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pickup arrived after breakfast and we hopped in the back for a rousing
ride through town and over mostly reasonable roads to the small village
of Chacaya. The school which we were to visit had been recently built
on land that Sharing the Dream helped to acquire. Before the new land
was acquired, they held school in three small rooms, two of which have
since collapsed. Even though it was a special vacation for the
students there were lots of kids there and we played a bit with them
and Diane taught the girls a little ditty identifying eyes, ears, nose,
and mouth in Tzuthil, Spanish and English. The boys just stood around
watching with adolescent distain. It’s a nice facility and the students
are served a lunch prepared on the premises by parents with food that
is provided by Coffee Care. This is a group we partner with to help
the school. Crista an employee of Coffee Care accompanied us to the
school and for the rest of the day. The real high point of the day was serving lunch at the Elder Center in Santiago. When we returned from the school, there were several elders sitting in their favorite places (kinda like sitting in their own pews) in the center. As we tried to find out how best to help more elders arrived. Our first job was to greet and welcome the elders. These wonderful elders gave us heartfelt greetings and lots of kisses, as is the custom. They then took their places and waited to be served. Some talked a bit to their neighbors and some just sat quietly. Kwen welcomed everyone who came while some of us found duties in the kitchen. Diego Santiago, one of the scholars that we met the day before, a terrific young man who wants to be a doctor, was volunteering in the kitchen and showed me what to do. He helped me get the containers that the elders used to take their lunch home, count out the 7 tortillas that went with the meat and soup, and how to return them to the elders. It was a great experience letting this young man show me the ropes and humbling to kneel before these elders as they took their containers of lunch. Some ate at the center and we served them in a separate room that had been a bedroom the night before but was now a dining room. Even with our language differences, we communicated the most important things of honor at being able to serve, thankfulness at being served, and love between God’s children. I will never forget being able to serve that meal. After our lunch, to which we invited the workers at the Elder Center, we decided to take a short boat ride over to San Juan La Laguna to see “the cleanest town in Guatemala.” Shortly after we arrived it started raining, but we toured a bit and found a festival in town. As we rounded a corner we ran into a band playing some great dance music and a young man dancing with his 5 or 6 month old daughter. Diane decided she wanted to dance, so I obliged and before the music stopped I danced with Peg, Barbara, Monica, Felipa, and Isabel. (Kwen and I didn’t think it necessary to dance with each other.) What FUN! We did draw a bit of a crowd and smiles all around from the band. We also toured a mudslide area and looked at a school that can’t be used because of flooding and more slide danger. Crista’s organization might be able to help with getting a new school. Time will tell. After supper, again with our companions Felipa and Bernabela from the Center, Diane decided we should walk a few blocks to the Posada for desert. The Posada is a “gringo place” as it caters to American and European tourists. It was beautiful by any standards, but a bit over the top considering where we were and what we had seen earlier in the day. The nine of us shared some great deserts and then reflected on the day. Each of us talked about what had impressed us and what was most on our minds. There was a lot of conversation. Everyone shared something. I have been struck by the terrible times about which we have heard from the people of Guatemala. It is made more powerful by the fact that our government had a hand in destabilizing the governments that brought about the terror, torture, and deaths of many Guatemalans. Yet, we have been welcomed in a very powerful way by almost every person we have met. They still like people from the US and have given us every courtesy and gone out of their way to befriend us. I wonder if we had been so wronged by another government would we be so hospitable? Jack Mortenson |