trip mail 8

Buenos Noches Mis Amigos,
Happy belated fourth of July to everyone. I hope yours was fun. I spent it with the five Americans staying in the hotel we were in.

Yesterday we were finally put to work like we wanted to be on this trip. In fact in one day we did as much work as we ever anticipated doing on the whole trip. Ill get to that story in a minute though.

Our first day at Casa Guatemala was Saturday, and we spent the whole day trying to speak to kids (in rusty spanish) and also watching after them, But mostly just playing and letting them use us as jungle gyms. Casa Guatemala is a orphanage for about two hundred kids that have either been abandoned by their parents or pulled out of their homes for their safety. Some kids still have families but the ones that were there on the weekend had no one else but the staff and kids of Casa Guatemala. One particular fourteen year old was taken form her home because her mother was going to sell her into a prostitution ring. Instead the staff at Casa Guatemala is trying to send her to the states to get an education (she happens to be one of the brightest kids in the Casa.)

It was chaotic to hang out with that many kids for that long (14 hours) they can go forever, and they really cling on quick, I already know its going to be difficult to leave. As far as the way that the orphanage is run I would describe it as total chaos. Most of the kids have no idea of team play ) but that is true of most kids their age) and with so many volunteers passing through it constantly there is no way to enforce strict discipline, but the are still very obedient (One kid will do more chores than a whole neighborhood of american kids do). The camp is kept clean by the kids as well as the laundry and various other chores. The rest of the camp is run solely by volunteers who decide that their summer would be best spent working with kids. Most of the volunteers seem to be constantly at the end of their ropes, which is understandable. They only get two nights off a week.

Highlights of today and yesterday included getting covered in chalk dust from a hundred kids playing with sidewalk chalk and tracing my hands feet and entire body. Also I got attacked multiple times in a game of basketball gone out of control. I also got worked in a game of barefoot soccer. All in all they were about the most active two days of my entire life.

As for the work I was talking about earlier, the day that we arrived happened to be the same day that the Casa was getting a shipment of 400,000 pounds of canned black beans. All of which were loaded in burlap sacks weighing each about eighty pounds. Then they were put on boats, about 10 large boatloads, unloaded and thrown (literally) into three separate rooms filling the rooms entirely. The total process took 7 hours and everyone in the whole camp helped out even the chiquitos (3-5 year olds). The incredible quantity of beans and the very unorganized way of transport ended up in about 60% of the cans becoming dented, which may become botulism bombs waiting to explode. I never slept as good as I did that night. We actually missed the boat the next morning we were so tired.

Probably the most inspiring thing is the constant determination of the camp and its volunteers despite the lack of money, terrible living conditions, mosquitos, and miserable humid heat. One such story was when the medical clinic with eight different doctors who were supposed to come and check up the kids and the poor people from the surrounding villages only, ended up consisting of only one optometrist.

So far this experience has been incredibly overwhelming and I have not had much time to think about it. Most my free time is spent gelling journaling and sleeping. Pray that we can do the best we can to bring love and the light of God into this secular orphanage we will be praying like wise

Love you all.
Matt