Hola Desde Guatemala (Hello from Guatemala)

I have arrived in Guatemala! It has taken a few days to adjust to the climate, elevation and mosquitoes but poco a poco (little by little) I am becoming accustomed (well not to the mosquitoes). The YMCA of Guatemala has a main office in Guatemala City and various program sites or branches throughout the country. There are a total of 9 full time staff and at least 5 volunteers, that I have met so far.

It rains here every afternoon and frequently in the evenings and although it gets hot and humid during the day it is very cold at night. I am staying with a woman and her adult son about 4 blocks away from the YMCA/ACJ

(Asociacion Cristiano de Jovenes) office. Here a re a few pictures of the main office for the YMCA in Guatemala City.

The last few days I have been in the office meeting the staff and learning about their programs. Yesterday was my first day visiting a Y program (en el campo). We drove to a small school in el Lago de Amatitlan (the lake by the town of Amatitlan) and I observed as the Y staff taught the youth about the 36 year armed internal conflict and human rights (the atrocities as well as their rights) through interactive activities, group work and lecture. At first the youth were reluctant to participate (as most youth are at their age) when we asked questions about the status of the community and their thoughts about human rights, but they opened up while discussing in small groups, and we were amazed by their insights. This school of 113 students, is currently run out of a buildings that they are renting from a church. The reality is that they will need to move soon and although they do have land, the do not have the funds to build the actual school. Here are some photos of the condition of the school and the happy children welcoming us with songs. The classes in the main building are dirt floors and in the lower level, a few of the classrooms actually have cement floors (which is where the smaller children are). If you look closely at the last photo you will see the very thin fake plywood type 4 foot 'walls' that separate each classroom.






Below you will find photos of the YMCA staff teaching about the 36 year war, human rights atrocities and the importance of embracing a Culture of Peace so that this cannot ever happen again.
The last photo is of the bathroom that all 113 children and all of the staff use.


Many nonprofit organizations, churches and the government have come together in order to create this initiative (se llama Guatemala: Nunca Mas) of educating youth about what happened and what their rights are so that an atrocity such as this will never happen again. For more information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemalan_Civil_War

I'll try to not write so much in my next post...and to figure out how to get the photos to go where I want them to. Oh yeah and happy 4th of July to all of you, I actually forgot all about the holiday until one of my new co-workers reminded me.