Archive for Volunteer
Follow Up to “Conversation with a Volunteer”
Posted by: | CommentsRead this:
A Cochrane church has begun a special relationship with a community in Guatemala.
A group of teens from the Cochrane Alliance Church returned from a 10-day trip to San Raymundo, Guatemala, on July 15, after helping build homes and lives for impoverished members of a partner church.
“Compared to our other trips and experiences with the students, this was by far the best one,” said Dave Yang, pastor of student ministries at the church.
So far, so good, right?
Then this:
With the help of the church and community, about $70,000 was raised to send the youth mission, and a second group of adults, who leave Aug. 6.
Naturally I’m relieved that the kids had a good trip, and apparently they built a house for a family, but I wondered, “How many children could you feed for $70,000?”
Using the Don Marco Index of Vital Economic Indicators, we discover that a child can eat one meal here for $1. That’s tortillas, rice, beans and an egg or two. Perhaps not my favorite meal, but enough to avoid starvation. At three meals a day, 365 days a year…well, you know where this is going…
You could feed four kids three meals a day from birth to age 18 on $70,000.
You could give 191 kids one meal a day-which might be the difference between starving and not-for a whole year on $70,000.
You could buy enough biosand water filters to provide 20,000 people fresh drinking water for the next 10 years on $70,000.
Or you could send a group of evangelical kids to Guatemala for 10 days. And you could do it twice a year for the next five years and be proud of it.
Welcome to GuateLiving.
Related: Conversation With a Volunteer
Conversation With a Volunteer in Guate
Posted by: | CommentsThe only people in Antigua who hate me more than the intellectually lazy liberals are the NGOs, whether they’re left or right, because I’m not a big fan of Range Rover driving, cappuccino drinking, blond hair blue-eyed evangelical-living in Santo Domingo saving Guatemalans from their wretched lives (or worse, Catholicism), at $7,500 a month rates.
I’m not making this stuff up-a typical night out for me (when the Wife isn’t supervising):
DM: Hi, nice to meet you, where are you from?
Girl: Oh, I’m like, from, you know, Atlanta…do you know where that is?
DM: Yeah, that’s like, you know, in Georgia, ain’t it?
GIrl: Oh, you know it?!
DM: Yeah, my teacher once told me about it…
Girl: Wow, that’s like, you know, so cool that I come to a place like this and meet someone who has heard of my home town..
DM: Yeah, so anyway, what are you doing here?
Girl: I’m here to save people, you know, for Christ and all, and also to help them with personal hygiene.
DM: Sounds neat, so do you baptize them and then teach them how to wipe or the other way around?
Girl: What?
DM: Never mind. How is the saving going?
Girl: Oh you know, it’s like, so incredible. I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile for the first time in my life.
DM: So you feel good, eh?
Girl: Oh yeah, my life has been like, you know, so, you know, unfulfilling to this point, but coming down here and helping these people, I mean, saving these people, it’s given meaning to my life.
DM: So your experience here has made you feel a lot better?
Girl: Oh yeah, like, totally man.
DM: What exactly do you do?
Girl: You know, I tell people about Christ, and we give them medicine and lessons on the importance of washing their hands and stuff, and then pray with them.
DM: And after you do this, how do you feel?
Girl: Oh, man, I feel like, blessed, you know?
DM: I can imagine. How do they feel?
Girl: How do they feel? I don’t know…I’m not sure what you mean?
DM: Well, I think I understand how you feel, but you’re here to help them, right, I mean, you know, it’s like, you know, about them, right?
Girl: Well, yeah, I mean, I guess….of course.
DM: But so far all I’ve heard is how you feel.
GIrl: Well, I feel good, I mean, because of how much I’m helping them.
DM: Right, but, you’re not here to feel good, you’re here to help other people right, and feeling good is at best an accident.
Girl: Accident?
DM: Oh, that’s like, you know, philosophy talk. It means an unintended, if predictable, consequence.
Girl: Oh. What were you saying?
DM: So you’re here to feel better.
Girl: No, I’m here to help people.
DM: So how much does it cost to fly here and stay with a host family and pay all your expenses for a month?
Girl: Oh, we don’t stay with them, we stay in a hotel.
DM: Which hotel?
Girl: We stay at the [obscured to protect the innocent]
DM: Do you have your own room?
Girl: Oh, absolutely.
DM: So that’s about $60 a night, or about $1800 for the month.
Girl: Honestly, you know, I didn’t pay, my Dad made a contribution to the church.
DM: And you’re from Atlanta, did you fly through DFW or Houston?
Girl: No, we flew through Miami.
DM: So, that was what about $900?
Girl: I don’t know, because…
DM: Right, your Dad paid. So did your Dad send you with some spending money?
Girl: Yeah, but not nearly enough. I mean, I have his Amex and all, but $50 a day is not nearly enough. I mean, sometimes when we are out at [obscured to protect the guilty] I don’t really have any expenses, but when I go out we spend a lot more than that.
DM: So between the plane tickets, the hotel and your walking around money it’s about $4,000 for the month.
Girl: Yeah, but, I’m like, not paying, it’s my Dad’s…I mean, he gave it to the church and they pay the expenses.
DM: Right, but you know that $4,000 would feed, like, you know, one kid for about 10 years.
Girl: Really?
DM: Yeah, the minimum wage here is about $1 an hour, an a lot of people pay less. A typical meal would be an egg, a few tortillas and some beans or rice, maybe a few Q total..why do you think those boys are in the park shining shoes for 3Q.
Girl: I don’t ever get my shoes shined.
DM: Yeah, but the tortillas, eggs and beans for 5Q, that’s like, you know, a decent meal here.
Girl: Oh, I can’t stand that stuff..
DM: Yeah, so figure 5Q on the high side, you’re here for a month spending 32,000Q…helping people.
Girl: Yeah, I mean, it’s so great, I’m like a new person, I’ll never forget it.
DM: So how much of that 32,000Q goes to help people?
Girl: I don’t understand.
DM: How much money are you giving to the local people, you know, like, that actually puts food in hungry mouths or plants crops or buys water filters so babies don’t die from diarrhea.
Girl: I don’t know, I’m not like, an expert or something. Diarrhea? That’s gross. I’m not here to give them money, we don’t do things like that. I’m here to help, you know, to actually work.
DM: But the unemployment rate here is about 30% according to the Don Marco Index of Key Economic Figures, are you competing with locals for low-skilled labor? You could send the money and pay them 8Q an hour to do what you’re doing.
Girl: What?
DM: Couldn’t you just send the money instead of coming down here?
Girl: That’s not what missions are about…it’s not about money.
DM: What is it they need here that we have in the US?
Girl: Uh, they need Christ.
DM: The Conquistadors brought Christ 400 years ago, and they still defecate on the lettuce.
Girl: That’s disgusting.
DM: So, why not just send the money instead of spending it on airplanes, hotels, restaurants and Mojitos here at [obscured].
Girl: Because it’s the experience, my life has changed, that’s what missions are about. Nobody that understands it is focused on the money.
DM: I’m sorry, forgive me. Would you like another drink?
Girl: Absolutely, I worked hard today…can I get another Mojito?
DM: As long as it’s for the children!
Volcanic Sand
Posted by: | CommentsMany of you have emailed asking me about the sand and ash that has fallen on the capital and whether we’ve seen any in Antigua. I haven’t seen even the slightest bit, but I thought I’d share this picture from PrensaLibre so you have an idea of what we’re talking about. The government has been sending out text messages asking people to quickly clean up so the sand doesn’t clog drains and worsen the flooding.
Imagine the beaches of Monterrico dumped on the city...and then it rains.
Mas Pollitos
Posted by: | CommentsThey have been a long time coming but our egg laying chickens arrived today! Futuro de los Niños built our gorgeous safety fenced chicken coop (El Coop), adding running water, electricity and all the food and water feeders and today the Mazariegos/Girón family, with donations from their friends, family and co-workers, brought our gorgeous new ladies who will be providing lots of eggs for our kids. Our 50 hens are ready to lay so we hope to have eggs over the weekend. The kids, as well as all of us adults, were so excited that the chickens are finally here. We have food to feed them for the next few months and the hens will be dining on leftovers from our garden as well. Truly these girls are living the life of luxury, floors made of….
continue reading at Semillas de Amor
Guate Vag-O-Thon
Posted by: | CommentsFrom Agape In Action:
Today started off less stressful-ly than I was prepared for, which was good and bad in a way– only 8 total patients came for consults with us, when we were expecting more like 15 or so from what we were told of how many were turned away yesterday! I’m worried that people didn’t bother returning, even though I tried very hard to explain to people in the waiting room in one long “speech” about how we would see everyone that showed up even if it was today or Tuesday… But we just have to continue to trust that God sent those that needed us and do our best to help those that come.
We scheduled three more surgeries today out of clinic, which we were able to mostly get done before we got started in the OR. Then Monica and Tom went up and did a prostate surgery (slightly outside the scope of most general OB/Gyns…) while I finished up clinic, which made starting our vaginal case much less stressful with no one waiting on us. The case– a vaginal hysterectomy with anterior repair, culdoplasty, and perineorrhapy for a complete prolapse for you gynecologic types– or what we often affectionately refer to as a “vag-a-thon” for the others!– went quite well overall but was very challenging. We will pray that she recovers well and doesn’t have her problems recur in the future– her name is Maria.
Our third case today was supposed to be the lady we blogged about yesterday with the ovarian mass and no complaints, but her labwork showed that her hemoglobin (measure of anemia) was at about half the level it should be (7.3) and we needed to get some blood donated for her before we could safely start! The husband’s blood type was not compatible with hers and they only have one son in the area whose blood type they don’t know, so it was looking a little iffy for a while. Then the family members of the first lady we operated on offered to “donate” theirs for her (for a fee, of course… I stayed out of those negotiations!) and we thought we were back in business.
continue reading at Agape In Action
It’s For the Children
Posted by: | CommentsLast month I got the opportunity to meet long-time reader, blogger and recent resident of Guatemala Kerry Smith. Kerry blogs at ¿Dónde están mis pantalones? and is working at La Limonada in the capital. Kerry is coming into this opportunity with her eyes wide open and has what I think is a healthy perspective.
La Limonada is a Christian organization that works to take children from the worst slums of the capital and provide them food, clothes, an education, in short, a better life. For you libs, this is real ‘hope and change’, the kind that actually makes a difference in the life of someone who is suffering. Yes, I know some of you won’t want to have anything to do with a Christian organization and believe both the kids and society would be better off had they just been aborted, but they’re here now and these people are doing good things, so….
I want to encourage you to make a tax-deductible donation to support Kerry’s work and the children at La Lemonada by going here. You can click on monthly donation, select the team member (Kerry Smith), and contribute by credit card or check.
God’s Wrath
Posted by: | CommentsKemmel and Lisa share a few stories from their mission work:
Sting-y Church Member Gets Taste of God’s Wrath
In Mactzul V during a church meeting to discuss the upcoming construction of their new church building, the members began pledge their personal funding committments to the work. As they went around the room, each family would anounce how much they planned to give over the next year. They came to one brother (quite wealthy in livestock) who said he felt like nobody should be compelled to give, and that he was not going to do it. The church elders said that was fine, and that it was a free-will offering outside of normal giving. A few days later, a call for help came from the man and his family after they and their livestock had been severely attacked by a colmena–a swarm of honey bees! Two of their bulls had been killed and the whole family was suffering from the stings. Several of the church leaders ran over to help them and took up a collection of Q500 to help pay for their medicine. They family was humbled and ashamed of their prior behavior and immediately asked for forgiveness and offered money to the building fund.Police (or rather, Posse) Blotter
A teenaged girl from the town of Chijtinnimit was kidnapped and left in one of the area garbage dumps one night, arousing fear in that town and surrounding communities. Shortly after midnight, townspeople gathered to decide what to do. The girl was found alive and after further questioning, it was discovered that she had been running around with a man–who was already married. It is hypothesized that the spurned wife ordered the kidnapping. Plans are being made to sort out the trouble between the two families.Plans for Teachers’ Protest Rally Strike Out
Friday morning was kicked off by an early-morning call from our physician Dr. Lux who was planning to travel to Clinica Ezell that day. There were reports of a teachers’ strike on the first day of school–all of the main crossroads in the country were to be blocked in an effort to get their concerns addressed by the government. Among the complaints are the job cuts for thousand of teachers despite growing school censuses and lack of teachers in many communities. As the morning progressed no signs of traffic blockade were seen. Rumors of late-morning initiation began to fly–citing first-day-of-school duties to attend to. The day’s activites went smoothly with no stops in traffic, or rioting. Local papers the following day showed photos of a few lonely maninfesters on the palace steps. Maybe they are afraid to loose their jobs too.
Where Do All the People and Money Come From?
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve gotten to know some people involved in managing NGOs here in Guatemala and without exception the ones who have been here five years or more and remain in business have confided to me that life is very different than what they imagined or what the newbies all think ‘works’. One of the things I’ve heard is how it’s the Churches and religious people who show up year after year to volunteer and send money month after month, reliably. Even the secular atheist types tell me this.
I was reminded of this by a recent post by Glenn and Neva, medical missionaries to Guatemala:
We finished a surgery trip which completed 53 cases. The focus for surgery was for ENT, Plastic and General Surgery. The majority of team members were from the south, Alabama,Georgia,Tennessee and other states. This was the first time for many of the members and once they were assigned, they were busy at making the whole body work to the glory of GOD.
I know you have heard this before but the cases seem more difficult because of the amount of time span people have lived with the illness affecting them. Regardless God used his people to repair/remove thyroids, cleft lips, cleft plates and hernias, lumps and bumps.
Good to see how those southern rednecks managed to overcome their KKK tendencies and help the little dark-skinned people.
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