2009 Service-Learning Spring BreakAntigua, Guatemala

Lisa Domby, M.S., CCC-SLP, Clinical Assistant ProfessorDivision of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Antigua, Guatemala

Seven speech-language pathology graduate students and one occupational science student traveled to Antigua, the former capital of Guatemala. Antigua is a colorful colonial city and a UNESCO world heritage site.

Accommodations

We stayed at Posada de Don Diego, a small inn where we also ate breakfast every morning.

Antigua: Mayan Culture

The indigenous Mayan people of Guatemala speak at least 21 different languages. They have used backstrap weaving for thousands of years. The different techniques, materials, patterns, and symbols in their traje (traditional clothing) are unique to each village.

Marimba is the national music of Guatemala.

Antigua: Processions

Since we were visiting during Cuaresma (Lent), processions marched through the streets of Antigua throughout the day and night.

Trip Components

ServiceFamilias de Esperanza (Common Hope)Brillo de Sol (Sunshine School)Nueva Vida (New Life School)

Learning Ixchel Spanish School

Cultural ExcursionsCoffee farmVolcano hikeJade artisan visit

Service: Common Hope

Common Hope provides resources for over 2,700 children to attend school each year in seventeen villages outside of Antigua and Guatemala City. Common Hope’s initiatives focus on education, health care, housing, and family development. Jessica Witt, a speech-language pathologist at Common Hope, organized a variety of activities for our group.

Service: Common Hope

UNC students collected and donated Spanish children’s books and games. In Guatemala, many families live on an average of $4 per day. They struggle to provide essentials like food and clothing, and are not able to provide books and school supplies for their children. Common Hope’s library allows children to learn the joy of reading.  www.commonhope.org

Service: Common Hope

We also collected and donated children’s rain ponchos. Guatemala has an extensive rainy season and many families do not have any rainwear. Common Hope distributes ponchos to families who need them.

Service: Common Hope

Students accompanied social workers on home visits to villages surrounding Antigua. Many families in Guatemala live in small, dirt floor shacks made of cornstalks or scavenged materials. Common Hope helps families build a small modular home that is clean, dry, and safe. They earn the home by working sweat equity hours, and Common Hope helps them to build it.

Service: Common Hope

Students created therapy materials for Common Hope’s speech-language pathologists. The SLPs provide services in the Common Hope clinic, in classrooms, and in homes.

Service: Common Hope

Students were paired with adolescents in a combined speech/occupational therapy class focused on developing fine motor skills, a marketable vocational skill (beading), money skills, and social interaction skills.

Service: Speech/OT Workshop

Service: Brillo de Sol

Brillo de Sol (“sunshine”) is a school for children with learning disabilities. In Guatemala, a typical public school classroom has up to 70 students, and there are no accommodations for students with disabilities. At Brillo de Sol, each classroom has 10-15 students.

Service: Brillo de Sol

The school’s director (a speech-language pathologist) asked us if we would decorate the classrooms, according to themes the children had selected. Here she is showing the students in the newly decorated La Selva (jungle) some of the books we donated to the school.

Service: Brillo de Sol

The theme in this classroom is Las Frutas (fruits).

Service: Brillo de Sol

Service: Brillo de Sol

Some of the Brillo de Sol students performed a dance to thank us for visiting their school.

Service: Nueva Vida

Nueva Vida (“new life”) is a special education school serving 75 children with physical and cognitive disabilities in Santa Maria de Jesus, a Mayan village next to a volcano. www.newlifeguatemala.com

Service: Nueva Vida

Students assisted teachers in the classrooms and conducted speech and language evaluations.

Learning: Ixchel Spanish School

Each afternoon, the students participated in Spanish immersion classes with one-on-one instruction specific to their levels. www.ixchelschool.com

Learning: Ixchel Spanish School

Students with limited Spanish skills learned basic grammar and vocabulary, while more advanced students focused on history, culture, and dichos (sayings) of Guatemala. People from Antigua are said to have a panza verde (green belly) because they eat so many avocados. ¡Buen Provecho!

Excursions: Coffee Farm

We visited a small coffee farm and learned how to pick coffee.

Coffee Farm

Coffee farmer Timoteo Minas explained the processes of planting, growing, harvesting, fermenting, separating, drying, and roasting the coffee. The organization As Green As It Gets helped the farmers to form a cooperative that enables them to complete all these processes, increasing their earnings. http://www.asgreenasitgets.org/timoteo.html

Coffee Farm

Coffee Farm

We enjoyed a delicious traditional meal of pepian prepared by Timoteo’s wife and daughter.

Excursions: Pacaya Volcano Hike

We hiked in Pacaya National Park, which includes an active volcano.

Pacaya Volcano Hike

With the help of our rented sticks, we made it to the top.

Pacaya Volcano Hike

Excursions: Jade Artisan

We visited Francisco Zuñiga, a jade artisan who lives in San Juan del Obispo. We learned there are more than 30 shades of green, black, purple and white jade found in Guatemala. Francisco travels to the mountains to select the jade rocks himself before cutting, polishing and setting them. http://www.asgreenasitgets.org/francisco.html

Go Tarheels!

We found a place to watch the Carolina-Duke game!

Departure

Finally, it was time to go home.

Reflections: Service Learning

I may have gone to Guatemala to try to help others, but I think that they also taught me a lot in return.

This trip was the perfect balance of service, learning, and exploration! Every time I think back I am amazed at what we learned and experienced in only one week!

I was thrilled when I discovered on my last day that I was able to communicate effectively with some of the students at one of the schools that we visited, and was able to assist students with their schoolwork, as well as in speech therapy sessions.

I did not expect to use the language very much. However, the 1:1 instruction each day, coupled with the constant exposure to the language greatly increased my proficiency in a short amount of time. The opportunity to be involved with an assessment in Spanish and observe a therapy session was extremely beneficial. After this trip I feel a lot better about interacting with Spanish-speaking individuals.

Service Learning

While I still have a ways to go, my confidence in my Spanish skills has improved. By the end of the week, I noticed that I was more confident when trying to speak with others in Spanish.

I was repeatedly struck by the feeling that I did not want to have to rely on the speech-language pathologist or any of my fellow classmates to have an in-depth conversation with Spanish speakers. They have inspired me to continue learning Spanish.

Learning to communicate effectively with Spanish speaking clients becomes more necessary each day. However, there is more to effective communication than simply being able to formulate a thought into words; it is also necessary to try to understand the perspective of the person you are communicating with.

Service Learning

As I look back over the trip I am amazed at how much I learned about Guatemalan life and the way in which medical and educational systems are currently operating.

I felt honored to be a part of these amazing organizations. Being exposed to the harsh realities was definitely necessary in order for me to fully understand the enormous need for these projects.

The experience of visiting Guatemala was thought provoking in general. To work on a coffee farm one morning and then to have lunch at the owner’s home and listen to him talk about living through the country’s civil war - these experiences cannot really be described.

I realized that when encountering a different culture it is important to try not to judge but rather to try to recognize the differences. Despite the problems with the education system in Guatemala, many people are trying to do the best that they can with what is available to them.

Service Learning

I feel that I learned so much about Guatemalan culture simply by walking through the cobblestone streets of Antigua and exploring the natural beauty of this area. It is the culmination of all of these experiences that made this trip so amazing and something that I could never forget or replace.

I loved being able to go into Antiguan homes, share meals with them, get to know them on a personal level and hear their stories. I also really enjoyed getting to know people in the program on a much deeper level.

I was (very pleasantly) surprised by how much we all got to see of real Guatemalan life by visiting the schools, having meals in their homes, and getting to speak and talk with natives.

I want to go back!

Hasta la proxima …