Holy Cow – what a day, packed with various events that where emotionally and physically draining.
The day began with the continuation of working at Verbana on the building for the “psychologist”. We tore the roof off (a tin roof) and then began painting. Around 9:30, group 1 went on a home visit, followed by groups 2 and 3 at 10:30 and 11:30 respectively.
I was in group 2 with 3 ladies and a young man. We went to a little girl and little boy’s house – her name was Keslie (like Leslie with a “K”) I carried her most of the way to her house. It was just a mile or so, but she was just a little girl. Anyway, we arrived at her house, and after a few minutes, someone arrived at the door. As we waited, I looked around her “neighborhood”. Her house was perched on the edge of the ravine, a few steps out her front door was a drop off about 1500 feet or so. Not the safest place for 3 little kids to grow up. The houses around were mostly made up of block or concrete, so from the outside it didn’t look all that bad. However, when the door opened, we were instructed to step over the mud, climb onto the pile of stuff, step onto the chair, over the pipe and enter the one room house. It was rather difficult to maneuver through all of the stuff, but eventually 3 of us arrived at the room – which was good since there was only enough room for the 3 of us and the mother (Norma – interestingly enough for me). Keslie and her cousin (a 2 year old little girl) were on 2 separate beds that took up most of the floor space in the room. I spoke with Norma, and she told me that 4 adults and 3 children live in this room – a room about 12 x 12 total – filled with clothing, toys, stuffed animals, etc. gathered from the dump just a few miles away. The entrance to the room and the room itself wreaked - the smell was almost too much to take, but Norma seemed to be unaffected by it. We visited for a while and then made our way back to the child care center to work on our project. On the way home, I carried Keslie on my shoulders – my thoughts moved to prayer for her and her family – that God would do something amazing on their behalf. Truly it was a difficult experience.
Ruth took me outside the gate this morning to talk about a wall she wants to build to keep the kids safe. Some of the block are already available, but they need about $6000 and some men to build the wall. I need to pray that God would provide the masons needed for this project.
Lunch time brought a trip to Pollo Campero – kind of like a Kentucky Fried Chicken of Guatemala. We ate and talked – we were joined by the Smith family, Alex, Ruth, and Mariposa (an English teacher/interpreter who helped us this morning). I had a 9 piece nugget tray with fries and cole slaw. Best part – I was able to get some Pepsi. I needed that.
After lunch, Chad had a surprise for us. We drove to a cemetery on the other side of town. After entering the cemetery, we drove to the farthest back part, climbed out of our vehicle and walked all the way to the back. From here you can look over what seems like an ocean of trash. Seems pretty normal for a city of millions, but what was distinctively different was the thousands of people surrounding the trucks as they brought the trash in so they could rummage through the trash to find a treasure. They were looking for paper, plastic, toys, dolls, etc. anything that they could use to earn money. People everywhere – vultures everywhere. It was baffling. Birds taking to flight, hunting through the garbage, looking for food – hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. There were as many people as there were birds. It was hard to watch. We stood on a ledge high above the dump, but could not help but be moved by the condition of these people. I need to be faithful to pray for them – I know God has something more for them, something better. Thank God for the ones that are here reaching out to these people every day with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We ended the day with a game of rage and then a wrap up session where just about everyone talked about the impact that these 2 events had on them. I think the team has moved from the “tourist” stage to engaging the culture. It is painful, but helps them understand more what living in Guatemala really looks like.
Tomorrow we get back to work on the building – and then a soccer game against the maintenance crew. I have talked up a big game, so I hope we can deliver. Enough for now – it’s time for bed.
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