GUATEMALA JUNE 2006-FEBRUARY 2007

28^th October, San Lucas, Guatemala 2006

Well my three ‘solitary' months here have now come to an end!

I have really had a good experience being ‘incharge’ and ‘responsible'. Not only have I been able to teach the children, I have also been able to develop my relationship with each of them. I have actually had a lot of fun just teaching them to go crazy and have fun and just run wild from time to time. I have also spent numerous hours redecorating the building, and making shelves and so on, so really all my new found skills learnt in Wales this past year and a half have really been useful here!

My work here consists of teaching the children to read and write (in spanish...its an interesting task never having had spoken spanish myself before coming here!!) and be able to understand basic maths and logic linked to it. It is work that requires a lot of patience and understanding of the culture really. They are not taught logic at all, with a puzzle, even the adults don’t even know that there is a picture that they can follow, and when they do, they don’t know what to do with it, that they should link the same colours together, they will just try and jam the pieces together even if that means that side pieces and corners are merged in the middle somewhere and the pieces are modified to fit! But I have been teaching them the alphabet, how to read and write the letters, and make words. It was quite frustrating for the first few weeks as the new children don’t remember anything from one minute to the next, but now with time of course, and constant repetition they are learning to think and they are proud when they are able to write their names and able to answer questions in class. I also prepare the activities of the Club Biblico, I help with the Zona Infantil as well, and help with the football training too!!

A few of the ones that always come are Jeramias andhis younger brothers Nelson and Juan, Sonia and her cousins Karina and Geovani, and then there are others that come too, but these ones have been here since the beginning, they come for all the clubs and events!

Jeramias’ writing at first was absolutely terrible! It was all over the place you couldn’t read it, the lines on the paper meant nothing to him, but now he knows the difference between capitals and small letters, he knows nearly all of the alphabet, he can write his name and the date without copying it and it’s just amazing really considering what he was like before. El Refugio has been open since February and he has been coming daily, he also comes to the clubs and he is involved in the football training too, and he is quite good at it!

There have been some incredible changes in their behaviors as well. At first they were incredibly timid and didn’t even know how to play. They would hide behind each other and just look at the floor, you wouldn’t hear them laugh or barely even talk! But now I see Sonia dancing and laughing like a mad woman, and Karina too, its really great and just seeing them mess around is so rewarding!

Over the next few weeks big changes are to be made, including the Learning Club being open everyday, all day. This means that the children that come will also be able to have a decent meal with us at lunchtime, a luxury that some of them just don’t have. Sundays there is to be a church as well. This means that El Refugio will also be there not only for educational purposes but also for spiritual purposes as well. This means that hopefully we will see more adults and be able to help them grow in God as well.

love Miriam