The Village with the Good View

Hello friends! This is Melissa Dailey coming to you from the one and only Guatemala. Today was such an eventful day! We woke up at 5:45am (because we all love waking up that early) and we ventured our way towards Buena Vista.

Out of the four times I have been to Guatemala, today was my best experience in this place. Usually Buena Vista is HOT. And very humid! But this time it wasn't as hot as it had been in the past, which made the day a more enjoyable. After the two hour car ride, we drove down Main Street and we got to the Groundwork Guatemala Headquarters. We also made our way to the Executive Bathroom. We took a quick pit stop and we headed to a rural school.

I had visited this school many times before, though this time I was viewing it after I had student taught this past semester in an excellent school. It was interesting because at this rural school, the teachers were standing around talking while the students were running wild. Some students were in their desks, but many were playing and running down the road. The school had no textbooks or computers. In fact, many of the classrooms had tin roofs, holes with bars in the walls (windows), a small white board for the teacher to write out sentences for students to copy, and some decorations. A couple of the classrooms were closed because some teachers decided not to come to school today. The kids were still there, though, but they were just running around.

Coming from student teaching at a wonderful Christian school near Chicago, it was very eye opening to realize how little the students were actually learning. I planned lessons that allowed students to critically think. I used the SMARTboard to display the notes sheets I created on my laptop. I was able to distribute copies of these notes to my students using a copier. None of this is going on at this school. They don't have the resources to really help the students critically think and apply their skills to other situations, and that was really sad to see.

After we visited the school, I went with a group to an unknown place. We were trying to find a family and it took us 45 minutes. We finally got there and we were able to meet everyone in the family. They older couple had lost their son about a year ago, and because of it, they had to move away. They weren't able to attend the faith lessons anymore, and they needed encouragement on their faith. Every person in our group read a few verses from the Bible. We then prayed with them for a few minutes. The family was very grateful for us to be there. They even gave us Coke and crackers! We also each had a chance to make a tortilla and it was very fun. Some of our group members did very well, while others (like me) struggled. My tortilla looked like a triangle. I couldn't get it perfectly round like the Guatemalans do. Skyler and Maddie both dropped their dough on the ground! Regardless, we all had a great time.

When we got back, we taught the faith lesson with the kids. They really enjoyed singing and creating a sheep as their craft! All of us had fun serving the kids. They were so friendly and they wanted to play with us. We all enjoyed our time at Buena Vista.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say this week is going by way too fast. We only have two more days in Guatemala, and then we'll be home on Saturday! It's gone by so quick, but I am thankful for being able to come here with this wonderful group of ladies.

Until tomorrow, family and friends! And tomorrow will be exactly like today, only completely different.

-Melissa Dailey