When Frank Sinatra sang these words, the "you" probably didn't refer to an entire country, but I think our (Mr. Sinatra and my) emotions are quite similiar :). As many of you already know, I have decided to continue living and volunteering in Guatemala at least until Christmas time and possibly until next summer! This is a big leap for me, and the simplest way I can explain myself is to say that Guatemala has gotten under my skin. This place and its people have become wrapped up in who I am and its simply not time to leave yet. I feel that I still have lessons to learn and grow from, people to meet, and contributions to make to Salud y Paz. This decision means that the original plan has changed, however I do hope to attend a speech and lang path masters program next fall (probably at USF as they allowed my acceptance to be deferred). Your prayers and thoughts have been a huge part of sustaining me thus far, and I hope that you will be willing to continue being a part of my emotional support as I remain here. I will be home, in NSB, for the month of May and hope to spend time with you!
Most recently, I have been working on the educational and health survey that we are planning to give to the community of Camanchaj. The purpose of this survey will be to investigate people's attitudes towards education to determine the factors that lead to success in primary school or drop-out. We also want to learn about the community's perception of the Susana Wesley preschool. The health portion will hopefully assess the needs of the community and the clinic's effectiveness in meeting them. This past Friday, we had a meeting with the doctors Fredy and Luis to get their opinions and with Pastor Juan Ixton, who is the leader of the women's group called Amigas de Salud y Paz. Pastor Juan Ixton created a croquis, or map, of Camanchaj which showed where each dwelling is located. He did an incredible job on it! We will be able to use it to choose a random yet representative selection of houses to visit and give the survey to its residents.
In other preschool news, we now have a team of 3 "almost" dentists with us. I say "almost" because they are dental students about 1 month away from graduation, at which time they will officially be Doctors of Dentistry! These 3 wonderful individuals are serving exclusively our preschool students. They are pulling teeth, putting in fillings, giving flouride treatments, and talking with each child's parents about how to care for their child's teeth. What an incredible blessing!
We have sponsers for all of our 20 students!
The preschool handbook is complete, finalmente! Now I am working on creating an English version to be shown at the SyP board meeting this Friday.
Thank you so very much for your continuing support!
In Salud y Paz,
Madisen
Ruins of a convent in Antigua.
Semana Santa
Processional during Semana Santa in Antigua.
Traditional traje for different areas around Guatemala.
Students from the Mayan Families preschool in Panajachel. I have been able to volunteer with this program a few times, and have learned a lot from Senora Luqui about the public school system in Gua.
