Starting at Bezaleel

I have now completed two weeks of work in the library at the Mennonite Education Center Bezaleel. It is good to know that this will be my final big change before going back to the states. I´ve gone from orientation in PA, Orientation in Guatemala City 2 weeks, living with host family and taking Spanish classes in the city 1 month, living with a family in Carchá 3 weeks before moving in with my real host family, working in Fundameno office 2 months, working with a work group for 2 weeks, before finally starting my assignment which my job description talked about.

The first two weeks have been good. I have made friends with teachers and students. Most everyone is very nice. I work in the library checking in and out books and, most importantly, helping out students with homework when they ask for it and, when they don´t, forcing them to explain to me what they learned. A lot of times after, for instance, copying down a page out of a book, the students don´t remember a thing of what they wrote, in part because they didn´t know all the words they copied down and didn´t bother to look it up or even think about it (because they are just copying). The director is trying to stop this copying stuff. So I try to keep students on their toes and make them think about what they are supposed to be learning. I am also starting some English lessons with a couple motivated students.

I haven´t gotten to start any sort extra curricular activities yet like I was hoping to. Students don´t seem to excited. On the other hand, every now and then, while giving a more in depth look at the liberal revolution of 1871 in Guatemala to a few students learning about it, a crowd literally gathered to listen in. Another time I was helping students to understand a little bit about the economic crisis in the US and how it might affect Guatemala.

Yesterday, after an assembly in which we welcomed 35 Canadians who were touring the school I was hanging out with a bunch of older students waiting around for the next class period to start when they asked me for a story. Somebody said they wanted to hear Obama´s story. I didn´t know much about that so I gave the basic outline, I had about lost the attention of the group when I suddenly felt a little bit of inspiration. I talked a little bit about the discrimination African-Americans faced just 40 years ago, how, not long ago, if you would have claimed a black man would be president of the United States, people would have laughed. I drew a parallel between blacks in the United States and indigenous groups, particularly the Kekchi, in Guatemala. Obama wasn´t in a better position growing up than a lot of people in the states growing up, but with hard work he did a lot of amazing things and now he is the president of the United States, the boss, “el mero mero” to use a slang expression. This story had about 15 students held in rapt attention. I was pretty happy with myself and pretty amazed that the presidents story could be so inspirational.

For those of you who have been wondering, I finally got together with the Cahills (that includes Rob Cahill who grew up 3 blocks away from where I did). They live in a pretty cool place in Coban and we entertained ourselves with good conversation and some very good food that they provided.

Ok, that´s all,

Jordan

and this is a picture of me with some of the work group from Nebraska. We had fun and everyone loved the yellow color we used.