Estoy en Guatemala!

I am finally in Guatemala and have been here for a week. This post is going to be really long because I want to talk about a few things that happened during orientation. I will also apologize for weird puncuation and spelling, I need to get used to the keyboards here and spell check does not work in English.

Orientation was held in Stony Point, New York and all the international and national YAVs were present. We were given a lot of information on a variety of topics and issues we will face throughout the year. We had one lecture on globalization that Rick Ufford-Chase, the director of Stony Point, gave. He talked about how our system of global economics has created a system of instutional injustice. This system benefits the privledged, those who live in the "center," but keeps the poor powerless and stuck in a cycle of poverty that is virtually impossible to stop. Rick challenged us to live out the social gospel and actively stand against instutional injustice. We are all complicit in allowing these systems to continue and grow. This talk energized me about my year and affirmed I am in the right place to further learn about these systems and how I can learn to actively stand against institutional injustice. It is impossible for a person of the center - which i am- to become a part of the borderlands. It is because I am of the center that I can experience the borderlands. What I need to learn is how to keep on foot in the center and in the borderlands.

We left Stony Point at 3 am to catch a 6 am flight to Guatemala City. For the first three days we stayed in an old Catholic monastery, which is now a Catholic retreat center on the edge of Antigua. We spent the first few days getting aquainted with Antigua and getting to know each other. We started language school on Thursday and moved in with our host families for the month. Thursday was exhausting because it was a day entirely in Spanish. My language teacher does not speak English, which is good because I have to use spanish entirely. She understands a lot of English, so if I really have to ask a question in English I can. I am living with the Gomez family. My host dad´s name is Vinicio, mom, Olgo, and brother Fabio. Vinicio is a teacher at the school and is hosting two other students. I have already noticed I am understanding more Spanish, although I have trouble with tenses. I am not speaking much better, but I am sure it will come with some more time.

Yesterday - Saturday- all the YAVs climbed Vulcan Pacaya. It was an hour and half climb up fairly steep terrain. We then climbed up lava and were able to get incredibly close to the lava flow of the volcano. We all commented that in the US you would never be able to get that close, even if you signed your life away. From the volcano we could see all around Guatemala and the many mountains and volcanoes. It was truly awe inspiring. Climbing up and down the lava portion of the climb I was slightly afraid for my life because the rock was not at all sturdy, but it was incredible. A lot of people live on the volcano and gain their income by having their children beg, sell walking sticks, or rent horses to take you up. Many dogs followed us up the lava portion of the climb because they know tourists bring marshmallows to roast over the lava. These dogs are so skinny and it is heartbreaking to see them. It is heartbreaking to know they are so skinny because the people living on the volcano are also starving. I am torn on how to handle these situations. Parents take their children out of school because they know they can make money begging and selling sticks. Tourists feel worse for children and give them charity. If that were not the case, the children would have a higher chance of getting more education. The dilemna is that they beg because they have no food. I don´t know how to handle those situations because even if I don´t support child labor, everyone else does. How can I solve such a huge problem and what is the best course of action. I feel so helpless, making me frustrated, and yet I am not nearly as helpless and the people living on the volcano, and since I am from the center I am not as helpless as most of the world.