Friday in Guatemala

Our morning routine has not changed – laundry, walks, computer time, a great breakfast.  All teams had a quick get away for their projects because of Guatemala time.

On our way to the Teacher Workshop we packed 18 people in the van, which didn’t beat our record of 22 people in the van, on the way to the Training Centre to begin our day.

Twenty-five teachers and principals experienced a TRIBES overview workshop lead by Brian and Peggy.  The participants learned interactive teaching strategies that can be duplicated in their classroom.  The Guatemalan teachers represented the following villages: Paraxaj, Chitaburuy, Parrojas, and Parramos.  

All the teachers and principals appreciated the strategies and activities that moved the group through inclusion, influence, and community. Thanks to the CentreSource TRIBES for donating the Spanish TRIBES books, and the DDSB Leadership Department (Gayle Anniss) for preparing the workshop material.  These teachers are highly valued and are making a difference in the lives of the Guatemalan children. The educators were excited to learn new strategies that build community inclusion and improve student achievement. We couldn’t have been successful without our Spanish translators.

The build a home team of Tim, Doug, Suzanne, Angela and Garry went to Corrales to paint the house.  The owner wanted bright blue for the bottom half of the walls, door and window.  The top half of the walls were turquoise green.

Angel, our mason/carpenter stretched 1 gallon of paint to three gallons by adding gasoline to the paint.  Tim, Suzanne and Angela had new brushes and did the fine work while Garry had a stucco ceiling roller and Doug had a regular roller.

The stucco roller could suck up enough gasoline/paint to do half a panel if Garry rolled quickly and Doug followed to catch the running paint.  By the time one wall was done Garry looked like a green speckled gnome.  Fortunately, no smokers walked by.  The second half of the house went the same except the children were now helping to paint.  Part way around the house a little girl noticed that Garry had missed some spots and proceeded to smudge blue on his cheeks, nose, forehead, and chin – it went well with the green.  At the end there was no paint left and no gasoline for clean-up.  While waiting for our pick-up an impromptu game of soccer began.

Two girls and one boy with torn pants and bare feet and one green/blue-faced goalie took on one clean painter, the homeowner and his two sons.  We left a grateful family, uncle and grandfather with many of their blessings and a warm feeling (which wasn’t from the paint fumes).

During the afternoon Suzanne and Peggy worked with 4 ladies from Paraxaj refining their sewing techniques and learning some short cuts to complete projects which they plan to sell at markets.  They went home with some finished projects and some new tools and were so grateful for all the assistance.

The property project made great progress by the end of the day.  The morning started with Dianne and Kelly completing the drywall with the electrical boxes now installed and some more framing in prep for the afternoon.  In the afternoon Brain and Garry joined the team and worked steady.  Kelly and Gary completed the framing of the last wall, which took a lot of engineering and planning.  Brian and Dianne completed the drywall which also had the electrical boxes installed.

Suzanne gave a fifteen min lesson to Angel (the carpenter/mason) on drywall mudding and he did a fantastic job moving the project forward in the background.


Brian has just confessed the funniest thing to the group as I am typing this blog.  There was quite a period of time that we were looking for the second exacto knife.  Brian, as time passed, had convinced himself that he had drywalled the knife into the wall.  Unknown to Dianne he was looking in the wall and often asking “have you found it yet” with the answer always no.  In the end the knife was found on a table that had been tucked away in the newly created hallway.  All was well and not until now did we know anything about it.  At the end of the day everyone was extremely pleased with a job well done at the property.

The last group in the afternoon visited an elders center.  The average age of the attendees was around 65.  We received a big welcome with hugs and prayers from the men and ladies.  We played BINGO with these people and had a blast.  Tim called out the numbers in Spanish while Doug wrote it down on a white board.  Angela and Juli were at the tables helping the people.  After about 10 numbers one gentlemen called BINGO and was rewarded with a couple candies.  The distribution of these candies heightened the competitiveness of the game.  This is also when we realized that 2 people were blind and needed help to place their numbers.  Soon after another lady got a BINGO but instead of yelling BINGO she yelled GRINGO for us Canadians.  Everybody had a great laugh at this.  Tim had trouble pronouncing “G” in Spanish so he continued to pull non G numbers.  After a while there were no BINGO’s therefore G’s needed to be called.  Angela and Juli started feeding Tim numbers that were required to get some BINGO’s and although fixed it was great fun for all.  After BINGO, the team handed out sweaters as well as hygiene packs to everybody.

This again had hugs and prayers being delivered to the team.  This was a great experience and very rewarding for all.

After this we had another great dinner which was comprised of spaghetti and a salad.

Earlier in the day the team learnt that it was Angela’s 40th birthday and in Guatemala when you want to celebrate you set off firecrackers on the street.  This is usually done at 5am or 6am however we did it at 7pm in the dark.  The team bought the firecrackers to enable this moment.  The first set was 3ft long and the second set was 15ft.  Tim was responsible for lighting the firecrackers and we were warned that as soon as you light the firecrackers you have to run.  Tim didn’t know which end to light so he asked the 5yr neighbor.  Unfortunately the neighbor mentioned the wrong end which resulted in a huge explosion as Tim lit it which was suppose to be the finale.  Shrapnel went flying everywhere however everybody was safe.  Next we unraveled the 15ft of firecrackers and placed it on the street.  Tim tried to light the correct end however it didn’t work therefore he tried to light the incorrect end.  When he attempted our house mom ran back into the kitchen in fear of her life.  Tim then reached out to a local with the lighter and had him set it off.  What a blast full of risk and laughs.  Happy Birthday Angela at the risk of the others.  We plan to do this again at the picnic that will take place on Sunday.  All in all a great day was had by all and an abundance of prayers were delivered and received.

Tim Myers, Peggy Hunter, Garry Hunter, Brian Jones, Dianne Pelletier

Thursday in Guatemala

Today started with the anticipation of a dry day and we decided to do some laundry.  This was on the wash board out back and the clothesline strung in our back yard.  This mornings washers were Dianne, Garry, Juli and Kelly - a group effort.  

Some small groups then went for a walk in the town and all unexpectedly arrived together in the Hardware Store.  Here with our excellent command of the Spanish language we tried to buy a drywall dimpler for the property project!  After several sad tries to explain our request Tim showed a picture of the tool on his phone.  At this point it was confirmed they had no such item. It was decided pliers and a Philips screw driver as plan B.

When we returned a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and fresh fruit and eggs was on the table and we share in our morning devotional.

A team of 4 went to discover the village of La Hermita, where there is no school, but an active community, as word of mouth travelled the children came in droves to participate in our games and crafts.  

The Alpha Y Omega Church had a dirt floor, with cinderblock pews, but was a large enough area for Brian to do parachute games with the kids.  Unfortunately this resulted in a “dust bowl” but the kids loved every minute of it!  Suzanne, Angela and Juli taught the children and mothers how to make friendship bracelets – the children all loved the craft and one woman Rosa showed us how she makes the traditional woven friendship bracelets.  

She was kind enough to make each of us one and we made one for her in return – “friends for life.”   This was a community with much need, we met a little girl no more than 3 who is taking treatments for Lukemia, and another little 3 year old boy Juanito whose mother recently passed away.  He had a heartbreaking story but a smile that would melt any heart. 

  We offered goody bags for each child and they were so excited to each receive such a gift.

The property project (Kelly and Dianne) was off to a great start with the discovery of a four leaf clover near the entrance.  

By the end of the morning two walls were framed and dry walled   Alicia (Guatemalan Liason) was happy to return with a drywall gun to make the project easier. 

Dry wall is not something that most people have seen in this area so this was a difficult purchase that required a trip to a near by town and five stores before one was found.  

In the afternoon a 16ft wall was framed and the lower half was dry walled.  Alicia spent the afternoon with the property group offering great humor and lots of teasing.  It was a successful day and the electrician is scheduled to arrive at 5am tomorrow morning so the walls can be completed tomorrow. 

The lunch of the day consisted of hamburgers.  The burgers were great except for Tim’s as he forgot to add the burger.  This was a great demonstration of his building skills as pointed out by Kelly.

Upon arriving in Parraxaj, Suzanne and Angela were dropped off at the local school.  They then walked to the home of one of the local women where they were helping 5 women refine their sewing skills and marketing to encourage self-sustainability.  The sewing machine was in the bedroom of one of the local ladies.  In all, there were 10 women, 6 children and a dog in the room.  Suzanne began to help fine-tune their craft through an interpreter.  Once the rains came, the sound of the raindrops on the tin roof made it difficult to hear, but they persevered.  The women were very gracious and grateful for the help.  They were happy to know they were going to see them the following day to continue with their work. 

The build a home project started with walls being carried to the cement pad and then individually put up 1 by 1.  Tim hammered the nails through the boards into the cement and once that was done Garry would drill holes for lag bolts to attach the 2 walls together. 

Peggy followed up with the bolt insertion while Doug applied the nuts and washers.  We got to the last wall and Peggy then asked Doug if he preferred to apply the nuts and bolts from the left or the right.  Unfortunately her wording was “Doug how do you prefer to screw?"  Once the walls were up it was time to do the roof supports.  The homeowner unfortunately couldn’t reach the roof therefore he used a wooden crate plus a cinder block plus a pail to get enough height.  Definitely not the safest approach, but without a ladder, what do you do?

In the afternoon the team was driven back out to Corrales to work on the project however was driven by the homeowner and the community van.  Once at the project home the group mounted the door, the window and the roof.

Unfortunately the door fell and split one of the side boards.  Brian and Tim had to rebuild the door which was the formation of the CF Alliance.  Eventually the door was built again and hinges were applied.  The hinges were applied with screws however the screwdriver wasn’t good enough therefore they were hammered into place.  Peggy and Doug built the window and applied the hinges as well.

Lastly we spent 20 minutes with the family fitting them with shoes and came back to a lovely dinner.
This consisted of pollo (Chicken) some local squash, beans, carrots and corn.  A great meal after a hard days work.  We are now convening and in tears of laughter, and sharing emotional stories after our meal to right this blog.  Our day wrapped up with one word from each of us:  Fantasitc, Emotional, Unforgettable, Humorous, Exciting, Amazing, Fulfillment, Challenging, CF'ism-Mania, Joyous.

Dianne Pelletier, Tim Myers, Suzanne Lee, Juli Conard-Myers

Wednesday October 9, 2013

The morning started off with some people catching up on the computer to update status or catch up on email.  Another group left the house and went out for a morning stroll to find non-instant coffee.  This ended up being a challenge and most coffee that comes in good sized bags is instant and the lack of Spanish speaking individuals makes it all the better experience.  After another great breakfast we began our day.

One group headed off to the school in Paraxaj.  This is a dual classroom school with about 50 students.  We started off with a clothing drive and started to funnel in individual students to equip them with sweaters, shirts and pants and possibly shoes.  This went over great.  While that was taking place the second team at the school was organizing games.  

This included playing with the parachute, playing soccer and drawing on the soccer field (concrete) with sidewalk chalk.  

A great moment from here was that 3 girls recognized that Peggy and Garry were a couple and the girls started to draw hearts on the court with Peggy and Garry written in them.  The groups were then rotated and the sidewalk chalk drawings went from hearts to tracing bodies. 

The 2 groups of students were then brought together and goodie bags were handed out to every boy and girl. These were prepared by the grade 2 students at Prince Albert Public School back home.  The goodie bags included craft materials, school supplies and a toy.  

After this happened Tim and Juli met up with their sponsored family and had some bonding time and exchanged a few gifts as well as a lot of love.  The families are so appreciative.

While a portion of the GMT headed to the school in Paraxaj, the other half stayed back at our housing complex to finish the walls of the build a home program which is a natural progression throughout the week.

When both teams gathered lunch was had which was amazing chicken salad sandwiches.

After lunch the larger and handiest portion of the group headed to the training center.  Some were dedicated to build a new wall out of metal studs and drywall.  There was a lot of discussion regarding how the wall should look and function and after some constructive brainstorming a decision was made of how it should be built.  The other half that headed to the training center hosted a sewing session with 5 trained ladies and they were able to completely finish a quilt.

While the handy people went to the training center the non-handy people were left behind to build a door.  It was not planned this way but this is the way it ended up.  The door came along quite well and after several bent nails were discarded the door was complete.  The team continued to load trucks with all the walls that have been built during the week and delivered to the cement pad that was poured earlier in the week.  This led to some great laughs.  The first incident was trying to fit our mason/carpenter into a single bench dodge ram along with Doug, Brian, Juli and Tim.  That’s 5 in the front of a truck that holds 3.  If this wasn’t funny enough the mason/carpenter couldn’t reach the gas and brake pedals.  He then proceeded to pull his seat forward.  This left Brian with one butt cheek on the driver seat and one butt cheek on the rest of the bench.  This was a good stretch for Brian.

The second incident occurred while moving the second load of walls to the home.  Another vehicle was added as we needed to load 2 20 foot x 3 inch boards into a very small Datsun truck.  Loading the boards into the truck wasn’t a problem but having 5 feet in the truck bed and 15 feet hanging out was an issue.  Tim then decided to sit on the boards in the bed of the truck so that they wouldn’t fall out.

This was fun keeping them in the truck but Tim managed to throw candy out the back of the truck to the boys and girls.  By the time we arrived to the cement pad there were 20-30 kids following the truck.

If that wasn’t enough the locals wanted to make fun of Brian and decided that it would be a good idea for him to get on their horse.   It appeared that Brian hadn’t mounted a horse recently and this proved to be hilarious to the locals.  The mount wasn’t graceful and the dismount was despicable.  Great laughs all around.

While visiting this home in Corrales we quickly noticed the shoes that were being worn weren’t adequate.  While coming back to our complex we headed to the Parramos square to buy some shoes and will deliver them tomorrow.

The teams then reconvened at our complex to a beautiful lasagna dinner and then gathered to share the moments of the day so that this article could be written.  We are all quickly learning that a hug goes a long way.

Tim Myers

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

Monday in Guatemala

Today had a surprise start for the team.  The early risers found there was no power!  This of course means NO COFFEE/NO SHOWER.  To pass the time until the others woke we went for a walk around town.  We had a full breakfast prepare luckily on a gas stove and off we went to start our assigned projects. 

One group went to the school in Parrojas and played soccer, taught crafts (friendship braclets) and games. We worked with more than 100 children. Brian brought the parachute game that was an extreme delight for the children.  Doug came back with lovely red fingernails. Thanks to Afrisoccer who donated 4 sets of soccer uniforms for this school!

The other group went to the property and cleared a land that will have a green house built on it.  We regrouped at lunch and enjoyed sharing our morning experiences.  Still no hydro!  

In the afternoon we split into two groups again.  One group went to the property and continued clearing the land and sorting and assembled the sewing materials for the sewing workshop scheduled for tomorrow.  If there is power.  The other team went to a build a home project for a Mom, Dad and five children.  They mixed cement and poured the floor for the new home.  The recipe for the cement was: 13 wheel barrels of sand, 8 wheel barrels of rocks, 6.5 bags of cement mix.  This was mixed by shovel and poured into a plank wood frame 12’x18’x3”.  We worked hard and steady covering the pad with tin just before the skies opened with rain.  This will have to dry 24 hours.  

At the end of the day we all arrived home dirty, tired and hungry.  Still no power.  We gathered again and shared our stories from our afternoon while our house Mom Carmen cooked our supper meal.  We gathered by flashlights to begin our meal and after the grace including a request for hydro God heard our prayer and we had lights!  Our meal was delicious once again.  

Taking advantage of the hydro many headed for the showers.  To complete our evening we sat together and drafted this update for you.  We feel we had a wonderful day and yes we are enjoying an after dinner coffee.  The day is now complete.  It is now 8 o’clock and we are going to bed.  Talk tomorrow.   

Dianne Pelletier