Canada Day in Guatemala!

July1st is Canada Day, where we celebrate the day Canada gained independence. We´re both pretty proud Canadians and we sorely miss the huge celebrations that take place in Ottawa on this day. But, just because we´re living in Guatemala now, doesn´t mean that we can´t celebrate being Canadian!

Of course in Canada, we wouldn´t need to do go to work but that didn´t let us down. We just got dressed up in our Canada Day gear, armed ourselves with lots of Canadian flags, and took the Chicken Bus to work! We did get some strange looks, but hey, we´re Canadian, eh?!

We basically painted the school red and white (although Steve is wearing all black but he claims that those were all the Canadian clothes he has! At least his shirt had a red maple leaf!) We brought lots of Canadian candy and gave a treat to every child in the school. The kids were so excited and said ¨thank-you¨in English everytime with big smiles.

Living here has made us realize how fortunate we really are to be Canadian. We were born in a great country with great opportunity. We´ve been truly blessed to have grown up in an environment were we had access to an abundance of resources that the children here do not . To give a little of what we have to bring a smile to a child´s face is truly rewarding.

Of course the students were not the only ones who would fall victim to our Canadian invasion. To the right is a picture of our Head Social Worker and the school´s principal. They were great sports and were more than willing to help us celebrate Canada Day in style! Although we miss all our Canadian friends and family back home, it is good to know that we are not alone here and have some new friends in our adopted country.

Although we never expect any gifts on Canada Day, we were really surprised to get a special gift that we will never forget. The Grade 5 class made a large mural on the school in honour of Canada Day! Apparently they did the research and made all the materials in the morning and by lunch time, we were greeted with such a beautiful display of Canadiana!

Yes, we weren´t in Canada but it ended up being one of the greatest Canada Days we ever experienced! We are very fortunate to have people here that care about us and our country. So happy Canada Day everyone, wherever you may be living!

Mother´s Day in Pampay

May 10th was Mother´s Day in Guatemala and although we sad because we weren´t able to spend the day with our moms, we were able to spend a special day with the warm people of Pampay.

Pampay is a small village that is about a 40 min drive from the city of Antigua. It is situated in a deep valley surrounded by dense forest and farming land. Access to Pampay is limited to only two unpaved roads that can only be travelled via a large vehicle, such as a 4X4. There are only about 300 people living in Pampay, who are mostly indigenous and live in poor conditions.

AOJ has been providing essential services to this community, such as: organizing volunteer teams to build houses for poor families who cannot afford one; organizing the first ever child sponsorship program for the community that will provide essential food and clothing for the children and their families; finding and organizing volunteer teams to come to the village to carry out development projects or even just play games with the children who do not posses any games or toys; and, working with the community elders to develop projects to help the community. More on our work in Pampay in future blogs, but for now, back to Mother´s Day....

Mother´s Day in Guatemala is very special. Mothers are treated with high regard and admiration in Guatemala. The festivities for mothers are carefully planned and are often held on a large scale. The elders of the community invited us to participate in their Mother´s Day festivities and it was great timing because a volunteer team from our home church in Ottawa happened to be in Guatemala during the same week. We were able to watch several performances put on by the children of the school and had a delicious lunch hosted by the elders of the community. One of the most precious performances was a traditional indigenous dance put on by the kindergarten class. You can see from the pictures that they looked adorable in their traditional clothing. We were amazed that they were able to memorize a complicated 15 min routine!




























Members of our volunteer team were also able to participate in the festivities. Below are some brave Canadians listening to instructions from Sandra before they start the "lime dance" with some local mothers. The object of the game is to dance with their partner to traditional Mayan folk music without dropping the lime. The big joke was the guys were so tall that they had to practically stoop to their knees so they can dance at head level. It was quite the site!



Another fun activity was the "toilet paper mummy". In this one, some of the mothers competed with each other to see how fast they can wrap their children in toilet paper! All of them did a pretty good job but there can only be 1 winner and the mother on the left ended up winning the contest. You probably can't tell, but that's her 5 year old daughter wrapped in toilet paper!

The festivities ended with some closing remarks from the local Mayor. Pictured below is the Mayor speaking to the crowd with Sandra at his side translating in English. The Mayor particularly thanked the volunteer team from our home church and AOJ for all the work we are doing in Pampay.

It was a great day for all as we really bonded with this community. Although we were foreigners and they did not have many financial resources, the community still invited us for food and hospitality. Pampay is a special place with people who have very warm hearts. We are both very excited to continue to work with the people in this region throughout the rest of our year in Guatemala so stay tuned for more updates from Pampay!