Week Two Report

After my second week of language classes my head seems so full of words, I can't recall even the English word that I'm looking for. Besides my English classes and trying to find time to explore, I am now engaged in several projects, some technical and other human. Everything progresses here poco a poco, little by little.

La Pedrera Wireless Internet.
Much internet access here is via wireless connections. I have been working for an hour or so each day, trying to resolve the internet connection for the La Pedrera project. The Casa Xelaju language institute has a rooftop antenna where they are attempting to broadcast a wireless signal to the La Pedrera community building about ½ a mile away. (Photo - You can see the antenna on the roof). We met with some success early in the week when we were able to get the wireless equipment working on both ends. Still the signal doesn't quite reach, though we are assured that at one time it did.

La Pedrera Computer Lab.
With help from two other volunteers we have managed to clean up most of the virus laden computers and connect them to a common file server. We still have two printers that do not work. One is so old we cannot find drivers and the other is out of ink and the heads potentially dried out. I may use a small part of the donated funds for a printer so that students can take samples of their work home. Already I decided to invest $30 of your donations for a white-board and markers for the computer lab. A good printer and supplies would cost us $50-60.

Other projects.
My skills are much in demand here and I've agreed to travel to the nearby village of Canton Vela on a weekend to help set up a community computer center. I was also offered volunteer opportunities at a school near Antigua Guatemala where ex-Peace Corp volunteers are engaged in local development projects. I will probably have to decline that invitation but hope to visit them in January. I was also asked to help update the Casa Xelaju La Pedrera pages. Due to non-profit rules protecting the privacy and security of children, we have to remove information that would identify the children by last name. I've been updating these pages to remove that information. The information about the students in the program is also badly outdated so our long-term goal is to work with the project coordinator to collect new photos and update the pages. Along those lines, I inquired to the project director if donors who take on full sponsorship can correspond with children whom they sponsor. They can, but due to privacy protections any correspondence would have to go through the project director. If you would like to correspond with children in the program, contact the project coordinator, Teresa De Leon at pedrera@casaxelaju.com

Teaching at La Pedrera community center.
Though I don't feel ready, I was pressured by other volunteers to start teaching at the project. I asked if we could start working with a small group of 3-5 of the more experienced kids. I hope to enlist them as team leaders so that when we take in a larger group of students we can rely on student team leaders to assist with those less experienced. So on Wednesday, we started working with three students. On the first day I tried to engage them in a discussion about the parts internal to the computer and about input and output devices. It was interesting and I had prepared my vocabulary on the new whiteboard. On Thursday, we passed out digital cameras to the kids and showed them how to put their own photos on their desktops. With a little time remaining, I decided to give them a quick demo on some of the features of Photoshop. They thought it was pretty funny that I could quickly move the face of one student to the head of another. Still the biggest obstacle is the language. We have one volunteer whose skills are only slightly more advanced and another volunteer who is very quick with a Spanish-English dictionary. Next week we hope to take things a bit further. Possibly by the 3rd week, we will be ready to take in a larger group. My hope before I leave is that we'll have the Internet working and they can make their own web pages.

In closing, I thought I would share another little sound-clip. This is a song titled "Bonito" by the group Jarabe De Palo. It's a song my teacher gave me to introduce vocabulary. It's more or less the Spanish version of "Everything is Beautiful". One really beautiful thing is that MATC associates, with a matching donor, now are very close to $1000 in contributions for el Proyecto la Pedrera. I hope to have a ceremony to mark the occasion and pass the contributions to the school.

Hasta Luego, David

Bonito.mp3

The First Week.

A week in a strange place seems like a month. Every experience is unique and new, truly an adventure. The bus up into the mountains and meeting my host family was exhausting and full of little stories. But, I'll stick to a few highlights.

My host family is pretty wonderful and really makes an effort to engage me in family activities and conversations. Already they've invited me to a family birthday and a soccer game. Sandra and Sergio Catalan have three boys 12, 16 and 19. They enjoy sitting in the kitchen talking and laughing together until early in the morning. Thanks to ear plugs and and a very busy schedule I've had no problem sleeping through all the noise, morning roosters and dogs.

As planned, my first week has been very focused on getting my language skills up to speed so I can start contributing to "el Proyecto la Pedrera", the project to assist children in the community outside the town. With my use of the language I have a lot of bad habits to break. My personal demons are trying to coin everything in present tense and making up words when I don't know the right ones. Adding -ar to English verbs when I don't know the right one just gets me into trouble. On the other hand, people here seem to have a lot of patience, correcting me and helping me to get through. But I'd like to keep the focus of this site on La Pedrera.

Some background on the project: The language institute, Casa Xelaju, has been building this program for about 15 years. They provide sponsorship so that students can attend school. The public schools are "free" but provide only a desk and a teacher. the student's families must purchase uniforms, books and school supplies as well as pay fees for class materials. In impoverished areas, many parents cannot afford even this basic part. As a result, kids often do not attend school and are put to work in the family business, selling things on the street or even possibly working in sweatshops. El Proyecto La Pedrera provides all of these things and more. Students who are sponsored also attend an afternoon program where they get supplemental math and reading instruction as well as other skills when there are volunteers to teach them. Students who are not sponsored are also able to attend. The program also provides a snack, vitamins when available, and support for good hygiene practices. As part of the support provided by MATC staff and faculty, I was able to bring about a months supply of vitamins as well as toothbrushes and toothpaste for every child.

On my first day at Casa Xelaju, Sandra, the Institute's volunteer director filled me in on some of the details. There are currently 3 other students working with the la Pedrera community. Morgan is working teaching literacy 1-on-1 with an older woman. Brian and Chris are two energetic young men who have started a computer inventory and are getting the lab ready for our students. They are also taking time to play soccer with the kids and get to know them better. For example, they had a talk with the boys about behavior and the need to show respect towards women. Teresa de Leon is the tireless full-time teacher in the program.

Though I had originally planned to spend the first week exclusively on my own language skills, I was prodded and went up to the community on Wednesday and Thursday to meet Teresa, see the facility and look over the computer lab. I really only got a cursory look. There are about 20 computers of various types, sizes and operating systems. There has been an attempt to connect the computer to a wireless internet connection but without success. There will be many more details to come. On Thursday and Friday, I coaxed my teacher into helping get a handle on basic camera and computer terms, as well as finding additional learning materials.

I did manage one purely cultural excursion one afternoon. I went into the central market to explore see what was there. I thought this little family playing in the street was typical of joyful experiences you can find on the street in unexpected places. I purchased their CD for about $2.50 and they allowed me to take this photo for you. If I can manage to upload the sound clip, you'll get the full experience.

Hasta Luego,

David

Las_Hermanas_Audio_clip.mp3

Welcome and Intro

Hi and welcome to the blog for my 2008 Guatemala trip. I am traveling to attend language school in Quetzaltenango (place of the Quetzal). Located in the central highlands, it is known for it's traditional connections to the ancient Mayan culture. Its traditional name is Xelaju (Pronounced "Shay-la-hoo'), or just Xela for short.

The language institute I am attending, Casa Xelaju, has adopted a poor Mayan barrio on a rocky outcrop on the edge of town, known as La Pedrera. This gives visiting students an opportunity to participate in community service as part of their language training.

While reserving my stay at the school, I asked them for assistance in arranging some occupational experience in my field of multimedia and Web design. They suggested that I work in the school at La Pedrera, sharing my skills with those students. My experience in 3rd world travel, tells me that I am going to encounter very severe poverty, with its related lack of education and health care. When I asked what I might bring to assist there, the suggestions were basic school supplies, vitamins and toothbrushes.

The fact is, that there is a fairly well established "La Pedrera School Project" to support the school. The project recently gained non-profit status to aid it in raising sponsorship for students at the school. In 1995, they were able to raise funds for 45 students to attend the school. the unfortunate side is that there are currently 36 children without sponsors. This would be a good time to click the "donate" button and start helping to sponsor a child at La Pedrera

This site will keep you up to date on my travel and the status of our efforts to support the school at La Pedrera. If you want to subscribe to updates or find out how to contribute to sponsor students at the school, please send me email to thomasdp@thomerwald.net

Thanks

David Thomas

[photo is from my1991 trip to Quetzaltenango and an early morning climb to watch the sun rise atop El Volcan Santa Maria]