Guatemalan differences

It’s not all about the outer appearances. The traditional Mayan clothing, the darker skin, prominent noses, dark and thick black hair, gold on their teeth to signify wealth, earrings that I see on all baby girls and females…

It’s about the things you cannot see. The way people behave and react and live. It’s when you schedule a meeting with people and start an hour late, hora chapina. It’s when you can blast music and scream at the top of your lungs and no one will stop you. It’s when kids can fire up firecrackers in central park without anyone thinking it’s dangerous. It’s when you sit down and eat a meal with everyone in the family and then talk for a couple of hours afterwards. It’s when you can see the first lady 100 feet away from you in an open area without the military or security personnel thinking you’re going to cause commotion. It’s when you can greet everyone out in the streets. It’s when girls get chh’ed at and mothers breastfeed their babies anywhere and everywhere.

It’s when you’re thrown responsibility for 150 kids during a volunteer event and expected to come up with activities. This past Sunday, the municipality at one of our training communities decided to celebrate International Women’s Day and have activities for 1500 women. Randomly, about a week ago, two other volunteers and I bumped into Sonia, a very strong and confident woman in charge of the women’s group, and she asked us if we could help out with logistics, tables, and chairs. We agreed. However, on Friday, we went in for a meeting for more information and received information that we would not be setting up chairs. We would be taking care of 150 (or so) kids. My friend and I were doubtful though; with 1500 women, would we really only have 150 kids? To make it even more surprising, they asked us what we would like to do. We were like… Uh.. Well, how old are the kids? What’s the space like? What materials do we have? The whole thing was very unorganized and the more I thought about it on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning, the more I thought this was going to turn out really badly. My friend and I quickly called the rest of the SCT volunteers to see if anyone else could help us out because the Muni had 3 people. Most had other plans already and we only had one confirmation.

Day of… we saw the space at 11AM. The event was from 2-5PM. The space was a rectangular area covered with dirt and rocks, outside, in the hot sun. First, we tried to get rid of as much of the rocks as we could. The Muni set up one tent for shade, a few tables and chairs, and music. We also had a tarp to put under the shade. Fortunately, we got 7 volunteers in total to help out. The Muni also pulled in a few more people so we had a total of 12 adults.

Truthfully I expected a lot of kids but we actually did have 150. Apparently, not all women want to bring their children to events such as this. And some had their kids stay with them in the gardens while they did their own activities. Looking at the area, I told one of the Muni people that the kids would need water because it was hot and the kids would be playing sports, soccer, games, etc. outside. Apparently, the kids here are accustomed to drinking juice and soda and don’t really go for the water.

Thankfully, the day turned out really successful. With the exception of a few rowdy boys, the kids were well behaved, listened to us, and played the games and activities we had for them, all of which we made up on the spot. It was great. We had betted that 3 kids would get bloody knees. No one got hurt. Other than the fact that ‘washing hands’ only included using water and that one boy ran over to the stream to pee (which is not uncommon), I felt that we were able to teach or show a little bit about throwing trash in the garbage bag. 

Up until plastics and inorganic waste made their way to Guatemala, it was okay for Guatemalans to throw their organic trash out the window of buses, in the rivers, and over cliffs. Now, it’s not okay. There is garbage and trash everywhere. The stream that goes under my house used to have fish and be clean. Now, you see plastic, Styrofoam, aluminum, and more, and no fish. Therefore, it’s not a surprise that the kids tossed their candy wrappers, napkins, cups, and plastic bags onto the ground. We busily walked around with garbage bags, reminding the kids to put trash in the right place and complimenting those who did so. It was definitely a new experience and I hope even some of the kids will continue to practice good waste practices….. O_O

I learned a lot on Sunday. While we were doing yoga and playing duck, duck, goose on the tarp, I had the kids take off their shoes. Some were hesitant and one boy sat really far away from everyone else. I told him to join us because he was sitting at the edge. He had seen that everyone else had taken their shoes off and he didn’t want to. I asked why and he said they were his only pair. He had one pair of shoes. One pair. The municipality gave out TOMS to as many kids as they could. The only problem was that it was very unorganized. One of the boys (who only has one pair of shoes and peed in the stream) got two shoes for his right foot. Another boy got two shoes of different sizes. Several of the older siblings (and by older, I mean 7 or 9 years old) were also taking care of their younger siblings between 3-5 years old. It felt odd because I’m not sure my own sister took care of me by herself like that.

Before volunteering at this event, I wanted to go to Antigua to watch the Vagina Monologues. I didn’t want to watch 150 kids in the heat outside and in the dirt. Now, I’m really glad I was there. “Planning” for the day, working with people at the Municipality, having more PC trainees come to help out, doing exercises and yoga with the girls, playing soccer, having to dance and model in front of the kids, playing “Simon Says,” always being goose because I was the gringa, talking to the kids, encouraging usage of garbage bags, and seeing some of the kids step up to help us out with blowing balloons or with game ideas was more than what I would get from the Vagina Monologues.