High School Unplugged

It's almost that time again - time to return to school.........
My daughter Sally is moving from Toronto New School to Central Technical School while Alana moves off to Trent University and their science program.

If you have children that are high school age and would like to participate in a life-transforming trip that will earn them a credit as well as volunteer hours next summer, please consider our High School Unplugged program.
The trip takes place in Guatemala and will be a Ministry of Education approved credit.
Hablamos Pronto!

For more information call: 416 537-9459.

Coatepeque - The Access Education Project at La Union

We were meant to be painting a new addition of the school that was built with funds from Access Education.  We pulled up to the school on Saturday expecting paint and the principal.  They definitely had other ideas.
There were 250 children in uniform and their parents waiting for us in assembly chairs.  There was a stage set up and when we walked through the court-yard the applause began. They were there to thank us.
We were treated, for the next two hours, to presentations from all the children.  There was marimba dancing, a demonstration by primary children of how the corn is tilled in the fields and a lot of singing.
The Minister of Education spoke and I had a chance to say a few words.  I took our kids up on to the stage to show the village that we are all the same when we persevere and when we work together.  Our kids served as a testament to change.  They were extremely engaged and changed by this display.  That day we announced that La Union would now begin offering Basico (middle school) as of January in addition to Primary school.  This is a HUGE deal.

Afterwords we did indeed paint the school, played soccer (Mario rocks) and we took a foot tour of La Union and in fact visited relatives.

Photos

We are all sad to be going home....It was a truly amazing experience.

I would like to personally thank Ryan, Helen, John Way, Claire Dallies, Ruben Gonzalez, Josue, and Aeshwarya on the home team for making this an incredible experience.   AND hats off to the amazing students - Giselle, Myles, Kate, Alana and Jack for bringing everything into focus.  They were always in awe.  They always had questions.  They were always grateful.  They were frequently moved.

I feel blessed to have gone down the road with such fine people.

Chichicastenango

Today we took another huge metaphysical, existential and historic turn to ChiChi.
Chichicastenango is the centre of the Maya universe.  Although the government and temples were and are located in Tikal, Chichi was and is the spiritual centre.  This is where the Popal Vuh originated. 
Sunday and Thursday are market days and this is the largest market in Guatemala.  The Maya people come from hundreds of kilometers around to bring their goods to market.

This is an intense experience.  There are two churches at each end of the market.  San Tomas y Calvary.  San Tomas has historic roots with the Maya and to this day shares the church with the Catholics.  The Maya make sacrifices of flowers and corn on the steps of the church and make similar offerings inside.  The rectory of the San Tomas church was a place of torture during the civil war.

On Sunday the priest does Mass and quickly turns his back as the Maya people start moving in their offerings.
Between these two churches there are hundreds of vendors selling hand made clothing, pottery, and jewellery to the public.

I hope Kate has kept us up to date....

We have had a spectacular time.  I would be adding exclamation points if they were findable on this latin keyboard.  We spent two amazing days on Lake Atitlan at Casa del Mundo near Panajachel. We all zip-lined hundreds of feet above the canopy at the  Atitlan Nature Reserve. A twenty minute boat ride took us to a pristine point on the lake that is only accessible by water.  There are several stories of stairs and rooms dotting the mountainside.  The view of the three volcanoes and the lake is unspeakably beautiful.  While the kids were trapped in classes I was able to jump on a boat and beat it back to the mainland where I toured the Atitlan Multicultural Academy with Vice Principal, Reuban Gonzalez.  This was followed by lunch and a cerveza.

Study in Antigua

12 Julio, 2010
Today our kids attended lectures, studied and wrote tests again from morning until 6:00 P.M (with breaks of course).
Professor Claire Dallies, Helen Mills and Ryan Burwell gave an interdisciplinary slide presentation and inspired many questions from the group.
Tomorrow we will travel to Guatemala City to the garbage dump.  The people from Camino Seguro (Safe Passages) will lead our class on a tour of the largest dump in the Americas and explain how many generations of Guatemalans are born, raised and ultimately die, here, at their home at the dump. The city is dependent on the people of the dump. 
Camino Seguro's mission statement is to combat poverty through education.The families of Safe Passage children scavenge through the Guatemala City Dump for items to resell. The organization works to enroll these children in the public schools.
This will be an emotional day for our kids.  It is truly a devastating existence.  I leave this post with a photo of the Mayan priest who led us in prayer at a temple cave in Chisec.  It was a prayer of healing that has been recited for over two thousand years.
Goodnight.