Day 15: End of Humanitarian Campaign Effort

Franco: I woke up this morning feeling like we still have so much more work to do before we leave tomorrow back down the Guatemalan mountains. That and a combination of sadness. Sadness because we are a small team of volunteers trying to bring prosperity to such an impoverished community. We are a drop of hope in an endless ocean of poverty.

More than 80 percent of the people in Sibinal live in poverty. Much work left to do. The unconditional love I have for the people and community here in Sibinal is something I have never felt before. Perhaps it comes from feeling like I have a purpose again. Feeling like I'm truly needed; like I was once needed when I was a Corpsman in the military. Life and death. All or nothing. Black and white. I struggle to find the middle when I'm not surrounded by extreme environments.

Update: Before getting into the final visits of today I wanted to share with our donors and followers an important update on the stove situation. As aforementioned, there was a stove that was poorly built for one of our 26 families. Both teams took action to correct this misshapen and the stove was repaired and will be completely functional in about two weeks after the cement completely dries. Below are the pictures of the repairs done on the stove by a different worker. We hope you continue to trust us with your donations as our team believes in complete transparency even when we or others make mistakes. You have the right to know what happens with your money.

My first stop was to visit the home of Don Misael Diaz and his wife Doña Magdalena Diaz. A volunteer from the Guatemalan team and I were greeted by Doña Magdalena's five children. As she proudly showed us around her new kitchen she told us that husband wanted to be home to meet us. Unfortunately, because of the lack of work in Sibinal, he has been forced to migrate to Tapachula, Mexico where he sells ice-cream in the streets. Doña Magdalena sadly said he is often gone up to two weeks. Her greatest concern is that her five children are growing up without their father.

Thanks to your donations, Doña Magdalena received a stove and wood to build a wall around her kitchen. As she showed us around the outside of her new kitchen she spoke about her greatest dream. It is to own a large enough house where her children can come and visit her when they grow up.

I noticed that one of her children had a burn underneath his eye. Doña Magdalena said her children were so excited to have a stove that one of them accidentally got too close and a hot piece of wood landed underneath his eye. We thought it would be important to educate Doña Magdalena on her new stove. We also recommended she seek medical treatment for her son's burn since it was close to his eye. She decided to take him to the town clinic and get it checked out.

Olivia: Today was our last full day in Sibinal. It was definitely a bitter sweet moment. Sweet, because the goal we set out to achieve, to help 26 impoverished families and to bring Christmas gifts to hundreds of children, was accomplished and then some. Our team, with both the Guatemalan and U.S. members, had a chance to reflect upon our work and time together. Hearing positive feedback, especially from my Guatemalan teammates, and new ideas about how to improve upon and expand the project for this year (2017) was both uplifting and motivating. I am extremely thankful that I have had the opportunity to work with such an incredibly dedicated, hardworking, generous, and big-hearted group of people. I hope that I continue to grow my relationship with the Guatemalan half of my team - hopefully with the help of new and improved Spanish skills! Haha! 

Trying to wrap up our loose ends was emotionally challenging, especially saying goodbye to the kids we've been medicating for the past week. It's hard to explain the sharp pain you feel when you tell a child who is sooo happy to see your group that you won't be coming back later that evening or the next day. That shiny happiness slowly fades from their eyes as the goodbyes slowly sink in. However, they quickly switched gears and decided that if we were leaving, then they could just come with us! I've only known these kids for a week, yet Fidelia, the oldest child, asked if she could come with me to my house. It didn't matter that I told her that I lived in the U.S. and that we'd have to travel hours by plane and car to get there, she wanted to go. There was no way I could tell her "yes, come with me" but I wanted to. I want her and her brother and sisters to have the kind of love, attention, care and resources that people in my team's position could provide them. They have such sweet souls, and it hurts to think that their improved health will most likely disintegrate within weeks if their living conditions don't improve - which is highly unlikely. And it's terrifying to think that these young girls, especially as their bodies continue to mature, could be targets of rape like their older relatives before them. How do we stop this cycle of poverty and trauma? Is it possible? I don't know. I'd like to think we did a lot of good with these kids, with the medication and the love, but sadly I don't think a week's worth of affection counteracts a lifetime of extreme poverty.

Click on links below to view video's of our last last good-bye to the children.

https://youtu.be/6WvkCZXoRbg

 As we walked back down the mountainside, the youngest girl, too small to walk the trail with the older children, sat sobbing on an outlook overlooking the road.

https://youtu.be/qr5nQtpliLc

 Geez...I didn't realize how fond I was of these kids until those little sobs cut through the air and the older girls' voices faded when they could no longer keep up with our vehicle. I hope and wish for a better future for them, but even an optimist like me is doubtful. I don't understand how some of our most innocent humans - our children - are often the most tragically affected by the problems of our world. I'm still gonna hope for them though. I want to believe that somehow something will change for them. Although I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to meet and work with these kids, this was perhaps the most bitter moment of the day. 

https://youtu.be/6E7O-ioU9_c

For people who know me well, they know that change is often difficult and scary for me. It takes me a while to adjust to a new routine. However, traveling to Guatemala over the holiday season - a BIG change - was made much easier thanks to my teammates and especially Doña Julia and her family. I don't think I've mentioned Doña Julia in my posts before, but she and her family welcomed us into her home and provided us with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and unending hospitality during our entire stay in Sibinal. Doña Julia's home felt like Home. Her warm embraces, her genuine care and concern, her good food, her funny jokes, and the love for her family and cats made the weight of the transition and our work load a little lighter. Thank you Doña Julia and her lovely family for your company. I look forward to seeing you all again.

 Yes, today was bitter sweet. For now, I want to relish the sweetness. See you later Sibinal. Thanks for reading.

Franco: Remember this plot of land from a few days ago where we hoped to build a home with a stove and small kitchen? 

Please welcome Don Victoriano, his wife, and their five children to their almost finished new home. It was unfortunate that we could not wait until the completion of the house due to time constraints. Below are pictures of an almost finished home for a family who desperately needed a place to live. Thank you donors for making this family's dream come true.

As we began to make our way back to the car. The lady wearing pink in the picture above named Gloria asked us if we could visit her home. Truth be told, I was completely exhausted both emotionally and physically from saying good-bye to the children and walking in the mountains. Amado, the volunteer from the Guatemalan team and I looked at one another. We could both tell neither of us wanted to go, After all, our work with the 26 families was done. This was our last home visit and we were ready to rest. I don't know why, but without even having to discuss it we asked her where her home was. Doña Gloria said her home was just over the next hill.

Here's the thing, I've been coming to Guatemala since Spring of 2014 and every time I come eventually I get caught off guard and fall for phrases such as, "it's only 10 minutes away" or "just a little longer" or "just over the next hill." Somewhere along every single trip I forget that what people are really saying is, "it's about an hour away" or "quit asking because a little while longer is really a hundred more kilometers" or "it's over that huge mountain that will take you about an hour to climb and at least two bottle of water."

Such was the case with Doña Gloria. "Over the next hill" ended up being over the next mountain. Finally, after a Cliff bar and a bottle of water we arrived to her house. Immediately, we knew we had made the right choice. Doña Gloria was in greater need than we imagined. Somehow I was re-energized and we began assessing her home. We found her husband working in the fields and asked him to share his story with us. Below are pictures of their home, kitchen, bedroom, bed, dog, and everything they owned in a small room.

As we wrote their names down on the list of potential candidates for a new home in December of 2017 I realized our humanitarian work was not ending. In fact, it was once again just beginning. I don't believe humanitarian work has an end. In my experience, poverty is a revolving door with no end in sight. If I have the capacity to help one human being at a time, am I really making a difference? The moment I believe I'm not is the moment I end my humanitarian campaign. Until then, I believe if there is life, there is hope. One human being helping another human being.