First-Ever Staff Retreat A SUCCESS!

As some of you may know, a few months ago we were appointed the new directors of AOJ Guatemala. One of the first items of business was to discuss next steps with the entire staff. We made sure to encourage each and every worker at AOJ, from the maintenance staff to the teachers to the social workers, so that they know each one of them has a valuable role in growing and strengthening the organization. In some cases, we gave more responsibility to staff members who demonstrated a strong work ethic so that they will feel empowered to improve the organization at their level. For us, having the employees feel ownership of the organization is very important for them to feel motivated and excited about the future. Since then, the staff has responded positively and has rallied around us to make this organization grow.

In order to foster the harmony we have with the staff, we held the first ever staff retreat off-site at a private park in the city of Amatilan. The park grounds were gorgeous and our actual meeting place was perched on a hill that had breath-taking views of lucious forest and the beautiful Lake Amatilan. It was the ideal location for the staff to get away for a day, reflect and get to know their co-workers better. The theme of the retreat was "Success", and we had speakers and activities that explored this theme in various ways.

Our keynote speaker was Rudy Rojas, the Director of a respected non-profit organization in Guatemala called "Hogares Internacionales Para Ninos". Mr. Rojas motivated our staff to continue serving Guatemala's poor despite the challenges they face in this environment. He emphasized that our definition of success should not match the luxury or materialism that we see in the world; but, by creating successful opportunties for others who need our help, then we can truly find a rewarding and successful experience for ourselves.

Steve followed up with a hands-on workshop on success. He was really excited to do this with the staff because of his passion of motivating people to excel. The workshop involved dividing the entire staff into groups for various activities that were planned for the rest of the morning. The first activity required each group to be responsible for defending one of 5 pre-selected definitions of success: Money; Power; Intelligence; Fame; and, Spiritual Happiness. Once the definition was chosen from a hat, each group had 15 minutes to plan on how to defend that definition in a debate.

After the groups finished their planning, we held the debate between all the groups to see who had the true definition of success. After presenting its arguments, the other groups were free to critique. And did we ever have a lively discussion! It was amazing to see how well the staff defended their points and especially to see how normally timid people rose up to challenge the other groups. It was especially funny to hear our Spiritual Director David, who was part of the "Fame" group, and hearing how he defended "fame" as the key to success as opposed to Spiritual Happiness!

Later, the groups were asked to explain what they thought their purpose on this earth was for and how it related to success. All the groups responded that every person was put on this earth by God to serve a purpose, and for them specifically, it is to serve the people who need help the most. Furthermore, if we truly served that purpose, then we will achieve success. The responses were done so well, that we decided to take their answers to this question and turn them into Value Principles that we will use for the entire mission.

The morning sessions with the keynote speaker and the workshops with Steve seemed to go really well. The most important part of the morning was that the staff learned more about their value in the organization and how to truly find success in their lives.

After the morning session in the meeting hall, it was time to get the staff outdoors and enjoy the beautiful grounds. However, we still wanted the staff to learn more about "success" so our retreat planning crew designed activites that required the staff to work as a team in order to achieve success.

The activites were absolutely hilarious as it required team members to think of creative and "interesting" ways to overcome each challenge. One such activity required team members to move one another from one side of the field to the other so that the person being moved does not touch the ground. It was a nice ride for some....but was a hard crash for others. Another activity required team members to empty a bucket of water on one side of the field, and transfer the water to another bucket on the other side. However, the catch was that they could only use whatever material they can find on the grounds and there were no buckets or cups around! So it was funny to see team members cupping their hands with each other to carry the water and even some people decided to soak their clothes with water from the first bucket and wring them out to empty the water in the other bucket! Other activites included relay races that involved tying all team members by the ankles and having them walk around obstacles and trees in the fastest time. Suffice to say that at the end of the day, each person truly appreciated the concept of team-work!

But the last activity of the day was the most fun of all...the"suprise-in-a-bag relay"! In this race, both teams lined up against each other with 2 officials standing infront of them. Each official held a black garbage bag that was filled with different types of food that the team members did not know. When the whistle blew to start, each team member in turn had to put their hand in the bag and pull out whatever food they grabbed and eat on the spot! But they had to eat fast because the winning team was the one in which all team members ate all the food in the bag in the fastest time. Some of the items were easy to eat, like apples, tomatoes or a soft drink. But other items included sour limes, hot chili potato chips, large oranges that needed to be peeled, and a large banana that was almost a foot long! We were shocked to see how fast a human being can gobble up a bag of chips or gulp down a bottle of orange soda. The looks on their faces during the whole game will never be forgotten!

Overall, the "success" retreat was definitely a success! Our staff work in one of the most difficult environments where they see child poverty on a daily basis and regurlarly have to come up with ways to save these children from starvation, chronic illness, abuse and even death. It was important for us to have this special day for them in order to show our gratitude for their work and to motivate them to continue doing what they do best. We hope that the lessons on success will help guide their future careers and goals, wherever they may be. As long as they are serving for purpose, we will always be proud of them.

Continuing the Dreams of Our Loved Ones

On the afternoon of May 14, 2009, there was a horrible small plane accident in Guatamala that killed all six passengers aboard. Amongst those who lost their lives, the directors of AOJ Guatemala - Rafael and Claudia Araneda. They leave behind five precious children ages 12 - 21.

The past few days have been a difficult period of mourning and reflection as we marvel at the wonderful work both Rafael and Claudia have accomplished after nine years in AOJ Guatemala. Through their vision and leadership, the operation in Guatemala has grown from a simple food distribution program for needy families living in the garbage dump in Guatemala City, to a fully acredited elementary school with more than 450 students and providing essential services for over 700 sponsored children and their families.

AOJ Guatemala has lost two amazing people that sacrificed personal gain and family comforts by dedicating their lives to helping Guatemala's poorest, so that they may have a chance to gain and provide comforts for their own families. Indeed, we were struck with awe when we were told that one week before their death, they told a volunteer in Guatemala that their "vision was complete". Now it is up to the rest of us to continue their vision, continue their legacy, continue their passion, and continue their hope of making sure that no child in Guatemala gets left behind and misses out on an opportunity to dream. These children can dream because two special people never stopped dreaming, dreams that will continue through the hearts of those who work in AOJ Guatemala.

STOMP! in Guatemala

One of Sandra’s duties as Director of Education is to teach workshops to the teaching staff, the majority of whom are quite young (average age of 23) and do not have much experience in various areas such as class-room management techniques, education stimuli, or alternative teaching methods to capture the learning interests of a broad range of students. In this case, Sandra’s workshops become very valuable to get the teachers exposed to different ideas.

In one recent workshop, Sandra explained how to incorporate artistic expression in the classroom. Artistic expression is so critical for our students to gain self-confidence and to develop an identity that will be key to their intellectual development. The problem is that in Guatemala, artistic expression is not really common or encouraged so our teachers have very little resources to draw upon to teach their students.

To demonstrate how artistic expression can be fun and informative, Sandra introduced "stomp". This is a distinct, sub-genre of physical theatre where the body is incorporated with other ordinary objects as a means of producing percussion and movement. It has become a powerful tool in North American schools to teach alternative means of creative expression and improve the self-confidence of normally timid children.

In this particular workshop, Sandra first talked about the importance of artistic expression and gave a few examples of simple activities that the teachers can use. Sandra then showed a video clip of the STOMP! dance troupe, which is a UK-based theater group who has become world famous for its performances. Then the big moment arrived and Sandra had the staff organized into teams, with each team needing to create a short musical presentation using only objects they can find on mission property. The interesting thing was that almost all of the mission staff got involved (not just the teachers in the workshop) because they were so eager to participate! They did an excellent job as they used ordinary objects such as brooms, paint cans, garbage lids, plastic tubes and even running water to make beautiful rhythms. All the teachers, even the ones who were really shy, had a fun time but most of all, they learned a new skill to get the children excited about learning.

Below are a couple videos of the staff so you can see what they came up with on their own. You can see from the videos that the teachers were quite creative in making music by only using ordinary objects they found on the mission grounds!

International Day of the Book

April 23rd is "Day of the Book" and on this day, schools and organizations throughout the world are celebrating the appreciation of books and the enjoyment that comes from reading. Since our goal here in Guatemala is to encourage the children of the community to read, we decided to celebrate the "Day of the Book" (El Dia Del Libro) for the first time ever in the school's history by holding a door-decorating contest and a book-reading contest.

The door-decorating contest required each grade to decorate the entrance to their class in a way that would represent the cover of the book they are reading in class. We invited "celebrity" judges (Our Director-General, a Canadian volunteer, and a librarian from the Spanish Embassy) to evaluate each door based on a specific set of requirements, including: creativity, symbolism and a clear indication of the book being read in class. Each class also needed to have a student at each door who can summarize the book they are reading and answer any questions from the judges.
It was amazing to see the whole school get really excited about this contest by showing off what they were reading! Every student and teacher worked so hard this past week to have their door so beautifully decorated and the students did an amazing job explaining their books and answering the questions of the judges, who were really tough!

It was hard to choose which pictures to post because all the classes did such a wonderful job and you can easily tell that the teachers and students put careful thought into decorating their "book cover".

For us, it was really encouraging to see the classes read such a wide range of books. From Dr. Suess to the Chronicles of Narnia, every grade from Kindergarten to Grade 6 were reading books that just a year ago they never even heard of. To know they are exploring different world and adventures every day gives us a great satisfaction, especially when these books can give them a moment of escape from the desperate living conditions they come from.





















Below is a picture of the winning door: Grade 5. The book they read was "La Telarana de Carlota" ("Charlotte's Web" in English). The student pictured here really impressed the judges with his knowledge of the book and the way he answered the tough questions.

The other event we held was called "Battle of the Books!", which was a book-reading contest that tested the students' knowledge of the books they read. Each grade sent a representative group of 5 students, who each read 4 books, for a total of 20 books read in that group. Then they competed against each other by answering questions from the moderator about the 20 books they read! Below you can see that it was a big event as all the grades came out to support their classmates. Some even had pom-poms and banners to cheer them on!














In order for each team to answer a question from the moderator, they had to buzz in. However, since we didn't have an electronic buzzer, we just let the students "buzz" in Guatemalan style by using a tambourine! It was really funny to see them shoot up from their seat and shake the tambourine when they knew the answer!

Often times it was really tense as the rounds went by because the questions got more difficult. In the final round, it came to the Grade 3 class against the Grade 6 class. The Grade 3 underdogs put up a good fight but the Grade 6 class won by 1 point. It was a great effort by all the participating groups, who clearly impressed everyone by reading and remembering the key plot points of 20 books!

Below is a picture of these exceptional students, who in our eyes, are all winners because they took the initiative to grasp the importance of reading despite the environmental challenges they face.

Reading is not really valued, especially in the poorer communities where books are very difficult to come by. This is because books are a costly luxury when it comes to choosing between buying a book or buying food for the family. In addition, the parents of the students in our school are illiterate so they wouldn't get much encouragement to read at home. For us, a simple event such as celebrating the "Day of the Book" means so much for these kids to show that reading can be fun. All we had to do was supply the books and they did the rest! It's important for them to appreciate reading at an early age because if there is one thing that can help them break the cycle of poverty, it is the joy and appreciation of continued reading.

Below is a picture of Sandra, who organized the entire day including the "Battle of the Books" contest and the door-decorating contest. Her reaction in the picture sums up her feelings as it was a great day indeed to see the great work of our students....kids that most people have given up on, but we haven't.

Giving in Pampay

One of the services that we are proud of here in AOJ is to help a poor community called Pampay, which a small village made up mostly of indigenous peoples (see blog entry "Mother's Day in Pampay").

For the last 5 years, we have been providing assistance to this community as part of our regular services in Parramos and Guatemala City. Just recently, the efforts in Pampay has increased due to the generous contributions of donors in Canada. As a result, AOJ is investigating innovative programs to help the people of Pampay to find additional ways for self-sustainment and growth. Since every child in this community has been sponsored by a person in Canada (as the ones pictured above), AOJ has the opportunity to ensure that these children have every opportunity to get the help they need to succeed.

Along with introducing community programs, we also try to help out with providing materials to the families that otherwise they cannot afford. One example is giving each school-aged child a kit of school supplies, which has essential items such as notebooks, crayons, rulers, scissors, pens, etc. These are things that would be quite expensive if the familes had to buy these supplies on their own.

As you can see from the pictures of the school supply distribution in Pampay, the children have huge smiles on their faces as they received their school kits. It was really encouraging to see that the children were so happy to receive a bag of school supplies, which we hope translates into a real motivation to value the gift of an education. Below is a picture of all the children of the community and their school kits, ready for an exciting year of learning new skills and discovering new adventures!

Another way we were able to help the community was to give each family a bicycle. The bicycles came courtesy of a non-profit organization in Calgary called WARM. This organization raised funds to ship a container to Guatemala, which contained hundreds of bicycles among other things. This was a real blessing to the families as they would be receiving a mode of transportation that would be easier and faster than walking, and cheaper than purchasing and maintaining a horse or donkey.


Here you can you see the fathers of the families lining up to receive a bicycle for their family. It was like Christmas for them as they stood around patiently with beaming faces waiting to get something that they could never afford.

For many families, these bicycles were a better means of travellling to work or a faster means of getting to the nearest doctor in an emergency.




The amazing thing for us was that the adults of the community were just as excited as the little children. Almost nobody had ever ridden a bike before so it was heart warming to see them ride bicycles in the basketball court for the very first time - both adults and children alike. There were some unfortunate spills as the people tried to get accustomed to riding the bicycles, but very quickly they picked up the skill and were soon racing around our delivery trucks in circles!

To be involved in helping out an entire community is a real blessing for us. The fact that something so insignificant to us like a bicycle or a bag of school supplies can mean the world to a family and their child makes us realize how fortunate we were growing up. For us to give back in this way is a very small token of our own gratefulness and we looking forward to bringing more smiles to the children of Pampay as the year goes on. Stay tuned!

Staff Bonding Day

We were really happy to see some of our former staff members come back for another year and to welcome new people to our team for 2009. In fact, almost half the staff is new to the mission due to turnover and the creation of new positions. We thought it would be a good idea then to have some sort of staff bonding activity to create unity as we started the year.

However, we also wanted to have the staff appreciate the work we do at AOJ because a number of the new employees have never worked with such poverty. A number of the staff came from private organizations or well-to-do public schools where they dealt with people from a higher socio-economic background. And what better way to have the staff bond and appreciate the objectives of the mission than to build a house for a needy family! So we all packed into the back of the mission truck (it was amazing that we actually fit more than 20 people in the back!) and we drove to the construction site to start building our house.

You will see from the pictures that the staff really got into it. Everyone worked really hard and did whatever needed to be done...whether it was hammering a nail, lifting a wall, painting the frames, or getting on the top of the house to nail down the roof.

We were really proud of our staff with their efforts and we didn't hear any complaints on how hot the weather was (because it was really hot that day!) or how tired they were. For a lot of our staff, their first exposure to real proverty was a real eye-opener. To see first hand that people actually live on a dirt floor with thin walls and a flimsy roof really affected them. Not only did they get a real sense of what our organization does to help the poor communities in Guatemala, but it made them really appreciate how fortunate they were with the things they have that they might have taken for granted. Simple things like a proper roof, walls to keep out the cold and access to security and privacy are things we enjoy without often thinking about it too much.

It took about 3 hours to complete the house and once the finishing touches were done, it was amazing to stand back and see a brand new house that was beautifully painted.

Then it was time to give a blessing and hand over the keys. It was a very emotional time for everyone as the family was very grateful for receiving a proper home and the staff were very grateful for the opportunity to build it.

Some of the things we heard from the staff at the end of the day (translated from Spanish):

"I didn't know people in my own country actually lived like that. It makes me think before I complain too much."

"This house is so simple and basic, but the kids were really excited to move in. It was touching to see the smiles on their faces!"

"This was the best idea! I have never learned so much about myself and other people through a staff activity. Not only do I feel closer to the staff, but I learned a valuable lesson for myself."

"It was a wonderful experience to share with my colleagues. To give something like this to a child in need".

What a great day for the staff to give the gift of a new home. We couldn't think of a better way to start off 2009!