Trip to Guatemala gives teen a

new appreciation of home

by Katurah Fowler
I recently traveled to Guatemala with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. It defines itself as “a partnership of Canadian churches and church-based agencies working to end hunger in developing countries by increasing and deepening the involvement of Canadians in efforts to end hunger.” My parents and my church community (Parish of Upham) were of great spiritual support to me as I traveled throughout Guatemala for 15 days looking into food security. I'm the one on the left of the group photo.

What an eye opener that trip was! We spent four nights out on home stays and the other 11 in hotels. Our first few days were spent in Guatemala City were we stayed at MCC (Maryland Community Church). Our hosts and guides wished to prepare us for the places we would be going and the people we would be meeting and to give us our itinerary.

While in Guatemala City we were given a tour of the local cemetery, which was huge and consisted mostly of what appeared to be large stone houses in which the dead were buried. These were for the wealthy, the people who could afford them. Others were buried in long walls constructed for coffins to be placed in and then a headstone was used as a cap in the front. After this morbid tour we drove to the outskirts of the city to visit the dump and my heart just broke at what I saw — children, men, women, young and old alike digging through the garbage looking for something, anything, they could sell to make some money or use as building materials for the little shacks they lived in. And the smell! Oh my gosh the smell was terrible and made me sick to my stomach. No one here in New Brunswick has the right to complain about the smell of our dumps, they are nothing compared to what I saw and smelled there.

We also visited the market in the city. You know, I have visited markets in Europe, Canada and the USA and they all have the same common threads. They all consist of local clothing, local crafts, and food, lots and lots of food. Here I saw beans, rice, eggs, and bags and sacks of things that I was not sure what they were, although I believe they were dried plants and herbs grown locally.

In the city the number of power lines and the number of women nursing their children also struck me. They were everywhere I looked.

We spent four nights out at home-stays in two very different houses. The first one had two rooms — the kitchen and the bedroom — and there was no glass in any of the windows, they just had shutters. The bedroom had three beds made of wooden slats attached to a headboard and footboard and covered in blankets. My new friends and I discovered very quickly to check our beds at night before we crawled into them, looking for anything we might not want to sleep with, like bugs or other strange little creatures.

The kitchen had a stove and some seats. The main diet for the locals seems to be whipped beans and eggs, two things I dislike a lot, but at that first home we were treated to chicken, rice, and beans. Chicken is a treat there and I do love chicken so I really appreciated the extra effort put out by our hosts. What amazed me about this home-stay was the number of people who lived in these two little rooms — the husband, wife, grandmother, grandfather, husband’s sister and three boys. I thought my house here at home wasn't very big, but I will never complain again. Even in that small house and crowded house the people were friendly and graciousness and they loved and cared for each other.

The second house we stayed in was several buildings instead of just one dwelling, and we stayed there for three nights. Here there was glass in the windows. One of the evenings we went to the local school and enjoyed a variety show put on by the people in the village and it was great fun. We all laughed at the skits. We did not understand most of what was said but the body language said it all, and it was very entertaining. After the show the nine to 14-year-old village girls challenged us to a basket ball game. None of them stood any taller than my shoulder but they whipped us badly while about 100 people watched! It was still fun, though.

The scenery in Guatemala is breathtaking, the forests are lush and green and beautiful and the mountains are regal. We did some hiking in the mountains and it took us four hours to climb one of them.

The roads are terrible. We had a driver the whole time we were there and we traveled, for the most part, in a pickup truck although sometimes we had a van. The narrow roads are full of potholes and there are speed bumps about every 10 feet. Then there are the 180º turns going up and down the mountains that are never taken any slower than 50-kilometres-an-hour! It was a case of hang-onto-your hat, but I’m afraid my cookies were a lost cause. I am prone to carsickness. Not good. I was carsick almost everywhere we went, but after the first three or four times I was sick, I just didn't care about my upset stomach anymore. I just concentrated on seeing all the amazing things I wanted to see and the every minute of the experience was worth it.

About 330 kilometres north west of Guatemala City there is a gold mine owned by a Canadian company. You know, most of the time I am proud to be a Canadian, but at this place I had to hang my head in shame. Five villages were destroyed to set up this mine — we’re not talking about knocking down a couple of houses or back filling a duck pond, which is bad enough — we’re talking about whole villages, and now the environment and water supply are polluted. The local people are dying and no one is doing anything to stop it. No wonder the people around there hate and mistrusted us as strangers, as Canadians. People whose ancestors lived here for hundreds, if not thousands of years, are dying slow and painful deaths, and for what? To line the pockets of a few suits here in my own country? For shame.

This trip was the experience of a lifetime for me and I learned a lot. The most important thing it taught me though was to be grateful for all we have here in Canada. I will never take for granted what we have in this country ever again.

13 September 2011
Diocesan Communications