Hey Everybody! Pat and Alyssa here again to fill you in on what we�ve been up to in Guatemala. As always, we�ve been busy! Pat has completed 1.5 weeks of working with the third grade class and Alyssa is going on 3.5 weeks. Today was Mareike�s last day with Pat, so from now on he will be working solo (unless he gets another volunteer to help). Pat�s class is a bit crazy, and he�s working on a plan with his teacher to help get things under control�they have a reputation at Camino Seguro as being difficult kids. Alyssa is very happy with her class and the progress they�ve made, because they used to be known as the difficult ones. She loves her teacher and works great with her.
We realized that we haven�t really talked about what it is that Camino Seguro does now that we know a bit more about it, so here�s a little background: It was created in 1999 by a woman from Maine who was visiting Guatemala and during her trip she saw the Guatemala City dump. She saw people (including children) scavenging the dump for recyclables to sell or things that their family could use. There had been a cycle of kids growing up and doing exactly what their parents had done because they didn�t go to school and didn�t know anything different. The goal of Camino Seguro is to combat poverty through education. The kids must go to school part of the day and then go to Camino Seguro the other part. In Guatemala, the public schools are set up so that the kids either go in the morning or afternoon. In exchange for meeting these requirements, Camino Seguro gives the families food for the lost income. When the kids get to Camino Seguro, they first have a �mental stretch� to get started. This is usually a game or physical activity. Also, they must brush their teeth to instill in them good hygiene that they may not otherwise have taught to them. And last Thursday Alyssa had �lice� day where she and her teacher and other volunteer shampooed about 20 girls� heads and helped them pick out nits and made their hair look nice. (Most of the families we work with don�t have running water at their homes so they don�t get a chance to bathe regularly.) The sad thing is that many of the children will go home and by reinfected, but at least they get a few days or relief and learn how to treat lice. (Alyssa would like you to know that she still doesn�t have lice as of yet :-) .) After tooth brushing, they review a concept that they are learning in school. Then they do homework if they have it, or other do some activity that has been prepared for them. Each week there are various things planed for the class too: Monday and Wednesday are �campo� days (they go to the nearby park), they go to the library, have a science project, and do a �manualidades� activity (make something with their hands). By forcing the kids to go to school half the day they get an education, and Camino Seguro enhances that education with supplemental learning that may not be taught in school.
As far as what we�ve been up to: On week nights we try to check email, workout twice a week at the local gym, update the web page. It doesn�t sound all that exciting, but we are usually exhausted from getting up at 6:00AM, working with the kids all day, riding the chicken bus back and forth to Guate for an hour each way, and getting home at 5:30PM. We�re normally asleep by 10:00PM.
On Friday night, it was abuelita�s (our grandmother�s) birthday. When we got home from volunteering, the house was full of relatives that came over for the birthday party. We played with little Fatima Alejandra and her brother (the little cuties in the front row of the picture), who are our second cousins, and Fatima wouldn�t let us leave at the end of the night because she liked us so much. In total there were around 30 people at the house. Here�s a picture of the family members who were there at the party:
Some of the family
Everyone in the family was there except our brothers Francisco and Diego. Diego had left that morning for 8 days to go to a big soccer tournament. As of right now, his team is second in the nation, and they have a game today to determine the national champion. After the party we went our dancing with our brothers Francisco and Manolo.
On Saturday we relaxed, which is always nice. Saturday night we went out with Mareike & Hannah, two of our German friends. Sunday we went to Palin, which is where Alyssa�s teacher Flor lives. We were invited to her son�s 4th birthday party and decided that we couldn�t pass up the chance to hang out with her family and see a new place. It was a 1.5 hours chicken bus rides (one transfer), but we were amazed because they were the emptiest ones we�d ever been on. We got a seat to ourselves on 3 out of 4 buses! Palin is a small town without many tourists, but they are known for the largest Ceiba tree in Guatemala. The Ceiba is Guatemala�s national tree. At the birthday party we were the only non family members there. It was a typical birthday party, with cake and presents and lots of little kids running around because much of her family lives in the same house. Here�s a picture of us with Flor and her son:
Flor, her son, and us
And here�s the Ceiba tree. The picture doesn�t do it justice because we couldn�t fit it all in!
The Ceiba Tree
We didn�t get the web page out by Wednesday like we normally do because we both got sick Tuesday evening and didn�t leave the house at all Wednesday. Today, Thursday, we didn�t go to work either, but we felt well enough to walk to the internet caf� to post the website. Some of the other volunteers and teachers were sick earlier in the week, and our brother Franciso, cousin Jose Alfredo, and grandma were sick too, so we probably got it from one/some of them. At Camino Seguro today it is �dia del nino�, which for those of you that don�t speak Spanish is �Day of the Child�. The teachers and volunteers perform skits, songs, dances, and have fun activities planned for the kids. We stayed after school last Friday to practice with the teachers a song we were going to sing for the day, but after an hour of practice the principle said we couldn�t do it because it was too sad of a song. On Monday and Tuesday we practiced La Bamba instead, and Alyssa practiced a dance with some of the other volunteers and teachers. Unfortunately we aren�t at Camino Seguro today because we�re sick, which we are really bummed about, but we�ll more than likely go tomorrow. We were hoping to take pictures today, but I guess we�ll have to save that for another day.
During the past week we�ve been collected a couple stories that we thought we should share with you because we couldn�t help but to shake our heads and laugh when we saw/heard them:
1. Every morning we walk about a mile to get from our bus stop to Camino Seguro. Part of this walk involves going over a walking bridge to cross the highway. One morning we witnessed a 2-3 year old boy peeing over the side of the bridge onto the cars below while his dad watched nearby. We�re sure the cars had no idea what it was dripping on them! Also, whenever Pat goes to the park, at least 2 or 3 boys from his class stop by the trees to relieve themselves before going to play.
2. Our puppy Tripod has been whining a lot the past few days as if he is hurt, so our brother Francisco took him to the vet. The vet examined Tripod, but didn�t know exactly what was wrong, but he gave Tripod some anti-inflammatory drugs to see if it would help. Also, he mentioned to Francisco, �You know, your dog was really poorly made. Not only does he only have 3 legs, but he also only has one testicle.� Poor Tripod!!! Our brother says Nieve shouldn�t have any more puppies in case she ends up with one without heads or stomachs or worse. :-)
And finally here a couple pictures that we took the last week that turned out well and we wanted to put up on the website. And although Pat has a beard in the pictures, in true Napolean Dynamite style when Pat had his fever he decided to shave off his beard.
