Dear Friends,
First of all, may I wish you all (and late) a very Happy New Year, which will bring you all the happiness you may deserve.
Then, May I thank all those who had responded to my Christmas’call, in order to help some of the different projects, I have been involved in Guatemala.
A particular and grateful thank you, to my ex-colleagues from Christie’s again. I hope you enjoyed the email and the photos.
Another thank you, to those who had participated to the Water filter project, which consist in buying water filter and give them to the poorest families in Guatemala. You will be receiving soon a Thank you email with Photos. You are giving a chance to a family to have pure water for several years, and save baby and children’s life (reduction of illness due to bacteria).
This is my on-going project until my departure (May 2004). We had already collected $6,500 and I am hoping to reach $10,000, which means 500 filters. Do not hesitate to participate. Send me back an email and up to the country where you live (tax deductible for US residents), I will give you information for sending your donation. It is a great cause, and I personally supervise it. THANK YOU very much in advance.
But enough about fund raising and let me give you some news about the last two months, which have been very busy.
I am still working with the children from the level 2. I have to get use to kids’ departure without explanation, and sometime, they showed up, back to the house, 1 or 2 weeks later, in terrible physical condition, dirty and smelly, under drugs and asking for help. I admired the opened-mind and kindness of the educators, who welcomed them with patience and understanding.
I never had any news from Selvin, but before Christmas, I received a call from Victor, who finally found a job and seems to do fine. On Christmas’day, I met Mardoguedo, in the street, in terrible condition and completely “stone”. He nevertheless recognized me. We went for a quick snack and I gave him food for the next two days….at least, he is still alive.
I have also been working in the street on a more regular base (twice a week), and it is the same, perpetual vision of poverty, drug, sex and violence. But, at least, we are welcomed with a smile and a happy face. They know that we will be giving clothes and first aids treatment. Last week, we had a tough day, as we entered a “squat” which we are visiting regularly, disgusting and smelly beyond believes. Five kids were there (usually there are around 20), three of them with the face completely hurt and still bleeding. We asked what did happen and it seems that another gang of kids, came the same morning, tried to rape one of the girls. The three boys tried to defend her and were severely beaten up. We took them, as well of the girl (who had been raped) to Medecin Sans Frontieres. Sorry to be so crude, but that is a daily kind of event, we have to deal with.
I am amazed, how the children keep on living and find the energy to still smile and laugh!
For Christmas, with he financial help of my friends from Christie’s, the five other volunteers and myself had organized a “Christmas ‘fiesta”. Thank to their generosity, we were able to buy a lot of electrical decorations, some huge cakes and a Watch for each kid! It could seem superficial, but they already received from Casa Alianza, food and clothes, BUT they would never dreamed to receive a present like this. It is a prove that we consider them as adult. They were so happy.
We did 2 parties, separately for the girls and the boys (as they lives in different premises). With the girls, we had a lot of singing and dancing. For many of them, it was their first piece of costume jewellery.
For the boys, it was also a very nice and happy time. I brought them another surprise, in the persona of Father Richard (34years old priest from Panama) who I have met two months ago in Antigua. Above the fact of being a priest who had grown up in the street, he is an international star as a rap singer! He has the groove and a great voice and he sings about drugs, street children, hope, family etc. Then he helped us to distribute the presents.
I had the pleasure to organize another Christmas’action (Thanks again to Christie’s generosity), as we had some money left over. Through the God’s Child project, run by Patrick Arkinson, we were able to distribute 300 Christmas’ presents to the kids, sick from AIDS and cancer, from the Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala City. You should have seen the smile and happiness of these kids. Many of them came from the centre of the country and never received a toy (doll, car, ball etc.)
That is it for Christmas.
Few weeks before Christmas, I went with some friends to Lake Atitlan. It is one of the most beautiful and amazing landscapes I have ever seen. It is a very clear and clean lake, surrounded by volcanoes, with small villages, only reachable by boat. The local people are very sweet and welcoming. Supposedly, Saint Exupery wrote a part of “The Little Prince” there. It was a real break from the dirty and polluted streets of the capital.
Christmas’ eve, I went back to Antigua and saw an amazing show. The whole city is bursting in Fire at midnight, between fireworks, firecrackers and boom fire. It was an explosion of laugh, joy, light and of course, music, as every occasion is good for dancing! I was certainly not the last one to join the crowd!
It was a very special and unique atmosphere and a lot of fun.
For New Year, I went back to LA, in order to check on my apartment, take care of technical issues (bank, doctor, etc.), see friends and I came back, to Antigua, beginning of January.
I took the opportunity of being in the States, to approach and consult some friends and contacts about another project I am getting involved with. Related to the water filter, which had stayed a very local action, I am trying to help the inventor and Mrs Wilson (who has been supporting the production and distribution of these filters), to put together a proposal in order to built an International Centre for Safe Water (improving the production, centralizing it, quality control with the supervision of MIT) and above all, a training centre for local or international persona who care to learn and promote this invention. This means cheap access to pure water in many countries around the world, which could save million of lives. It is a fabulous project and with my previous experience, I am trying to help them to put together a very professional proposal and sending it to potential donors.
If any of you have suggestion, DO Not Hesitate.
I will keep you posted on this long-term project too.
Back to the boys’ community, I saw with sadness that the house of level 2 burned to ground on January 1st. Thank to God, it was during lunch time, and none of the kids has been hurt. But they lost all their personal belongings, which mean a lot to them. The building being insured, it will be renovated, but that will take 8 months! During this period, they are “piled” into a smaller house and we tried to make it as comfortable as possible.
The second sad news was the departure of Jaime Tecu, director of the boys’ house, who will be working for Unicef. It was a wonderful and charismatic 27 years old man, married with two kids. I felt honoured to have had the opportunity to work with him.
As several of you knows, I had some serious doubts about Casa Alianza in Guatemala. The way it is managed and a lot of internal politics in the administration, are very frustrating issues. But I guess, it is the same anywhere. I will be thinking about it, during February, but I will maybe leave them next month and devote more time to the Water Filter Project and to some other projects with poor families, helping them in fund raising and controlling of activities.
Otherwise, I manage to save a little bit of time, and had the pleasure to start watercolour lessons and develop my skills in “Latino fever” dance (salsa, merengue and punta).
The cultural life is quite small, but I had the chance to go to a photo exhibition, of a wonderful young artist, Andreas Asturias, who uses his skills to protest against injustice and poverty. Each photo is a composition with models and local background, protesting against hunger, poverty, prostitution, corruption, gang, etc…but in such artistic way, that they are real work of art!
I also went to an opening, showing modern design furniture made from Mangrove trees (unique, as this tree is protected…. they have the only worldwide license). Extremely stylish and creative…my heart of Furniture specialist was jumping!
As you could see, I have a quite active and busy life. I will nevertheless try to take it easy in March, as I realize that my sabbatical will be ending in May, and I need to take some time for me. I will be starting looking for a job (ideally for September 2004), primarily in the USA or in Europe, in antique furniture, jewellery or maybe humanitarian fund raising and management.
I am blessed to encountered wonderful people; to learn a new language, discover a new culture and way of life, in a beautiful country. I am learning to prioritise and “relativise”. I am relearning how to live and enjoy simple things. But certainly, this experience in Guatemala will have a great impact on me.
Thank you all again for your support, morale and financial. It is always great to receive news from you.
As usual, I am writing to you from the Monastery, where I am doing another retreat in silence. Still very cold but peaceful and beautiful.
I will keep you all in my thought and I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Amities
Ghislain
