Hey there hi there ho there folks... hold on tight for an incredibly informative uninformative tale of our journey told by Liz Stott as Madi has begged me to catch you all up on our adventures up til now.
I arrived in Guatemala on February 9th and made my way to Rio Dulce where Madi was already volunteering the following day. I was so glad to see her since I had been travelling alone in Guatemala for the first time the day before. The very next day I joined Madi at the orphanage and got a big taste of what I´d be doing for the next month. Wow. I was so overwhelmed. The kids could be very sweet or a handful right from the start. My lack of Spanish was a real kicker too. Kids catch on quick and can easily take advantage of that disadvantage. I wondered how I was gonna do this with so little ability to communicate and really regretted coming with no knowledge of the language. (Madi´s Spanish is quite good if you didn´t know yet, she´s very modest about it though. I´d be screwed if I didn´t have her with me)
My first weekend was really tough with adjusting and missing home. Madi was quite concerned for awhile I think cause I was a real downer. When Monday came however, I decided it was time for an attitude change and that things would be better from now on. Madi and I prayed together that morning and I immediately felt some peace. From then on things were different and great! The changes that take place at that place with the kids and with yourself are awesome!
While Madi was working with Hilmer during the school days, I was assigned more odds and ends jobs. My first week I taught library classes with another volunteer who spoke almost no Spanish as well. That was almost a joke but great in the long run. Some kids gave me a really hard time at first but with standing my ground, the next day they were my best friend basically. Tough love I guess.
Casa Guatemala is a bit of a blur for Madi and I. It went by way too fast and was much too short a time to be with those awesome kids. I can´t speak for Madi but I know the changes I experienced were incredible and I give the credit to God. I started out wondering how I was going to last a month there and ended wishing I had more time. I started out with an attitude that these kids were crazy and were gonna tear me apart but ended loving them and missing them more than I could have imagined. They are truly awesome kids once you get to know them. The sad thing is that Madi and I were just starting to get to know some of the kids and only just meeting some when are time there was quickly coming to an end. You wonder how I could get to know kids with no Spanish do you? Well I did manage to pick up somewhat of vocabulary while I was there even if it´s only good with kids and you´d be surprised how far a smile and a game of basketball or jump rope can go. I definitely was constantly wishing I knew Spanish though so I could truly talk to these kids and be funny and show my personality but even without all that my experience there was amazing and I definitely acquired some favorites out of the kids. (Again, Madi is great with the kids and is basically just as funny in Spanish as she is in English. She could make those kids laugh, so jealous!) Madi and I also taught gym classes while we were there and did some tutoring with young kids and other odds and ends. Our last week there we just spent as much time as we could with the kids and soaked up every last bit of that place that we could.
Sorry guys this is taking longer than I thought... All in all we love those kids to death and were really sad to leave them and we miss them and that place. It was like leaving home again. As Madi said before the volunteers there are truly amazing and we have so much respect for them. They are basically full time parents to 30 kids at a time. Wow that´s more than most of us will ever do.
Since leaving Casa G, we have been on the move! We have almost seen all of Guatemala at this point plus Belize. The major sites anyway... From Rio Dulce we literally skipped(yippee) over to Caye Caulker, Belize and spent a few days relaxing and soaking up A LOT of sun. We also did some snorkeling which was AMAZING. It´s so beautiful there.
Missing Guatemala, we headed back to Flores which is a beautiful little island town right near Tikal, which was next on our to do list. Waking up at 4 am we headed off on a tour to spend the morning with the Mayan ruins of Tikal. (For more intelligent and informative info you´re probably better asking Madi) All I know is that it was incredible! So beautiful! The place is massive with huge temples and ruins that you can climb. The park spans over many kilometres and there is so much to see. Our guide also informed us that when built, there were no trees between these ruins which are now overgrown! We were surrounded by jungle! 85 percent of the ruins are still overgrown as well, covered by dirt and trees. It was breathtaking in the morning surround my mist. The view from the highest temple was also amazing. I highly recommend a trip to Guatemala guys. It is a gorgeous gorgeous country.
From there we bused down to Lanquin which is located near Semuc Champey, which I believe is a national park with breathtaking pools of water. I know that doesn´t sound like much but the place is unbelievable. So beautiful. We took a tour which included jumping off of various high and scary things, a cave tour, and the pools. The cave tour is like nothing we´d ever done before. Our group was large so the one hour tour took two and was a quite an experience. Everyone was given a candle and you all enter the pitch black cave following your guide with nothing but your timy candle. At times you walk, wade, even swim(still holding your candle!) deeper and deeper into the cave. It´s quite beautiful all lit by candle. As the tour went on you climb, jump, slip and slide your way through. The water was cold and with only stubs of candle left we were all quite glad to see the light of day again. So cool. (no pun intended)
Now we are in Antigua, which is a very beautiful little city. We´ve been to the market and were overwhelmed with beautiful Guatemalan fabrics and jewelry. Next we plan on going to Lake Atitlan and fly out to Peru on March 26.
I have fallen in love with Guatemala and will be very sad to go but we are both very excited to see what awaits us in Peru.
Please keep praying for Madi and her incredible journey here, if you feel guilty, I guess you can include me too. We are truly blessed and are having an awesome time! Thanks for putting up with me, I´ll make sure to get Madi back on this thing for next time!
Liz Stott
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
February 12 - Gilmer and Casa Guatemala
(This is a blog post that I wrote out a month ago but haven´t had a real computer to type it out on. Here it is. Please forgive the poor grammar and crazy changes in tenses, these are because of the spanish keyboard and the difficulty of retyping a recap of a recap)
A lot has gone down since the last time I posted. The main thing was that Kayla and I started taking care of a little boy named Gilmer. A few weeks ago, the church group from the city I was talking about came down to Zacapa so we could all go up to the mountains to visit the Beene´base there. So we went up and did some home visits. At one of the homes we went to we saw a little boy with one eye who was clearly starving; he had swollen feet, hands, and stomach. Kayla then explained his story to the group:
When Gilmer was a baby, he got badly malnourished which often happens in the mountains when a woman has two babies right after one another. The Beenes came across him in the mountains (with his family) when he as around 2(?) and his eye was being pushed out of his head from malnutrition and parasites. He needed surgery and was in excruciating pain - he wouldn´t look at anyone of talk, jus tsit with clenched fists because every blink was a nightmare on that bad eye. So (obviously with the permission of his parents) they took him in to get him healthy again as he couldnt get operated on until he was a bit more nurished. So he got nice and plump, and he got surgery to remove the bad eye and got a glass one put in, and went back to his family. However for unknown reasons throughout the years the malnutrition kept popping up again and the Beenes would periodically take him in for a couple months to help him get well again (please note- he has very loving, caring, hard-working and good-hearted parents and I really don`t think any mal-intent on their part is the cause of his health issues).
So back to being at his house with the church group on the home visit. If you haven´t seen pictures, he looks like a 3 year old but is actually 9. I wasn´t sure he could talk, because as Kayla held him he just swayedd his head and made cooing noises. But afer a little prompting from his papa he sang 4 songs in a row for everyone there. He has the most amazing singing voice. So anyway, Kayla asked his parents about his health and they asked if she could take him for a couple months to make him better. We went back down the mountain to get some basic paperwork and returned a few days later to pick up Gilmer. He was really happy and excited, even though the ride down the mountain was filled with narrowly-missed cliff-tumblings on the washed out road (here´s my official props to Kayla Beene, best driver in the whole wide world).
So now we had Gilmer! Me and Kayla spent a week taking care of him at the Zacapa dorms. This including finding adorable clothing, snuggling, de-licing, feeding, force-feeding (there are starving kids who are picky eaters, who knew), stool-sample taking (Kayla volunteered me for this job, I assume as an opportunity for me to repay her for getting me down the mountain alive), and lots of singing! I definitely fell in love. However, a week after we picked up Johnny the Beenes were off to the States for the month of February and I was going to be off to Casa Guatemala, an orphanage and school in Rio Dulce. So the plan was to drop Gilmer off at a nutrition center, which we were actually planning to do within the first couple days but somehow never got around to it (may or may not have had to do with levels of adorableness). So then, Rocky got a brilliant idea when she remembered that she and Michael had brought kids to Casa Guatemala years ago. Why not bring Gilmer to Casa G and I could be there with him? So we took Gilmer with us as we went to the base in Rio Dulce, and he helped us tile and ride on the jetskis (I´ve never seen a smile that big before).
And then, just like that, it was time to leave the Beenes. They brought me to Hotel Backpackers (the hostel affiliated with the orphanage, about a 20 minute boatride downriver from Casa Guatemala. This is where I would be staying while I volunteered and I would boat back and forth each day) and after prayers, hugs, and many many thanks I left my Floridian-Guatemalan family with Gilmer in my arms.
Gilmer was NOT happy to leave Kayla, but with some icecream bribery he was eventually persuaded to get in the boat with me at the hostel so we could head to the orphanage. When we got to the orphanage, he was swept up by the friendly nurses and I was assured he was in good hands as I headed back to the hostel.
The next day I headed back to the orphanage. That place is so cool. It´s in the jungle, there are always monkeys passing through. It´s an orphanage and a school, so on a school day there are about 250 kids there, as some come from surrounding villages. Of those 250 about 120 live at Casa Cuatemala, and of them only about 40 are true orphans and the rest board there for school. There are a bunch of volunteers who live there too and care for the kids (mut be over 24 and there at least 3 months). These volunteers are amazing, they work so so hard with so much patience and love, it´s very inspiring.
The first day I went and found Gilmer and spent the day with him. It was then decided that it would be best for him to start going to school. He´s 9 and has never been, so they put him in Kinder (pre-school). The first 8 days there I kind of worked as his EA almost, helping him learn to colour and make shapes in class, helping him play with other kids, etc. Gilmer doesn´t have a lot fo social skills, so these first few days were a huge adjustment and struggle for him. He has a full vocabulary but refuses to talk, even when he really needs something, just out of stubborness. So it had been a challenge to not baby him and try to integrate him, show him that he has to talk to people. He´s grown so much just in the short time he´s been there, he started talking to some of the other kids (all of which are very fascinated by him and extremely friendly towards him).
And then, Liz showed up!! I was sooo happy to see her. After my first few days volunteering she joined me at the orphanage and she was so amazing and inspiring with the kids within her first 3 minutes there.
The last few days I haven´t been spending all day with Gilmer though, so that he will learn to be like the other kids and not be as dependent (his parents wanted him to continue going to school there after I leave). This has been hard for him, he stubbornly refused to go to some classes and cried a lot. So the last few days I´ve been teaching library class with Liz. And as I´ve not only been with Gilmer I´ve gotten to know more of the other kids, who are all so amazing. I love them all. And some have had the hardest go in life but are just so joyful. I feel so lucky to be here and know them.
Right now I´m at a hospital 3 hour away with Gilmer, as I assume he´s getting some test done but I´m not really sure. I was sent on a bus and told to come stay with him at the hospital for a few days. The poor guy was wailing in his crib when I got here, he was terrified. What a sweet blessing to hold his hand and be able to alleviate some fear or sadness. I can´t believe I get to be a part of these amazing organizations and amazing people´s lives. It´s so incredible to witness the different people and organizations making such an impact, and just get inspired by what I see.
(end of February 12 Blog post)
(Beginning of present day factual insertations and update)
What happened with Gilmer was that on one of the days I wasn´t spending a lot of time with him the orphanage decided to have him taken to the hospital to get treated for some nasty lung problems and also general checkups for malnutrition etc. I didn´t know any of this but they had asked me if I could go and stay with him there so he wouldn´t be alone and would have someone he knew. I stayed there with him 3 days and then a teacher from the school came to relieve me so I could go back to the hostel for a break. Then I found out that his parents had come to the hospital to pick him up and bring him home. It was really sad to just abruptly learn I´d probably never see him again and not be able to say goodbye. But also really good, because that situation was perfect for Gilmer to see how much his family loved him that they would come to pick him up. So now he´s back home, and right now the plan and hope is for my family to sponsor him, so his family can always have enough food and medical attention to make sure he doesn´t get sick, as well as to hire a tutor so he can continue to go to school!
I´ll be amazed if this is understandable to anyone! Thanks for reading my illogical ramblings.
A lot has gone down since the last time I posted. The main thing was that Kayla and I started taking care of a little boy named Gilmer. A few weeks ago, the church group from the city I was talking about came down to Zacapa so we could all go up to the mountains to visit the Beene´base there. So we went up and did some home visits. At one of the homes we went to we saw a little boy with one eye who was clearly starving; he had swollen feet, hands, and stomach. Kayla then explained his story to the group:
When Gilmer was a baby, he got badly malnourished which often happens in the mountains when a woman has two babies right after one another. The Beenes came across him in the mountains (with his family) when he as around 2(?) and his eye was being pushed out of his head from malnutrition and parasites. He needed surgery and was in excruciating pain - he wouldn´t look at anyone of talk, jus tsit with clenched fists because every blink was a nightmare on that bad eye. So (obviously with the permission of his parents) they took him in to get him healthy again as he couldnt get operated on until he was a bit more nurished. So he got nice and plump, and he got surgery to remove the bad eye and got a glass one put in, and went back to his family. However for unknown reasons throughout the years the malnutrition kept popping up again and the Beenes would periodically take him in for a couple months to help him get well again (please note- he has very loving, caring, hard-working and good-hearted parents and I really don`t think any mal-intent on their part is the cause of his health issues).
So back to being at his house with the church group on the home visit. If you haven´t seen pictures, he looks like a 3 year old but is actually 9. I wasn´t sure he could talk, because as Kayla held him he just swayedd his head and made cooing noises. But afer a little prompting from his papa he sang 4 songs in a row for everyone there. He has the most amazing singing voice. So anyway, Kayla asked his parents about his health and they asked if she could take him for a couple months to make him better. We went back down the mountain to get some basic paperwork and returned a few days later to pick up Gilmer. He was really happy and excited, even though the ride down the mountain was filled with narrowly-missed cliff-tumblings on the washed out road (here´s my official props to Kayla Beene, best driver in the whole wide world).
So now we had Gilmer! Me and Kayla spent a week taking care of him at the Zacapa dorms. This including finding adorable clothing, snuggling, de-licing, feeding, force-feeding (there are starving kids who are picky eaters, who knew), stool-sample taking (Kayla volunteered me for this job, I assume as an opportunity for me to repay her for getting me down the mountain alive), and lots of singing! I definitely fell in love. However, a week after we picked up Johnny the Beenes were off to the States for the month of February and I was going to be off to Casa Guatemala, an orphanage and school in Rio Dulce. So the plan was to drop Gilmer off at a nutrition center, which we were actually planning to do within the first couple days but somehow never got around to it (may or may not have had to do with levels of adorableness). So then, Rocky got a brilliant idea when she remembered that she and Michael had brought kids to Casa Guatemala years ago. Why not bring Gilmer to Casa G and I could be there with him? So we took Gilmer with us as we went to the base in Rio Dulce, and he helped us tile and ride on the jetskis (I´ve never seen a smile that big before).
And then, just like that, it was time to leave the Beenes. They brought me to Hotel Backpackers (the hostel affiliated with the orphanage, about a 20 minute boatride downriver from Casa Guatemala. This is where I would be staying while I volunteered and I would boat back and forth each day) and after prayers, hugs, and many many thanks I left my Floridian-Guatemalan family with Gilmer in my arms.
Gilmer was NOT happy to leave Kayla, but with some icecream bribery he was eventually persuaded to get in the boat with me at the hostel so we could head to the orphanage. When we got to the orphanage, he was swept up by the friendly nurses and I was assured he was in good hands as I headed back to the hostel.
The next day I headed back to the orphanage. That place is so cool. It´s in the jungle, there are always monkeys passing through. It´s an orphanage and a school, so on a school day there are about 250 kids there, as some come from surrounding villages. Of those 250 about 120 live at Casa Cuatemala, and of them only about 40 are true orphans and the rest board there for school. There are a bunch of volunteers who live there too and care for the kids (mut be over 24 and there at least 3 months). These volunteers are amazing, they work so so hard with so much patience and love, it´s very inspiring.
The first day I went and found Gilmer and spent the day with him. It was then decided that it would be best for him to start going to school. He´s 9 and has never been, so they put him in Kinder (pre-school). The first 8 days there I kind of worked as his EA almost, helping him learn to colour and make shapes in class, helping him play with other kids, etc. Gilmer doesn´t have a lot fo social skills, so these first few days were a huge adjustment and struggle for him. He has a full vocabulary but refuses to talk, even when he really needs something, just out of stubborness. So it had been a challenge to not baby him and try to integrate him, show him that he has to talk to people. He´s grown so much just in the short time he´s been there, he started talking to some of the other kids (all of which are very fascinated by him and extremely friendly towards him).
And then, Liz showed up!! I was sooo happy to see her. After my first few days volunteering she joined me at the orphanage and she was so amazing and inspiring with the kids within her first 3 minutes there.
The last few days I haven´t been spending all day with Gilmer though, so that he will learn to be like the other kids and not be as dependent (his parents wanted him to continue going to school there after I leave). This has been hard for him, he stubbornly refused to go to some classes and cried a lot. So the last few days I´ve been teaching library class with Liz. And as I´ve not only been with Gilmer I´ve gotten to know more of the other kids, who are all so amazing. I love them all. And some have had the hardest go in life but are just so joyful. I feel so lucky to be here and know them.
Right now I´m at a hospital 3 hour away with Gilmer, as I assume he´s getting some test done but I´m not really sure. I was sent on a bus and told to come stay with him at the hospital for a few days. The poor guy was wailing in his crib when I got here, he was terrified. What a sweet blessing to hold his hand and be able to alleviate some fear or sadness. I can´t believe I get to be a part of these amazing organizations and amazing people´s lives. It´s so incredible to witness the different people and organizations making such an impact, and just get inspired by what I see.
(end of February 12 Blog post)
(Beginning of present day factual insertations and update)
What happened with Gilmer was that on one of the days I wasn´t spending a lot of time with him the orphanage decided to have him taken to the hospital to get treated for some nasty lung problems and also general checkups for malnutrition etc. I didn´t know any of this but they had asked me if I could go and stay with him there so he wouldn´t be alone and would have someone he knew. I stayed there with him 3 days and then a teacher from the school came to relieve me so I could go back to the hostel for a break. Then I found out that his parents had come to the hospital to pick him up and bring him home. It was really sad to just abruptly learn I´d probably never see him again and not be able to say goodbye. But also really good, because that situation was perfect for Gilmer to see how much his family loved him that they would come to pick him up. So now he´s back home, and right now the plan and hope is for my family to sponsor him, so his family can always have enough food and medical attention to make sure he doesn´t get sick, as well as to hire a tutor so he can continue to go to school!
I´ll be amazed if this is understandable to anyone! Thanks for reading my illogical ramblings.
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