TheBanyanTree: Hello from Antigua, Guatemala

[Cecil]

At 10:48 AM -0700 9/13/04, apmartin at canada.com wrote:
>Hello friends
>
>Well, Andrew and I have finished two weeks of Spanish
>school and are taking a break.  I am
>staying in Antigua this week for some relaxation and
>writing; Andrew has gone off on the bus to an isolated
>area where he plans to do some hiking in the mountains.
>He'll be gone about a week.  He will be living in a
>Mayan village and I am sure he will have many
>adventures.
>
>Here in Guatemala, it is winter.  Every day it is sunny
>in the morning with the temperature in the mid
>twenties. Every afternoon, there is a thunderstorm and
>a short  downpour.  Because Antigua is in the
>highlands, it is cool at night.
>
>There is so much to tell I don't know where to begin.
>
>We recently contacted Camino Seguro (Safe Passage), the
>organization where we plan to volunteer and they took
>us on a tour of their facilities at the Guatemala city
>dump.  We rode the chicken bus and had to stand for at
>least 30 minutes of the hour long trip.  They pack the
>buses so full here, it is incredible and then they send
>a man walking through the aisle to collect the fares
>and there is no room for him to walk.  By the time we
>arrived in Guatemala city, we were tired just from the
>bus ride.
>
>(The bus drivers here are wild; they recklessly pass on
>curves and often have accidents.  Every time I ride the
>bus, I feel I am taking a chance... The roads are
>windy. Unless you brace yourself, you go flying into
>other passengers.  It's kind of like riding the
>'tilt-a-whirl' at an amusement park.  Riding a chicken
>bus is something you must experience to understand.)
>
>We were in a group of 13 and needed to walk together
>for security to get to the Camino Seguro facility.
>It's about a 20 minute walk.  Zone 3 where the
>Guatemala city dump is located is the most dangerous
>area of the city.  One shouldn't wear any jewelry at
>all and shouldn't carry a backpack either.  Three of us
>women became a little separated from the main group as
>we walked toward the Project and two men began to
>follow us.  I am certain we would have been robbed
>except that we sped up and caught up with the group.
>
>The poverty in this area is the worst I have ever seen
>but Camino Seguro is making a difference for these
>people.  In 5 short years, they have built a brand new
>school which just opened a couple of weeks ago. This
>school is for the children whose parents live at the
>dump.  These people don't have easy access to running
>water.  The school has addressed this problem by
>building showers and scheduling time for the students
>to use them.
>
>Families at the dump scrounge cardboard and metals to
>sell.  They also pick through the garbage for food.
>Often there is a single mother with numerous children
>(around 9) and no father, living in a tiny one room
>shack made of metal and plastic with a dirt floor.
>When it rains, the floor becomes mud.  Many mothers
>become addicted to glue sniffing just to escape the
>hopelessness they feel.  Many fathers are alcoholics or
>drug addicts.  The adults are not educated but Camino
>Seguro encourages all of their children to go to
>school.  If the kids are educated, there is a chance
>they can have a better life.
>
>In order to be a part of the Camino Seguro program, the
>children must attend public school for half a day (the
>project provides school uniforms and supplies for the
>kids).  In the afternoon, the kids attend the Camino
>Seguro facility which looks exactly like a school but
>actually augments a formal education. There are
>classrooms, teachers, a library, a communal dining room
>and everything is brand new.  If the kids attend school
>regularly and the parent(s) meet with the social worker
>once a month, the family is provided with a food hamper
>once a month.
>
>As well, the Camino Seguro facility feeds 350 children
>per day breakfast or lunch.  Often this is the only
>food these kids receive in a day.  We visited three
>Camino Seguro locations near the dump and visited with
>some of the children:  a preschool, a carpentry shop
>and the new school.
>
>Camino Seguro has social workers who visit the
>childrens' homes.  Some of the children go to live at
>Casa Hogar which is a live-in facility and is the place
>where Andrew and I plan to volunteer.  It is a walled
>community close to Antigua (15 minutes away by chicken
>bus).  Inside the walls, it is very beautiful and
>clean, unlike most places around here.  There is a
>large house with an activity room and numerous bedrooms
>that houses 30 - 35 kids.  These kids have lived in
>deplorable conditions and their parents can not support
>them. Often the parents are addicts or alcoholics or
>there is severe violence in the home and the Camino
>Seguro staff have convinced the parent the child will
>do better in the live-in facility. There are also ten
>bungalows for volunteers there, a nice park and a
>swimming pool.
>
>Volunteers at Camino Seguro in Guatemala City assist in
>the classroom and do not have one-on-one time with the
>kids.  Those who work in Casa Hogar are able to spend
>time with individual kids to encourage and mentor them.
>Both Andrew and I feel we are more suited to that.
>
>These poor kids come from the dump to Casa Hogar with
>lice and there isn't medicine to treat them.  As much
>as I want to do this job, it is hard for me to resign
>myself to the fact that I will likely get lice.  Just
>thinking about it makes my head itch.  Who knows, maybe
>I'll come home with a shaved head.  Andrew thinks he
>might shave his head as an easy way to not get them.
>
>One poor girl at Casa Hogar has lived through hell...
>In one year, she was raped by her neighbor, had a baby,
>baby died and her mom blamed her and kicked her out...
>all before she was 14.  I hope I am able to help her in
>some way...
>
>We'll be moving to Casa Hogar in two weeks.  I'll take
>this week off and likely will go to school for another
>week before starting work.  Once we move, we will have
>to do our own cooking, laundry, shopping etc.  We have
>enjoyed our home-stay very much.  There, the maid did
>everything for us.
>
>Yesterday Andrew and I visited the Saturday market in
>Antigua.  It is so interesting!  Everything you can
>think of is there to buy.  Baskets of freshly ground
>coffee, vegetables and fruits of every type, live
>chickens, ducks, chicks, plastics, clothes, CDs, you
>name it.  The meat market section is the most
>interesting.  There were piles of roasted iguanas,
>tripe, a pigs head, sausages, brain, hearts etc.,
>roasts, pork rind.  None of it covered or refrigerated.
>At least there is one supermarket in Antigua where I
>will feel comfortable buying meat.
>
>Must head off for now.
>
>Sending love and good wishes,
>Pat


Hi, Pat.

Thank God for people like you and Andrew! Imagine a peaceful world- 
no wasted resources on wars, no ethnic hatreds, no fanatical 
religious zealots who commit terrorism  thinking they are doing God a 
service.

Instead of all the wasted energy and natural resources, they are used 
instead to eliminate poverty and disease. No child would have to 
endure the horrible conditions you describe.
Every person in the entire world would have the opportunity to become 
educated. Hatreds would be replaced with love and respect.

As it is, mankind ascends to great heights, but unfortunately, far 
too many sink to abysmal depths, usually in the name of that which 
they deem to be just and right. Ironical it is, but it brings out the 
best in people such as you.

Cecil