El Nahual

Good News!  Josiah and I are feeling back to normal (well, not that we are NORMAL by any means, but we are feeling more like ourselves once again).   J

On Sunday afternoon we set out to head to a woman’s house named Patricia.  Our bags were weighing us down by the end of our 20 minute hike through the traffic filled streets to her house.  Upon arrival we were greeted by many enthusiastic Guatemalans of all ages.  They were all eating lunch after a night of fiesta at the wedding of Patricia’s sister.  They were quick to offer us a snack and show us to our room.  We did a lot of resting that evening as we were still not feeling well.

The following day, Monday, we officially started our studies/volunteering at the organization El Nahual in Xela, Guatemala.  This organization is who set us up with our homestay.  I found this organization on idealist.org a few months ago and I wanted to visit because I found aspects of it very interesting.  I’m so excited to finally be here observing everything first hand.  El Nahual is technically an after school program for children, but in reality, for some of them it’s the only education they receive.  It is also a Spanish language school for foreigners in the mornings.  All of the proceeds from the money that the students pay for class goes to fund the school and the community programs they have going.  The students from the community come and learn math, art, English, Spanish, etc.  Volunteers teach the classes and interact with the students.  Each volunteer brings new talents, passions, and ideas for the classes. 

As many of you know, the summer after I graduated from Anderson I went to Germany to live with my brother for the summer.  I did a lot of reflection on what direction I wanted my life to be heading.  Laying by the canal in the sun one calm Berlin day, listening to my brother Nathan sing melodiously (of course) I had a vision.  The vision consisted of a community center in Latin America.  It kept coming rapidly to me as I thought about all my friends and different talents they had, at how a group of people can do amazing things when they come together.  How exactly it would be run, and specific aspects of the center were all very vague.  That is why I’m here, right now, in Central America.  I wanted to seek advice, inspiration, and guidance from existing Non-Profits in this region.  El Nahual was the perfect place to start our journey.

Josiah is currently taking a class at the school.  He has 4 hours of one on one teaching daily.  He is really excited and thinks he will gain a lot.  I’m sure he will expand on his personal experiences at the school soon.  In the afternoons we all come back to the school from 3-5 to have school with the children.  Yesterday I did publicity in the community during this time.  How insightful.  I knew the education system in Guatemala was bad, but to hear story after story from women about how the schools turn away their children in painful.  El Nahual really is doing great things.  This week during some of the classes we are focusing on health, one of the volunteers is a nurse from New Zealand and she is focusing her time on teaching these children proper hygience.  I will let Josiah expand on this as he was in class yesterday with the kids while I was doing publicity.  To put it simply, we believe it was the first time some of them had brushed their teeth.  To fill my time in the mornings I will be working in the organic community garden.  El Nahual works with women in the community to run the garden, and the women can use the produce for their own cooking or to sell in the market for some income.  I will also be updating the schools Facebook page so look us up and add us as your friend!

I feel like I’ve made this too long already so even though I could say so much more, I will cut myself off.  Oh one more thing, the students are studying art today…so Josiah and I as part of the class are going to teach them merengue.  I can’t wait. 

We are having a great time…Hasta Pronto!