Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Tuesday in Guatemala


We are beginning to get into a morning routine.  It starts with the wake-up rooster call.  If that doesn’t get us up the fireworks will do it.  Most of us venture out for a morning walk and are exploring the town of Parromas.  Today we were out walking as the children were going to school (7:00).  Carmen, as always , prepared a wonderful breakfast for us.

This morning we broke into two groups.  Two went to the newly purchased Loving Arms property which is being converted to a trade training centre.  They were able to construct a wall using metal studs (which are much cheaper than wood).

The rest of us travelled to the school in Corrales.  It was much smaller than the school yesterday with 1 principal and 2 teachers for 90 students.  Once again we played soccer, completed a craft, and played parachute games.  


The children enjoyed all and had wonderful and warm smiles.  At the completion of the games we distributed shoes and socks to the needy.  








We were overwhelmed and heartbroken to see the condition of their feet and the state of their shoes.  It was difficult to tell some of the children that we did not have shoes even though they needed them.  And yet in all of this they gave us huge grins and many “gracias”.  

Before we left handed out goodie bags to all the students and posed for a group picture.

The daily rain started a little earlier to-day and we were forced to make changes to our afternoon schedule.  Four of us went to the Training Centre where the sewing room is well equipped and worked with five ladies from the village of Chitaburuy who came to work on a quilt.  The ladies had previously had experience on sewing machines but this is their first quilt.  

They will work on one quilt this week and then they will be given 4 other packages so that they will each have a completed quilt. To-day, each lady put together a row.  They wondered why they had to be so precise with their seams but when the rows were laid out on floor they were really happy with their work.  We are hoping that the quilt will be completed tomorrow.
Because of the rain the rest of the group stayed at our residence and worked with a carpenter to construct wall panels for the Build a Home project (we did the floor yesterday).  The panels are 4’ wide by 7’ tall and then what we would refer to as cement board was attached.   The crew was challenged by the hammering of the wet (probably milled last night!) 2’ by 3’s together resulting in many bent nails. 

We realize that we are extremely fortunate to be so well taken care of.  We have a driver to take us to our job sites, fantastic translators to help bridge the communication gap, and have a comfortable residence to return to each day.  We know that there are dangers in Guatemala but we are safe and protected.
As we have done each evening, we enjoy going over our day and sharing many good times and laughs.  Life is good.

Peggy Hunter

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