mountains, building a new house for a family who had lost theirs to a tropical storm. The new home’s site still looked pretty precarious to us, but that’s where they wanted to rebuild!
The site for home #1 was a 45 minute dusty and bumpy ride northwest of Chichi.
Home #1.Completed by midafternoon
We seemed to just keep on climbing up and up. Thank heavens for diesel powered minivans with serious suspension!
Working hard
The second working day had us building in a much flatter area about 1¼ hours north of Chichi – a drive that took us through the town of Santa Cruz del Quiché, to the village of Paquiacaj. We were getting really good at this – all but one of us had done it before – and home #2 was finished, dedicated, and blessed (by the local Pastor) by early afternoon! We took the time to build a few benches out of scrap lumber left over from the build, which the kids just loved!
The daughters of the house try out the new bench!
The third and final house was also in the Pacuiacaj area. This family consisted of grandmother, mother and grandchildren. Their home was in a lovely wooded site on level ground, with some great views of the surrounding area.
The mother made us feel pretty inadequate… demonstrating how easy it was to carry two cement blocks on her head, while her son carried one as well. At one point, she had two on her head and one in each hand!
By this stage, Team Canada was a well-oiled machine, and had the home completed by just after noon. That gave us time to ‘down’ our daily rations of chicken burritos, chips and water, while the family and our Mayan helpers, enjoyed some broth that Granny had made. It actually looked pretty good, but we all reckoned that our delicate North American stomachs would rebel against it pretty quickly! On the way back to the mission, we stopped and checked out the Mayan ruins at Utatlan, just outside Santa Cruz delQuiché.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edna and I stayed on for the second week – the rest of the team were younger than us and had to get back to their jobs in Toronto. They thought they worked hard building three houses and stoves in three days. That was nothing compared with all Edna and I did the following week! We learnt that it is much more difficult to start a library than build a house! Everyone agrees that houses are important; but we had to open up peoples’ minds to the value of borrowing books from a library. Kids will steal books. Families don’t understand the concept. Too difficult. Too much admin. Reading is not part of the culture. Bedtime reading is the Bible. I wonder why we teach children to read when there are no books for them to read and have fun with. In the local schools there are very few books even in the classrooms. The students have one workbook for each subject.
We did a lot of prep work on Friday and over the weekend. On the Monday Edna and I got up at 6am and worked (except for meals) till 9:30pm! We went down to the big school for the start of the school day at 7:15am. The directress was very welcoming and we spent the morning starting on “the library”. We sorted and ditched books and documents from the sixties onward and then reinvented the Dewey Decimal system of library organisation to the “Vicki and Edna” system which is much simpler. Each book has a card and pocket and spine label but is also colour coded and the catalogue only has one card per book. Over 500 books on the shelves– so we did not have time to do all but left instructions in Spanish.
I wrote instructions out in Spanish often enough that the directresss complimented me on my written Spanish (obviously in contrast to my pathetic attempts at speaking it)! We then hurried up to the Grade 9 class for our first English lesson. Edna (a doctor) is a natural in front of the class!
Lots more prep for 2 hours of English classes to the adults each afternoon. We had about 16 students. A teacher and the secretary from the big school and hotel staff – waiters, cleaning ladies, night watchmen, front desk, Sebastian, etc. Obviously some more advanced, and some who could not read at all in any language. They were very shy to start with but gradually loosened up and I think I can say we all had fun. They were very eager to learn and wrote down everything in the notebooks we had got for them. Classes every afternoon and a party to celebrate at the end.
Later in the week we were scheduled to work mornings at the little school “El Camino” A different experience again. Keira, the principal, was so full of enthusiasm. Sebastian, Edna and I painted the room designated to be the new Bible study room and Library – brilliant blue and peach which turned out to be much better than we thought. Sebastian attached the big bookshelf to the wall so it would not come tumbling down over some eager little kids. We set up two biggish book shelves with the books we had brought down and processed (over 200), which together with the kids’ picture books already there in both Spanish and English will be a good start for the school. Kiera and Sebastian had never seen a book end before! (the little metal bracket you put in to hold a shelf of books upright).
El Camino: Vicki and Kiera Esperanza, Edna Vicki and Maritza “Big School” small library
Two weeks flew by and it was time to head home again. Time spent with good friends and new Mayan friends, travel companions, and work mates. How do you really describe an adventure like this? It’s so difficult to put all the feelings, experiences, sights, and sounds into words, even when you’ve made the trip. And more importantly, how do you thank the people who made it all possible…
Denis for organizing the trip? Or Matt & Leslie for being in Chichi in the first place? Maritza and Esperanza for organizing everything on the ground? Or Salvador for being a great workmate, translator? Or Sebastian, our foreman, for always being on call, showing us what to do, working alongside us every day, and becoming a friend over the years?
And our donors?
Of course…it’s everyone and more!
We are so blessed to be able to do this kind of volunteer work in the first place. And even more blessed that we have such amazing family, friends, and colleagues, who believe in what we do and demonstrate it through their generosity, support and encouragement.
It is now January 2013 and a team is poised to set off for more adventures in Chichicastenango. Unfortunately I am not able to join them as I have family commitments… but there is always next year. Please get in touch with me if you are interested in donating to these great causes.
By Vicki McCudden (co-authored by David S)
VOLUNTEERING IN GUATEMALA
Chichicastenango
TEAM CANADA
We started our fundraising, back in October, with a goal of US$4,500; the cost of building the 3 homes and stoves that we signed up for with Missions Frontier, an American Missionary group that has worked down in Guatemala for many years.
Our families and friends came through with the most incredible generosity, that we far…far exceeded our goal!
Altogether, the Team raised just over US$13,000 plus clothing, tools, books and library supplies from friends, families and colleagues. As a result, not only were we able to help the three Mayan families that we originally set out to help, but we were able to donate the balance of the money towards the micro-financing fund that Matt Capehart and his team have established. This fund provides loans to families, so that they can build and own their own homes, rather than pay rent for what is typically an utterly miserable and squalid room or shack.
Antoinette and her children: one of the families we built a home for in 2008 and a stove in 2009.
We left Toronto in the very early hours at the end of January and flew to Guatemala City and then a three hour trip north to the market town of Chichicastenango high in the mountains. Our first full day was Sunday; we all headed down toLa Colonia in the valley below the hotel. It was so great to visit with the families we’d worked with before, when we helped build their homes and stoves. We had toys and dolls for the kids, as well as Canada badges to hand out.
The afternoon was spent ‘supporting the economy’ in the Chichicastenango market! Our first working day saw us higher up in the mountains, building a new house for a family who had lost theirs to a tropical storm. The new home’s site still looked pretty precarious to us, but that’s where they wanted to rebuild!
The site for home #1 was a 45 minute dusty and bumpy ride northwest of Chichi.
Home #1.Completed by midafternoon
We seemed to just keep on climbing up and up. Thank heavens for diesel powered minivans with serious suspension!
Working hard
The second working day had us building in a much flatter area about 1¼ hours north of Chichi – a drive that took us through the town of Santa Cruz del Quiché, to the village of Paquiacaj. We were getting really good at this – all but one of us had done it before – and home #2 was finished, dedicated, and blessed (by the local Pastor) by early afternoon! We took the time to build a few benches out of scrap lumber left over from the build, which the kids just loved!
The daughters of the house try out the new bench!
The third and final house was also in the Pacuiacaj area. This family consisted of grandmother, mother and grandchildren. Their home was in a lovely wooded site on level ground, with some great views of the surrounding area.
The mother made us feel pretty inadequate… demonstrating how easy it was to carry two cement blocks on her head, while her son carried one as well. At one point, she had two on her head and one in each hand!
By this stage, Team Canada was a well-oiled machine, and had the home completed by just after noon. That gave us time to ‘down’ our daily rations of chicken burritos, chips and water, while the family and our Mayan helpers, enjoyed some broth that Granny had made. It actually looked pretty good, but we all reckoned that our delicate North American stomachs would rebel against it pretty quickly! On the way back to the mission, we stopped and checked out the Mayan ruins at Utatlan, just outside Santa Cruz delQuiché.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edna and I stayed on for the second week – the rest of the team were younger than us and had to get back to their jobs in Toronto. They thought they worked hard building three houses and stoves in three days. That was nothing compared with all Edna and I did the following week! We learnt that it is much more difficult to start a library than build a house! Everyone agrees that houses are important; but we had to open up peoples’ minds to the value of borrowing books from a library. Kids will steal books. Families don’t understand the concept. Too difficult. Too much admin. Reading is not part of the culture. Bedtime reading is the Bible. I wonder why we teach children to read when there are no books for them to read and have fun with. In the local schools there are very few books even in the classrooms. The students have one workbook for each subject.
We did a lot of prep work on Friday and over the weekend. On the Monday Edna and I got up at 6am and worked (except for meals) till 9:30pm! We went down to the big school for the start of the school day at 7:15am. The directress was very welcoming and we spent the morning starting on “the library”. We sorted and ditched books and documents from the sixties onward and then reinvented the Dewey Decimal system of library organisation to the “Vicki and Edna” system which is much simpler. Each book has a card and pocket and spine label but is also colour coded and the catalogue only has one card per book. Over 500 books on the shelves– so we did not have time to do all but left instructions in Spanish.
I wrote instructions out in Spanish often enough that the directresss complimented me on my written Spanish (obviously in contrast to my pathetic attempts at speaking it)! We then hurried up to the Grade 9 class for our first English lesson. Edna (a doctor) is a natural in front of the class!
Lots more prep for 2 hours of English classes to the adults each afternoon. We had about 16 students. A teacher and the secretary from the big school and hotel staff – waiters, cleaning ladies, night watchmen, front desk, Sebastian, etc. Obviously some more advanced, and some who could not read at all in any language. They were very shy to start with but gradually loosened up and I think I can say we all had fun. They were very eager to learn and wrote down everything in the notebooks we had got for them. Classes every afternoon and a party to celebrate at the end.
Later in the week we were scheduled to work mornings at the little school “El Camino” A different experience again. Keira, the principal, was so full of enthusiasm. Sebastian, Edna and I painted the room designated to be the new Bible study room and Library – brilliant blue and peach which turned out to be much better than we thought. Sebastian attached the big bookshelf to the wall so it would not come tumbling down over some eager little kids. We set up two biggish book shelves with the books we had brought down and processed (over 200), which together with the kids’ picture books already there in both Spanish and English will be a good start for the school. Kiera and Sebastian had never seen a book end before! (the little metal bracket you put in to hold a shelf of books upright).
El Camino: Vicki and Kiera Esperanza, Edna Vicki and Maritza “Big School” small library
Two weeks flew by and it was time to head home again. Time spent with good friends and new Mayan friends, travel companions, and work mates. How do you really describe an adventure like this? It’s so difficult to put all the feelings, experiences, sights, and sounds into words, even when you’ve made the trip. And more importantly, how do you thank the people who made it all possible…
Denis for organizing the trip? Or Matt & Leslie for being in Chichi in the first place? Maritza and Esperanza for organizing everything on the ground? Or Salvador for being a great workmate, translator? Or Sebastian, our foreman, for always being on call, showing us what to do, working alongside us every day, and becoming a friend over the years?
And our donors?
Of course…it’s everyone and more!
We are so blessed to be able to do this kind of volunteer work in the first place. And even more blessed that we have such amazing family, friends, and colleagues, who believe in what we do and demonstrate it through their generosity, support and encouragement.
It is now January 2013 and a team is poised to set off for more adventures in Chichicastenango. Unfortunately I am not able to join them as I have family commitments… but there is always next year. Please get in touch with me if you are interested in donating to these great causes.
