After spending some quality time at Christmas with our
family in the Czech Republic we are feeling rejuvenated and excited to start a
new year.
I want to take this time to share with you a bit about our
experiences of the last three months. It has been both very difficult
and rewarding, and depending on the day, we want to leave tomorrow, or
stay forever. We have had a major disappointment with one of our programs, but
we now have an exciting new pilot project at the Guatemala City Dump.
Because of the success of the daycare we set up five years ago, they have
asked us to implement our "Planting Seeds" philosophy in a
reinforcement program at the grade one level. We continue to work on
our new school in Sacala and hope to have an official opening probably sometime
in February."El Jardin de Suenos"( The Garden of Dreams)
preschool program will be starting its second year in the village of Xenecoj
this month. After a very successful first year, parents are anxious to sign up
their children and the mayor has once again agreed to pay the salaries of the
teachers.
Just before Christmas, there was a land invasion right next
to our daycare in the dump. Over a period of a few days, over 300 families
moved onto a small piece of land which was at one time to be used to build a
high school for "Camino Seguro". The daycare was shut down and it is
still not known what is going to happen. If the owner of the land tries to
remove them, they have guns and there will be bloodshed. It is a real dilemma
and could escalate into a very dangerous situation.
Also, our teachers have been through very hard times this
year. Several had difficulty getting to the classes because the bus lines
were shut down. Many bus drivers have been killed lately because they refuse to
pay protection. Last week in zone seven two men got on a bus, killed the bus
driver and then proceeded to shoot all twenty passengers. Our new pilot
project is located in this zone, so you can only imagine what some of our
children have to go through on a daily basis. The police in Griselda's
village have left town because vigilante groups recently assassinated a police
officer because he was extorting money from the villagers.........so their town
has no police "protection". Madeli , who was the principal in
Pastores last year was robbed after taking a teacher's salary out of a bank
machine at knife point. It was very traumatizing for her. One of our
teacher's assistant’s, Anner lost his Grandfather just before Christmas.
He was 71 years old and lived alone. Apparently intruders came in
ransacked his house, tied him up, blindfolded him and then murdered him.
The family has no idea why, because he was a very poor man.
In spite of their personal hardships, the training went very
well. We trained 16 new teachers including four from an orphanage (Seeds of
Love) in Paramos. We were not able to build furniture for them, because we
were too busy this year, but they are very keen to use the "Planting
Seeds" program as a model for other Children's homes in Guatemala. They
have a beautiful spot in the country which should provide an ideal setting
for their new programs. We have agreed to supervise the program and offer
ongoing support. We have hired Madeli, who has worked for us for many
years to co-train the teachers and co-ordinate the programs when we are in
Canada. Yesterday we ran into an American fellow who asked us to train
some teachers for him last year. He told us they were so motivated by the
"Planting Seeds" training program they each wanted to set up their
own programs, so he got sponsors for them, and they now have their own
little schools. Also after the two week training program it gave his group
a better idea of how to train teachers in a very limited amount of time, and
they have gone onto to train 17 more teachers last year, and are going to do
the same this year, so it seems Early Childhood Education is
finally receiving the attention necessary to help change Guatemala's
future.
The furniture construction team, as usual did
phenomenal work. In three weeks they built all the furniture for the
new school in Sacala and for the pilot project at the Guatemala City Dump,
and also replaced many pieces for the daycare. We are at a loss as to what more
we can say to our dedicated volunteers, many of whom have been down
here four and five years in a row. It doesn't matter how much work needs to be
done, we always seem to have just the right number of volunteers and the
necessary amount of time to finish. Your enthusiasm, support and hard work
set such a special tone for this Community House. On behalf of the children
whose lives are enriched daily because of your efforts, we want you to
know the new sense of personal worth, and the intrinsic joy of really
"learning how to learn" has been transformational in the lives of each
and every student. The lifelong skills they have acquired in such a short
period of time is inspirational to see.
In February, there is a large team coming from River
of Life Church in Arnprior. They have worked through
"Oneness" for the past two years building houses with "From
Houses to Homes". This year in addition to that, they are working with a
project in Santa Lucia. They have raised funds for the first stage of a
community center and will be building it when they are here. They will also be
building chicken coops, setting up a feeding center and visiting widows of the
community. This is a very hard-working dedicated group and we support them in
their efforts to make a difference in this small Guatemalan village.
John and Dorothy are returning in February to meet with the
Village of Sacala. For five years they have tenaciously worked with this
village trying to get them a well. It has been nothing less than a "labour
of love". Despite major disappointments year after year, they have
continued to raise funds, consult with the experts and deal with local
politicians to keep the dream of "water for the people
of Sacala" alive. Our thoughts and our prayers are with them as
they once again attempt to get the necessary paper work to give them access to
the land for the well. We are with them in spirit and recognize and
appreciate the tremendous effort put forth on behalf of a struggling
people.
In March, Ana Rosa and other representatives of the
Retired Teachers of Ontario will be visiting the small mountain village of
Tioxya to see our preschool and deliver supplies purchased with a
grant from RTO. This organization will also be paying the teacher's salary for
one year. It is through the efforts of our dear teacher friends that this was able
to happen.
At the end of March Pam and Rich from Wisconsin will
be arriving to take over the Community House. After working with us for two
years, they graciously accepted to run the house for a few months, which helps
us pay for the rent and household expenses during the summer.
After a very meaningful experience last year, they are
looking forward to bringing more teams down this year to build homes for the
poor.
We look forward to spending some quality time with this
group before our return to Canada on the first of April. On top of being dynamo
workers, they are truly a fun group.
Since our lease for the Community House is being renewed for
two more years, and we have received further funding to cover the shortfall of
our yearly expenses (thanks to bulldog Marjorie), it looks like our House of
Service is meant to continue for a while. Though it has been very labour
intensive, the rewards have far outweighed the struggles, and the personal
transformations that we have been able to witness, provide the incentive for us
to continue this, mostly satisfying(sometimes overwhelming) work.
A very special thank you to Angie MacDonald and
Bill Behan for many long hours of work revising and updating our website www.oneness.ca
It is a huge amount of work, and the sharing of your unique talents and skills
has been such a gift to us.
We are so sorry that we have not been able to answer some of
our personal emails. There are not enough hours in the day to do everything we
want to do. We hope this newsletter at least brings you up to date, and reminds
you of how important each of you is to this mission.
In Peace Love and Joy,
We Remain in Solidarity with the Poor of Guatemala,
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