reflections on connecting peoples

We always appreciate hearing from past participants once they have returned home and have had a chance to reflect on their experiences here. It is often difficult to know how to connect what one experiences here with his or her life at home. However, through thoughts and memories like these, we are encouraged to think that these experiences are life changing and not something that can be easily forgotten.

"Fourteen U of S Education students, a teacher from Manitoba, and one professor travelled to Guatemala for two weeks on a study tour focused on service based learning. The group was a very dynamic assemblage of people of different ages, bringing many unique experiences and personalities, yet all with a common link to a passion for social and ecological justice. Over the course of two weeks, many laughs were shared and lessons learned about the lives and culture of the Mayan people, as well as some rudimentary Spanish picked up along the way (it is actually "buenas noches" not "nachos" and "disculpeme" not "escuchame"). We learned that chances are you will not, in fact, die when driving in a chicken bus in the mountains, regardless of rain, fog, cliffs, and muddy road conditions, and that at least seven others have gravol or pepto if you just ran out. But beyond the bus drivers strike against dangerous driving conditions, protests in the street, and 16km hikes through the mountains, the experience was rewarding and enlightening and we all agreed that this journey has forever changed us and empowered us to actively influence the students we will teach.

Three principles learned:
1. Language is only one aspect of communication
2. True generosity costs something
3. A small group of motivated people can help change a situation

Fourteen days were spent travelling, learning, discovering, and experiencing a new culture and way of life. The people of Guatemala have an open kindness and generosity that is hard to rival and the memories made and people met have made quite an impact. As sad as it is to see the physical part of this journey end, it is the influence and effects of this experience that will always remain with and influence me. Small changes by a small group of people help make a difference." - Ashlyn, University of Saskatchewan

"It was dark by the time we were taken by Sa’ul to his home. We were led to a door and let into a small clean room with three beds, a cement floor and a single bare lightbulb. It was obvious to myself and the two others staying with me that we were being given the families beds for the night.

I woke up first the next day and met Sa’ul and the rest of his family. His wife was well along in her pregnancy and they had four adorable children, all of whom were of preschool age. I then saw the only other room in their home for the first time. We had been unable to see it when we arrived because of darkness.

It was a small lean-to kitchen with open windows and a dirt floor. The only furniture in the room was a small table with four chairs and a large cement block wood stove in the middle of the room. The walls were blackened with soot and hundreds of corn cobs hung from the rafters to dry. A chicken sat in a wooden box off to the side, clearly at home on her nest.

I realized that this is where this young family had slept for the night, huddled together on the dirt floor around the fire to keep warm while we were given their beds. The community is high in the Guatemalan mountains and gets cool at night, so all of the blankets and pillows had been given to us to keep us warm and comfortable.

It was the most humbling experience of receiving generosity I have experienced in my life. We were then fed a feast of tortillas, tamales, potatoes, beans and eggs for breakfast, a meal three or four times the size of what the family would usually begin its day with. After, as we began to make preparations to leave their home we were thanked for coming to stay with them.

I have come away from these experiences acutely aware of the culture of discontent and concern for wealth that I live in, and am thankful for the example of Mary, who disregarded the sticker price and doused Jesus’s feet with expensive perfume. I am thankful too, for my brothers and sisters in Christ at Lo de Carranza who taught me, through their worship and friendship, how to be truly thankful for all God has given. Most of all I am thankful to Sa’ul and his family who taught me more about hospitality and generosity in one homestay than I would have thought possible." - Jim, Rosthern Junior College