uconn-guatemala-blog

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2 Weeks Back

Today marks the two weeks home mark for me or two weeks away from my previous home, Guatemala. As I start to reflect on my two months in Guatemala and head back to my job at UConn, I am noticing subtle changes in myself. I have noticed all of the new trails my mind has started to travel. I find the sayings and morals such as “do no harm” and “solutions that last” finding their way into my thought process and altering the way I perceive situations and come up with ideas. In this vein, I am so thankful for everything I was able to see, learn, and experience.

In regards to transitions, I experienced very little culture shock and adjustment difficulties. I attribute a lot of this to sometimes tuning out from Spanish conversations going on since trying to understand quick speakers and quick conversations got way too mentally exhausting after a while. I remember after getting back from Martinique (a french speaking country) for only 15 days, I had to fight the urge to say merci every time and was completely frozen upon arriving in America again. On a funnier note, I will say that two weeks ago in the Atlanta airport, I had just finished telling Ariana that I was experiencing no difficulties or confusions being around so much English in Atlanta. However, about 30 seconds later I was ordering food and proceeded to say “si”.

I miss Guatemala. I miss the amazing nature scenes I got to see (Tajamulco of course being the best). I miss the wonderful people. Most of all I miss how much less worry there is in Guatemala. I feel calmer ever since coming back and returning to UConn (the most stressful place in the world) in the fall, I hope to keep this new energy with me.

-rose

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Home and Salads (Stratford, CT)

       I spent the first half of this week readjusting to the routines and practices I had before going to Guatemala. I didn’t know that there were so many little things I would’ve missed; running my normal route while listening to Spotify; listening to the news; my lame telanovela; driving; salads; my HITT routines; quinoa and bulgur; hanging out with friends; ice; more salads; smoked salmon sandwiches and salads; Indian food… mostly food-related things to be honest.

       But after my salad yearnings were satisfied and my body had become thoroughly sore, I started to reflect on my experiences in Guatemala. I realized that I had learned quite a bit in those eight weeks. I learned that if I have faith in my abilities, plan accordingly, and make my goals tangible, then I can accomplish anything I set my mind on.  I learned that perception and attitude play a huge factor in success. I also learned to acknowledge that I am in fact human, meaning that I do need things like sleep, water, and relaxation. I need to respect my boundaries and work within them, expanding them little by little, instead of always working beyond my ability and not giving myself time to recover. I think that is the biggest lesson I took from Guatemala; balance. If I don’t do enough work to further my ambition and dreams, I feel unsatisfied. Yet if I push myself to far, I risk having prolonged burnout and not feeling like myself for an extended period (Truthfully, I tend to be a burnout glutton).

       I want to help people as much as possible, in whichever way possible. This has always been the case, and my experiences in Guatemala reaffirmed that. But I know I can’t help anybody if I can’t properly manage my own time. I was lucky to have had the opportunity to work with truly inspirational and determined individuals, who managed to find their balance and make it work for them. That is something that I still need to find. I have a lot of life goals that I want to accomplish in my lifetime, but I also have interests and limits I need to start taking into consideration. Truthfully, what’s the point of working towards something if I don’t enjoy myself along the way? There really is none.  So I think I’ll take the rest of my summer to do some serious reflections on what I want to do and how best to do it, but at the same time I won’t let the opportunity to be with friends, swim in the pool, or run through the hiking trails slip my fingers. I wouldn’t say no to a free salad now and again, either. Man, I missed my vegetables.

 -Dario F. Cabrera Aviles

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Home (Storrs, CT)

If you go running in Guatemala at 6am, you will see it in its purest form. The sun is rising over the mountains and light is somehow cast on the lettuce fields in a way that seems to make them shimmer. The best part of all is that people are living their lives. They are not trying to sell you things, they are not shoving piles of brightly colored placemats in your face, they are just preparing for their day. They are cooking tortillas and tamales. They are carrying baskets of bread to their houses for breakfast. They are pulling on their boots to prepare for a day working in the field. These were my favorite times Guatemala.

 I have been back for a week now. As soon as I got back my family drove up to stay in a cabin in New Hampshire, a tradition we’ve had since I was six. I’m glad to have had that buffer period in between Guatemala and really being home. I still sometimes throw toilet paper into the trash instead of the toilet. I feel like I was on a plane going a thousand miles an hour and I just stopped. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to articulate how this experience has affected me for a while, but I know that it has, deeply. I think I learned more in these past 8 weeks than I did in my entire first year of college. I learned about compassion; I learned about implementing a social business model; I learned about the rigor of non-profit work; I came to understand sustainability in a more comprehensive way. My experience in Guatemala certainly changed the path I want to take in life. It made me reexamine how I move through the world. It made me understand more completely how lucky I really am. I may not know precisely what I want to do in life yet, but I do know that I want to impact people positively. Seeing that written down, I realize it’s a very broad statement. I guess what I mean is that I now feel like I have something that is driving me more specifically and more powerfully. I am excited to return to UConn this fall with a new perspectives and new friends.

-Rebecca

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Home (Easton, MA)

I have learned more these past few months in Guatemala than in any given period of my life thus far.  The combination of work, travel, family, and friends allowed us to really take in what it means to live in Guatemala and take part in development work.  I have been blessed to have met such an outstanding group of people in our SEC team and unbelievably kind people like Miguel and Ricardo of the SolCom team.  We got to see up close what it means to work within the microconsignment model and how it truly makes a difference in communities. I have learned lessons about western privilege, what charity really does to communities, what it means to have access, the importance of water, prep work, standardization within a company, and group dynamics.  I have eaten more tortillas, eggs, beans, and plantains than I ever have in my life and learned more Spanish than I had expected to learn.  From climbing the highest point in Central America to swimming in the most beautiful lake in the world, we saw some of the most incredible sights.  I faced the tough Guatemalan roads, tried on traditional Ixil dress, and shopped in beautiful open-air markets.  We learned what it means to live simply but live happily. I have been away for seven months.  Guatemala was the last leg of my travels.  And I couldn’t have been happier to end it this way—with incredible people and irreplaceable experiences.  I am so excited to take everything I have learned back to UConn with me in the fall.

-Ariana

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July 12

Another update from Team Oportunidad, Impact Schools. We are back at Las Jardines in Santa Lucia to work on our final presentations for SolCom.

Reuniting with my host family here was emotional. It felt like coming home in a sense after already spending three weeks here. My family has a new dog and my little brother has chicken pox - pobrecito! They were excited to hear about Xela and our work there. I was happy to play cards and watch the new Minions movie with the kids last night.

This week we’re reflecting on our experiences in the school to create a model to present to SolCom for future work in Impact Schools. How can SolCom use its filters and asesores to impact schools in Guatemala through educational charlas, activities, and curricula as well as reach families to increase access to clean drinking water and improve water and sanitation habits in the home? To answer this question, we are creating a model to inform the actions of asesores and future interns to learn from our experiences, successes, and failures. We’ve laid the foundation in our field work but we have a lot of work ahead of us in these next few days.

Emily

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July 10th

What does it feel like to be the tallest person in central America? Very cold, I can tell you that much. At 4220m the air is cool but the view is incredible.

We spent our last weekend in Guatemala climbing Tajumulco, the tallest point in Central America. Our adventure began at 5am on a cloudy Saturday morning. But after waiting almost an hour for our bus and increasingly darkening skies, the trip didn’t seem promising. I’ve learned there are two things you can count on in Guatemala – late drivers and rain at inconvenient times – and the faster you accept it, the better you fare.

The day never brightened, but the mist shrouded the volcano in a mysterious fog that made it only more beautiful and kept us cool as we trekked. The trek left me breathless – literally. The hike was hard and it didn’t take long to note the noticeably thinner air. It’s a strange feeling to take deep breaths without taking in much oxygen.

We made it to base camp in a little over four hours and from there, it was another 30 minute trek to the second peak. The clouds began to clear and the view from there was unreal. Except on airplanes, I’ve never seen the tops of the clouds and I’ve never seen a view like the mountain ranges I saw there.

We camped out overnight, thankful for our polar sleeping bags in the cold temps and woke up early to make the final ascent before sunrise. At about 5am on Sunday, we watched the sun rise of the horizon, illuminating the mountain and the incredible views from the top. We could see from the Mexican border past the borders of Xela, all the way to Antigua.

We hiked with a company called Quetzltrekkers, who employ volunteers and donate their proceeds to support Escuela de la Calle which provides schooling to street kids at no cost to them. We had actually facilitated free eye exams and educational charlas at this school, making it all the more relevant to us.

Maybe its cliché, but the hike to me can represent what we’ve done here in Guatemala.  I came in not knowing much, a little doubtful that I’d be able to make it to the end. I’ve never done such a hike and I’ve certainly never done anything like this program in Guatemala. The start of the trip may have been a bit unclear, and the ascent pushed me to my physical limits, just as consulting here has pushed me beyond my comfort zone and tested my mental limits. But along the way, I’ve met incredible people, seen amazing things, and fell in love with this place.  At the top I may have a better view of the work we’ve done so far and why it’s important. With only a few days left in this journey, I’m proud to see how far we’ve come, surprised in myself and team that we’ve done more than we thought we could, sad to leave this beautiful place, and definitely excited for my next trip.

Emily

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July 8 

It's Emily again, posting for team Oportunidad, if a bit late.

A member of our team, made an apt metaphor today. “Team Oportunidad, with our Impact Schools project is like a boy band,” he said. “We started making our own appointments with venues – anyone who would take us, welcome our charlas, and learn more from our filter demonstrations. Working with the local asesores is like working with an agent – now they book our gigs. As we improve our charlas, schools are asking us to come and present and we’re making SolCom’s name known.” I love this metaphor, likening our project to a growing, learning process. And today is our big break, our Madison Square Garden. Today we presented our charla not to classrooms of twenty students but to an assembly of 600+ students as well as teachers. As we set up the sound equipment and had to keep children from climbing up onto the stage, it actually felt like our big break. I’m proud that our last educational campaign took place in such a large setting – undoubtedly terrifying for us, but also very successful as we discovered by talking to teachers afterward. We’ve been creating, revising, modifying, and improving our set with each gig and I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished in schools of all types – public and private, urban and rural, small and large, wealthier and poorer.  

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Time Flies

Today was spent mostly on finalizing our models. We have so much material, it’s overwhelming trying to condense it all into something that is comprehensive, connective, and easy to articulate. After sitting through a monsoon caliber rainstorm, George, Rose, Olivia and I walked home to St. Tomas to do a bit of tienda hopping to stock up on purple Choki’s. (If you are related to any of us, you can look forward to sampling these).

I then returned home, enjoyed dinner with my host mom and went to my room to keep working. Tomorrow, we have most of the day to work, and then we will be presenting our grass-roots consulting projects in the afternoon. Thursday, we will present our final models, celebrate/graduate, and then head to Antigua for the night. I’m dreading going home, even with the stress of all the work we have right now.

-Rebecca

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Tying up Loose Ends

Leaving Xela made today a sad day for Team Oportunidad. Xela was definitely my favorite part of Guatemala. I’ve always considered myself to be a city person, but found Antigua to be a bit touristy. Xela was bigger and felt more authentic. I also think that during these past two weeks, our projects really took off. We are almost done with our model. We solidified our charlas. We sold a ton of filters! I feel so lucky to be part of a group of such passionate and hard working people. Our group is full of really strong personalities and I know that at the beginning of our time in Guatemala we were all a little wary of the group dynamics. We’ve adapted to each other’s idiosyncrasies and understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We’ve all become really close and I know I speak for the group when I say that we’ll all miss each other a lot. Right now we are trying to rest up so we can tie up some loose ends  tomorrow and Wednesday and then present our projects on Thursday. Half the group spent Saturday into Sunday hiking Volcán. Tajamulco. It was without a doubt the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced. However, the night was definitely below freezing and we barley slept, even with the 3am wake-up call to hike to the summit and watch the sunrise.

This afternoon we returned to our Antigua homestay and then headed to the city to finish up shopping and have a final meal together. Everything feels bittersweet and conversations are nostalgic.

-Rebecca

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July 2: Capoeira II

Well I got lost. A good thing I left early, else I would have never have made it. Ines met me at the small park across the large Catholic Church, and took me to the class. I came close during my wanderings, off by barley half a block.

We practice for two hours. It wasn’t as hard as it was the first time. I had fun, and so did the kids Pedro, the instructor, managed to convince to join in and practice. He enjoys teaching kids, and sees it as one of his life passions.

I have the utmost respect for him. I know that I no longer have the patience I used to in dealing with the uncontrollable and erratic behavior that comes with childish souls. Hopefully after this trip I can rest up and get that patience back. It has been almost a year of constant work and stress, and I am now starting to realize how much of a toll it has had on me physically, emotionally, and mentally. All the challenges and new perspectives and environments I have come to experience here in Guatemala have made me more self-aware than I was before, and I definitely needed it. I now know I need to find a proper balance in life between everything I want to do, and so I will begin to work on it when I return to the states. 

I think I might integrate Capoeira into my life. As much pain and embarrassment it causes me, it also relaxes me and challenges me to approach things differently. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to flip like Pedro and Ines.

- Dario F. Cabrera Aviles 

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July 2: Habitat for Humanity

Becci, Dianna White, and I went to the Habitat for Humanity office three minutes down the street for a meeting. We wanted to feel for their Scout module to get some inspiration on what direction to go for certain aspects. What we got from the meeting was some good information, but in all honesty didn’t help me much with my issue.

That is not to say that we did not get anything out of the meeting, but there were noticeable differences between models and organizations. The one thing that H4H has that we don’t is a concrete (pun intended), direct effect; a house that the recipient family built with their own hands. That goes a long way in recruiting people, who happily go from being beneficiaries to Scouts. I like the model, but I didn’t see it as readily transferrable. While our products are concrete, the effects are not as visible (aside from glasses). Becci disagreed, and said it was applicable; we just needed to approach it in another way. At first I disagreed, but eventually agreed that there is some level of transferability with their approach, like their constant trainings, and the fact that they manage the get volunteers to sign up as Scouts in the first place.  That gives me hope that if this module is implemented correctly, we can do the same thing. The rest of the workday I spend cleaning up Scouts, and doing my individual check-in. I contribute really briefly to the brochure design for the APF project, before heading out to Capoeira.

- Dario F. Cabrera Aviles

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July 2: Time to Get Serious

Not much progress has been made with the Scout, other then a barley written word doc on my Mac, and some chicken scratch. And so today I started to make my Scout syllabus. I have envisioned Scouts as getting a booklet with information related to their jobs, and so I approached the model layout like that. I also constructed it to reflect a syllabus, in part because it was easier for ideas to flow, and in part because I saw this as an opportunity to work on my syllabus skill for future independent research and classes I plan to create.

It took a while to properly word and connect all the things I wanted to, but I was happy with my initial skeleton layout. The general reception when I presented my layout was positive, although some of the members thought that I should have consulted the group more on the matter. While I concede that I could have communicated my actions better, I do not regret my actions. When it comes to thinking about the interconnectedness and minute of things, a lot of intentions and ideas tend to get lost or warped in overlapping voices. A too many cooks in the kitchen scenario. I have faith that we could have arrived at a similar point together, but I know that it would have taken far longer, and with a lot of the nuances lost and muted in favor of general macro-connections and concepts. 

In all honesty I had no novel input for the group discussion focused on the try before you buy model, and so I though it was a better use of our waning time that I work on Scouts, something that has been on my mind for quite a while.

I admit that I might be a bit protective of the Scout concept. But I do see this as a group effort, and I want as much input as possible. I just wanted to be able to present my vision fully and clearly to the group. But I admit, my communication hasn’t been great lately, as I have been preoccupied with all of the projects in front of me. I just need some time to get my thoughts together and organized coherently. I hope the others can understand.

- Dario F. Cabrera Aviles

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July 1: Souvenirs from El Triunfo

I love my souvenirs from El Triunfo. When I was looking through their products, a scarf jumped caught my eye. It was maroon-auburn and black, and reminded me of burning fire. I fell in love with it, and got that along with a brown and gold interwoven thread bracelet. The other, shorter scarf I have is from the back-strap weaving lesson. Although none of us actually knew at the time if we were going to keep the scarfs, I had a hunch, and so chose the scarf that I would want to keep. Many of the others were also appealing, but the brown, earthen tones coupled with the interwoven purple and white stood out from the rest. I picked that one to weave, and was happy to keep it. 

All in consideration, it was a good day. I had a good time at El Triunfo, and a decent dinner, where we celebrated Diana’s birthday.  But as we approach the end of the week, I remind myself that there is still plenty of work to be done.

- Dario F. Cabrera Aviles

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July 1: Juana’s Story

Juana’s life story made me feel sad, angry, happy, and proud. Unfortunately, it was not a unique story, as I have often heard stories of women’s hardship and the adversity they must overcome in their lives. Loosing a parent, facing abuse as a child, and growing up in both a large and poor family is something that I have heard my whole life. Juana’s story, however, had a happy ending, as there were people who came into her life and helped her. I cannot say the same about all the stories I have heard. But Juana’s story did reaffirm my aspirations, and restored my resolution.

- Dario F. Cabrera Aviles

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July 1: Preparing APF Presentation

Today we are working on the APF presentation to Sanik, the women’s cooperative in El Triunfo that Juana, the RA, started. Our presentation was focused on food throughout the world, and was to be presented in Spanish in part by each of us, accompanied by a handmade poster, which would demonstrate different food around the world over the associated area that we would touch upon. Along the way, we picked up Summer, the assistant director of UConn Education Abroad. She has been going to work sites around Guatemala, and was to go with us to El Triunfo as well.

 As usual, I took the ride as an opportunity to think and nap.

- Dario F. Cabrera Aviles

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June 30: Successful Campaign

It was a successful campaign. It was my first time doing distance eye exams, which proved to be a challenge for my Spanish. For the most part, however, things went smoothly. Some team members even found a PDV, who would show case our stove.

As we left to return to Pana, the Scouting system again became the center of focus for me the majority of the day, as well as some other stuff I will have to attend to when I am back in the states. So much work needs to be done in so little time.  But it was a good day, and I was happy to have entered such a tranquil church, and, if only for a moment, rest my weary mind.

- Dario F. Cabrera Aviles

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June 30: A Peaceful Church

We arrived at Concepcion, parked in between two municipal buildings, and in front of a beautiful church. The town was really quite, with hardly any people around. Ines was making some calls to investigate the manner, which gave me time to explore the church. It was beautiful inside. I could see the effort of long-deceased artisans alive in every sculpture, carefully painted mural, and intricately carved wooden surface. I was amazed, and was truly at peace, something I have not felt in some time. 

I asked Ines if she needed any help, and so I did a couple of little jobs here and there. When I was done, Ines told the group that we were actually at the wrong location, and so we needed to wait for another pick-up to help us with the stove. The church was vacant, and so I told her I would wait inside. It was truly peaceful, sitting in the front pew in relative silence. I took the moment to close my eyes and reflect on things that have been troubling me lately.  Like that, seven minutes passed by like seconds, and Ines came to get me.

 My peace was short-lived as preparations for the campaign began. We were in a mansion that was converted into town hall, so it had great space for eye exams. Exploring the building, I saw a door with a sign over it that said records. Maybe there is some way to integrate government records and contacting government officials into our model? Or even into my side project?

- Dario F. Cabrera Aviles