What I Really Do

Hello! Hello! First of all, I apologize for the lack of posting lately. Not having internet in our home has been good in some ways, but it has also made emailing and blog posting much more challenging. For this reason, our blog has been a bit neglected lately. On the other hand, not having internet has encouraged us to rely less on the world wide web for entertainment, to focus more on our lives here and has forced us to spend time doing other activities like reading (which I have been doing a lot of lately) or going on a walk with Lucia.

I was sitting back and thinking about what I should post about and I realized I haven’t written much about my job. Aside from my family and very close friends I feel like most people don’t know what I do here so I was inspired to write this blog post titled “What I Really Do”. When people find out that I work in Guatemala I think they envision something awesome and perhaps even glamorous. Or at least something like me in the middle of a village playing soccer with a million children while also simultaneously saving lives.

I am not hating on Angelina (she does some great things!)
Just wanted to give you a visual.

Well, I hate to break it to all of those dreamers, but the truth is my job is mostly an office job. This means I spend most days at my desk in front of my computer writing and answering emails. Woooooo! Let me explain. My job (Education Program Coordinator at Mayan Families) can be broken down into two parts:

#1- Administrative work With over 2,000 sponsored students to keep track of there is a LOT to do administratively. My co-worker, Laura, and I were the only TWO English-speaking people working in this department until recently a really hot new guy was hired. Haha I am talking about Dan (my Dan). He is now working at Mayan Families and we sit side by side. Awww :) Having him working with us has definitely helped us share the load. Before I was hired Laura was doing our job solo!

Laura and I share the same position so we try to divide the tasks. She deals a lot with payments (sponsors pay throughout the year for their sponsored students and it can get really confusing) and I deal a lot with asking for money. Mayan Families allows sponsors to be as involved in their sponsored students’ lives as they desire. In some cases the sponsors have requested to be contacted if their student needs anything, but in general, we write sponsors if their students have an extra school-related need. These are things that our yearly sponsorship fee doesn’t cover things like parade uniforms, graduation fees, and field trips. Lately, this has taken up a huge chunk of my time. In the past three months, I have written over 100 emails for extra school costs! Every email is personalized so I write them one by one. Ah! (Just a side note: ALL of Mayan Families’ money comes from individual donors and sponsors.  No grants or government funding.)

Something that Laura and I both do is answer questions from sponsors. They vary from legit concerns to questions that make you want to bang your head against the wall. Recently, someone asked if I could send a map marked with the location of Mayan Families’ office and with the location of where her student lives. Really!? Even though answering questions can be extremely tedious and time consuming, it’s a really important role because we act as the connectors between the sponsors and their sponsored students.

We also sign up new sponsors, promote students needing sponsorship on the website and Facebook, and write newsletter articles and stories.

#2- Field work The other part of my job is getting out of the office and into the field. I think it goes without saying that this is the part I love the most! Oftentimes sponsors come down to Guatemala to visit. Mayan Families offers all visiting sponsors the chance to get to meet their sponsored students. My role is to coordinate the sponsor visit with the student and his/her family. On the day of the visit I accompany the sponsor to the student’s home and act as a guide and a translator.

Mayan Families (MF) works in various villages in the Lake Atitlan region. MF runs 7 Preschool Nutritional Centers in 7 different villages, but our students are not limited to just these villages. I’d guess MF has sponsored students in over 20 villages so when a sponsor comes down we could be traveling over an hour (usually in the back of a pick-up truck!) to get to a village. This past week we went to a village about 45 minutes away and then hiked almost half a mile to a student’s home! Mayan Families has vehicles and drivers on staff that transport MF staff and visitors. I am always accompanied by a local Guatemalan that speaks Kaqchikel- the local indigenous language. It’s very common for the entire visit to be translated twice- I translate from English to Spanish, then the Guatemalan worker translates from Spanish to Kaqchikel and vice-versa. It can be time consuming, but it’s 100% necessary since many of MF’s sponsored students and families do not speak Spanish. Oftentimes the parents of our sponsored students have never studied and cannot read or write or only have an elementary level education.

Checking out a family's kitchen during a home visit

For me, this is by far the most satisfying part of my job. The visits are really meaningful for both the Mayan families and for the sponsors. For the families and sponsored students it’s really special to put a face to a name. Oftentimes, they do not even know their sponsor’s name until they meet him or her. They just know them as “godfather” or “godmother”- the translation of the Spanish word we use padrino or madrina. For the sponsors, the visits are usually a really touching experience. Most of the families in our program live very, very simply and it’s extremely humbling to see their living conditions. Many times the families have dirt floors, cook on open fires, sleep on woven straw mats and do not have clean drinking water. The conditions vary, but I have seen some very difficult living situations that have brought me to tears. It’s very common to enter a kitchen and see no food or hardly any at all. What a contrast to our stocked fridges and pantries.

During the visits I interview the family and take notes writing down basic info and also recording their greatest needs. This is information I then pass on to the sponsor in case they want to meet any of the family’s needs. Sponsors are never obligated to provide anything beyond the yearly sponsorship fee, but many times they purchase items for their sponsored students and families; gifts include things like water filters or a fuel-efficient wood burning stove.

Visiting another family who was very much in need

Today at church the message was on humility and upon seeing the subject my mind was immediately drawn to the many home visits I have participated in. It’s incredibly humbling to see people living in very challenging circumstances yet despite them they are kind, loving, and grateful for the support they are receiving especially for the opportunity to give an education to their children. It’s common for these families to give the sponsors (and sometimes me too) a thank you present during the visits. Families that can barely afford food go out of their way to purchase or make a present to say thank you. It’s pretty incredible and heart-warming. I have had the opportunity to witness some pretty magical moments in the field. Sometimes I have to struggle not to burst into tears! In fact, this past week I was doing a visit with a sponsor and he brought clothes for his sponsored student- a little girl about 5 years old. He was handing her the clothes (a sweater and a couple of pink long sleeve t-shirts) and all of a sudden she BURST into tears. I was confused about what was happening until her mother said that the little girl was so happy because she had never been given such beautiful things. It was truly a moving moment!

Although I love being out in the field it can also be very exhausting. This past week we were busy with a group of 10 and after two very long days in the field I was struggling. I felt run down and like I was fighting a cold. I love being around others and being that bridge between visitors and locals (something I am passionate about and feel gifted in), BUT I was reminded this week of the importance of rest.

Cheesin! Walking through a corn field
to the home of the family in the photo above.

Thanks for reading this post! I hope it gives you a better idea of what I am doing here in Guatemala with Mayan Families. If you have any thoughts or questions please send them my way! Look out for a post soon from Daniel about what it’s like to make international cuisine here in Guatemala.

ONE LAST THING.... Sometimes someone just really makes an impression on your heart and that's what happened to me with the family above (the photo where I am sitting on the stool). This family was so kind and very poor. They lived in a very isolated location and their house was in rough shape. They only have one child sponsored through Mayan Families. If you are interested in helping them especially by sponsoring one of their children to go to school please shoot me an email at my work address- rachel[at]mayanfamilies[dot]org
Thanks!