May 13 - May 16

Wow, four days have passed since I last wrote on this blog and a lot has happened since then. The internet was down here at Semilla last night, so I was unable to make a post. Anyways, like I said, a lot has happened in the last four days.

On Tuesday, we learned about various religious expressions present in Guatemala. This included a presentation on Pentecostals and Neo-Pentecostals in Guatemala and a presentation on Liberation Theology and Base Communities.

On Wednesday, we learned about women in Guatemala. We visited two women’s organizations. One was a cafe. I finally had my first taste of a Guatemalan coffee beverage. I had a cappuccino with whipped cream on top. Although a little strong for my liking, it wasn’t too bad. After the cafe, we went to an Urban Women’s Co-op/10,000 Villages Partner, UPAVIM. I really enjoyed UPAVIM, as did everyone else. UPAVIM has five different departments. One of these departments was an education/day care department. We were able to spend time and eat lunch with the 3-4 year old class. The children were hilarious. Some of them were afraid of us and others clung to us.

It was funny to listen to 30 3 and 4 year old children yell ¨hola¨ over and over and over again! The children are just as ornery in Guatemala as they are in the US. The boy who ate across from me pulled off the petals from the rose that was on our table. The boy a couple of seats down from me picked out all of his vegetables from his rice and put them in the rice of the girl sitting across from him. I know that I was definitely entertained by these children! We ended our tour of UPAVIM by looking at their items that they make for 10,000 villages and looked at their bakery. Luck was definitely on our side as fresh breads were just pulled from the oven as we got down to the bakery. We all bought something. Most of us bought a sweet bread that was as big as my hand and loaded with sugar on top. It only cost Q0.65! That is only 65 cents in Guatemalan money!

On Thursday, we watched a video on migration that was produced by Goshen College, Earlham College, and Manchester College. It was about the migration of people from Mexico to Goshen, IN. Later in the day, we visited a Migrant Rights/Services organization here in Guatemala City.

Today, we listened to a presentation from an anthropologist on Mayan History and Civilization. This presentation prepared us for upcoming events. Later this afternoon, we visited the MCC Guatemala-El Salvador office here in Guatemala City. Here we were given a very interesting presentation the by the directors of MCC Guatemala. It is nice to know that the Mennonite Church is doing well in Guatemala.

We are all busy packing our clothes and so forth as we are headed out on a 9 day trip. My next blog post will probably not be until May 25 or 26, so if I don’t make a posting between now and then, no worries, we are all fine! :)