We Are The Story

Thursday afternoon after classes all the YAVs traveled to Guatemala City to visit Dennis Smith, a Presbyterian Mission co-worker who has been living in Guatemala for over 30 years. We talked about current events happening in Guatemala and things we should be aware of throughout the year. We also read a speech by Ivan Illich, who criticizes Americans who go to third world countries to "help." It is important for us to be aware of the potential harm we may cause when we go into unfamiliar places without fully understanding the culture, language, and history. When we do missions it is often about us and what we hope to gain from the experience. Dennis told us that this year is going to be about us because realistically we are not going to "do" anything. We will help solve any of the problems we see, and even though we are all in placements working towards alleviating problems, we will not even make a dent in the larger problems. Dennis said that this year is about us because we are the stories, we are the accumulation of the stories we have been apart of and other people's stories become apart of us, and our stories will become apart of others. This is the greatest gift and something no one can take away from us or even deny about our year here. So, this blog is going to be my story throughout the year, and the stories of others who will hopefully become apart of me.