We were greeted on the dock at Santiago by Chonita. Chonita is the director of the Elder’s Project in Santiago. She was brave enough to host all 9 of us in her home. Santiago is a beautiful town nestled on the shores of an inlet of Lake Atitlan, with a profusion of textures, colors, and sounds. It also happens to be the hometown of Diana, who works for Sharing the Dream in Guatemala City. Diana has organized our trip, and travels with us. She has the formidable job of translating for us, and is doing a admirable job. She makes it look easy, and always seems to have a smile and giggle for us (maybe at us?)

We dropped our luggage off at the Senior Center and took a quick look around. It is a small but functional space. The first floor has a small garden courtyard at the entrance. There are 2 rooms with tables and chairs, and a small kitchen. They are looking forward to getting a refrigerator in the kitchen, as one has recently been donated. This should make Salvador’s job much simpler. Salvador is a good natured man who does all the cooking of meals at the center. A shower was recently put in on the main floor, so that volunteers will have a nice place to clean up when they stay there. The second floor has 3 rooms that house the children’s library and another room that was recently furnished for volunteers to stay in. The roof is accessible by a narrow cement staircase with no rails to prevent a 3 story fall…can you tell what one of our next projects will be at the center?

We climbed into the back of a pick up truck (the only large group taxis available in Santiago) and took a ride to the Chacaya school, which Sharing the Dream recently helped purchase land to build a new school building. They are currently renting 5 huts that were previously used as chicken coops to hold classes in. The kids were really excited to have visitors, especially when they realized we were going to play with them during recess. While our “dream team” played games with the kids, 4 of us met with the school director, the president of the parent’s association, and Bonnie and reviewed the plans for the new school. Bonnie is a local business owner and author who has been very generous to the local schools. A plan was agreed upon for proceeding with the building project. I was impressed with the commitment of the teachers and parents’ group to making sure their kids have the opportunity to study in an adequate facility with appropriate materials. We also discussed the idea of introducing health education and nutrition in the school setting. When we finished the meeting, we joined up with the rest of the group. They were sweaty, sunburned, and dirty from an hour and a half of running and playing with the kids, but they seemed to really have a good time.

We enjoyed lunch cooked by Salvador at the center, then took off for an afternoon of walking around town. First we walked to visit the home of a family who lost their house in the mudslides after Hurricane Stan in 2005. The rebuilt house is not far from the site of the mudslide, and we saw a lot of remnants of that devastation. The house we visited was built with money supplied by Sharing the Dream. It is a single room cement block house with a cement floor. They share a latrine, and buy water from a neighbor since they don’t have any pipes to their home.

We then walked to the little hospital in town. It is located with a beautiful view of the lake, in a converted backpackers’ hotel. As you can imagine a backpackers hotel is not the ideal location to have a hospital, but they are making do until they can rebuild a dedicated hospital. The previously renovated hospital was unfortunately destroyed during the mudslide in 2005. There is a dedicated group of people working to make the hospital a reality. I was impressed by the services that they are offering, including monitoring for vaginal deliveries, neonatal resuscitations, C sections, an ambulance and emergency appendectomies. They have some nice equipment to do ultrasounds, take x rays, and do basic laboratories, most of which has been donated by service groups in the United States. They are working hard to reduce the very high maternal infant mortality in the area. Currently, an indigenous woman in Guatemala is 27 times more likely to die from pregnancy complications that a woman in the US. If you are interested in learning more about how to help, they have a sponsorship program at www.puebloapueblo.org.

We took it easy for the rest of the evening, and went out for ice cream at a nice pasada (restaurant) after supper. That wraps up the day, I’ll get off the computer and give someone else a turn now!

The Guatemalan Group June 2007