el 14 de abril
We were warmly greeted by everyone a Safe Passage today. It was an intense day of orientation to the program: learning about the extreme poverty here in the capital city, and some of the historic and social factors involved. Despite this heavy dose of ’Guatemalan reality’ we have found opportunities to enjoy ourselves and to begin forming a strong group bond. We seem to be finding great strength in each other, and great joy in the delicious food, fun music, and the warmth of the Guatemalan people.
Miguel: Well I guess I’m the only one writing tonight so here I go. This is the sign that we saw when we got to the main school of safe passage. This was very funny. Also, before we started to write oday’s journal entry the floor and the hotel started shaking. There seemed to be a minor tremor here in Antigua. Dont worry it was short and we are all safe.
IN our tour of the neighborhood around the project we visited a lookout over the dump. Most of the families here survive by picking through the trash for stuff to sell, or to keep. It’s a toxic mix of waste from homes, businesses and industries. Methane gas is a huge danger. We were told the average earnings from a day is about 25 Quetzales, less than 4 dollars. This is one of very few employment opportunities for people without an education and for the steady stream of migrants coming from the countryside in search of work. Many see this work ashaving more dignity than joining a gang or prostitution.
This was really sad to see we could see all these people running after a truck, which the Safe Passage person told us was that they were calling dibs on the truck. there was alot of sand blowing around and all in our face. There was a smell that was bad but we got used to it.
We also visited the ‘Guarderia’, or pre-school and learned about the needs of children and how they express their needs through agression. It was an impressive primer on Maslow and his theory on heirarchy of needs that should be required for all of us back at home. This also helped provide the context for our interactions with the children of Safe Passage. We had a great time playing with the children in the playground.
This was fun playing with the kids. we all tried to pick a kid to play with which didn’t work out because we got like 5 kids instead of one but it was still fun.
All the kids love to attack Ethan. They were on his back, on his legs and on his head. As you can see, they are trying pick him up lol.
This girl was funny; I was pushing here on the tire and I was just relaxing after pushing her too hard. And the boy taking my camera was fun too; he took my photo and a photo his best friend too.
Katie loved this girl. They sat together and played in the trees around the playground.
These two girls love Jiyeon and Jill. They loved playing with their hair. It was really hard for the children when we had to leave. Some of us will be working in the Guarderia throuhout the week.
Traffic was stopped on the main highway by farmers protesting the selling of land an increasing costs of living.
This was a protest in the street on out way back to the hotel. I have a video but am not sure if I can upload it, but I will try.
This is a video of us singing in the van and Jill getting mad at us. link below the video is on youtube
