“We don’t want Guatemala to be dirty because otherwise it would not be beautiful and people would get sick,” said one of the kids in our last day during drama class when acting out how Guatemala would look if everyone kept throwing trash in the streets. It was such a powerful moment to witness such consciousness, especially since it was coming from kids about 9 to 12 years old. It was also a moment when I felt that things could change.

I‘ve been in Nebaj for about a month and a couple of days and I have only seen a man picking up trash once. Honestly, sometimes I feel like, why pick up trash when a few minutes later I get on a micro-bus and about 2 to 3 people throw their empty plastic water bottle or the empty bag of Doritos through the window? People in general seem not to realize the harm to the environment they are creating.

Last week as I came from running around the beautiful mountains that surround Nebaj, I saw a plastic car for little kids with clothes and a bunch of other trash being burn in front of a house while little kids and other adults were watching the event as if it was such a common and normal thing to do. Last week in a meeting with all the GCY fellows and Erin we were discussing how through the Guatemalan’s eyes there is not much motivation to try to make a conscious effort to take care of the environment when there is not a system that supports them. In the states is so easy to throw away trash! and recycling is not that hard either.

On Monday we went on a campaign to an aldea about 6 hours from Nebaj call “La Parroquia.”As I was wondering where the trash went I walked outside of the Hospedale (very similar to a Hotel) where we were staying and there was a hole on the ground with a lot of trash inside. This makes me wonder how much the Government is providing Guatemalans with an alternative to throw away their trash. Situations can always go both ways. The more developed a country is, the more it affects the environment in a negative way with pollution from industries. But also the less developed a country is, the greater lack of resources and consciousness for the environment there is. Guatemala is beautiful !!! but the closer one gets to the road sides the clearer it becomes that they face big challenges to keep it that way.

“We don’t want Guatemala to be dirty because otherwise it would not be beautiful and people would get sick,” said one of the kids in our last day during drama class when acting out how Guatemala would look if everyone kept throwing trash in the streets. It was such a powerful moment to witness such consciousness, especially since it was coming from kids about 9 to 12 years old. It was also a moment when I felt that things could change.

I‘ve been in Nebaj for about a month and a couple of days and I have only seen a man picking up trash once. Honestly, sometimes I feel like, why pick up trash when a few minutes later I get on a micro-bus and about 2 to 3 people throw their empty plastic water bottle or the empty bag of Doritos through the window? People in general seem not to realize the harm to the environment they are creating.

Last week as I came from running around the beautiful mountains that surround Nebaj, I saw a plastic car for little kids with clothes and a bunch of other trash being burn in front of a house while little kids and other adults were watching the event as if it was such a common and normal thing to do. Last week in a meeting with all the GCY fellows and Erin we were discussing how through the Guatemalan’s eyes there is not much motivation to try to make a conscious effort to take care of the environment when there is not a system that supports them. In the states is so easy to throw away trash! and recycling is not that hard either.

On Monday we went on a campaign to an aldea about 6 hours from Nebaj call “La Parroquia.”As I was wondering where the trash went I walked outside of the Hospedale (very similar to a Hotel) where we were staying and there was a hole on the ground with a lot of trash inside. This makes me wonder how much the Government is providing Guatemalans with an alternative to throw away their trash. Situations can always go both ways. The more developed a country is, the more it affects the environment in a negative way with pollution from industries. But also the less developed a country is, the greater lack of resources and consciousness for the environment there is. Guatemala is beautiful !!! but the closer one gets to the road sides the clearer it becomes that they face big challenges to keep it that way.

As time evolves so does the peanut butter project “Más Mani porfavor“. This week we made about 5 jars which 4 of them were sold for 22 quetzales (about 3 U.S dollars). Out of those 22 quetzales 2 are giving back if the jar is returned. It is incredibly exciting to see things moving along.

For right now our principal customer is the Restaurant “El Descanso” where Shreya (another volunteer at Soluciones Comunitarias) has made veggie Burgers, chow mei and a banana shake with our Peanut butter being the main ingredient. People have been buying all these new plates at the restaurant which is a sign of success for now. Today we had a meeting with our first entrepreneur from the aldea “La Pista” where the Centro Explorativo (our center point) is located. On Saturday we will be giving him a few jars. One of the jars will be a sample for people to try and the other ones are to sell. Our hope is to find other responsible young men (13 to 15 years old) to be entrepreneurs of our project “Más Mani Porfavor”. The entrepreneurs will be enroll at the community center and will be paid 3 quetzales per jar (about 36 U.S cents) which for Guatemalan standards is a fair price. Our final goal is to be able to make these project sustainable. Hopefully everything will work out!

Today we went to a village called Vi Chibala – about 40 minutes away from Nebaj. We went to do the publicity for a campaign to promote glasses, water filters and light bulbs that last about 5 to 8 years. Vi Chibala is a beautiful town in the mountains of Coxal, where I saw the most diverse and exotic plants. It was great publicity, and people seemed very receptive and interested in our products.

Hopefully they respond the same way to our projects, which I am so excited about. We are making peanut butter to sell with the youth at the Centro Explorativo (Community Center) we will be working at. We already bought the peanuts and roasted them which to our surprise turned out to taste really good without any burning flavor. This week we will actually make the peanut butter which we’ll see how it turns out. Our desired outcome for the peanut butter project is to create jobs and income for otherwise unemployed local people as well as the introduction of low price and high quality nutritious snack. Hopefully we are successful enough and our project becomes sustainable after doing the walk away test.

We are also building a green vegetable house with little kids at the Centro Explorativo. For right now this idea is not as developed as the peanut butter project but it is approved by the teachers at the Centro. We were thinking of ways to compost and the best thing we thought of is worms and kitchen scrap. We had no idea where to find the worms but turns out that the brother of one of the guys I am staying with grows coffee and he has worms for his compost, so he is going to let us have some. Our desired outcome for the garden project is to introduce vegetables into the Guatemalan’s diet.

On tuesday our schedules took us to a beautiful little town call Acul where we had to do publicity for a campaign to promote the use of reading glasses for people older than 35 years old who has lost their vision with time. “Soluciones Comunitarias” the organization we do the campaigns with also gives protector glasses and drops for Carnocidad, which is a layer of skin over the eye produce by the exposure of too much sun, dirt and chemicals in the air. Carnocidad is a very common illness in rural Guatemala. I have seen people of about 35 years old with Carnocidad already. This is an indicator of contamination and the amount of hours that people work under the sun.

Ana, a 17 year-old women who is in charge of the campaign, and I walked on the streets of Acul for about 2 hours and a half giving flyers about our campaign and talking to people about it. As I walked and looked up the mountains and waterfalls I could not ignore the feeling of peace. But as I also looked down I notice the dirt on my shoes from the moody streets, a Mayan women with a baby in her back while gracefully taking all her strength to carry corn in a pot on her head. People would stare at us questioning every gesture and word that we would say with only an eye stare. Personally, I would not be surprise since the fears and consequences of the Civil War in 1996 (not too long ago) are still not fully overcome. In addition, it says a lot about the lack of basic resources that Guatemalans face in the present due to the short period of time since the war ended. Read more…

On Saturday, around 8:15AM, Ian, our team leader Luis, Maria Clara, and I left the department of Santo Tomas. I was so excited with the idea of being in Nebaj and starting my apprenticeship in education with youth at the community center in “La Pista,” a little town a few minutes outside of Nebaj.

The road to Nebaj was an adventure that added enthusiasm to the headache of the curvy roads. The first main city we went through is called “Chimaltenango” and for about 20 minutes we saw nothing but small businesses that repair cars. Apparently, years ago many people drove to the United States and bought cars damaged in accidents in order to repair and sell them in Guatemala. Nowadays there are more regulations to cross the border into the United States and people don’t do it as much.

Personally, I think having so many small businesses that offer the same service in the same area leaves very little room for development.

As we drove further northwest, we crossed another main city call “Chichicastenango” which is an area were tourism has become big. Then we cross “Quiche” and it seemed very similar to Santo Tomas in terms of development and a lot of little shops where I found the best chips ever called “Tortrix.” The houses, like in Santo Tomas, were mainly made of bricks and iron. In Quiche, everyone had gathered in excited groups waiting for a big bicycle race to pass, in which athletes from many countries in South America and neighbors of Guatemala were competing. My heart started to dance when I saw a Venezuela jersey there since I am Venezuelan. Read more…

On Saturday, around 8:15AM, Ian, our team leader Luis, Maria Clara, and I left the department of Santo Tomas. I was so excited with the idea of being in Nebaj and starting my apprenticeship in education with youth at the community center in “La Pista,” a little town a few minutes outside of Nebaj.

The road to Nebaj was an adventure that added enthusiasm to the headache of the curvy roads. The first main city we went through is called “Chimaltenango” and for about 20 minutes we saw nothing but small businesses that repair cars. Apparently, years ago many people drove to the United States and bought cars damaged in accidents in order to repair and sell them in Guatemala. Nowadays there are more regulations to cross the border into the United States and people don’t do it as much.

Personally, I think having so many small businesses that offer the same service in the same area leaves very little room for development.

As we drove further northwest, we crossed another main city call “Chichicastenango” which is an area were tourism has become big. Then we cross “Quiche” and it seemed very similar to Santo Tomas in terms of development and a lot of little shops where I found the best chips ever called “Tortrix.” The houses, like in Santo Tomas, were mainly made of bricks and iron. In Quiche, everyone had gathered in excited groups waiting for a big bicycle race to pass, in which athletes from many countries in South America and neighbors of Guatemala were competing. My heart started to dance when I saw a Venezuela jersey there since I am Venezuelan. Read more…

Today after our regular Spanish and ixil classes went to a small town call  San Antonio, Aguas Calientes (hot water) about 20 minutes away from Antigua. We meet with two women who are part of an organization called ” Ixel.”  All done by hand they create very typical Mayan clothes as well as others that are very colorful and vibrant. With the money they make through their art they support their community by making sure that kids have food, education and clothes.

As my eyes started to wander inside their shop I found myself very inspired and excited to see so many different designs in the fabrics. As part of their culture and as a way to identify what city a person is from they make each outfit differently compared to the neighbors from cities nearby. It amazes me the complexities that co-exist with the simplicity of their traditions. Read more…

Today is the third day since we landed in the calm and vibrant country of Guatemala. After staring the morning with a long shower not knowing if after we would have to carry water in buckets we could not wait to meet our families. The day went as usual with patient for a good breakfast in a local restaurant in Antigua while our bags were already heading the road to our new homes in  Santo Tomas, Milpas-Alta.

To energize after having a food coma from breakfast we played a game call Red Rover where we divided ourselves into two teams creating two horizontal chains parallel to one another. One team had to hold hands while calling the name from the opposite team to come running as hard as they could and break the chain. If that person got to break the chain they automatically belonged to that team. The team that had more people won and of course I was lucky enough to be part of that group. If you haven’t yet played Red Rover I recommend it. Read more…

My name is Zuleika Lewis. I was raised in Venezuela since I was three months old with my grandparents. My parents died of HIV when I was 6 years old. In 2005 I came to live here in California with my aunt as freshman in High School. At the start of my freshman year, my English language skills were limited to “hi”. Everything was new to me and I did not know how the system worked not only in the educational sense but also within the culture that was going to be my new home town. Read more…