After I finally started embracing the discomfort of a new culture and the shock that comes from being in a brand new environment, I was able to focus on my reason for traveling to Guatemala: to understand the living conditions for children in other countries, and to do my best to help in any way that I could.
Around one in the afternoon every weekday, I would walk to a corner close to my host home, and I would meet up with other volunteers. These people were from all over the world; some of my closest friends from the trip came from Switzerland and Italy! We would all walk towards the bus stop together to embark on our volunteer experience for the day. It was the sweltering heat of August in Central America, and I remember passing through the town and seeing how hard the natives were working by selling their goods and socializing with tourists to make money. We would walk through the fruit market each day, and I absolutely loved seeing all of the fresh mangoes and bananas, as well as so many other fruits, being sold by so many lovely people. It was extremely common for newborn babies to be strapped to their mothers, and for toddlers to be helping with the business. This was so interesting for me to see because children in the United States are seen as much less capable in society compared to children in Guatemala.
When we finally arrived at the bus stop, we would wait until the colorful ‘chicken buses’ arrived. These are old school busses with the doors taken off and the windows open with an array of colored paint on the sides. They are incredibly cool to look at and even a little silly! We would ride about 35 minutes south of the city to a village known as Santiago Zamora to volunteer each day. The ride was intriguing, but extremely sad. We would pass through towns that I could not believe were some peoples’ living conditions. The houses were built with cardboard and tin roofs, and children sat on the streets looking for something to do.
When we finally arrived in the village we would walk towards the daycare center that we would volunteer at. The children would walk to this shack on the side of a mountain in a farming community after school, and they would go there to play with their friends, learn English, get help with homework, and stay supervised while their parents continued to work.
These children were the best! They ranged from ages 2-10, and they were so much fun. They enjoyed playing soccer in the nearby field, they loved learning our English slang words, and they loved when we brought treats to share!
These trips to the village outside of the city and away from the tourism were a true learning lesson. There is poverty everywhere you go. Communities all around the world face hardships that I never even imagined possible. But this does not change who these people are. These children were facing some of the most extreme poverty with hard home lives, and they were still incredibly wonderful children that taught me a lot about accepting others no matter where they came from.
Thank you.
I think it is so important to get a good perspective on the way others live and the fact you got to do that at a young age is awesome! It is such a different world seeing young children working outside in what feels like one million degrees, and then you come to the US and see a stark contrast.
I loved how you traveled to an another country to experience the differences of cultures from the people in the country but from other volunteers. that are from other countries as well. I found in important for yourself to notice the extreme differences from Guatemala from your home in the U.S and noticed the differences.