On our first day
in Zacapa, Guatemala, we traveled across the area to meet and share with those
in the community whom Hearts in Motion have developed relationships.
Our first stop was
a community that recently sprung up at a dump on the outskirts of town. Here
people live on the dump literately and figuratively. Shacks surround the
outskirts and folks rummage through the trash as it is dumped. They seek food
scraps and fluids for their personal nourishment and anything that can be
recycled to provide some income for the family. As we came into the community,
children began running along the bus to meet us outside the dump in a little
shelter. Here we handed out sandwiches and rice milk, which we made prior to
coming out, to the children. Sandwiches consisted of hotdog size bun with a spread
of black beans and cheese. The children were so grateful for this food and
opportunity to interact with the youth and adults alike. In addition to the
food, the high school youth painted fingernails, made bubbles, played futbol,
and generally engaged the children and families present.
The thought of
trash and recycling really made me contemplate my life and how much I take for
granted each day. Day in and day out, I create a lot of waste. Is it necessary
or unnecessary waste? Since my return, I have tried in a few areas to work on
removing unnecessary waste. An example is to not use disposable silverware,
cups, and plates when eating and drinking, especially at work. Sometimes it would
be so easy to grab that plastic fork in the break room instead of walking back
to my desk for the metal fork that I can wash and reuse, but I remind myself of
the resulting pollution. Especially since in America, our waste goes directly
to the landfill with very little to no consideration to the impact of the earth
and recycling. Not that I would want to spend my days sifting through the trash
but at the same time, the sifting through the trash and recycling the paper,
plastic, cans, etc provides a better environment for us all. To stop the trash
sifting, we must consider how to reduce the trash and reuse and recycle to save
our earth. How can you make a small impact to the reduction of pollution in our
world? What impact would be made if everyone to that one little step towards
awareness of the waste in our lives?
Next stop, Maria’s
Day Care…Here we learned about the marvelous work Maria is doing in the
community for children under 6. The children in her care receive love and
attention as she teaches them the concepts of sharing and respect and begins
their learning process through song, art, reading, etc. St. Michael members in
the past helped with the building of the school and playground and supplying needed
supplies for the children and Maria. Crayons, art supplies (paper, paint
brushes, sponges, etc), color books, and play-doh are always needed, if you
would like to support Maria. Maria herself is a HIM success story as she
battled polio the HIM community brought her under their wing to help her gain
education and knowledge on how to help young children develop skills to assimilate
into the larger community and hopefully cause little ruckus. We all know that
children still may take divergent paths, but with sound leadership and
mentorship, we hope to minimize and weaken the negativity of these divergent
paths. She is very thankful for her education and all the support the HIM
community provides her to do what she loves and develop young children.
Lastly, we stopped
in the town of Pueblo Modelo. Here we provide clothes and shoes to the
community, which had been donated by so many in our communities. Folks from
Meade Co had made dresses for the girls and women along with shorts for the
little boys. We also had t-shirts and lots of flip-flops to share. The people
of the community received tickets to come through the shelter and receive an
article of clothing and pair of flip-flops, first the children and then the
women. The amount of articles of clothing we had allowed for many to receive at
least one new piece of clothing or a pair of flip-flops. While folks were
waiting in line, some of the young ladies painted fingernails and folks just
interacted with the people of the community.
After passing out
the clothes and flip-flops, we stopped by the site of the local community
school, which I will share more about in other posts, as we did not stay long
here.
What an amazing
first day to experience the culture and sites of the community in and around
Zacapa.
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