Mi famila

Here is a picture of mi familia here in Guatemala, or at least most of us. Two of the girls were gone for the weekend when this picture was taken.

From right to left is my seat (empty because I´m taking the picture) rice, tortillas, beans, sweet plantains, cream, soup.... oh yeah and the people:) Kim my fellow camino segurian, her boyfriend also a camino trabajador, Julita my host mother, Alma, Nacho, and Stephanie. They are great, we always laugh a lot together, and come up with any excuse to fiestar.... someone leaving, someone coming, someones birthday... or almost birthday:-)

I stopped by the market today, and I couldn´t resist eating some of the fruit... mangos got me. I haven´t gotten sick yet, and hope I haven´t just jinxed myself! The markets are always super busy, lots of shouting, lots of bargaining (which I am quite good at I must admit.. whether that is a good or bad thing I am not sure).

Its funny, throughout the day you hear either firecrackers or loud pop noises of smoke signals going off. I never knew what they were, but a friend told me that sometimes they are used by churches that don´t have bells to signal the hour. Except when they are just fired at random. So before I thought they were all just fired at random, whereas now I know that they are signals for the hour.... except when they´re not. Glad I cleared that one up:-)

Today when I was walking down to the market all the church bells were ringing because there was a wedding...ooo! I saw the bride and her bridal party getting fluffed up before going in. But don´t worry Nina, it couldn´t possibly have been as wonderful as your boda.

Family day was great! There were SO many activities for the kids to do, and so much going on that I actually managed to lose all my kids at one point- they just kind of scattered. I felt bad, but they were all within the project and recovered in the end. They had fun though, as you can see by some of the girls showing off their hulahooping skills.

The activity I did with the parents worked really well with the parents of the afternoon class, they participated and laughed and (I think) enjoyed it. I was really glad, because the parents of the morning class I had a little more trouble with. They were all really shy, and so some were reluctant to participate, and others flat out wouldn´t. So I had to change things a little bit, and think of a new activity. But thats how it goes, we ran with it. I can´t wait to get back to class on Monday now that I feel more comfortable with the kids. I feel like I understand them all a little bit better now that I have met their parents too.

There is a gym right down the street from where I am staying so after school a bunch of us from the project go down there to work out and take salsa lessons- yay. Musica and dance... can´t go wrong.

Till nextime this is la loquita Mendez signing off.

Hey look! a bus with my name on it:

Antigua, la ciudad

In all my focus on the students and what goes on in the classroom and at the project I have failed to talk about the place where I am living, Antigua. It is a beautiful old city with stone streets, old buildings and lots and lots of ruins, especially of old churches. The city is also surrounded by volcanos as I mentioned earlier, and has frequent earthquakes; some big, lot of little ones. Actually there was a slight earthquake the other day. One of the volcanoes is active and you can see puffs of smoke coming out of in some days. Lately it has been a bit cloudy so we haven´t seen much. I hope to climb some of them, maybe this weekend

... after we get through parents day that is!

Yesterday on the way to the project there was a lot of traffic on the highway towards Guatemala city (there always is but there was even more than usual) After a while of stop and go we finally came to a scene were there were about 30-40 men and at least 20 police officers, lots of police motercycles and trucks and a whole lot of chaos. Some men were face down in the back of a pickup truck being brought away by the police, and others were still arguing, shouting and making a scene at the gas station. I am not entirely sure what brought on the conflict, nor how long it took to settle it down, but my host family said it had to do with gas prices being so high and it was some sort of protest. I know one of the teachers couldn´t make it in to the project yesterday as a result.

Today, my morning class couldn´t go to the pool because there was some sort of bacteria problem at the facilities that we use:-( The students were as a result not very cooperative, and we didn´t have a planned activity so we spent a little time scrambling ot set up an activity at the computer center before bringing them down there. I then went off to the kitchen to help put together food bags and participate in an assembly line of lunch meals. Tonight I am going to come up with an activity to do with the parents. It will be really interesting to meet all the students parents, and I hope the big day goes well!!

Swim adventure and more!!!

Today was on volunteer of nine months last day. Mary, who is from Maine as well, was saying all her goodbyes. Time for me is already flying but I am learning SO much! (and i hope the kids are too:) I met and worked with the older kids. They are smart, but also can be very difficult to motivate and keep on task. Sometimes deliberatly play games or cause problems. Like When the english teacher came yesterday a couple tried to ruin an activity he was trying to run. It can be hard because they are not accustomed to a structured classroom. But they need structure in their lives: to help them in their studies, and finding a career and building a future. I am also getting used to the rules of the classroom, learning what behavior to tolerate, and when to step in. I don´t want to be overbearing, or too demanding but it is hard when I am unsure what the primary teacher expects of them. Today´s english activity went much better, and I was able to help keep students on task and get them to practice. Todo es poco a poco.
Yesterday for the afternoon class we packed 50 kids into the same van that 20 volunteers usually travel in. When i say packed- I mean like sitting on eachothers laps, I was squished in a whole bunch of the 9-12 year old girls. We went over to the pool where the students got changed and began their third swimming lesson. They love it. So much that at the end it can be a problem getting them all out of the pool again! Next week I´m planning on jumping in with them to help with the swimming class.
I have a lot of fun with the 9-12 year old girls. But it can be a challenge because there are two groups that don´t get along well (as is the case with girls of that age...I remember) Also, as with the older group I am still familiarizing myself with the rules of the school. In Guatemala in general horseplay is definatly more the norm, and games can be really rough. I want the kids to have fun, but being the worrier that I am always want them to play more gently with eachother. Some of the girls are really mature for their age in some aspects, and a couple are very ¨tough¨, I imagine you kind of have to be, or learn to become so from where they´re coming from. They still tease me a lot, and try to get away with stuff when the teacher is out of the class. When I was down in the kitchen with three of the girls washing up after snack one of them made a comment she knew was not acceptable saying "los chinitos¨eat rats and garbage. When I told her that it was un acceptable she just teased ¨Yo se porque soy chinta¨they are very quick with the smart comments. I think humor and teasing CAN be good, and I need to find a way to use it in a more constructive way.
I think it is really important to get the kids to not be afraid to try their hardest. I think that is one of the biggest things is that while they seem tough, and like to convey to others that they can handle anything, yet whenever it comes to answering serious questions in front of the class they get reallly shy. Every day we have an activity that is part of what is called ¨La Programa de Paz¨A lot of times it involves questions about respect, honesty, tolerance, love, and discussions of morals and values. Today the older kids had to write 5 things they liked about themselves, 5 things they think they deserve from others, and 5 things that others should expect from them/that they owe to others. Only one or two kids read off the pages they wrote right off. Most of the others kind of evaded, laughed, and were really shy about giving their responses, rushed through them and were very concerned with how their fellow class mates viewed them. Johanna (the teacher i work with) is really good at working with them, asking tough questions and getting them to take the time to really think about what they believe. She does actually make them think, sometimes stops them in their tracks, and I can see she is really having a huge affect on the paths their future will take. This is what camino seguro is. Seriously helping students to find thier own paths, and changing the route they are taking for the better. The students are really growing on me, I only hope I can learn more from Johanna! And QUICKLY!!:-)
This friday we are planning for a BIG monthly student/parent day. It is an opportunity for parents to meet with social workers, for teachers to update parents on their students progress, and to get the families working towards the same goals. There will be games activities, food bags distributed, and all sorts going on. Tomorrow Johanna and I will be planning activities and setting up the class room for the big event.
Days are busy! Long, but they fly quick at the same time.

Panajachel Guatemala, el Lago Atitlan Guatemala

So I´ve almost been here a full week- but WOW has it been busy. I´ve had orientation, tours of Antigua, and Guatemala city, and a weekend visiting el Lago Atitland(a lake- in the picture below I am standing on a dock there), San Pedro, Panajachel and chichicastenango (A HUGE market!! There´s a "where´s waldo?" picture of me to the left in the market) my first day working a full day was FULL! I started off in the kitchen because each volunteer works the kitchen once a week. Cooking for 500 plus is fun:-) after serving soup and tortillas I went to work in a class room of girls from ages 9-11. There were 24 of them, one teacher and myself. The girls have SOOOOOOOO much energy!!! It was a little overwhelming my first half hour because there was soooo much noise. They had all just gotten back from lunch and were bouncing off the walls, pushing eachother around playing games etc. During class, some of them switched their names, hid on our way coming back from the bathroom, and would tease me... ay de mi! Some of those girls are really quick, while we were working on math problems I was really impressed with how some would find solutions super rapido:-) THey would also help eachother and explain things to one another. They are all very friendly and outgoing. I think they are accustomed to volunteers because by the end of the first day they were all giving me hugs and kisses goodbye. awe. I can´t wait for tomorrow where I will be working the morning with students ages 15-20. That might be more of a challenge becuase many of these students began their education later in life and so find the work more difficult. In the afternoon we will also be taking the girls SWIMMING! They just started a swimming program in the last couple weeks. All the students have new swimsuites and bathing caps, and are SOO excited about learning. They get bussed to a pool. Some of them love Camino Seguro so much that we have to make sure everyone is out of the classroom at the end of the day when it is time to leave. It is not a rare occurence that a student tries to hide in the building.

It is really wonderful working with the students during the day, they´re so energetic and love life. But it is hard to think about the conditions many of them go home to at night, especially after getting our first tour of Guatemala city and the dump.

If you look in the upper left corner of the picture, right below the houses, those are actually coffins laying on the hill side. We were informed that if the family members of the deceased don´t continue to pay land rent fees after someone is buried they are taken out.

You can smell the dump from the Camino Seguro building. Worse when it rains. Up close it is almost unbearable. But at the program all the students and families (and volunteers and staff) are provided with access to the health clinic. Which is good because the respiratory problems that resut from being exposed to the methane gas that is emmitted from the dump are lifelong. I can´t bear to think about what would happen to these energetic children without the health care, food, and love provided at camino seguro. Luckily, reality for them is getting better.

To the right is a picture of my housemate kim with one of the many little angels she cares for during the day. (If you look carefully you can see her halo) Visiting the little ones was probably the BEST part of the trip so far! I am going to try to see if I could work with them maybe once or twice a week. If not I am sure I will have my work cut out working with the older kids. I am learning all sorts of new Guatemalan slang from them:-)

I´ve arrived

So the first couple days have been really great- BUSY, and full of new sights, sounds, and smells. I am living in Antigua which is about 40 minutes away from Camino Seguro/ Safe Passage. I have my own room but am housed with one other volunteer from California, and four girls from other parts of Guatemala who work and go to school in Guatemala city or Antigua, and la dueña (owner) Julita Lima and her son. While I carry a bagged lunch to the project we all help cook dinner and eat together.
On Thursday I visited the Guatemala city dump, the Church building that the project started at.

Despite its poor condition it is still being used for mass today, while the project has moved to a much better home. After we visited la guarderia or pre-school building (and the most adorable children in the world) we went to the main educational reinforcement center. All the kids get free meals at the program as well. I did not know before getting down here but the original informal name that was given to Camino Seguro was ¨comida segura¨ which refers to safe food, or food for sure. This is because the mothers who brought their children to the project knew it was a place they could bring their children to get food. This continues a bit today as the kitchen staff informed us that they have noticed fluctuating numbers of children who come to the program depending on the food served the day before. This Thursday was also the feast of Corpus Cristi (a bread of a different type) and below was a street celebration taking place outside a school.

There were many parades and much celebration on Sunday too. I was in San Pedro on Sunday, and at the end of the mass that I went to there were a whole bunch of announcements in the native indigenous language. Also all the people were dressed in indigenous clothing, women with formal dress with beautiful patters and head covering. I stood out a bit, but I actually knew two of the songs:-) Many people in the streets wore traditional clothes, and you heared it spoken in the streets in Panajachel and San Pedro a lot some of the variety indigenous language, but people would also mix it with spanish, so I would understand a little bits and pieces, a word here or there.

Model UN Conference

I have just returned from the Maine Model United Nations Conference 2008. It was a great conference where I resided as chair of the Human Rights Council, and as Under Secretary General of Internal Affairs was involved with planning the conference and training the chairpersons. The students in my committee discussed Children's Rights, Juvenile Executions, and addressed the crisis situation of the Burma Cyclone aftermath. It was so inspiring to see the 500 high school students in attendance so passionate about world issues, and putting their excellent negotiating and debating skills to good use.

I also had the chance to see some of the students I had worked with as a global educator in the past from Boothbay, Yarmouth, and Mount Ararat high schools. It was especially great to see one particular student. I ran in to her this past summer, and she told me about her experience volunteering for Safe Passage. That conversation with her  is when I learned about the program and the reason I am involved now. I was also pleased to see her recognized at the conference with the book award for her community involvement and service(including her work in Guatemala). It was great to tell her that I'll be going down on Tuesday! I hope that the trend keeps up...

A poem by C.P. Cavafy ITHACA translated from modern Greek by Rae Dalven

When you start on your journey to Ithaca,

then pray that the road is long,

full of adventure, full of knowledge.

Do not fear the Lestrygonias

and the Cyclopes and the angry Poseidon.

You will never meet such as these on your path, 

if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine

emotion touches your body and your spirit.

You will never meet the Lestrygonias, 

the Cyclopes and the fierce Poseidon,

if you do not carry them within your soul,

if your soul does not raise them up before you.

Then Pray that the road is long. 

That the summer mornings are many,

that you will enter ports seen for the first time

with such pleasure, and with such joy!

Stop at Phoenician markets,

and purchase fine merchandise,

mother-of-pearl and corals, amber and ebony,

and pleasurable perfumes of all kinds,

buy as many pleasurable perfumes as you can;

visit hosts of Egyptian cities,

to learn and learn from those who have knowledge.

Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind.

To arrive there is your ultimate goal.

But do not hurry the voyage at all.

It is better to let it last for long years;

and even to anchor at the isle when you are old,

rich with all that you have gained on the way,

not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.

Without her you would never have taken the road.

But she has nothing more to give you

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you.

With the great wisdom you have gained, with so much experience,

you must surely have understood by then what Ithacas mean.

My spanish teacher gave our class this poem as we all set out on our own odysseys. 

Testing 1,2,3

I am so excited to go to Guatemala to work for safe passage. Thank you to all who have helped make this trip possible!! I have never blogged before so I am just testing out formatting by adding pictures and such:-) To the right is a photo taken on Easter Sunday in the Dominican Republic 2007. Behind us is a BEAUTIFUL quote about women, and I am pictured with three generations of Dominican women:-) This saturday I will be attending an event where I will meet the new program director Barbara Nijhuis who will be speaking about her first 10 months working at Safe Passage. I am also working on collecting some toys, games, art supplies, general medicines and other things that the program needs to bring down with me. (Hopefully  I will have enough room in my bags!!) Thank you- and this concludes the test:-)