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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