Volunteering in Xela

This week so far has been pretty busy, as I’ve been looking for volunteer opportunities, studying and making friends. I find that after 5 hours of Spanish in the morning, from 8 –1pm, I don’t have a whole lot of energy to study more in the afternoon. As much as I want to review verb conjugations and study vocab, it’s hard to motivate. So, I spent a chunk of time earlier this week meeting with various organizations and trying to get a grasp on what work I might be able to do. (I also found a little yoga studio and might have found an apartment!)

I first met with the volunteer coordinator from Primersos Pasos (primerospasos.org). Primeros Pasos is a health clinic about 15 min outside of Xela, and is the clinic that I contacted prior to coming down here. They serve the schools and villages surrounding Xela and have a Healthy Schools program. The Healthy Schools program includes annual school visits to the clinic, so that the kids can have a doctor’s visit, as well as in 10 in-school health education sessions. These sessions include nutrition, dental, hygiene and sexual health education). I had spoken to them about being a Health Educator but I wanted to gain a better understanding of what exactly I would be doing, and what other opportunities might be out there, before I committed two months to them. While the program may not be exactly what I’m looking to do, the clinic sounds like a great place to gain exposure and learn about Guatemala’s major public health issues and other programs. Also, since I don’t know exactly what I want to do, it seems like a good start. The more I’m there and in the world, the more opportunities will present themselves, I’m sure. I’m looking forward to going to the Clinic next week for an orientation.

I also visited and met with some volunteers from a women’s shelter. The women’s shelter is pretty impressive. They have capacity for 60 families, but right now only have about 40. All the women have decided to leave their abusive relationships, and the shelter provides housing and food for them as long as they need it. This includes teenagers who have been court ordered to stay at the shelter. All the women share the duties of cooking, cleaning and doing laundry. The shelter also has legal, social work and psychological services. There is also a Laundromat where the women from the shelter work, and all proceeds go back to the shelter. It is fully Guatemalan run, except for the two English speaking volunteer coordinators. The volunteers run activities for the children who live there, such as arts and crafts, games, etc... It was interesting to visit the shelter and meet with the staff and other volunteers, and I might choose to spend a few hours a week there after I get into the grove at Primersos Pasos. There are various other opportunities, primarily playing with children. I’ve been told that through the doctors at Primersos Pasos, I might be able to find OBGYN or Midwives to follow or interview.

On the surface, and of little surprise, it seems that most structured volunteer opportunities are in organizations that were either founded or are currently run by foreigners, primarily Brits and Americans. The war that ended only 10 years ago (but was worse in the 70s and 80s) and the corruption that Guatemala has suffered the past 100, or more, years, has given the people of Guatemala little hope and ability to bring about change. I have been learning about the terrible political acts and governmental coups that the US supported and funded to protect their fruit export interests. It has amazed me and I’m embarrassed that living so close to Guatemala, I had no idea. I’m sure, or I hope, that I studied it in High School but not after that. The indigenous communities were practically killed off. They are discriminated against, illiterate and many do not speak Spanish. While there are efforts to work in these communities and provide services, it seems that the biggest struggle is in recognizing the indigenous languages and the rights of indigenous people. I will share more as I learn and gain a deeper understanding of Guatemalan culture and politics. My current Spanish teacher, Jaime, is a law student who plans to work for indigenous rights. He speaks fluent K’iche and has been teaching me about Guatemalan history, but also Mayan traditions and cultures.

On another note, things with my family are going well. They are very kind, we have interesting conversations and my Spanish is rapidly improving because of it. We still don’t have a door and the Senor is starting to get sick of staying at home. I asked him if it was coming this weekend and he responded saying “It’s Guatemalan time…”