March 9th:

Hola! Today we got to San Miguel at 9:30 AM. We immediately started working on the desks. Some of us drilled the pieces together, some of us sanded the pieces and some of us sanded the old paint of the chair frames. We ate lunch and then headed down to the library. I met Marta who is actually the coolest little girl I've ever met. She taught me so much Spanish and I kept the pictures we drew together. Her mom and dad work in the coffee plantations (a very common job in San Miguel) and her mother washes laundry on top of that (also very common). Next we went into the Community Room at Open Windows and watched a presentation on eye care, eye examinations and injuries. All of the kids paid attention the whole time and at the end they asked a billion questions and this wasn't even at school! It was after. It was totally different from a Canadian class. After this it was play time. I played some more games in the courtyard with the girls. They are hilarious. A couple of them are really good at explaining the rules, thank gosh! We played until 4:30 PM when we had to go back to Antigua. All of them give us big hugs when we leave. I will hopefully get to see Marta tomorrow. We got home and OG (minus the chaperones) went out on the town! We went to the Mediterranean restaurant that we went to for dinner a couple nights ago. We hookah-ed mint and mango shisha. After that, we went to the McDonald's that is crazy nice! There were candles on most of the tables and the courtyard was lit up with lights. We walked back to the hotel at 7 PM to eat dinner at Fernando's. We had a broth filled with salantro that had to chunks of squash and a piece of chicken. On the side was rice and carrots. We drank juice as well. Guatemala's juice is definitely different than North America's.. It is usually pretty thick because it is fresh. And so good! The rest of Our Group (because I was allerica) ate brownies for dessert. Tonight we are going on the roof again! I knew it would become a regular spot to hang out.. but the view is so pretty because the balcony just shows the beautiful skyline and volcanoes. Anyways, tomorrow we are going to OW to paint the desks! Buenas noches!

Torry Harris
Developing World Connections Participant

March 9th: Busy already.

More thoughts from yesterday:

We worked on desks and prepped them to replace the old wood for new wood and then paint them. At 4 PM the kids could play because school and homework time was over. We read them stories (in Spanish) and asked them basic questions like how old are you, how many brothers and sisters do you have? etc etc. Some of the eleven and twelve year olds could not read.. :( We coloured with them. Ah, they were so cute. I met three kids I liked in particular -- Delmay, Franklin and Daniel. Daniel was so good at art! The girls really liked my nose ring, but did not like my rook piercing at all! They openly laugh at our bad pronunciation too. Some of us played soccer in the Open Windows Foundation courtyard and I played games with the girls. I had to do the KitKat bar hand shake/game with so many girls! We played games that were kind of like Ring Around the Rosie and other elementary school games, but in Spanish. It was so, so much fun. At 5 PM, all the kids go home for dinner.

We walked down to another house where two girls and their mother and their father lived. Their dad was an alcoholic and didn't support them. The mother's father died suddenly and he had not written a will yet. So the government took hold of the property. The family can still live there, but the house needs to be able to be taken down if or when the government says so. This means it is made out of bamboo with a tarp as a roof. It gets really windy and rains, and their "backyard" (a dirt path with chickens and laundry hanging up to dry) will get wiped out. I think the saddest part that got to me was that the older daughter is handicapped. They don't even know what mental illness she has and her family cannot afford a wheelchair so she sits in the room that is their house in the dark everyday. That was hard for me because last year I was a Teacher's Assistant in the Resource Room at school. Here, the government does not provide funding for her to go to school in a special classroom with an aid. When our group gets home we are going to start a fund-raiser to build her a house and provide her with a wheelchair. We also went out for dinner in San Miguel's ONLY restaurant. It was Mexican/Guatemalan food. After that we went back to Open Windows and participated in a youth group that happens every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It was International Women's Day so we learnt about famous women around the world (Hillary Clinton, Rosa Parks, Helen Keller etc..) We played some "ice breaker" games as well. We left at 9 PM and we went on the roof. It was clouded over tonight. We haven't been able to see the moon yet.

Today we got to San Miguel Duenas at 9:30 AM. We immediately started working on the desks. Some of us drilled the pieces together, some of us sanded the pieces and some of us sanded the old paint of the chair frames. We just ate lunch and now we are going to go to the library portion of OW (Open Windows) and play with the kids.

Adios amigos! ;)
Torry Harris
Developing World Connections Participant

March 8th: First Day of Volunteer Work.

Today is our first day of volunteer work. We left at Antigua at 8:00 AM and drove in two vans (and our eight suitcases) to San Miguel Duenas. It was about a fifteen minute drive. Even though it was so close, Antigua is very different from San Miguel. It is not cobble stone and it is very, very poor. Teresa (the leader of Open Windows Foundation) gave us a tour of the village. First we went to the Fire Hall. It was tiny! We all slid down the fireman's pole though. Riche was so scared! But we finally convinced her to come down. Shane, Riley and Miles climbed back up the pole. Show offs.

It's funny because on some houses you will see North American references like a poster of High School Musical or Shrek. We went do the City Hall next. The government is really corrupt. Teresa says that they encourage all children to go to school, but they turn a blind eye when they need money for school supplies. This prevents them from being able to have enough for everybody. Small children go to school in the morning while their parents and older siblings work. Then they come to the library (which is the Open Windows building) or take a siesta while the teenagers go to school.

We stopped at a "house" that four families lived in. It was so dirty. The father was making bread that he could sell. All of the families sleep in one room with two mattresses. They have a lime and an apple tree. They wash all their clothes by hand and hang them to dry. They had rabbits, a dog and chickens. Their sinks were filthy and they didn't have any electricity. The oldest son had to work night and day to pay for his little sister's education. It made me cry. That was definitely the moment that everybody has been talking about -- that minute that changes your life, that minute that makes you feel so bad and feel so grateful for what you have. It was unbelievable. Poverty now has a face and a name and it makes it that much more real.

Next we went to a private school where all of the students were considered "upper class". It was recess time and it was pandemonium! All of the kids would ambush you for pictures! They all wore red school uniforms and ate lots of junk food. They would laugh at how tall Shane was! They were all so friendly. They would ask me questions in Spanish and I would have NO idea what they meant. After this, we went back to the Open Windows building and starting fixing up desks. We have to take them all apart, put them back together with new wood and then later we will paint them. We ate lunch here and now it's our break before we will get back to work. Tonight we are going to a youth group. I'll keep you posted. Husta luego!

Torry Harris
Developing World Connections Participant

March 7th: Saw a Volcano Blow!

OMG!! Today was the craziest day of my life. We woke up at 6:30 and went for breakfast at Fernando's at 7:15. Then we took a two hour bus ride to the Pacaya volcano. While we were driving we saw another volcano steam (Guatemala has four active volcanoes). I'll post pictures when I can! But yeah, we went through two very poor towns. At the bottom of the volcano (it's 8,000 meters high) we buy walking sticks made of bamboo for Q5. Right when the bus pulls up, men and younger boys flock to the door so we buy the stick from them. We drove some more through a village at the base of the volcano. We took some pictures with some little boys. There was one Caucasian boy! It was weird.. Like how did he get there? We then started hiking and about ten locals would follow us with horses. They wanted us to pay to ride them up to the top (they finally left when we were half way up). It was so steep! We were ALL dying (especially Riche and I). I looked angry in every picture hah. You could feel the altitude increase considerably. It was about a 6 km hike to the top. There were tons of metamorphic rock! We had to then climb on the metamorphic rock and shale. Once we got pretty close to the top it instantly got so hot! We could see red lava spewing out of openings and every couple minutes the volcano would "burp". Mary had brought marshmallows and our guide roasted them over the lava. Yum :). Right now, locals are putting on a parade for Lent. It's very bright and colourful and there is loud music.

We went for dinner at a Mediterranean dinner last night! Ah it was so good! It was also a hookah bar. They had the most beautiful decorations. One thing I noticed was the pop tastes way different here. I drink Diet Pepsi (called Pepsi Light here) and it is way sweeter than in North America. It tastes like it has been sweetened with cane juice.

We walked back to our hotel and the parade came by again. Everyone was wearing bright purple robes and carrying huge statues! All of us got burnt so we had to pick up aloe vera from the pharmacy! Riche is sooo burnt! Surprisingly, mine is not bad. OG hung out on top of our hotel´s rooftop again which I think will become a regular spot to chill. We brought up an iPod dock and we could see all of the stars so clearly. We found Orian's belt and the Big Dipper etc :). At about 12:30 AM we saw a volcano blow! The red lava went everywhere. It was crazy!

Torry Harris
Developing World Connections Participant

March 6th: Dinner, and Dancing

We woke up and it was SO nice out! We went to Fernando's (a cafe next door that has very good English) for breakfast. We walked to the local market a couple blocks away from our hotel. Their driving is pretty crazy.. The sidewalks are about a foot tall and there are lots of locals trying to sell you things. It is so hot out! I have been applying sunscreen like crazy. Everything is also so cheap. They sold machettis and lots of different kinds of knives! It was different hah.. I have improved my Spanish so much! Zander, Ali, Riche and I saw a truck of coffins drive by. Locals just sit in the bed of trucks and people NEVER stop at stop signs. There are beautiful buildings everywhere! Ah, Mom you would die at how beautiful the flowers at the market are.

We went for lunch at a place down by the market, I had a cheeseburger. :) After lunch, Ali, Riche and I went to McDonald's.. hands down nicest McDon's I have ever seen. There was a courtyard with a fountain and tables where you could eat. Three sixteen year old locals tried to pick us up! It was a good attempt, no dice. :)

We hung out at the hotel for a bit while Teresa, Ali, Riley, Shane and Sara went to a church service. We then went out for dinner at a nice restaurant a couple blocks away from our hotel. There was live music -- xylophone type instruments. While we were waiting for our food, the lights dimmed and about ten dancers came out and danced to a few songs. They then took people who were dining.. Mary and Teresa were selected first. I totally thought I was in the clear, but I was wrong! They picked Shane and I next. It was hilarious! We danced in a big circle with the rest of the dancers and some people out for dinner. They gave us maracas as well. Of course OG took a thousand pictures! Those I will not be posting! Miles and I shared spaghetti. It got a little messy.. ;) Around 10 PM some of us went to the roof were there is a patio with swings and met around ten Americans (they were from South Dakota) joined us.. Ugh they didn't know ANY of the provinces. They had heard of BC because of the Olympics, but knew no others. One asked if we boarded AlbertO. Ah, not quite boys.

Torry Harris
Developing World Connections Participant

March 5th: Heading to Guatemala

Ah! It has been quite the day. We woke up this morning at 3:45 AM to drive to the Vancouver airport for our 7:40 AM flight. The flight was not bad at all -- a little bit of turbulance that was scary though. I am currently writing from the George W Bush Intercontential Airport in Houston, Texas. It is very cloudy and not that warm :(. We will arrive in Guatemala city around 10 PM and drive about forty five minutes to Antigua, where we are staying. (Pictures will be posted later on..) The trees in Kamloops better not be blooming without me!

Torry Harris
Developing World Connections Participant

Guatemala 2010

Read about a group of high school students (and three chaperones) from Kamloops who are volunteering in village of San Miguel Duenas, Guatemala. Along with refurbishing buildings, the group will be helping the host partner provide children with a basic foundation of literacy and life skills.

Most of the posts will be excerpts from Operation Guatemala, written by Torry Harris. She has been blogging about Operation Guatemala since she first signed up to volunteer with Developing World Connections in June 2009. For full posts visit:http://operationguatemala2010.blogspot.com/