Working and Learning in Guatemala
Rebecca Strauss, Library Director
December 6, 2022
After a two year hiatus, Justice Education Trips at Cretin-Derham Hall are being offered once again. These immersive excursions challenge students to break out of their comfort zones, expand their perspectives, and most importantly learn and grow from cultures beyond their own experience. These trips are truly life changing, and at CDH, we hope that students who participate will reflect and continue to work for a more just world after their return to Minnesota.
This year, a few days before Thanksgiving, I was blessed to be a chaperone on the first journey back to Guatemala since 2019. In Guatemala, CDH partners with local organization The Friends of San Lucas, who continue the work of late Minnesotan priest Father Greg Schaffer and the San Lucas Mission in San Lucas Toliman.
In the early morning of November 20, along with my fellow staff members, Brock Beithon and Kenny Udoibok '16, and fourteen students, we boarded a plane at MSP to begin our day of travel to Guatemala. A blast of heat and noise greeted us as we emerged from the Guatemala City airport into a sea of activity. The drivers from the mission, Edgar and Adrian, were there and ready to shuttle us out of the city and into the highlands. Scenes of colorful chicken buses and shopping centers soon gave way to volcanoes, and sugar cane fields and roadside vendors. Then, after what seemed like a million speed bumps and small villages, our vans made their way through the narrow, crowded, cobbled streets of San Lucas and arrived at our hotel. Locals and visitors refer to it as the “Castle” hotel and it was beautiful. After entering, we were greeted immediately by the wonderful staff of the mission and whisked over to the main building where the first of many delicious meals was awaiting us.
The next day, our week of service learning would begin. For the next five days, our group did a lot of working and a lot of learning. On Monday, we briefly toured the mission programs including: the elementary school, the women’s center, the hospital, and the coffee business. That afternoon, we returned to Cafe Juan Ana to learn more about the coffee program and to sample different brews and styles of preparation. We were transfixed.
Tuesday through Friday mornings, our motley crew became three, complete with three Mission volunteers, Mary and Kadence and volunteer coordinator Hannah. We did a lot of difficult physical labor at different housing construction sites, hauling cinder blocks and bags of sand, sifting dirt and tying rebar. The construction crews were kind and patient with us and the families whose houses we were working on were gracious and warm. Our bodies were sore but our hearts were full. We were so impressed by the students who never complained or faltered.
In the afternoons, we heard from local Guatemalan experts on subjects like domestic violence and the work of Guatemalan women activists to address the historic and systemic discrimination against the indigenous Mayan people. On Thursday, we all were able to experience an evening of much needed quiet contemplation as we participated in Catholic Mass in Spanish.
One of the highlights for many of us were our visits to the Women’s Center. Tucked away off the path of a narrow bumpy road, the Women’s Center appeared like a sanctuary as we marched down a small hill. During our visits to the Women’s Center, we learned about the lives of the San Lucas women, their weaving and sewing, their gardens, and small livestock. We learned how to wash garments by hand and in community; we tried balancing tubs of wet clothing on our heads (some more successfully than others) and the traditional way of hauling heavy loads using a tumpline. Another day, we worked in the kitchen with women from the program, making pupusas and doblados, laughing with the women and playing games with their young children.
Before we left, we were able to take advantage of some free time and explore! We experienced boat travel on Lake Atitlan as our captain shuttled us between two other towns along the lake. We navigated cramped market streets and bartered for goods and gifts from local merchants. We caught rides in tuk tuks, watched some basketball in the main square, played pickup soccer with members of the mission staff and had coffee and dinner and lots (like, a ton) of ice cream at local establishments.
As busy as our days were, we also made time for nightly reflection and those are the moments that stick with me most.
Traveling to a foreign country with fourteen teenagers and making sure that they are safe and taking things seriously seemed like quite the task. This group however, impressed us all with their thoughtfulness, openness, work ethic and attitude. Mr. Beithon summed it up perfectly when he remarked that this group gives him hope.
While Guatemala is a developing nation, with infrastructure and amenities similar to the U.S in many places, it is also a country recovering from a traumatic, decades-long civil war and rampant discrimination against the indigenous and impoverished. In San Lucas Toliman, we witnessed extreme poverty and injustice, but we also experienced joy and warmth, generosity, and great beauty.
I am forever grateful for this experience and forever changed by it. I know that the students who participated will take the lessons they have learned from the people of Guatemala and do their part to make this world a better place.
\
