Feliz Navidad! Christmas in Guate

Merry Christmas from Guatemala!

As you may remember from previous blog posts, I had a wonderful experience with my Guatemalan host family during my first 2 months of SALT, and they invited me to spend Christmas and New Years with them. Although Christmas in Guate is a lot different than Christmas back home, and I was missing snow and all my family and friends and Christmas traditions back home, I wasn’t homesick, thanks to the wonderful hospitality of the Kaehler family! I had a really amazing Christmas, and much better than I was expecting, considering only a couple weeks ago I had been feeling pretty homesick for a Canadian Christmas.

Now, how to describe a Guatemalan Christmas…

First of all, Christmas in Guatemala (and El Salvador too) is just celebrated for one day, unlike back home where we have numerous dinners and get-togethers with family and friends throughout the whole holiday season. Here they just celebrate la Noche Buena (Christmas Eve). Christmas day is just a day to rest, because their Christmas Eve celebrations with family go into the early hours of Christmas morning. So here is what Christmas 2011 looked like for me.

My host mom spent the days of the 23^rd and the 24^th busy in the kitchen making tons of food. The main traditional Guatemalan Christmas food is tamales, a delicious dish made of corn and rice. They are filled with pork, peppers, raisins, olives and a red tomato sauce with lots of yummy Guatemalan spices. Each individual “tamal” is wrapped up separately in banana leaves and tied up with a dried weed, and then cooked for at least 8 hours. My host mom made 110 of these – a lot of work!! She also made traditional Guatemalan punch, a fruit drink with fresh pineapples, apples and papayas, as well as spices, served hot. Another big part of Guatemalan Christmas are firecrackers. Although the big show is at midnight on Christmas Eve, all day and night on the 24^th and 25^th you could hear firecrackers and fireworks going off in the distance.

Christmas Eve is a big deal, so everyone gets dressed up for the evening. At around 7:00, aunts, uncles and cousins started arriving at our house, and the girl cousins and aunts got dressed up in their new clothes, and started doing their hair and makeup together. The extended Kaehler family (the family of my host dad) consists of 2 uncles, 5 aunts, 13 cousins (between the ages of 2 and 30), 2 boyfriends/fiancés, Diego’s son Josúe, and me, their Gringa/Canadian cousin! It was a full house! The evening consisted of lots of noise, laughter, and tons of food! The youngest Kaehler cousin, 2 year old Ceci, entertained the whole family with some Christmas dancing and singing, which was hilarious and super cute! The cousins had bought tons of different kinds of firecrackers, so we set some off before midnight, to test them out. I even got to set a few off, but only the smaller ones – my host brothers didn’t trust me with the bigger ones! Then at around 10:00 all the cousins and aunts and uncles left, because even though it had been quite the party and there was tons of food still left, this wasn’t the main event. We were invited to eat Christmas Dinner at 1 in the morning (crazy, eh??) at my host dad's sister's house. So everyone went home for a bit to rest up, before the real Christmas began, and to open their presents. When midnight came around, we all went outside to set off the rest of the firecrackers. It was crazy and very loud – there were lights and noises coming from every single direction in the streets, but it was a lot of fun, and there were some bigger fireworks shows that we could see off in the distance. Once the fireworks were done, and every family member and neighbour had given/received a Christmas hug and greeting, we went inside to open the Christmas presents. Most of the presents were for Josúe, Diego’s 7 year old son. But there were even 2 presents under the tree for me, which I wasn’t expecting! Then at aroud 12:30, once the presents were open, we headed to another part of the city to (finally!!) enjoy Christmas dinner with the extended Kaehler family again. Instead of all sitting down at the same time, it was kind of like eat whenever you are hungry. We had more of the Christmas punch, and our Christmas dinner consisted of pork with a delicious sauce, rice mixed with some vegetables and cream cheese (soooo yummy!!!) and a salad. There was more exchanging of gifts, mostly for the younger cousins, and then people just hung around in the living room, half of us talking, half of us sleeping! At 3 am we left to go back home, and by 4 am Christmas morning I was fast asleep.

Christmas Day I slept in until noon, and then had a lazy afternoon in my pyjamas. Some of the cousins had slept over at our house, so we played a bit of Dutch Blitz, which has become a popular card game in the Kaehler household. At about 4 pm, another aunt, uncle and cousin came over, and we had a “Christmas lunch” that my host mom had prepared. I’m not sure if this is something they do every year for Christmas Day, or if it was just because it was a Sunday and no one had to work. Plus my host mom loves cooking for others and is an amazing cook. Either way, it was a delicious meal, and nice to spend time with some of the extended family once more. We had pork again, this time with gravy, delicious mashed potatoes and veggies. And also some Egg Nog that I had bought from the grocery store, and was super excited about! Then once it got dark, the cousins and my host dad lit up some more firecrackers out in the street (along with the rest of Guatemala).

And that in a nutshell was my Guatemalan Christmas; filled with tons of delicious food but most importantly wonderful people, who have made me feel like another daughter/sister/niece/cousin in the family, even though I’m not even living in Guatemala anymore. It was a very special Christmas that I will never forget!

my Guatemalan host nephew Josue, opening his Christmas presents

my Guatemalan host sisters Karla and Carolina, all dressed up for the Christmas Eve festivities

Setting off firecrackers at midnight on Christmas Eve!
I was a little bit nervous at first, but it was actually a lot of fun. And most importantly, no one got hurt!!

November in a Nutshell

It's been brought to my attention that tomorrow is the first day of December, and that it's been a while since I've updated my blog! So here is my attempt to quickly summarize my past month in El Salvador.

First thing's first - I finally have a host family! Although I was beginning to get into a routine in my previous home, and enjoying the quietness and independence of living with 2 nuns (not the typical SALTer experience, I would imagine!), I was happy to move in with a more "typical" host family, and have more people around at home to practice my Spanish with. 3 weeks ago I moved in with Ana Mirian, the director of ANADES (the organization I work for here in El Salvador), and her family. The household consists of Ana Mirian's mother Hilda (who owns the house, which was built by her late husband), Ana Mirian's husband Miguel, and their 3 children Karla, Miguel (or Miguelito) and Belén.
Miguel works long shifts at the hospital (he's a doctor, I think!) and Ana Mirian is always very busy with ANADES work or events, so they are not home too often. I interact mostly with Hilda, the grandma, who has been very sweet and welcoming to me. She is home most of the time, looking after the 2 youngest kids (since right now they are on summer vacation) and doing most of the cooking and cleaning in the house. Miguel (the son) and Belén (the daughter) are 8 year old twins - they were super excited to welcome me as a new member of their family, and are always giving me hugs and talking my ear off every chance they get. They're super cute, but luckily when they get to be a bit much, my bedroom is located upstairs, so I can just go up to my room and shut the door when I need a break! My other host sister Karla turned 22 last week. She is also very nice, but super busy so I don't see her very often either. She studies at the university during the day, and then on evenings and weekends works at Starbucks. They also have a pet turtle, which I discovered rather surprisingly the other day in the backyard/patio area!



host siblings from left to right, Belén, Karla, and Miguel


My work at the pre-school, Centro Hogar, is going very well. It is almost always the highlight of my day, because the kids are just so adorable and fun to be around. The school year in El Salvador is different then back home. Here it goes from January to November, with summer holidays in December for the kids. This means that Friday is the last day of classes at our school and on Saturday we will have "la clausura" or the closing program, for the parents. I will give a better summary of my work here at Centro Hogar and ANADES next week, once the school year is over, and I have more time to reflect on it.

Overall, the month of November has been a good one. As I get to know the city of San Salvador better, and as my relationship with my host family and my co-workers at ANADES grows, I am beginning to feel more at home here. I celebrated my 24th birthday a week and a half ago, and although I was a bit homesick that day, this past week I enjoyed 3 different birthday cakes/celebrations (a record for me, as far as I remember!) with my 3 different families here in Central America - my Guate host family, my MCC "family", and my El Salvador host family, which definitely lifted up my spirits and cured my homesickness and loneliness I had been experiencing! I spent 5 days in Guate, where we celebrated American Thanksgiving with the MCC team or "family" in the city, had our MCC team Annual Meeting in beautiful Santiago Atitlan, and I also had a chance to visit my Guate host family! It was definitely the highlight of the month for me! Also, just getting out of El Salvador for a little while and having more time to talk with my fellow MCCers, helped me reflect upon all the blessings I have been experiencing in El Salvador and helped me have a more positive attitude about everything that's been going on the past couple months.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me emails this past month - although I haven't had time to respond, they have been greatly appreciated!

Lastly, here are some pictures from my 3 wonderful birthday celebrations :)

Birthday celebration #1 - delicious apple pie, with my Guate host family

Birthday Cake # 2, in Santiago Atitlan. Celebrating with everyone from the MCC Team and
MCC's partner organization ANADESA, who had birthdays in the past few months

Birthday Cake # 3 in San Salvador! Joint celebration for Karla and I.
Back row, L-R: Olivia (friend and co-worker from ANADES) and my host grandma Hilda
Front row, L-R: Belen, Karla, Miguel, and I

My Salvadoran Mailing Address!!

Some of you have been asking about my mailing address here in El Salvador, so finally, here it is! I'm giving you my work address, because chances are my living arrangements will change at least once or twice more this next year!
Unfortunately mail isn't the most reliable, and will probably take a month or maybe 2 to get to me. But better late than never! And it's recommended not to send large packages, or anything valuable, because they might get opened up/stolen. But something small/sentimental would be appreciated :)
Anyways, here's where you can send things to, if you feel so inclined. But emails are always nice too!

Asociación Nuevo Amanecer de El Salvador
Attn: Maria Steinman
Colonia El Triunfo
Final Pasaje Molina #14
San Ramon, Mejicanos, S. S.
El Salvador
2284-1353

Recap of Language Study in Guate

Can’t believe it’s already November, and that it's been 3 weeks since I said goodbye to all my friends in Guatemala City. I thought before I started writing more about my experiences here in El Salvador, I would finish a blog post I started writing a while ago, about my time spent in Guate for language study. I've had a lot of time these past few weeks to be alone and think about everything that's been going on (sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes not...) but hence, this is why there's been more blog posts lately!
I had such an amazing time in Guatemala that I wanted to write more about it, and now that life has slowed down a bit, I finally have time to do so. 

I spent a month and a half studying Spanish at CASAS, and although I learned a lot, I still have a LONG way to go until I'm finally fluent.

CASAS is a program run by SEMILLA, the Latin American Anabaptist Seminary in Guatemala City. The Spanish word “semilla”, means seed. The mission of SEMILLA is “to prepare men and women to follow Jesus Christ faithfully and, thus, to live out the reign of God with justice and peace today”. The Seminary was started in the 1980’s, by Central American Christians who were beginning to learn more about their Anabaptist roots. Besides the CASAS program, SEMILLA runs 3 other programs: a Biblical, Theological & Pastoral Training Program, SEMILLA Publishing (which prints and distributes Spanish language editions of Anabaptist/Mennonite publications), and a guest house, (which if you’ve ever come to Guatemala with MCC, you have probably spent a night or two here – I stayed here my first and last night in Guatemala when I came 6 years ago with a group from my church, on an MCC Work and Learn Team).

All 4 departments/programs of SEMILLA are located at the same site, so I was able to meet people working in other departments as well. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. They have a great community there (kind of reminded me of Grebel!) and all the staff meet together every 2 weeks for a chapel service, which I got to participate in twice during my stay there.

CASAS stands for Central American Study and Service. It offers Spanish classes (for all levels), accomodations with host families, and scheduled activities for the students to learn more about Guatemalan culture and history. Although I had learned most of the Spanish grammar rules in my university classes, it was a good review for me (since I had forgotten most of it!) and I'm so glad I was given the chance to study for so long, before beginning my work with ANADES. Plus, it's one thing to "know" the grammar rules, but it's another thing to actually use what you've learned while having a conversation with a native Spanish speaker! 

Plus, the CASAS teachers are great, because not only do they focus on teaching you grammar and vocab, but they also work on conversational Spanish (my teacher and I could have chatted all day if we wanted to!) and teaching you about various social justice issues in Guatemala. People can study there for university credit, or non-credit (like me), and can be there from 1-3 months. I have met quite a few people that did the 3 month CASAS program, and loved it, and have since returned to Guatemala again, in part because of the great experience they had here the first time. If anyone is looking for something to do either before, during, or after university, I would recommend looking into it! Here's the website, and feel free to ask questions!

http://semilla.org.gt/casas%20en.html

Here are some highlights from my month of studies (besides writing tests, and learning my Spanish grammar and verb tenses, of course):

-         Conversations in “Spanglish” at morning snack time and lunch in the cafeteria with the other CASAS students, as well as the wonderful CASAS and SEMILLA staff members

-         Getting to know the 3 other CASAS students better, and building great friendships with them – Aaron is from Pennsylvania, and is a fellow MCC SALTer, who will be spending the next 10 months working with the indigenous community in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. Rachel is from Ohio, and is beginning her 3-year MCC term. She will soon be headed to Alta Varepaz, to work at Bezaleel (the school where I volunteered with my church, 6 years ago!) to teach in the nursing program. Lastly, Florian (or Flo) is from Germany, (he was the only one not with MCC) and will be working for the next year in San Salvador, with the Lutheran Church.  

-         Day Trip to beautiful & touristy Antigua

-         Playing card games with my 60 year old Spanish teacher Edna (best teacher ever!), while blasting Enrique Iglesias music

-         Trips across the street for ice cream at Sarita!

-         Making rellenitos! (hard to explain, but they’re kind of like a fried donut but made out of plantain, with puréed black beans and sugar in the middle – sounds gross, but it’s actually a really yummy dessert – one of my favourites in Guate!)

-         Trip to the beautiful Guatemala City Zoo

-         Playing Apples-to-Apples in Spanish!

-         Volunteering at a hospital down the street, playing games and giving lots of love and hugs to 30 malnourished kids, who live at the Nutritional Centre at the hospital, because their parents can’t afford to feed them or take care of their health needs

-         Learning about Guatemalan culture, education, history, politics, social justice issues (and even dating customs!) from my teacher Edna, and teaching her about Canada as well

Here are some pictures with me and some of my new friends :)



Lunch at CASAS (don't worry, lunch usually didn't come in styrofoam plates).
Aaron, Flo, Rachel and I





cooking up some Rellenitos in the CASAS kitchen! mmmmm...delicious!




Edna and I on our field trip to Antigua



The Role of Humans in "Natural" Disasters

I thought I would recommend a couple more articles about the El Salvador floods that I read in the past few days.

The first article is about how human factors contributed to the tragic effects of the floods in Central America. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2011/1025/Deadly-flooding-in-Central-America-how-people-contributed-to-the-tragedy
It's a safe assumption that these same factors worsen the horrible impact of most natural disasters that happen throughout the world, and not just here in Central America. And it's so sad that although there are many things that could be done to prevent a lot of the deaths and devastation (by governments, local communities, and us back home in the Western world), history continues to repeat itself over and over again.

The second article continues talking about the aftermath of the floods, and in particular, the devastating loss of crops throughout the country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15457562

Besides the immediate needs of shelter, food and health care, the long term needs will be even greater. The rains happened just before crops were ready to be harvested, and so not only will this year's crops be lost, leading to a potential food shortage in the country, but there will also be a lack of seeds available for the next year's crops.
Although Mennonite Central Committee does not have any specific emergency relief for El Salvador or the rest of Central America, the needs of the country are great and widespread, not just with the immediate disaster relief. So I'm sure any money going to the country would help out a lot! If you would like to donate some money through MCC, there are 2 different options I found on the MCC website - you can donate to a program run by ANADES, the New Dawn Association of El Salvador (the partner organization that I'm working for) for people living with HIV and AIDS in El Salvador, or you can just donate to MCC's programming in El Salvador in general, and the money would be distributed to MCC's 3 partner organizations in the country (including ANADES).

Here's the link for more information:
https://donate.mcc.org/filter/bycountry/results/taxonomy%3A5.39

Rejoice in the little light we carry

The month of October has been a difficult one for me…I’ve experienced home sickness (for Canada, and more recently Guatemala), faced culture shock, and have felt overwhelmed, lost, confused and lonely in a new country and new home, and have felt anxious about the many uncertainties in my life. Although I'm trying to just take one day at a time, it's hard to do! But when I take the time to intentionally think about everything that’s been going on (and not just the bad things), I can find many things to be thankful of.

First of all, this past week I have been catching up on some of my fellow SALTers’ blogs, as well as the comments on the SALT/IVEP facebook page. It’s nice to have some of my feelings validated, and to be reminded that I am not the only one experiencing culture shock and loneliness. An IVEPer shared this quote on our facebook page last week, from Henri Nouwen’s book “Bread for the Journey”. It was exactly what I needed to read (and re-read!), to help me stop complaining and worrying about the future.

Enough Light for the Next Step by Henri Nouwen
Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, “How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?” There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.

I know that there are many things I can learn from the shadows in my life (and that my SALT experience will be so much richer because of this) but I wanted this blog post to be about recognizing and rejoicing in the light and sunshine I experienced amidst the storms of my first 2 weeks here in El Salvador.

1)    My two kind co-workers/housemates, who happily took me in, despite the extremely busy and stressful weeks they’ve had working at ANADES and dealing with the effects of the storm. I am slowly getting to know them better, despite their continued busyness, and on Friday night we even went to the movies together (the first non-work related thing I’ve seen them do, since arriving here!)

2)    Salvadorans are extremely friendly and welcoming people, so despite having been here only 2 weeks, I have met a lot of new faces, both in my neighbourhood and at my work at ANADES. I have many acquaintances, but not too many friends yet, but I’m sure that will come with time!

3)   Staying in touch with friends and family from home, as well as the new friends I made in Guatemala, has been a huge support for me – it’s nice to know that I have many people thinking of me

4)   I finally started my job on Monday, which was great! I was greeted bright and early by 20 smiling, adorable little niños (ok, a few of them were crying and were a bit afraid of me at first) but by the end of the day, I felt that I was already building a relationship with many of these kids. And I am very grateful for my boss and all my co-workers at Centro Hogar who have really welcomed me as part of the team, have answered my numerous questions, and have been really patient with me when I don’t understand what’s going on (either due to language barriers or differences in culture, or both!)

Although there are still some uncertainties when it comes to my job and what my role is, I am constantly trying to remind myself to rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away. For now I just need to get more of a feel for ANADES and Centro Hogar, before I start taking initiative in the other parts of my job. For now I am just happy getting to know these precious little kids and helping out wherever needed.

And in regards to my living situation – it turns out that they don’t actually have a host family ready for me yet, so I will continue living with my co-workers. It could be for another week, or it could be for another month or two, I have no idea!! Although the not knowing kind of stresses me out a bit, I am trying to stay positive. First of all, I am just happy to have a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in. When I remind myself that thousands of Salvadorans have been left homeless due to this month's floods and mudslides, it’s hard to complain about my own living situation! And although it isn’t a typical “host family” experience, I really enjoy the neighbourhood we are living in, and I have now figured out how to take the bus to and from work on my own, as well as to Metro Centro, which is the largest shopping mall in Central America (and I thought the ones in Guate were big….). These were huge accomplishments for me, since I was pretty terrified of taking the city busses here at first! So, these are the little bits of light that I’ve been clinging onto these past few days.

Anyways, sorry that this blog post has been a little bit all over the place – but that’s kind of how I’ve been feeling, so hopefully you can understand or get something out of it at least!

Keep your emails coming – I could use some encouragement, and would love to hear about what’s going on in everyone’s lives back home J

El Salvador Flooding Aftermath

Since the intense rain, floods and landslides in Central America have not shown up in Canadian newspapers, I thought I would update my blog to let people back home know what’s been on everyone’s minds here, since my arrival in El Salvador last week. And although I was lucky and wasn’t severely affected by the rains (other than not being able to dry my clothes, explore the city, or start my job), it was a crazy time to arrive in the country, to say the least.  

I will continue on from my previous blog post from Tuesday! Even though on Tuesday it looked like the rain was stopping, Wednesday it began again and poured all day, and was probably one of the worst days yet. Thankfully the rain has now finally stopped for good, and since Thursday we have had beautiful sunny weather. But the country has been left with a lot of devastation. After 10 days of rain, 34 people have died, (mostly buried by mudslides in their own homes) and over 50,000 people have been evacuated from their communities. In total, more than 150,000 Salvadorans have been affected by the floods, in practically every department ( or state/province) in the country, hence why it has been a national emergency. And keep in mind that the total population of El Salvador is only 6.1 million people to begin with.

In all of Central America, there have been over 100 deaths, and over one million people have been affected by the storms. The United Nations World Food Program is very concerned about the immediate as well as long-term impact on food security that this disaster will have on Central America’s poorest people, who have already been affected by rising food prices, before the storm hit. The region is very vulnerable to these types of disasters, and the United Nations has classified Central America as one of the regions in the world most affected by climate change.

Unfortunately, El Salvador was the country hit the hardest. On Wednesday, President Mauricio Funes appealed for international aid on national television, saying “I want to tell the world that El Salvador is going through one of the most dramatic disasters in its history”. International media has compared the disaster to the 1998 Hurricane Mitch, which killed thousands of people. Although the 1998 disaster resulted in more deaths, the media here is saying that in reality, the current disaster is much worse than in 1998, because the damage has been more widespread and the flooding has been more severe. "We think of hurricanes as the thing that causes the most damage, but you can have rains that are just as damaging without the hurricane," Herman Rosa Chavez, El Salvador's minister of the environment and natural resources, told CNN.  President Funes noted that it has resulted into a major national emergency due to "the intensity of the rainfall, the duration of the phenomenon and the extent of the affected territory". The heavy rains left approximately 10% of the country under water. Four major bridges have been destroyed, roads, including major highways, have been washed out, and the Grande and Lempa rivers have flooded farmland and houses, causing millions of dollars in economic losses. Some places in the country accumulated over 150 cm of rainfall, much greater than the previous record set during Hurricane Mitch of 86 cm. A difference as to why there were more deaths during Hurricane Mitch, then with the current storms, is that in 1998 the rainfall came in a matter of a few days, whereas this past week the rain was spread out over 10 days. As well, the Salvadoran president claimed that this time the government was more prepared for a disaster like this, and evacuated people earlier, hence preventing many more deaths. On Thursday President Funes said that "the loss will be great, more than ever before from a natural phenomenon of this type." Hurricane Mitch cost $262 million in damages when it hit in 1998. And as I noted before, there is a fear of possible virus outbreaks and food shortages. The effects of this natural disaster will linger for many more months. People who were evacuated, and who have been living in one of the 600 + shelters in the country, are returning to their homes now. Some will have much work to do to repair their houses, while others don’t even have homes to return to anymore. The worst is that these people were already very poor to begin with. Some of the worst hit areas of the country are only receiving aid now, because many roads were impassable so help was not able to reach them until now.  

This link from the BBC has some good pictures of the damage done during the storm. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15332068

As well, here is a video clip from Al Jazeera's website.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/10/2011102241527998644.html

A few notes to say about the video clip – first, the aid given to the government by the UN and other countries goes to the municipal governments to give out to the communities. During past disasters, past governments have been known to sell this foreign aid to make money, instead of giving it to the communities who need it the most. On Friday afternoon, I accompanied a few of my co-workers from ANADES to solicit donations from the government-sponsored agency warehouse which has been in charge of giving out the aid. Unfortunately, we were denied help – we were told for transparency reasons, that the aid only goes to the hands of municipal governments to distribute the aid, and not to NGOs. . Supposedly this current government, who has been in power for the past 2 years, is less corrupt – so hopefully that is the case, and the aid will go to where it is supposed to. Although one would think that NGOs such as ANADES, which has experience in disaster relief, would be more efficient and effective in handling aid distribution than municipal governments. Some of my co-workers have been visiting the Bajo Lempa area this past week, which the video said has been one of the hardest hit areas, as they work in some communities there. Since I work in the education area of ANADES, I have not been going out to the communities to hand out aid, but I have been hearing very sad stories from my co-workers.

ANADES is divided into 3 main programs: Education, Community Development, and Health. Besides working in San Salvador, where the ANADES Headquarters are located, the ANADES community development program works in 36 other communities in the country, and sends “community social promoters” to work with the people living in marginalized areas. There are about 11 of these community social promoters working for ANADES, including two other MCC volunteers from Canada – Elizabeth and Lynden. Normally the community development program focuses on issues such as community organization, preventative health and nutrition, support for people living with HIV/AIDS, and sustainable agriculture. But since ANADES also attends to emergencies, they have had a very busy past week, working long hours trying to get to the communities most affected by the storms, travelling with some doctors who also work or are volunteering with ANADES, to deliver food and medical aid. These are some selfless and amazing people that I have been getting to know, and they could use your prayers as they will continue to have lots of work to do in the coming weeks. A couple afternoons I helped out with sorting/organizing the medicines. I have never seen so much gauze, aspirin, cold medication etc. in my whole entire life! They also use a lot of natural remedies, which is really cool! Anyways, it’s hard to know what all to write about this disaster – there’s so much more that could be said! The effects of the storm are complicated, and won’t go away anytime soon. But I am very happy that I am working with this amazing organization, the more I learn about ANADES, the more impressed I am with the work they do, and the holistic approach they take in everything they do, which has been very evident in their response to this disaster.

On another note, schools (which were closed due to the risks of floodings and mudslides) will finally open again on Monday, so I am very excited to finally meet my 22 new pre-schoolers, early Monday morning! Wish me luck! I will blog again in a few days, and hopefully my next blog will be more upbeat/positive than this one! Lastly, I just want to thank everyone for all the emails and facebook messages I received these past couple weeks – I had a rough past couple weeks, which included (among many other things) the death of my Grandma Lichti, as well as moving to a new country, and your emails, thoughts and prayers meant a lot!! So thank you so much!!!!! And keep them coming :) 

Greetings from rainy El Salvador!

This past month has been pretty busy, but I have finally had a chance to update my blog! Last Tuesday (wow, was that really a week ago??) was my last day of Spanish classes at CASAS. I am very grateful for the connections and friendships I made there, and the improvements in my Spanish skills. Wednesday morning at 7:15 am I was all packed and ready to head to El Salvador to start the next part of my journey! Arriving on Guatemalan time, Antony (the MCC rep/my boss) picked me up at my host family’s house around 8, but we couldn’t leave quite yet because his wife Irma was dropping their daughter off at school! Finally at 9:30 am (yes, one and a half hours later…) we left the city, but…to make a long story short…it has been raining pretty much non-stop in most of Central America since last Monday, which has created floods as well as some mudslides, making many roads impassable. Although some roads were still ok, we had to drive slower due to the rain/mud. We drove past a few accidents, as well as many flooded rivers and houses, which was very sad to see. It’s always the poorest and most vulnerable families who have their homes built in flood-prone areas. We were within 30 minutes from the border to El Salvador when we came across a line of traffic. A bridge up ahead had collapsed, and since all other routes to the border were closed due to the tropical storm, we had to return back to the city. So at 4pm, 7 hours after saying goodbye to Guatemala City and my host family, we were back in the city once again. To make things worse, since we were driving a pick-up truck, my suitcases had to go in the back – we wrapped them in garbage bags and tarps, but that wasn’t enough for this Guatemalan rain! Half my clothes got soaking wet, so I had to hang them up around the MCC apartment where I stayed the night, since they don’t have a dryer.

The next morning, I packed up my wet clothes back into my suitcases and we attempted the trek to El Salvador again. This time, we made it! Thursday the rain had stopped, and most of the roads had improved, so our journey went much quicker, and we finally arrived in the afternoon, to the ANADES headquarters, just on the outskirts of San Salvador. I had a bit of an orientation with the director of ANADES, the director of the 5 pre-school programs in the country, and the woman in charge of the pre-school I will be working at, called Centro Hogar. I found out that my work will be as a “collaborator” with the other teachers/educators in the “Materno 1” class – with kids ages 18 months to 3 years. Not exactly sure what the job of a collaborator entails – but I guess I’ll find out soon!

Friday morning I started my first day of work at ANADES. School was closed due to the storm, but I met all the teachers/educators in the pre-school system, and we had a First Aid workshop. It was a little bit boring, since I knew most of the stuff already, but it was good to practice my Spanish – the El Salvador accent is a lot more difficult to understand, than the Guatemalan accent! The rain started back up again in the morning, and it poured all morning and afternoon. At 2:00 we were sent home early, because of the rain and the risk of more mudslides. Since Friday afternoon, El Salvador has been in a state of emergency.

Since I haven’t had internet access since arriving in El Salvador, I will continue my blogpost!

Today is Saturday, and the rain continues…

This week I am staying in San Salvador with two older women who work at ANADES. One is a woman from El Salvador, who is one of the co-founders of ANADES. The other is a woman from Spain, who has been living and working with different NGOs in El Salvador for the past 25 years. Next week I will move in with my permanent host family.

Sunday – More rain…

Monday – The rain has seemed to slow down a bit today…but this also happened on Thursday, and then things got worse again…so who knows!

Tuesday – The rain has stopped (in the city, at least!) The sun was out all afternoon, and my wet clothes from a week ago are finally dry!! And I finally have internet access to post this blog! J

Unfortunately, schools are still closed, so I haven’t been doing much this past week. I’m hoping that by Thursday or Friday I will be able to start my work at the pre-school, but who knows!

I don’t think the tropical storms in Central America have made it into Canadian newspapers, so here’s an article from the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15331290

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their communities, and many homes and crops have been destroyed. Many rural communities where ANADES works have been greatly affected, so once the road conditions improve and bridges are fixed, the ANADES community development workers will have lots to do! Please send your thoughts and prayers to the people of El Salvador and Central America. Hopefully the rain has stopped for good, so that the situation doesn’t continue to get worse, and so that roads can improve so that help can arrive to the most desperate communities.

September 11: A View from Latin America

Hello all! This article was just emailed to me from my Guatemala/El Salvador MCC reps, and I thought I would pass it along. A different (and very much needed!) perspective on Sept. 11th - I highly recommend reading it!!

http://lacaadvocacy.wordpress.com/

Life with my Guatemalan Host Family!

As part of the SALT program, I get a month of Spanish language training before I start my volunteer placement in El Salvador. For me, this means studying in Guatemala City at CASAS (the Central American Study and Service school), which is a program of SEMILLA, the Latin American Anabaptist Seminary. For the past 2 weeks now (I can't believe how quickly the time has gone!) I have had Spanish classes every morning from 8:30-12:30, which are going very well. CASAS is a great program, but I will save talking about it for another blog post, because right now I want to tell you all about my wonderful Guatemalan host family!

In order that students get a chance to practice their Spanish and be fully immersed in Guatemalan culture, CASAS finds host families for the students to live with, while studying at the school. I was lucky enough to be matched up with the amazing Kaehler Lopez family. You may be wondering why I’m living with a family in Guatemala City, with a German last name like Kaehler! I know I certainly wasn’t expecting that! Turns out my host dad’s father moved to Guatemala from Germany during WWII. But even though their ancestors are German, this family is definitely Guatemalan through and through! My host mother Astrid is a stay-at-home mom and a wonderful cook, and is always making sure I am well fed and comfortable! My host father Gustavo works at a restaurant an hour and a half out of the city, so he’s only home on weekends. I also have 4 wonderful host siblings all living at home (it’s normal for kids to live at home with their parents until they get married, and sometimes even after they get married). Karla is 29, Diego is 26, Carlos is 24, and Carolina is 21. My brother Diego also has an adorable 5 year old son, Josue, who lives with his mom during the week, but with our family on the weekends! Also, Karla’s boyfriend Tono, who also happens to be our neighbour, is over all the time, and is pretty much another member of the family! And last but not least, we have two small dogs that live in the garage/front yard, and bark a lot. Coincidently, one of the dogs is named Nala, and she is a cockapoo, just like my family’s dog back at home, Nellie! (Sorry, I realize most of you didn’t care to know that…but I thought it was a fun fact! haha.) Anyways, that about sums up the Kaehler family! As you can see, it’s a pretty busy household!

They have all been excellent at helping me learn new words and phrases in Spanish and are good at speaking slowly (most of the time, at least!) so I can understand them. They are a loud, outgoing and fun Catholic family and love to joke around and make fun of each other (including me!!) so even though I have only been with them 2 weeks, I already feel really at home with them and like I truly am another sister and daughter in the family. Unfortunately this means it’s going to be really hard to say goodbye to them next month when I leave for El Salvador. But I’m trying not to think about that now!

The house is nice and fairly big, they seem like a middle-class family (although of course not compared to North American standards). I share a room with my youngest sister Carolina, but luckily have my own bed. We have 2 bathrooms in the house, but only 1 shower (with hot water about 75% of the time), so mornings are sometimes a bit chaotic! And on weekends when everyone is home, we don’t quite all fit around the dining room table! Other than that, can’t think of anything else of interest to share!

Some highlights of the past couple weeks with the Kaehler family have been:

-         having “Spanish class” with my little nephew Josue!

-         learning more about soccer or “futbol” – since arriving in Guatemala, I have already watched 4 soccer games on tv and 3 games live, so I am starting to learn the rules of soccer, and am actually enjoying myself!

-         One of the 3 games I watched live, included last weekend when I went with my host dad, brothers and some neighbours and friends to a FIFA World Cup Qualifier game! It was Guatemala vs. St. Vincent/Grenadines, and we won 4-0! Guatemala is in the second round of Qualifiers for North and Central America and the Caribbean, for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014. Tickets were cheap (only $3!) but the stadium was packed full with people and the fans were insane! We didn’t get there early enough to get a seat, so we stood in the back but we still had a good view of the game and it was a lot of fun! And when I got a bit bored of the game, I would just people watch! Guatemalans love their futbol and really do show their emotions on their sleeves. I imagine it’s kind of like the equivalent of Canadian fans at the Olympic gold medal hockey game in Vancouver!

-         Being woken up last Sunday morning at 9am by my host mom, telling me to get out of bed because our family was going to the park! When we arrived, I found out it was actually a small amusement park! So I got to go on a boat ride where I got soaked, and a few very small, but still fun, roller coasters! There was also a small zoo inside the park – I think I was just as excited to see the animals as my nephew was!

-         Finding out that our neighbours have a litter of 10 (yes TEN!) adorable little puppies!

-         Learning about Guatemalan culture, education and politics (among many other things) from my host family. Guatemala’s 2011 Presidential Elections will be held tomorrow (Sept. 11^th) so it’s been kind of an exciting/interesting time here!

The list of highlights could go on but I think you get the picture: I’m having a really great time here in Guatemala City, learning lots and having lots of fun!!

For those interested, check back next week for a post on the results of the Guatemalan Presidential elections, and some info about Guatemalan politics in general.  

For now, enjoy some pictures!

Cheering for Guatemala at the FIFA World Cup Qualifier game with some family, friends and neighbours!
The 3 guys on the left side of the picture are my brother Diego, dad Gustavo, and neighbour Tono. 

my host brother Carlos and I at the game

with my host family (minus dad and one sister) at the amusement park!
From L-R, Carlos, Karla, me, Astrid, Diego, and Josue in front

my host sister Carolina and I

Photos from the US and Guatemala

SALT/IVEP Orientation in Akron, PA: my small group,
from France, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, the US, and Canada!

91 SALTers and IVEPers, from 23 different countries, took part in the week-long orientation in Akron 

Attending a worskhop in the MCC Office in Guatemala City

View of the city

We went to Panabaj, in Santiago Atitlan, to drop off a new MCC worker at her placement with
ANADESA, a partner organization of MCC, and spent the afternoon helping out with children's activities.



My adorable little amigo Pedro! When I first got there, he started copying everything I said
and did (a little annoying/random at first!) so then I started making faces at him, and we just made faces at
each other all afternoon. We were both supposed to make funny faces for this picture, but nope, he decided
to look cute instead, and make me look like an idiot all by myself! haha



Pedro y Melissa

Maria and I...a popular name here in Guate!

The 3 new MCC Guatemala/El Salvador volunteers! Roxanne is beginning her 4 months here in Santiago Atitlan as a short-term volunteer, and Aaron is a SALTer, and will also be volunteering here with ANADESA, begining in October. 

Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala



Guatemala - The First Week (and a bit!)

I've been in Guatemala for 12 days now! Time has gone by so fast! Now, how to summarize the last week and a half...
After saying many sad goodbyes at the SALT/IVEP Orientation, I had a good flight (with only a few kinks) to Guatemala City. Aaron (the SALTer serving in Guatemala) and I were greeted at the airport by our MCC Guatemala/El Salavador Representatives: Irma and Antony, who have been living and serving here in Guatemala, along with their 2 daughters, for 8 years now! I actually met them briefly 5 years ago, when I came to Guatemala with a group from my church, on an MCC Work and Learn Team.
It's good to be back in Guatemala again, although the city is much bigger and more Americanized than I had remembered...I lost track of how many McDonald's I had seen already, after the first day. For the first week, I was living in an MCC apartment just a couple blocks away from the biggest & nicest (but maybe too nice) mall I have ever seen (yet not big enough apparently, as it is under construction and they are adding another huge addition!) Not sure what else they need, they seem to have everything already: Payless, Lacoste, and even a few "McCafe's"! Guatemala City is definitely a city of contrasts...there is huge wealth (evident in the malls, cemeteries, and Mega-churches) but it's in the hands of only a very few. Also, did I mention that right beside this gigantic mall, there is another huge mall, with a roller coaster inside?!
Even though I've been struggling with all this consumerism and the inequalities...I have to admit, I've enjoyed a few trips to the mall, where I have discovered a delicious bakery that has (among many other yummy baked goods) dulce de leche pastries, and pan dulce (sweet bread - my new favourite food in Guatemala!), as well as a Cafe, where I've been getting Iced Lattes, that have served as my comfort food during the first week! The Cafe is a chain, but not one that I recognized from Canada or the US at least, so that makes me feel slightly better about myself...
And speaking of food, for those who have been worrying that I would be eating black beans & tortillas for breakfast, lunch, and supper every day…don’t worry any longer! For the most part, I have really enjoyed the food (although I’ve been eating a bit more meat than I am accustomed to). I have been enjoying lots of chicken, beef, rice, yummy vegetable soups, potatoes, delicious fresh fruit, and even (to my surprise!) some pretty tasty black beans & tortillas!
Anyways, enough about food and malls...most importantly, this past week and a half I have met many kind and hospitable people, both from Guatemala and abroad, that have made my transition into Guatemalan life much smoother, and more meaningful. Through more MCC orientation, as well as interesting conversations, tours of the city, cramming into already packed city buses, and a visit to a museum, I have begun to learn about the current Guatemalan context, and the country’s history and people. I am slowly learning of both the strengths and the hardships of the Guatemalan people, and in doing so, am becoming saddened yet also inspired. This past week I have had numerous reminders (from both Canada and Guatemala), that life is short, and that I should take advantage of every opportunity, and live life to the fullest. 
One such reminder was last week, when we took a break from orientation in the MCC office, and travelled to Santiago Atitlan to drop off a short-term MCC volunteer. The magnificent views alone, of the lake and volcanoes, were worth the long trip. But even more important, were the faces and stories of the 24 hours I spent there. When we first arrived, we were warmly greeted by the director of the organization MCC partners with in this area of the country, and given a delicious lunch. After learning a bit more about the organization, we helped out with children's activities. The kids were adorable, and it was a lot of fun, but also a challenge since in this indigenous village, their first language is Tz'utujil, and not all the children (as well as many of the women) speak Spanish.
Later that evening, the director of the organization (who's only 30 years old) told us about the town's experience of the civil war. I won't be able to do his story justice (I got chills listening to him, imagining what it would have been like growing up during this time, and the pain that many people suffered) but I want to tell an overview of the story anyways. In 1980, the day he was born, soldiers (sent by the military government) came to the town, wanting to "protect" the town from guerilla groups. Being a peaceful group, the indigenous people did not want armed men in their community, but of course they couldn't do anything about it. Unfortunately, due to misunderstandings or miscommunications from their different cultures and languages, over the years that the soldiers were staying in the town, innocent civilians were killed, in the name of protecting the people from the guerillas. In 1990, after another such incident, hundreds of people from the community met outside the Catholic Church to discuss what they could do to make the soldiers leave. They gathered more people, and the next night, with lamps, thousands of people from the community and surrounding rural areas walked from the Catholic Church to the downtown area, creating a peaceful protest or march. The soldiers wanted them to leave, but nobody moved, and in the process, soldiers shot and killed 13 unarmed peaceful civilians, including women and children. Devastated and outraged from this tragedy, the civilians sent petitions to the government to shut down the army base in Panabaj (a village in the municipality of Santiago Atitlan) and a couple days later, due to international media attention, the Guatemalan government was forced to shut down the base, and declared the area a "military-free zone", six years before the civil war in the country ended. This is a great story of pacifism and communities coming together. Although the deaths of the 13 men, women and children is a huge tragedy, they did not die in vain - they were buried in a cemetery called the Peace Park, and still today, people gather for mass at this park once every month to remember these victims of war. 
I can't imagine losing a family member or friend this way, or growing up in this context of violence and fear. And often times I forget that even right now, there are children growing up in unjust contexts similar to this one. It is even harder to think about how our lives of comfort and wealth in North America are possibly interconnected, or even a cause, of the unjust suffering in other countries. But that is for another day and another post...
At the same time, it is exciting to see what is coming out of this community, specifically in regards to ANADESA, MCC's partner organization, and the work they are doing with women, children, education, and community and economic development. Despite all the hardships they have faced, including more deaths due to mudslides in 2005 from Hurricane Stan, the people that I met really do live life to the fullest, and I have so much to learn from them. It was a day I will not soon forget, and I hope to visit the town again this year, as this is where the other SALTER's placement will be.
I'm not trying to sound cliche... but to quote the late Jack Layton:
“Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair.”
There is a lot of anger, fear and despair here in Guatemala (as in many places in the world), but there are also many people living their lives out of love, hope and optimism, as the people of Panabaj have definitely demonstrated. I hope to put these ideas into action this year, and in order to do this, a big part will have to do with living my life in Guatemala (and later on El Salvador) to the fullest, and truly being in the moment, because I think when you are living in the past or thinking about the future, it is easy to become angry, fearful or pesimistic about things.
Although I am very excited to start working with ANADES in El Salvador next month, my goal is to stay focused on the present, and take advantage of the wonderful opportunity I have to study Spanish and learn more about Guatemala, while living in this beautiful and diverse country. On Monday morning, I began my Spanish classes and moved in with my Guatemalan host family. The first two days have been really good, but that is for another blog post!
Check back again soon though - I'm planning on posting some photos, as soon as I figure out how!