One thing that stood out during my time in the community was how resilient they were and how happy they could be even with so little. Don Gerardo, the generous man who donated the land for the well to be built told us that the city was charging them money for the electricity needed to run the streetlights; however, the village had no streetlights or any electricity for that matter. Understandably, this makes the community feel that the municipal and regional governments are forgetting about them. Despite this, Don Gerardo was hopeful that the well would be the start of a new change for the better in terms of municipal support for the community. Gerardo’s optimism is inspiring, and I hope that the community will soon have all of the basic hygiene services it needs. Maybe one day they will even get the electricity that they have been paying for. 

 

One of my favorite things that we did was giving hygiene lessons to children at a member of the community’s house the day the bridge was washed out. We did a skit in which we acted out the importance of drinking clean water. Humberto was a great actor and he made all of the kids laugh. Making the learning fun is very important because it ensures that the kids will pay attention and remember what we have taught them. Throughout the lessons, all of the kids were super happy and excited despite the admittedly not the most entertaining topic of the lessons. This has caused me to reflect on my own life. I think that sometimes all of our modern technology brings people further apart, leading them to be less happy. The kids were just excited to be there and to see their friends and play when the lesson was over. The kids also made a big effort to include me and the other Change Makers in their games even though it was difficult to communicate with them. Playing games is something that spans every culture and language, so I am happy that we were able to use games as a means to get to know the community better. 

Emotionally, the most challenging part of the trip was going from the community, a place with very limited resources and opportunities to the fancy shopping malls in Antigua and Guatemala City. The malls were only 30 km away, but it was like stepping into another world, nicer than almost any mall I had ever been to. The poverty of Guatemala is especially sad because of the extreme gap between the ultra-wealthy westernized elite and the poor, rural population.