Hola blog viewers! Today was our first day out in Guatemala City doing what we came here to do: sharing God's word. We started off the day by meeting some of the Guatemalans who do work here at Groundwork Guatemala: Oscar, Odi, Ceasar, Sandra, and Ruth. We will be working with them the rest of the week, doing home visits, and teaching VBS. First, we visited a ministry called "Only a Child" which was started by a man named George from Boston. After reading a story about a Guatemalan street boy who had been tortured and killed by a gang, George felt the calling to go to Guatemala City and help. Today this ministry helps boys who want to get off the streets of Guatemala City and get out of gang activity. They provide these boys with the opportunity of going to school, as well as shelter and training in carpentry. This provides these young men with valuable job skills, as well as an activity to keep them ocupied and off the streets. We met a couple of the guys involved in this minsitry today. Daniel was one of the boys taken in by this ministry. He has been with "Only a Child" for many years and is currently in his seventh year of college, studying to become a lawyer. A couple others we met were also studying at a college level. One young man is about to graduate from high school and will be taking an internship position next month with a business in Guatemala City. It was an awesome experience to see a ministry that has been making such a huge difference in the lives of many young men in Guatemala City. It is moving and encouraging to see how these young men could turn their lives around after living on the streets and being involved in gangs, to attending a university and holding a steady career.
Our next stop for the day was the Guatemala City Cemetery which is on the top of a hill overlooking a huge, steep valley which is the city dump. Much of the cemetery looked like what we would call a mausoleum. There were rows of tall concrete structures with vaults to but bodies in. A family of a decesed person would rent a vault for their loved one, and a tombstone would be paved over the front of the vault. When the family could no longer afford to rent the vault, the cemetary would break open the vault and simply toss the remains over the cliff into the city dump. From the edge of the cliff, we could see the dump below, filled not only with garbage, but also with the hundreds of poor Guatemalans who live, and make their living in the dump. They crowd around a dump truck as it gets ready to unload, so that they can be among the first to pick through the trash, looking for anything that is recycleable, or may be of any value. These people (including children) are not employed by the dump, but are there because it is the only way they can make a living to provide for their families. As you can imagine, the conditions are very hazardous and unhealthy, especially given the fact that toilet paper cannot be flushed in Guatemala. Used toilet paper must be thrown in the trash, so much of what these people were sorting through was used toilet paper. Also, the dump trucks and bulldozers do not look out for people in the way, so the people in the dump have to look out and move out of the way if a truck is coming in their direction. The ground in the dump is very unstable, and we were told of one incident where the ground caved in and several people, and a dump truck were sucked into the ground and were never found. Also, with this being the rainy season, the cliffside is very unstable. A couple weeks ago, there was a mudslide into the dump that took part of the cemetary with it. From where were standing, we could see a couple tombs precariously perched on the edge of the cliff, ready to fall into the dump with the next heavy rainfall. From this spot, it was unbelieveable to look down and see these hundreds of people who looked like ants, scurrying around and collecting materials and carrying it on their backs through the dump, and imagine living in those conditions every day because it is the only way to provide for your family.
After our experience at the cemetary, we had to pick the fleas and other small bugs off each other before getting in the van. Oscar and Ruth drove us downtown so we could see the capitol building and the presidential palace. These buildings were enormous and elegant. It is so startling to see the difference between how the common citizen lives here, and how government officials live. Kevin told us today that most Guatemalans assume that any elected president will be corrupt. The government, and most companies in Guatemala are corrupt, including their national bank.
Be had a short break for lunch back at the house, where we got the opportunity to talk more with the Guatemalan team that works with the ministry. At 1:30 we split into two groups headed back out into the city to do house visits. My group first went to visit a family who lived at the bottom of the steep hillside beneath the bridge in town. The hill side is covered with small concrete structures with tin roofs, often one room where a family of 5 or more will live together. We parked the van at the top of the hill and walked down the steep pathway to the bottom where this family lived. The house was a small one room cinderblock structure, where all seven of the family lived. Although there was barely enough room Manuel, who is with Groundwork Guatemala, shared a few Bible passages with the family, and talked with the father, Marcos, about being a good father and provider for his family. He gave him advice to stay in Christ and keep Him as his foundation. We then prayed with the family before leaving. This first visit was a little uncomfortable for some of us, because we were nearvous about what would happen, or what we would say, as well as the issue of the language barrier. Even though we have several translators, it was still difficult to get past that issue at first. After we left the house, it was raining, and we had to run back up the side of the valley to get to the van.
During the second house visit, we all opened up a little more, and were much more comfortable. At the second house we visited with a twelve year old girl named Jasmine who was in the sixth grade. She was alone at the house because her parents were still both at work, and her granmother was not there. We all introduced ourselves to her, and she told us about school and what she was interested in. She likes math, and wants to work in Medical Forensics when she finishes school. She asked us what we were studying in school. After that she asked us to pray for her because she had a test in school coming up. She told us that she gets discouraged in school and asked us to share a Bible verse that heped us or gave us comfort when we were discouraged, and she asked us to give her advice about school. I shared Hebrews 12:1-2 with Jasmine. "Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great could of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perserverence the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes of Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." I told her that this verse encourages me to press on, even when I think I may fail, and gives me the confidence that Christ is my strength in all things. We all shared different verses with her and prayed with her. I really believe that God spoke to Jasmine through all of us today. I think that we were able to give her some encouragement to press on to achieve her goal, and to do it all for the Glory of God. It was an amazing experience, and really broke down some of the fears and barriers that some of us had.
Sometimes the best way to do something is just to jump right in. Today we jumped in, and we are ready to see what God has in store for us for the rest of the week. Tomorrow, we are traveling about an hour away from Guatemala City to teach VBS for the first time this week. We praticed our skits and songs tonight, and went over our materials, and we are ready to serve God's people. We thank everyone following our blog, including family and friends for your prayers. Please continue to keep us in your prayers this week, that we may touch the lives of the people here, and that our hearts may be opened to be touched by the people we serve here.
In Him
-Kyle Salesky
Monday 8/8/11
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