Guatemala, again

I took another group to Guatemala this summer.  This was my third trip, their first (well, it was the second time for my daughter).  We worked again with the children from Camino Seguro (Safe Passage).  It was truly wonderful.  I love the folks at Camino Seguro.  They treat their clientele with dignity and respect.  And I LOVE the kids of Camino Seguro.  They are very special and have taught me a great deal about being human.

Some of the children share some time with me.

My daughter with her friend.

Look, this is how you squeeze it.

As part of our “lesson plans” we made some “oobleck” (cornstarch and water) and let the kids play with it.

Oooooh! It is so neat!

It is the coolest stuff!  It has a unique property of looking like liquid, but acting like a solid.  If you apply pressure, it acts like a solid, but as soon as you relax your grip, it turns into a liquid.  The kids LOVED it!  Both the three and four-year-olds played with it for over an hour!

More please!

Rather than being depressed and angry–emotions I’ve felt before, because of the extreme poverty the people face–I felt hope this time.  Hope, because these children are growing and maturing in millions of different ways.  They are learning to expand their imaginations and minds.  They are realizing that THEY have potential, that they MATTER.

We are always impressed when Fredy talks to us.  This time, he blew me away again.  He said, “You know, it doesn’t matter when you come here if you speak Spanish, or English or Italian or Japanese.  The language of this program is not any of those things.  First, the language of this program is FOOD.  Then, the second language of this program is love.  These children need to know that they are loved and they need to know it RIGHT NOW.  THIS is the only moment the children know.  It is what matters.”

Wow.  Keeping that quote foremost in my mind helped a great deal when the other adults complained about feeling “superfluous” and not “doing anything.”  They kept complaining that they wanted to “build something.”  I told them they are building children, and that is the most important thing of all to do.

Making me books.

We got to work with the second grade class.  It was a really wonderful experience.  We created “Me” books with them.  This was a project I had done with my class last year.  I took the “Me” books that they had made to the children of Safe Passage and read them to the kids there.  They enjoyed that and then enjoyed making their own even more!

The pride on her face says it all!

I need to constantly remind myself about the importance of building children.  My daughter and I got to take one of our friends on a field trip.  I asked her where she wanted to go and she said, “McDonalds.”  I asked her if she was sure, since her favorite food is pizza.  She said she was sure, so off to Mickey D’s we went, where she promptly ordered pizza.  ~sigh~  She got a hamburger anyway and was eating it, while I was mentally grumbling, “Well, isn’t this a fine mess.  I’ve got two vegetarians here and THIS is lunch.  What are we going to eat?  This is terrible!” 

After she was done eating, our friend and my daughter began to play in the playland equipment.  They were having a rip-snorting time, but I was not.  My daughter noticed the look on my face and asked what was wrong.  I told her I was not happy with the place, the food, the atmosphere…you name it.  She said, “Mom.  LOOK at her!  She’s happy!  She’s MORE than happy.  She’s having a ball.  Get over yourself.  It’s not about YOU.”  Then I had to laugh.  She’s so right.

It is SO not about ME.

 I think the best thing we did while we were here this time was take the 2nd grade class on a rare field trip to the children’s museum.  It was heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time.  It was hard, because we took the children to breakfast before the trip (it was Saturday and they don’t get a lot of food on the weekend).  They all took one bite of their breakfast and then put the rest into their pockets.  I’d seen this happen before, but never fully realized they are taking the food home to their families.  They did the same with lunch.  When I think about the food we throw away in this country, it almost makes me physically ill.

Being at the museum was wonderful, though.  The kids LOVED every minute of it!  I’m so glad we got to take them!

Fun with electricity!

It’s always an eye-opener to go back and it will take me a while to process the experience.  But I’m so grateful I got to go.  Some of the children actually remembered me, which was a plus, but not necessary.  As someone in the group said, “A person’s life is a culmination of all that happens to them.  I realize that even if they don’t remember me, it doesn’t matter.  Hopefully, I will have made a positive impact on them anyway.”  Yep.  I agree!