Of the 2.2 billion children in the world 1.1 billion live in poverty
Years ago when I was a youth director at Christ the King Church in Moorhead I started the youth group in the sponsoring of a child through
Compassion International. Her name is Olga and she lives in rural Guatemala. Last spring I had the opportunity to meet Olga twice in Guatemala City. Meeting her and her family was a wonderful experience but I felt like I wasn't getting to truly know them; I wanted to go and live with them in their village. So I arranged to spend Thursday - Sunday with the family, in their village during Thanksgiving.
Olga and her family live in San Miguel Chicaj (about 3 hours away from Guatemala City). The village has about 2,000 people and is right in the jungle. Olga's house was on the outskirts of the town, their kitchen overlooking the jungle. I knew my time with them was going to be difficult (only speaking spanish, living in rough conditions, and seeing extreme poverty) I also knew I would be overwhelmed with the generousity and warmth this family has. I could write endless pages about my experience with Olga - but for most of you that would bore you. So I decided to write a top ten from my weekend with the family.
10. Watching the daily routines of the family -
This is how the family made spaghetti
Spending 4 days with any family is long enough to get a feel for what their daily life is like. I was fascniated by how much of the female's day was cooking and cleaning. Actually, most of their day was cooking and cleaning. They would just finish one meal, clean up and then begin cooking the next meal. For every meal the family cooked at least 50 tortillas. I was shocked during one meal when I counted how many tortills the little 5 year old ate. She ate 12 in one sitting.
I also found it interesting that the whole family brushed their teeth after every meal. The men in the family spent a lot of time going to fields and picking corn, beans or peanuts. They also spent an entire day cutting wood. After dinner was a special time when the family would spend an hour talking together or playing a game.
9. Watching the Art of Friojle preparation -
On one of the visits to a random family member I noticed a girl (see pic.) banging a bamboo stick against what looked like dried leaves. When I asked what she was doing they explained to me that what I thought were dried leaves was actually black beans. After they pick all the bean pods (?) they let the beans dry. Once they are dried they lay them on a straw mat and beat the beans away from the leaves. They then pick the beans out one at a time and put them in a bowl so they can be sold. The next time I went to the grocery store and bought a bag of beans I couldn't help but think of how much work went into making them just right for me.
8.
Reading and drawing - I brought paper and colored pencils with me to the village. Everynight the girls drew pictures for me. We eventually ran out of paper so I said I would buy some more. The girls showed me to the little tienda(store). I figured I would buy them a big stack of paper. It turns out in the village they sell blank white paper (same as you would use in your printer) by the piece. I couldn't believe it! I don't think the store owner could either when I asked for 150 pieces! I couldn't believe they actually counted out all 150 pieces!
One of the ways I made myself comfortable in their home was by reading. This made all of us comfortable because there wasn't the akwardness of me trying to translate what they were saying. The first few times I pulled out my book and started to read the whole family gathered around me. They didn't just come look at what I was reading - they stared at me for about 5 minutes. Eventually they "sort of" got used to it. But anytime a neighbor would stop by and see me reading they would take a few minutes of their time to stare at me.
7. Eating in the Market in Rabinal -
One of the days the family decided it was important for me to visit the neighboring town of Rabinal. We crowded in a collectivo and drove over the mountain to the next town. While we were there we walked around the town, sat in the town square, visited a musuem that depicts the torturing that went on during the civil war, and ate in the market.
Eating in the market - all 8 of us sat down at a table and bought soup, tortillas, and juice from a lady (see top left pic.). It was delicous soup with a big piece of chicken and endless tortillas. After we finished I told the dad I wanted to pay and then asked how much it was. For all of us to eat a filling lunch it was only Q18. Just a little over 2 US dollars. Now that is a bargain!
6. Meeting all the family members -
From the time I arrived to the time I left Olga's family had me walking all over the jungle so I could meet ALL of her relatives. I didn't just meet grandparents and cousins. I met relatives that were very distant. I met Olga's Aunt's inlaws. It took me awhile to figure out who everyone was in Spanish. Everytime we visited a new family the family would quickly find a chair for me so I could sit down, offer me a refresco of some sort and quickly search the house to see if they have anything else they can offer me. When meeting these family members we didn't just say hello and then leave. We stayed at each house for hours.
One of the most interesting places we visited was where Olga's grandparents live. Olga's grandma is very sick - she hasn't been out of bed for months. This family just so happens to be peanut farmers. Every place in their house is filled with bags of peanuts. In fact the bed that
Olga's grandma stays in is surrounded by 5feet mounds of loose peanuts (see first pic below).
Blanca in front of the peanuts that are surrounding her grandma's bed
These are Olga's Great Aunt and Uncle. They were estatic that I would want to take a picture of them. The Great Aunt even went into her room to change clothes and fix her hair. ***Notice the piles of corn behind her.
Olga's distant cousin
5. Making Tortillas
On my last night in the village the family asked if I wanted to go to chuch with them. I didn't quite understand that it would be a special Mayan Ceremony to honor two Teenagers who graduated from high school and were now going to be teachers. I was the only non-Mayan in the chuch. I snuck a few photos but didn't want to attract more attention to myself. During the middle of the ceremony the pastor walked back to me (I wasn't paying attention because an older lady next to me was fascinated with my digital camera), made me stand up and introduced me to the entire church (a little embarrassing since I wasn't quite sure what he was saying about me). After the ceremony the pastor led me to the area where everyone was going to eat - he then sat down with me and talked with me for about 30 minutes. The whole time I was thinking he probably should be with the two teenagers who were being honored. Or maybe I was just thinking that because I was getting exhausted trying to understand Spanish.
3.
Going to the bathroom - My first night I woke up around 3am and needed to go to the bathroom. The bathroom was outside in a make-shift outhouse. I don't like the dark, especially in the jungle but I couldn't hold it anymore. I put my headlamp on and walk out - when I shone my light on the bathroom area a giant, black, with a long tail animal went running by. It was far too large to be a cat or dog. I panicked. I think it was a jaguar - I went back to bed, so much for the bathroom. The next morning I asked the girls if they have jaguars here. They said yes. I told them about my experience and they both looked at me and said, "we don't go out of the room at night!".... so it may or may not have been a jaguar but to me I am going to claim it was.
2.
Thermarest - I was prepared to not have a bed so I brought a thermarest. When I unscrewed the valve so it would "automatically" inflate the entire family watched the airmatress (the entire time!), they even invited the neighbors in to see the amazing matress!
What they normally sleep on and Olga using my thermarest and sleeping bag!
1.
Saying Goodbye to the family - everyone (including myself) got teary eyed and they made me promise I would return. Which I plan to do in February. I am hoping to buy them an
Onil stove so they can live healthier. The onil stove will cost a little over $100 dollars.
The whole family and me
(According to the World Health Organization, one out of five children in Guatemala does not live to age 5. They further state that the leading cause of death in this age range is acute respiratory infection (from breathing the heavy smoke from cooking fires).)
A little background information on the poverty in Guatemala (taken from compassion)
Population of Guatemala: 12 million
16% of Guatemala lives on less than a dollar a day
7.5% of the population is unemployed
GDP estimate $5,000 compared to US's GDP $44,000
When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed."
Mother Theresa
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