Pia y Gladis

I wanted to do some volunteer work and I was interested in Central America.  I didn't know anyone in Finland who had been to been to Guatemala so I googled 'volunteer work guatemala' in fall 2003.  I had just read Che Guevera's biography and was fascinated by the recent history and was interested to see more of Guatemala.  I liked the way that Guatemala sounded - the book really opened my eyes - I liked the way that things  were described about the country and its environment.  I found the website, and emailed some questions to say that I was interested in coming and would like to help out the kids.  Angie replied to me, and a few months later (Jan 2004) I flew out to Guatemala and traveled to the orphanage in Rio Dulce. 

When I arrived I noticed that the children were happy and animated, asking me questions literally as I was getting off the boat!  The first two weeks were really hard though.  I had studied Spanish for the last two years twice a week, so I knew the grammar, but I didn't know how to say certain things like "give that back to him", or "stop hitting your friend"!  I spent a lot of time with some of the other volunteers practicing Spanish in the evenings, and I very quickly improved my language skills.  When you work with the kids you have no choice!  After two months I got the point where I had no problems communicating, and my Spanish has continued to improve since then. 

I originally intended to stay for four months.  After the first couple weeks I wasn't sure that I wanted to stay - I was really exhausted.  Starting a new job in a foreign country is tough.  The language, knowing what to do with the kids, the living conditions.  The living conditions here are very basic - sometimes there is no water (even when there is supposed to be), when I was an Orientador (care giver) for the varones pequeños (the small boys - ages between 5 and 10) I had to get up at 5am each day - so I had to get used to getting straight out of bed and starting work straight away - no hot showers or morning coffee!  When you work as an Orientador you are with the kids when they are not in school.  You wake them up, you go to breakfast with them, see that they shower, and do their chores, give them medicine when they need it and send them off to school.  At lunch you go and hang around with them and maybe play some games or chat to them.  After school you go to dinner and spend time with them until it's time for them to go to sleep (there are also actividads - evening activities that are different every day).  In a way you are a kind of parent to around 20 kids.  You have to attend to whatever needs they have, for example if they get sick.  It is a very rewarding experience - you share a fantastic bond with the kids.

After some time (maybe three months) I started working as a reinforcement teacher for the school here.  I had done a similar job in Finland but it was so different here.  There were twelve year olds who didn't know how to read at all and sometimes I had to sweep out spiders and cockroaches from the classrooms before class. 

My original four months got extended to six.  At first when I arrived here, I expected that I would miss being alone - there are always people around you - kids & volunteers.  But I never did miss that.  I found that I didn't really need any time for myself.  The last month I went on a longer descanso (vacation) all the way to Costa Rica.  I missed Casa Guatemala though and so I returned earlier than I had planned to.  In the last month or so I did various jobs - whatever was needed - volunteer coordinator, organising volunteers, making schedules and introducing new volunteers and generally overseeing the bigger picture of the volunteer work at Casa Guatemala.  I have been back twice to visit since - 10 days in 2005 and for two weeks for Christmas / New Year in 2007.  Some things change - the buildings, the people, some kids go and others come but coming here each time still feels exactly the same.  You very quickly fall into the atmosphere here - its an atmosphere that makes you feel good.  When I tell people at home that I worked in an orphanage they say things like 'oh it must have been so tough', 'it would have been hard to see so much misery', but its not like that.  There is something in the air here - a unique sense that you have to experience to really know what I am talking about. 

In this project these kids get fed three times a day, they have a roof over their heads, they get education and they get attention.  I don't even want to imagine what the lives of some of these kids would be like if this orphanage didn't exist.  On my last trip I spent a day translating Spanish for an American medic, a day sweeping the kitchen floor, I spent time discussing the role models for beauty with some of the teenage girls, and I was an orientador.  It feels like I have contributed something and I would like to encourage other people to consider coming here to work.  You learn so much about life, and you really can make a difference.

I've done some volunteer work in St Petersburg and Palestine and visited a project in Brazil.  In each of these places I have noticed that the needs for the kids all basically the same.  In my opinion all of the kids want their basic needs met - food, shelter, attention and someone to listen to their stories.  Casa Guatemala provides these things.  Volunteering here is a great experience and a way to contribute something to the kids for who Casa Guatemala provides a decent start to life.