“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.” – Buddha

There comes a time in our lives where we find ourselves challenged by the opportunities that we come across, a moment in which we are finally called upon to put all those plans, dreams, and ideas into practice. When those moments present themselves we find ourselves with two options: we can discard the plan and continue leaving a comfortable, nothing out of the ordinary lifestyle, or, we can take on the challenge and give our dreams a shot. The tools to act upon such dreams and ideas are within us; however, it is easier to let those tools oxidize instead of putting them to use and polishing them. Such was the challenge we both embarked upon working with FUNCEDESCRI, Guatemala.

The experience in Guatemala has definitely changed us and has without question impacted our career goals and aspirations. When we go to another place whether it’d be country, city, town, etc., with the purpose to help we tend to think of ourselves as the “heroes” of the story. What Guatemala taught us was that the heroes of the story are not us, but the people we help…they are the true heroes. Such concept changed us in a way that it made us more humble in certain areas of our lives, more open minded, and it definitely taught to not underestimate the situation at hand. It taught us that in order to achieve a goal we have to work together, listen to one another, consider different ideas, talk and come to an agreement, make a decision and go through with it. Helping is not just giving but also receiving, it is a contribution, or a collaboration between both parties. The experience in Guatemala also showed that truly live here in the US is like a bubble; in other words, lifestyle in the States is full of privileges, but also filled with a vast amount of things that we undoubtedly take for granted. For example, the simplicity of standing up, going to the kitchen and getting a glass of water. In many of the indigenous communities we worked in, water was one of the main issues. There was a community in which the people had to walk miles and miles (around 30 kilometers) down a mountain in order to get access to this small waterfall…and then carry it all the way back up. We plus the other student volunteers walked with the “village council” which were five older men and the FUNCEDESCRI worker, Pedro, and brainstorm a technique to get the water pumping all the way up the mountain where the village was located…and here in the States water is consumed in an incredible amount and easily accessible. Here in the US society consumes so much while at the same time wastes so much, while in those communities nothing is wasted: like our trip motto says, “not even our own waste goes to waste.”

The experience with FUNCEDESCRI and Guatemala reaffirmed the believe an individual is formed at home and childhood plays an immense role in the molding of that individual; if we can aid and work with children who have faced rough times, who have been victims of human rights violations, if we can establish a friendship and make a contribution, then those positive grains of sand that others have instilled upon us plus the experiences we’ve had and will have, can be passed to others and provide a sense of hope. At the same time, those children and families will give teach us life lessons, an appreciation for what we tend to forget, and be thankful for the blessings God has given.

This is probably one of my favorite topics. Indigenous Guatemalan women are like super heroes, they take care of the household, about six children, cleaning, cooking, helping their husband out, and all while carrying a baby on their back, in a skirt, and looking absolutely beautiful. The indigenous women here still were their typical outfits, a long colorful skirt, an embroided bright colored blouse and sandals. They are usually seen walking carrying some sort of huge jug of water, sack of something, or something on their heads (usually rather heavy, I tried carrying something a woman had on her head, and all I got was a migrane), and they’ll usually have a baby wrapped on their backs. And let me say one thing about Guatemalan babies, they’re perfect. They usually spend all day on their mother’s back being with them no matter what they’re doing, and they NEVER cry, and they’re usually happy and smiling and laughing! Anyway, back to the women. Usually the girls get married at around 16, 17, 18 years of age (apparently I am already too old to be single). After getting married the girl usually has to stay with her husbands family for about a year, serving them, and helping out in the house, until her and her husband can leave and have their own home with their own land. To me this is shocking, but to them it is absolutely normal. But this doesn’t stop this women from being awesome. We have met many of the women that are involved in the work of FUNCEDESCRI, Dona Lucia (Don Francisco’s wife), and Dona Maria (Don Virjilio’s wife) are the ones we have become closest to. They are health promotors for FUNCEDESCRI, their work is to get trained and capacitated by FUNCEDESCRI on their crops and how to take advantage of them and to reach out to other women that live near their communities so that their work keeps growing. They are also midwifes and assist in all the births of their communities, and doctors, since they know every medicinal function of every plant found in their areas. Dona Lucia was the first one we met, and the first family we worked with. She recieved us in her household with open arms and her lovely smile. We were working with her husband on the field, helping him build a sheep house. When she came out and surprised us with tea and cookies. We all sat down drinking the tea and the cookies with her as she tried to teach us some Quiche, and tried to convince Caro to stay as her daughter in law (very funny moment for us, not so funny for Caro). Dona Maria we met about two weeks later. She is a very old lady with the cutest softest voice I’ve ever heard. It is almost hard to listen to what she says. We were all working out in the crop field with Don Virjilio helping him fertilize the soil and prepare it to plant more crops. Dona Maria came out in her lovely colorful outfit and told me to help her out planting seeds, I must say that one of the most wonderful and unique moments I’ve had in Guatemala was sharing that time with Dona Maria talking to her, and sharing cultures while planting seeds. Later that day Don Virjilio asked Dona Maria to tell us how she got involved in FUNCEDESCRI, this story is very important to Don Virjilio because he admires his wife so much, that her work is what got him involved with FUNCEDESCRI and gave him the strength to better their lives. 20 years ago Dona Maria was invited by a neighbor of hers to a capacitation on medicinal plants, at first she was very nervous to attend because she didn’t know how to read or write, and she didn’t think that it would do anything for her. Everything that she learned about medicinal plants she learned by memory, no reading books, no taking notes, no writting down the name of the plant with the disease it cures, she simply knows every plant and every disease. She also learned how to diagnose people on what they have and how to cure them. She told us at first it was very hard because she wasn’t convinced she could do anything and it terrified her to have to lives of people in her hands, but with time and experience she grew to love the feeling of curing people and making them better. Dona Maria and Dona Lucia are only two examples of the hardworking women that live in Guatemala, and that are to be admired for their courage and strength.

6/14/2010

Today Pedro asked us to go with him to a community called Aldea cecilia in San Juan Xehul. We went mainly as observers of FUNCEDESCRI’s work and Pedro in action. First we stopped by Don Virjilio’s home to drop off a couple of bags of cement that we are going to use later this week to help Don Virjilio build a fountain used to raise tilapia. We arrived at Aldea Cecilia, a small town high up in the mountains. We were waiting for Pedro, for he was looking for his community partners, when we noticed five little boys playing soccer. We decided to have a little fun and join the little kids. Us, the giant gringos vs. the five little Guatemalans. Not five minutes passed when al lof a sudden it seemed as though five boys became ten, and ten became twenty, I look up and realize that there about 30 or 40 little boys playing soccer with us, or should I say against us, plus about twenty little girls around th efield, gossiping, cheering, and laughing. If I learned anyything about this kids is that they’re extremely proud, and soccer is a very serious thing in lating America. They were determined and focused on beating us, I don’t know what they were so worried about, the score was like 20-1. Another thing I learned about this kid’s decelopment was how early the machismo culture is learned. We invited the little girls to play as well, because they seemed like they wanted to. When we suggested this the boys laughed and rejected the offer, as though we were being ridiculous. we invigted them anyway, and they were very happy to play, unfortunately when we had to leave, the girls were kicked off the field. “Adios gringos!” the little kids waved at us. We went off to a lower part of the same mountain, to check out a water stream. The community needed for Pedro to evaluate the stream and decide whether it was a good source of water for the community, measure the liability of the water with the population, and brainstorm ideas on how to get the water from the source of the comuntiy. The topic of water is crucial in all our partner communities, because it is extremely hard to get purified water to the different indigenous populations that live in isolated places. This lack of pure water is a huge contributor to the rate of malnutrition in Guatemala.

6/11/2010

Think back ot the movie Apocalypto by Mel Gibson, with the gigantic pyramids and the mayan man running through the jungle. Well, that mayan man running through the jungle was us. this weekend we decided to visit Tikal, a very famous Mayan archeological site. Apocalypto’s scenery was based on this Mayan site. First off, getting to Tikal was quite the challenge and adventure because of the destroyed roads and transportation in Guatemala. In order to get from Cunen to Tikal we had to take a “microbus” from Cunen to Quiche, a chicken bus from Quiche to Guatemala city, another chicken bus from Guatemala city to Antigua, a shuttle from Antigua to Flores, and finally a microbus from Flores to Tikal. Total travel time = 16 hours. Tikal was absolutely breathtaking. The hotel were we stayed, Tikal Inn, is inside the natural reserve were the ruins are found. We got a great price through a series of phone calls Maki had with the hotel manager, Ricardo (an important character to this chapter). As soon as we got there he offered us a tour (which he gives) at 3:30pm, through the ruins with its stories and its historical background. We decided to go on hte tour with three other volunteer students and a man and a woman from San Francisco. Sure, why not?! whats the worst thing that could happen?! I’ll tell you. Everything was going well, we covered about half of the ruins and the tour ended with us at the top of one of the tallest pyramids watching ythe sunset. It was oneo f the most perfect moments we have experienced so far. We had to get down from the pyramid at 6:00pm because it is dangerous to stay on the site past that time. Ricardo asked us whether we wanted to go back through the “grand plaza” (where the two tallest pyramids meet) or through “his shortcut”, he called it the “hunt through the jungle”, we all voted against the shortcut but he decided to take us through there anyway. “No pasar” Do not cross, said a sign infront of the path through which he took us, but hey this man gives tours here all the time, he must know where to go. We walked through this path surrounded by jungle and hunted by noises of the howling monkeys. The sound of the howling monkeys, I cannot describe, it is like a large angry animal that is coming after you and wants to get you. After about thirty minutes of walking, less and less light every minute, we started to worry a little and wondered if we were going through the right path. After an hour it was complete darkness, we were using cell phones and a couple of flashlights Ricardo had to illumate our steps. Shortly after nightfall began we reached the end of our path. Because it was blocked by palm trees! We had been going towards a dead end path the entire time! The looks on everyone’s faces when this happened were of frustration, anger, desperation and exhaustion. Me, personally, I was just pissed and hungry. We turned around and walked right back the way we came. As I was walking through the dark with my cellphone functioning as flash light I stepped on a piece of log that I didn’t see, this caused the log to jump up and fall on my knee somehow, so there I go with my bleeding knee. Shorty after, Maki accidentally stepped on an anthill of fire ants. Her poor foot was covered with antbiteshat were burning her foot. We continued to talk as fast as possible becase we all started to feel an extreme desperation to get out of there. We were all walking quickly with our eyes fixed on the ground to make sure not to step on anthills, logs, or poison ivy, and attempting to ignore the noises of the howling monkeys the grew louder and louder. “Everybody! STOP!” said Ricardo “and please look up”. We suddenly found ourselves in themiddle of the “grand plaza” and in between the two giant pyramids, with a bedo f the brightest stars above us. At that moment we all felt unique and mesmerized. Because I am sure that other than the Mayans and some archeologists, we have been the only ones to experience the Mayan ruins at night.

6/8/2010

I can’t concentrate trying to write this chapter because there is too much going on in our dormitory. Hailey, our co-volunteer from Princeton has her headphones way too loud. Holly is talking to her parents over skype, more like yelling because the internet is very weak up here. Finally…. oh and there go the lights. They keep coming and going because of the rain outside. Well if you haven’t guessed already we’re finally up in Cunen, Quiche, the very small town where we will be working for the next three weeks. We were brought up here by Pedro. Pedro is our “boss”. He is in charge of the communities in Cunen, of assigning our tasks, and helping us feel as comfortable as possible with our work. We woke up bright and early, well not so bright, but definitely early. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, which made the 7 hours with six people in a pick up truck not so bad. Cunen is way up in a mountain, therefore to get there, we had to drive around the mountains and then up. Before describing the scenery i must mention the damage Agatha left on the road (pictures to come). There are landslides all through the road, chunks of mountain that were brought down by the rain. It is terrifying to drive through this road because as we were driving we would take a curve and all of a sudden giant logs of trees and rocks would appear taking up an entire lane, which meant driving onto oncoming traffic until the lane was clear. Altogether the trip wasn’t that bad, the scenery made it completely worth it. Our dormitory in Cunen is very similar to the hostel in Antigua. Three bunkbeds for all of us, in one big room with a sink and a table. Gives us lots of bonding time!

PEDRO

Pedro is definitely a character we should all learn from and try to be more like. Pedro is in charge of taking of FUNCEDESCRI’s partner communities in the region of Quiche. He is also in charge of us, assigning our tasks, educating us on Guatemalan culture, and serves as our translator for Quiche (the dialect spoken where we work). We work together in a collaboration with him in order to find solutions to any problem any community has. Pedro is currently 27 years old, and has a degree in agriculture. Typically the average indigenous person in Guatemala doesn’t go past 6th grade. Pedro is an exception to this. He earned his degree by working very hard during the weekdays for money for school, and then going down to Guatemala city (5 hours away) to go to school on the weekends. Pedro does absolutely everything for FUNCEDESCRI, we have seen him as an engineer, trying to find new building technologies appropriate for the conditions of the communities. An architect, designing homes for the animals from the different farms. An agriculturer, and farmer, always knowing the correct method to use with each different crop, tree, plant, etc. A teacher, as gives capacitations on different important topics, water, recycling, health, nutrition, medicinal plants. And a business man, as FUNCEDESCRI is constantly partnering up with different organizations and communities. You might probably feel a sense of admiration coming from this blog, but that is exactly what we feel for Pedro. He admire the way he feels about his work. He is absolutely devoted and feels an obligation to help each and everyone of the families that work with FUNCE, and he admires their hard work as much as we admire him. He is always telling us about how each family is a success story, and how each and every family has an enormous potential, all they need is a little helping hand. If we all cared about the other people, as much as Pedro cares about his work, there is no doubt in my mind that we would live in a much better place.