La Vida es difícil (Life is hard)

A man carrying his things in San Juan del Obispo

It's been a difficult year for alot of people. Many of my friends and family have either lost their jobs or are barely holding on in suffering industries. Some have moved to part-time work and others are working so many hours in order to hold down the fort with less people. On top of that, even if you have health insurance, some can't afford to go to the doctors. That's what I hear about in my country.

Life is difficult!

And it is. Yesterday, Paige and I went to visit a small town outside of Antigua called San Juan del Obispo. We traveled on the local bus (typical transportation called a chicken bus) which is a decorated old school bus where people sit three to a seat.

On the seat across the aisle from me was a woman who was holding onto a man while he had what looked like a slight siezure. When we arrived at our destination, one of the young men from the bus, along with Paige and I, helped her get him to his home. Someone needed to carry her things and at times we needed two people besides this woman, his sister, to literally drag him as he resisted leaving the bus.

He has epilepsy. I asked why she couldn't get medicine at the hospital. A recent med student who lived in our house had previously explained to me that medicine was available very cheaply in the hospitals as compared to the pharmacies. The young man who helped us explained that when you have a chronic condition that comes from birth, the hospitals don't support it. If I understood him right, the philosophy is that they keep giving and giving and you won't get better so they can't continue to give. Epilepsy medication falls into this category.

For three pills per day, at Q9.5 per pill (a little over a dollar) it costs more than $3 per day for him to get his medicine. She doesn't have the money. We gave her enough for two days, knowing that it wasn't enough, and wished her much success in finding what she needs for the remaining days.

Another bandaid - I am bothered by the bandaid and the boxes empty quickly. I like to support projects focused on developing the child and helping to secure a better future, thereby reducing the number of bandaids that we need. But wellness is a process and it takes time. I'm not sure that one can exist without the other in a humane way.

Meet Coco

Coco would normally be one of the 67% of Guatemalan children who don’t attend public school but he is lucky because he attends a school funded by a Dutch organization in his village, Alotenango.

Through his school and its partnership with Niños del Lago, Coco will be able to experience a time away from his poverty and his chores, in a beautiful place where he can exercise his imagination and receive unconditional support and loving kindness.

The Road To Guatemala

This is the first of many posts to stay in touch with friends and family who I will miss greatly while I work in Guatemala on a project that is very close to my heart. I thought it might help to start with a little background for those of you who are just learning of ninosdellago.

About four years ago, I traveled to Guatemala for a 3 week Spanish class and to search for a start-up project where I could make some level of difference. Guatemala was of particular interest to me – their poverty and illiteracy rate is one of the highest in Central America and they are still suffering from the 36 year civil war that ended ten years ago. Guatemala is our neighbor just south of Mexico, their needs are great, and their resources are limited.

I was referred to Niños del Lago, a project to develop a camp for Guatemala’s at risk children. I was especially drawn to this idea because it builds on existing programs and is being developed as part of a network of services as opposed to a stand alone project. Children's causes have always been my passion. We've all had experiences as a child where just one encounter with someone or something positive became a pivotal moment for us. Children need this and I am passionate about supporting organizations that exist to do this.

After hearing about the project, I sent an email to the Founder, Arlaine Cervantes and via a series of strange circumstances, discovered that I was on my way back to Guatemala through her home town, LaPaz, Mexico. I already had tickets in hand to LaPaz when I learned this -- A coincidence worthy of my attention.

While there, I worked with Arlaine to prepare the 501C3 application for non-profit status, which was quickly approved. I later served on the Board of Directors and worked on special projects including recording financial information, creating budgets and helping with an overall plan. Over the last four years, the land has been acquired and cleared, the camp entrance has been built and water tanks have been installed. Further, Niños del Lago has developed an organization in the Netherlands that has provided funds for further construction and they have developed a global partnership with Capgemini (they are raising $16,000 to install electricity - thank you Capgemini!!). With these latest financial commitments there is much work to be done. We need to continue to build the camp and begin to prepare the programs. Arlaine needs assistance.

For this reason, I am taking a career sabbattical in order to travel to Guatemala to help with this next phase of Niños del Lago’s development: building the administrative infrastructure and working with Arlaine to expand our presence in Guatemala, developing the networks of organizations that will refer the children to the camp and preparing the scholarship program.

I couldn't think of a better way to spend 2009 but I had to consider it carefully because funding to support this job does not currently exist. This was not a good enough reason to pass up this opportunity to be a part of something this important and so I am embarking on a campaign to raise those funds.

My immediate goal is to raise $16,000. In the U.S. there are more than 300 million people and I need only 650 who are willing to donate $25 to the project in order to reach my goal. If you would like to join me in supporting this wonderful project for the children of Guatemala, please click on the donate button and forward this to anyone who you think might also be interested in helping.

Research shows that a well organized camp experience with individual mentoring to the child and focus on building self concept does make a difference. I hope you’ll join me and support me and ninosdellago.