April, 2005                                                                                       March, 2005

From the "Land of Eternal Spring"...Greetings!

Only about two weeks to go...so much to do...so little time!

So many exciting things have happened since our last newsletter. Our second service team arrived on February 26th , though we were very disappointed to receive word that my sister-in -law Cathy and my brother Mayno had to miss the flight because Cathy became very sick at the airport. She has just recently recovered from what appears to have been a nasty virus. We love you guys and were so sorry you did not get to come this time.

Leave your bags packed for next year.

We were able to give our team an incredibly varied experience...living with a Guatemalan family in Antigua...volunteering at the garbage dump in Guatemala City.....feeding the homeless on the streets of Antigua...four days building furniture for the new preschool in the tiny remote village of Tioxya..riding up and down old volcanoes everyday, standing up in the back of a half ton truck (aren't you sorry you missed it Mogie?......a little family humour)..an opportunity to visit our preschool in another small village of Sacala. It truly was an exciting adventure! And it was not all work and no play.. We had some delicious inexpensive meals in Antigua, and we also visited the famous Lake Atitlan for two days.

As with our first team, "Dream Team II" completed the work on schedule, and did an outstanding job....there was such a great spirit..each day attracting more children from the village to play on the new playground equipment we bought for the school and watch the strange looking "Gringos" that had invaded their community. Many little ones offered to help, so we put them to work sanding blocks, which had been donated from our school in Sacala. At the end of the day we would hand out lollipops.we even taught them to sing the "lollipop" song which they sang with great joy each time we were handing out the lollipops. Without a doubt the highlight of the trip for the team, was the daily interaction with the children.

On March 13th a team arrived from the Fellows Key Club in Pembroke. Because we were concerned about safety issues in receiving a high school group, we hooked this team up directly with "Camino Seguro" in the Guatemala city Dump. As it turned out there was a massive protest in Guatemala City the first day they were working in the school, and we had to leave the city very suddenly to avoid the danger of violence in the streets.

It was great to have students from Pembroke, volunteering in the classroom we set up. They were a joy to have, and showed such enthusiasm for the program. Two students are seriously considering returning for six months next year.

We also arranged for a dental team of 5 dentists and 1 doctor from Edmonton and Calgary, to work in project for a day, they did a great job working on much neglected mouths. As it turns out they were run out of town in Northern Guatemala, because of a mining company "Montana" that is in conflict with the community. Until now they have always felt that being a Canadian in Guatemala was always to their advantage.

We are so grateful that no serious incidents occurred when the teams were down and everyone managed to stay in good health.

The week after the team left, Julio (one of the teachers in our preschool) witnessed a homeless man beaten to death in front of the "Bodegona" (a local supermarket), where our teams shopped for groceries. The same day I heard another one of the teachers that I trained was in a bus that turned over (the bus drivers are maniacs down here.....also the carpentry teacher in the school was attacked with a knife by one of the students.. and not long ago a couple of our volunteers were assaulted and robbed not far from our house....still another volunteer was walking down the street near our project with his parents who were visiting from Germany and they were chased by a gang.. It is always a relief to send a team home without incident or illness!

The pollution in the city is really causing some of the volunteers some serious problems. Some of them are wearing masks to work, and others are seriously considering it. It took a very long time for my lungs to clear up after our two year stint, and we weren't even in Guatemala city. Another young volunteer had to leave this week because she is unable to get rid of the amoebas she has in her system. Others have had violent reactions to the strong medication to treat the condition and one had to be hospitalized.

Our youngest daughter, Amanda, came from Korea for a Christmas visit and didn't leave until March. She got a part time job, did some volunteering in my classroom and learned some Spanish. It was great to have her here! As everyone does she fell in love with the children, and found it difficult to leave. However she left a couple of weeks ago to tour Mexico and will be returning to Canada in April.

It has been such a busy six months. Presently I am training a second set of teachers for the classroom. Unfortunately time is going to run out before they are ready. I have asked another project teacher-trainer to take over their training after I leave. She is Montessori trained, so we do have some philosophical differences, but in many ways our ideas are very similar. I am very fortunate that she is willing to help out. I can only pray that things will work out. Both teachers seem to be very caring individuals...Julio is a young man of 19 and Griselda is a very impressive Mayan woman around the same age. They have a very difficult task ahead of them.

Last week the teachers I trained for our school in Tioxya visited our preschool at the dump. They have never even seen an activity centered classroom, and they are starting to teach in Tioxya on the 11th of April.

With three weeks of theory and one week of in class training they have quite a challenge ahead of them. However Sacala originally had one week's training, and three years later they are still going strong. I was able to give them a three week refresher course last November. Considering the teachers have only grade 3 education themselves, they are doing an incredible job.

Christine Gervais of ACCESSO (an organization to assist education in Central America) will be visiting our projects, which she has generously supported for the last three years. We will be going to Tioxya to finish setting up the school on the weekend of the 9th. We also have to purchase school supplies for all our projects, before we return to Canada. We are not sure when we will be returning to Guatemala, so it makes it difficult to know how much to buy.

I still miss the snow so much! I find working in March very difficult, as it is the hottest month of the year. Most of you would probably love it..every day is sunny..about 30 degrees centigrade. I find it really drains my energy.

Again we return to Canada with such mixed feelings. If we could somehow learn to bi-locate everything would be great!

We look forward to reuniting with each one of you in the coming months.

Working together we CAN make a difference down here...the daily smiles on the faces of the children tell the story...a love story!

We are so grateful to be a part of that story!

Susana and Ricardo

----------------------------------
March 2005
Easter Greetings from Guatemala

On this special occasion, I want to share with you one of the many uplifting experiences, I experience daily in our work here in Guatemala. I share this short story with much love....Susan

Happiness is......

His name is RAFAEL. He is a daily ray of sunshine in our preschool class at the Guatemala City Dump. Like all the parents in our program, Rafael's mother supports her son by scavenging each day through the garbage for something to sell.

It is difficult to put into words what is so special about this child.

"The Love Muffin" as my daughter affectionately refers to him in our house, often seems oblivious to any negativity going on around him. It is so funny to see his little head just up over the top of the table at lunch time. As many of his classmates are talking and generally behaving like four and five year olds, Rafael begins the arduous task of eating. He is the smallest in the class but regularly eats the most, savouring each bite occasionally taking notice that some of the others are expressing their displeasure at the particular food of the day...but never complaining or pushing his plate aside.

Rafael often plays by himself, totally engaged and happy in whatever he is doing, but is always willing for others to join him if they wish. Occasionally one of the more aggressive children will take one of his toys...but he will just reach for another that nobody is using. Some children feel the need to protect him, and will immediately grab the toy from the other child and return it....whatever.....Rafael is happy either way. As he plays, he often watches the other children, not in a longing way, but as an interested observer, almost as if in a state of contemplation. This special little boy has an incredible air of peace about him! To paraphrase a statement that was made about Christ....He seems to be IN this class but not OF this class.

When Rafael came to our program in the middle of January his teacher at the daycare centre warned us that he did not choose to speak but would only point. The first day he spoke to me was when we were making valentines. As I explained to him in my worst Spanish that we were making special cards to show their mommies and daddies how much they loved them, his eyes lit up and he exclaimed in a truly excited little voice. "esta es para mi mama!" Each day that week he made valentines for his "mama".

After that he started to engage regularly in conversations with us. One month later, I am still mesmerized to hear his little voice proudly proclaim each day, in english, "Good afternoon Susana...I would like to play in the block corner". What a privilege to witness this daily transformation.

And now to the point of this story: Last week Rafael came and stood before me. His radiant eyes and engaging smile clued me into the fact that there was something I was supposed to notice.

I searched in vain ...the same little brown trousers frayed at the cuff..his tiny t-shirt that barely covered his tummy..... no socks...dirty little black boots....then it struck me!..Days earlier, I had taken a picture of his shoes, because they spoke to me of the incredible poverty that this child was suffering ... little army boots that were too big, scuffed at the toe with half a shoelace in one, and a piece of white string in the other. And now he stood before me...beaming with pride!!!!!!!.......because in those scruffy little black boots was a brand new pair of brown SHOE LACES! It was such a joy for me to share in this moment of the celebration of the new shoe laces.

In whatever Rafael does, he has the capacity to live in the moment, and to appreciate even the smallest gifts, that are bestowed on him.

Happiness for Rafael in that moment was a new pair of shoe laces....

Happiness for me was to witness that moment.

Easter Blessings to All!