Only a Child, the "basura," and home visits

Okay...where do I start?  It has been an extremely busy day with experiences that will probably be with us for a lifetime...and I still don't know where to start.  We began our day with a trip to Only a Child's woodworking shop.  Only a Child is a ministry for street boys begun about 18 years ago by George Leger, a pastry chef from Boston.  He felt called to Guatemala after working with Guatemalans in Boston and reading a story about the tragic end of a young boy's life on the streets of Guatemala City.  Many of you already know the story of this ministry as you have boxes made by his boys.  George encourages woodworking as a means to teach responsible work habits and enables the boys who work in the shop and live at his shelter to return to school.  There are many impressive success stories as well as frustrations in rewriting the stories of young boys who have been gang members, been neglected by their families, and in many cases have been forced to leave home in order to survive.  The boys range from very young to not so young at all.  Some are studying at the university and others are in their 20's, in the fifth grade, struggling with waining desire to complete their educations.  Hearing their stories and George's was compelling and impressive.

Our next stop was the Guatemala City Garbage Dump, by way of General Cemetery.  Each year the team makes a trip to a very large cemetery that looks out over the ravine that is the Guatemala City Garbage Dump.  And each year we are shocked at the changes that have taken place in the twelve months since our previous trip.  The dump is the sole source of income for hundreds of families who are forced to live in the shanties that surround the dump.  Those working in the dump recycle plastic, glass, and cardboard to provide a living for their families.  To get the complete picture, you need to understand that the infrastructure in Guatemala City is less than sufficient.  As a result, toilet paper cannot be flushed, ever.  Instead, the toilet paper goes into the bathroom trash which in turn goes into the dump.  Now picture hundreds of men, women, and teenagers rifling through the dump in search of a living.  It is toxic, it is not vented, and it is unstable.  These families are some of the 300 to 400 families Groundwork serves each week and the home of most of the Guatemalan ministry workers who work tirelessly to lift their own people. To say it is humbling is an understatement.

Finally, our afternoon was spent doing home visits.  We broke into two groups: Jenna, Kara, Renee, Jordan, Laura, Gail, Emily C. and Sam; Sarah, Nick Lonnie, Jeannie, Sarah, Kelsey, Emma, Emily R., and myself. We were accompanied by at least three ministry leaders in each group, and we visited families served by the ministry or other folks who desire a visit.  It is the expereince that never leaves any of us.  The extreme poor in Guatemala tend to desire a visit from a rag-tag group of locals and gringos.  They are are so welcoming and seem to desire the opportunity to share what is going on in their lives and look to us for support, God's word, and a prayer on their behalf.  If you have a mental picture of Jehovah's witnesses pounding on your door, lose it right now!  There is nothing to compare this to in the U.S.  These Guatemalans share stories that are almost unthinkable in our country, and they are completely unthinkable in terms of their frequency and severity.  One of the women we visited spoke of the disappearance and murder of her husband on the road to El Salvador recently.  Unfortunately, these kinds of stories emerge in many of our home visits.  Gratefully, the other group had more upbeat visits.  Both groups experienced culturally unique afternoons.

There is a lot that goes on here that is so meaningful it defies a quick mention in the blog.  Today was one of those days.  In the interest of tomorrow's lesson and work that still needs to be done we will call it a night.

Blessings,
All of us