Pamela Copeman » The Steps I Took: Guatemala 2014, Part 2

The Steps I Took: Guatemala 2014, Part 2

Jul 09 2014 · 0 comments · Community Service, Personal, Travel ·0

Continuing on with the story of my trip to Guatemala this year…

Back on site, we are getting there~

Chasen, our photographer, was also a member of our Team. On Day 2 he was the muscle for the circular saw~ woo hoo!

The Florida Girls~ Flo and Sarah, in very tight working conditions

Someone had to nail the tall wall, Elise was up for the job!

It’s not all work. During my time to play with the children I brought out art supplies donated by my Girls Just Wanna Paint group. The kids were little Monets!

photo credit: Chasen West for Kandrac & Kole

I also packed some bubbles with me and the kids were thrilled. Bubble blowing is a universal language :-).

Now you try…

Of course, always make time for dancing!

photo credit: Chasen West for Kandrac & Kole

Down the road, a new chicken coop was recently built to help the village with sustainability, isn’t it beautiful?

I’m proud to say that our team built a house in just 3 days! Once again, the Before (note the metal walls):

The newly built House: 3 rooms, including 2 bedrooms ~ no bathroom, but a palace in Guatemala

The skylight

New beds!

Dressing the beds in HomeGoods sheets

A finished bedroom, isn’t it beautiful?

The Stove donated by designer Rebecca Reynolds will make a huge difference for this family. It is vented to outside and will use much less wood than their previous set-up, xo

The Kitchen table and chairs

Every house has a dedication with the parish priest and Fontaine Green from CRI. The entire village attends.

The priest speaks in Spanish wishing the family happiness and many blessings in this new home. The mother is then given the keys to the front door and she enters with her family.

This is a single mother with 5 children and she is so sweet. She hugged and kissed us all individually and thanked us. As she did, her eyes were full of gratitude and tears.

My experience this year was indeed different than last year. The location where we built our house was more destitute and poor than last year, which I wouldn’t have thought possible. Even the animals were thinner and more sickly.

My team was made up of 12 females and 1 outstanding young man. We are all young at heart and optimistic. Most of the team felt that the people of the village, though living in such poverty, were happy. To some extent I agree. The young children are certainly happy. They play well together, they share the toys and candy we bring. The boys and girls are thoughtful towards each other. But as I looked more closely at the slightly older girls, their eyes don’t seem quite as bright. They are more timid than their younger siblings, they seem wary. And the mothers, much younger in years than I, know there is an easier life as they observe us with faces that are lined beyond their years.

At some point, something obviously changes for the children. I wonder when do the boys start disrespecting the girls? Why do so many men leave their families and never return, leaving single mothers to struggle to raise and feed their children? Where does the church teach that it is ok to bring babies into the world that cannot be cared for? As I looked at my surroundings day after day and into the eyes of the people in the village, I couldn’t help but wonder about all these things. I know this is a Mayan and Catholic culture I am told and that it will take a long time to educate this population to new ways. May God Bless them all!

In the meantime, I am humbled to be part of Kelly Kole‘s team, bringing shelter and a ray of hope for a better life to such deserving people.