We finished spanish school last friday, which we took for a week, and recieved a much-deserved diploma (not really!). It was a pretty tough week of 7 hours a day, not including homework, so we´re glad it´s done with. And now we know at least 1/10, 000,000th of the language, which is nice for your MOST basic conversational situations. Spanish school was... muis dificil y muis leger y muis bueno (difficult, long, good;respectively), all at the same time. We have learned quite a bit, though we feel like we´ve learned nothing because of how quickly the native Guatemalans speak the language.. muis dificult to understansd any thing, though we probably know a little of what they are saying.
We took two Camino Seguro tours last week, one to the (sort of) foster home that they have near Antigua; the other to the school/daycare/vocational schools that they have in Guatemala City, near the dump. The experience in Guatemala City was the most incredible thing that we´ve ever seen.... the area to which these people live, around or in the dump, is the same place they work, gathering recyclables for redemption, collecting items for thier homes, and finding food to eat. It is beyond my previous comprehension of livable.
In contrast to the mind-blowing conditions of the city dump area is the beauty and social impact of the Safe Passage facilities. They provide a haven/oasis/safehouse for the children that, before the existence of the facilites, knew little in life but garbage.
In 1999 the project provided food and schooling to 40 children. Now, in 2006, the program works with 400 children and their families, providing even more services, including daycare for the younger siblings of the children attending school, literacy and English classes for the mothers, and a strong network complete with dedicated social workers.
In 1999 the project provided food and schooling to 40 children. Now, in 2006, the program works with 400 children and their families, providing even more services, including daycare for the younger siblings of the children attending school, literacy and English classes for the mothers, and a strong network complete with dedicated social workers.
Starting on monday, we began our four weeks of volunteering with the project. I´ve been working in ´La Gauderia,´ a daycare facility that cares for children aged 2-5 years old from about 8am-4pm. It is a play-packed day of all the activities I did in my Batman underwear. The kids are leathally cute but come from a really difficult and most likely abusive home life, so its nice to be a part of the effort to get them away from it. Since I don´t speak spanish, I do A LOT of playing, which I´m good at, perhaps because I´m immature.
The daycare is currently located in a big, old warehouse that the Guatemala goverment has loaned to the project for awhile. But an American couple has donated a whole new building for the daycare! So, that's being built right now.
Brianna is working in the Safe Passage main office with the sponsorship department, here in Antigua. The sponsorship department maintains communication and does odd tasks related to the sponsorship program, which links sponsor parents in foreign countries to their sponsor child in Guatemala city. Sponsorship pays for the child´s schooling, books, uniforms and in-school food, which are all waaaay more than their parents could ever dream of paying. In guatemala, everything costs money, especially education.
This is Edi, from la Guaderia! He is Chris´new best friend.
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