During spring break, students in the short-term study abroad courses, ECG 200 "Faces of Guatemala and Justice" and ECG 300 "Working for Justice in Guatemala," travel to Guatemala to learn about and work alongside the people there. This is my account of the trip.
Day 2
We are 17 individuals, some students, some alumni, some faculty. Some know each other well, others have never met. The highlight of the first several days has been the openness to one another and to the community we encounter. Each evening we meet on the rooftop of the hotel and discuss what has challenged us today and what we are grateful for. Each person on the trip has listened intently and, as a result, we have formed a bond with each other.
Today we learned a great deal about the community that is our host for this week. This region of Guatemala suffers from poverty. People live on $3-$6 per day. “Nearly one-half of Guatemala's children under age five are chronically malnourished, one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world” (CIA Fact Book). We have studied the structural causes for the past six weeks: the results of colonialism, the interference and control of US business and government, as well as poor local leadership. We knew that. But then we encounter individual humans here, see the struggle to create dignified lives, and marvel at the progress the community has made.
In the morning we worked in construction with Mayan men. Hard, dirty work. Here is what Mike Cinicolo looked like at the end of the day.
Here’s a few people working at the sites.
The afternoon concluded with a pickup soccer game. I stayed just to take pictures of Brielle and Ang and a boy. After I left, others joined and played for 2 hours. Between the digging and the soccer, pretty sure everyone is sleeping well tonight.
It is gratifying to see some of the progress from year to year. We did a ton of digging on this dirt road by our hotel last year and this is what we get to walk on this year. Our tiny contribution to the community’s efforts resulted in this.
Until tomorrow ...