In Guatemala, the school year runs from January to October. Some schools finished mid October, while others aren’t out until the end of November. To say this first week of vacation (for most) was jam packed of activity would be an understatement.
A little over a week ago (27th), one of our teens boys had an emergency removal of his appendix. He spent the weekend recovering in the hospital and returned to the orphanage Sunday afternoon, while a few of us were in the next town over for church and lunch.
I checked in on him right after dinner to see how he was feeling, only to walk into the house to see him crying, freezing, huddled underneath a thick blanket. 4 of us American stayed by his side for 15 minutes, praying over him and getting anything he might’ve requested.
Later that evening, I wanted to check on him again. Knowing that there were a couple of boys in his house with a fever, we were all worried for him, that catching a fever wouldn’t be the best thing while recovering from surgery. We passed around the thermometer, washing between each use, the highest fever being at 104 who was also sharing a bunk bed with the one who had his appendix removed. I sat outside the house for almost an hour, waiting to see if the prescriptions were filled and the antibiotics were being taken. At about 10:30, 3 of us headed to the pharmacy to pick up the meds needed for tomorrow.
Monday and Tuesday were normal office days, only a bit busier than usual. Every other month, the child sponsorship program send out worksheets from the child to their sponsor. That means handing the sheets to each house, fighting them to get it back completed, looking through the stack to see who’s missing (and hunting them down), translating each sheet, scanning and renaming each one by one (for 100+ kids), and go child by child down an excel sheet, making sure each sponsor receives a worksheet from their sponsored child, changing the email template with the child’s name each time. All to say, it is a lot of work, and it just so happened to fall on the first week of vacation.
Wednesday, a few of us went to a kite festival a few towns over, maybe a half hour’s drive without traffic. Since this is one of the main places the kites are celebrated, it took over an hour and a half to get into the town and meet up with our coworkers who live there. The traffic was of no importance to us when we saw 100+ foot tall kites decorated solely using tissue paper and glue. Some of the 30 standing high took 6 months to make, surrounded by regular kites flying in the breeze through the crowds of people. The 6 of us managed to all keep together by joining arms and grabbing purse straps through tight crowded streets. Open fire grills cooking snacks for visitors and street vendors selling overpriced Guatemalan souvenirs to tourists lined each side of the road. We managed to find our way to a small cafe for lunch, before starting our 25 minute drive home.
That night, we heard that the kids from the orphanage were headed to Antigua the next day to fly kites over the city, so I was getting excited for that… until our oldest resident walked up to me and hand me an invitation to his ring ceremony for the following day and his graduation on Sunday night. So excited for him and proud of him that there was no way I was going to decline the invite!
9:45 the next morning, I piled into the van with a few of his house mates, some of the orphanage’s employees/volunteers he is close to, and his brother headed to the ring ceremony. It was a beautiful few hours filled with lunch, a speaker, the placing of the rings, a singing quartet, and some previous alum sharing their experience through school and where they are today because of their education. I’m glad I got to share a part in his special day.
Friday was also a busy day in the office, sending out the last few worksheets and responding back to those sponsor who responded to our original emails. As I was leaving the office a little after 5 ready to rest for almost an hour before dinner, about 30 kids were out playing on the court. They saw me walk past and wanted me to come play with them. I quickly ran to my room, changed into comfy clothes to run around the court giving a piggy back ride! I was nonstop from 7 am until about 9 pm!
Saturday I was able to rest for some of the afternoon. The morning was full of reading and playing cards with the younger boys, climbing a tree with the preschoolers, and working with the roommate to clean our house and her new classroom. Night came, and I found myself busy again helping with translation at a youth game night and devotional.
Most Sundays, I am either with the kids enjoying a visitation or off to church in Antigua. Not this week! We headed out to the theatre to enjoy a show with the 4-10 year olds. At times chaotic, but we had many volunteers to help. One was a little scared, but overall everyone loved the show and the meet and greet that followed!
Back to the orphanage we went, and I had about an hour and a half to make myself lunch and get dressed up before we took off to the graduation. We packed into the van and headed back to the school. We arrived at about 5:15 to grab good seats before the ceremony started at 6. In total, we filled almost 3 rows of 6 with roommates, Casa Shalom employees/volunteers, and the graduate’s family members. Honestly, I felt like a proud big sister! All was done a little after 8, and we took about a half hour to make our way through the crowds, each getting our photo taken with the new graduate. The night wasn’t as late as I’d expect it to go, including a Guatemalan school ceremony, but 9:30 felt like midnight by the time the night was over.
All in all, a great, fun-filled, tiring start to vacation. I’m excited to share these next 2 months with the kids being out of school!
(har)Perseverance on a mission 