Wellshire Group in Guatemala: Post 4 from 3/24/09

Tuesday was another day full of service and ministry for the Wellshire group. Our purpose here is two-fold: to do some projects that help the community through Habitat for Humanity and Healing Waters International and to build relationships and solidarity with the people of Guatemala. Today we had the opportunity to do a lot of both!

We started out the morning going to one of the Healing Waters International systems in Chimaltenango to learn how the water systems work. To learn more about our water systems, how they work, and the work of Healing Waters International, you can view this video.



We took a photo of the whole group in front of the system before splitting in to our two work teams to go to our worksites.

One team returned to the public high school where we had been working and painting the day before. We started off the morning with a basketball game between some members of our group and some Guatemalan high school students and teachers. This was an opportunity to not only play some hoops, but also build relationships with the Guatemalan people. We were able to break down some of the cultural barriers between the two groups through basketball, shattering our own stereotypes of Latinos and Hispanics, and hopefully changing the Guatemalans’ stereotypes of Americans.

Basketball game photos

This is a photo of Brian Lays taking a break from painting to interact with some kids at the school, building relationships.

Once the game was over we went right back to work painting. The church in Chimaltenango that has the Healing Waters system helped coordinate this community service opportunity for our group. The great thing was that they also worked side by side with us as you can see in this photo. Members of the church came along side members of the Wellshire group and worked together to repaint the school.

Terri Kipple painting with two "hermanos de la iglesia" (Brothers from the church)

The team that was on the Habitat site was also hard at work building a house and building authentic relationships with the Guatemalan people. As I said in an earlier post, the recipient of the house is Esther, and today she was at the worksite with her family. You can see her daughters and granddaughter in the photos below.

Hannah Johnson blowing bubbles for the grandaugther of Esther, the person receiving the Habitat house

A group photo of the Wellshire work team with Esther and her family

Intergenerational ministry with our youngest and oldest team members working on the Habitat build site.

Our fearless Guatemalan based leaders, Daniela Rosales from Healing Waters and Casey Leo from Habitat for Humanity

Lunch today was a very special experience. We had the opportunity to eat in the home of a family that is a beneficiary of the Healing Waters system. We got to see them prepare a traditional Guatemalan meal and then they served us in their home. We left lunch with full bellies and warm hearts after such a delicious meal and such a unique opportunity to eat in the home of a Guatemalan family.

The family serving lunch to our group

The family preparing fresh tortillas for the group

Making Tortillas and smiling!

The group eating lunch at the house

As we left the home and were getting ready to load in to the vans, we had some visitors:

I also took this photo of a girl hiding inside the front door to her house. I saw her and asked her mother if it would be ok to take her photo. She said yes, so I did. . . The people here are so beautiful, outside and in. We have been so warmly received as a group by all of the people we have met. They have opened their homes and their hearts to us, and we will forever be grateful for that experience and for the relationships we are building here.

This is a poignant example of the blend between urban and rural when you see a man walking his cows down the middle of a city street.

After leaving lunch we all went back to the Habitat worksite so that the work team who had been on the site for 2 days could get train the other work team, as we will be switching worksites for the second half of the week.

After that we returned to Antigua, exhausted but happy! Daniela Rosales, the communications coordinator for Healing Waters International in Guatemala taught a salsa lesson in the lobby of our hotel before leaving for dinner. I didn’t post any photos of that at the request of those who were dancing.

It was another great day for the Wellshire group. We have two more days of work. Stay tuned, thanks for following our trip and LET THE CLEAN WATERS FLOW!