Guatemala Trip!!! Been, Done, and come back!

We arrived in Guatemala City on the 29th July after what felt like endless traveling. We could hardly believe it was still the same day, but of course, with the time difference, it was!

We were glad when we reached Antigua and our hotel!

The first day (30th) was spent unwinding from the long journey. We had an opportunity to visit the market, and do some shopping. In a team of 5 girls this was undoubtedly a good opportunity!

In the afternoon we paid a short visit to the disabled hospital, Hermano Pedro. This is the "best" facility that the Guatemalan’s have. people say if their children are born with any disability, "never mind, send them to Hermano Pedro." we didn't have time to do much more than look on that day, but we returned later on in the trip.



The following day (31st) July, we were taken to meet Thelma, who has a ministry for adults with learning disabilities. A local pastor called Meffy was teaching 5 of these men to run and compete in a race with everyone else. We had a wonderful time sitting with the parents of these men and getting to know Thelma, Meffy and his family.



The Sunday morning 1st august saw us sitting in Thelma's church for half of the service, until we had been introduced. Thelma was keen for us to be there because she would like to organize a workshop for her church in the future. Then we took a quick exit and scooted off to Meffy's church where we did a workshop on how to include people with disabilities in their church and community.

We started by introducing the team members. Hannah is a youth worker in her church which has a lot to do with people with disabilities, and is also a sports coach. Marie and her Daughter Lindsey are Occupational Therapists. Christina and Philippa have been best friends since Christina was Born 18 years ago. She will be going to Oxford Brookes University this year to study music. Philippa is 21 years old and have been blind since birth. Christina gave the greatest example of how inclusion can just become a way of life, because she has naturally always included Philippa in everything. Philippa gave her testimony and experience of growing up as a blind Christian in a sighted world. We also did some parachute activities with the group, including showing how a bible story could be taught using it.

The people at Meffy's church said they enjoyed the workshop very much and that it gave them useful and practical ideas to use when we left.



For the next 3 days, 2nd 3rd and 4th august, we were at New Life School, half way up a volcano in a little village called Santa Maria de Jesus. This was a school Marie and Philippa had visited on the trip last year. There are 80 students there, all with learning or physical disabilities of varying degrees. It is run by Judy and Amy. They demonstrate God's love in an amazing way, not only running the school, but doing great work in the community as well.

We were able to spend time with the teachers, Marie Hannah and Lindsey giving them practical tips about how to help some of the students who had more unusual behavioral problems to cope with. We also spent time with some of the children. Last year the parents of a blind girl with Cerebral Palsy had come to our workshop for the parents at New Life. After meeting them last year Philippa was delighted to find that the young girl Yamalin, had started in the kindergarten class. It was a joy to spend time with her and get to know her.

During our time there, a mother with a baby who had hydrocephalus came to the school. She bought the baby to Amy and Judy because she was very ill. The shunt, which had been put in soon after her birth, had not worked. This meant that her head was 56cm round, but her face and body were tiny even though she was 6 months old. It was the mother's first child, and her husband had abandoned her when the child was born. The baby was suffering now and was too weak to move much. Mum asked us to pray that the Lord would take her home so that she wouldn't suffer anymore. It was one of the hardest and happiest moments in our lives. It was so sad, and yet a privilege to be there and a joy to know that the God, who had bought this mother to that decision, had given us all a certain hope of life after death. The words of the hymn Blessed Assurance were so appropriate for that occasion that we stood by the door and sang them, before leaving to give mum and baby some time alone. None of us expected the child would survive the night, but the last we heard before we left Guatemala was that she was improving slightly.

Judy took us to 2 schools while we were with her. One was a Christian school. They started off with the wrong attitude, saying that their building didn't allow them to accept disabled students since it was inaccessible. However after we explained and demonstrated that it wasn't necessarily the building that was the main stumbling block, but peoples attitudes, and showed them that change is not always needed, sometimes adaptation is enough, we saw a definite change of heart. At the end of our session, the head master sat down and gave them a long talk about changing their attitude in that school. He said that in future they would accept disabled students.

The next school was a bit more challenging. Since Through the Roof is a Christian charity, we give the biblical basis of disability everywhere we go. Teamed up with parachute bible stories, action songs, and Philippa's testimony, it is a very Christian based program. However, at this school, we were asked not to talk about religion any more after giving the biblical basis. A bit of a hard task since Philippa still had to give her testimony. Philippa said, "I can't even give my experience of being a blind person without mentioning God. He is my life, and therefore I can't separate him from It." so after a prayer with the team, she stood up and said that, and said that she made no apologies for mentioning God.



The next day we were with Steve from Love the Child in San Lukas. He took us back to Hermano Pedro, this time to spend some time with the young adult men. We did parachute activities with them, and just spent time with them. Steve asked Philippa to sing to them, and after a few seconds wondering what she could sing off by heart, she sang Seek Ye First The Kingdom of God. This proved to have been God's choice, since hallelujah is the same in English and in Spanish, and the boys were able to join in.

In the afternoon we enjoyed visiting the children at the orphanage. Some children, who had been there last year, were still there. Including Hannah, a 13 year old girl with Brittle bone syndrome, who is very small, but talks fluently in English and Spanish. It was very special to see her again, and to spend time with the children. The baby who Philippa held last year called Diego had been reunited with his family, after a year of being seperated from them by an illegal adoption, which was wonderful to learn.



Friday 6th august was our most hectic day. We were taken to America Latina School for training teachers, and did 3 2-hour workshops with 30 students at a time. This was exhausting, but rewarding as we could see some of the students really taking on board what we were saying.



Our last 2 days in Guatemala were spent with Steve. This time we went to 2 churches on the Saturday, one in a squatter’s village, which was in a garage. It is always amazing to see how in the most unexpected places God will bring together his people to worship him and help each other. The second church was more traditional. We had a group of about 18 young people, and again they said that they found our ideas useful.



Sunday was spent at the church with the deaf ministry, which we went to last year. It was nice to see a couple who Marie and Philippa remembered from last time and learn how they were getting on. There were a lot of people at the workshop, and we received good feedback. We were able to stay for the service too. In the evening we were taken on a spontaneous visit to an English speaking church. We were all ready to sit back and listen to the service and relax, when Philippa was asked to give her testimony and both she and Christina were asked to sing. We sang the lord's my shepherd. Nothing could have been better to end our trip on than the lovely service we enjoyed there.



It is such a wonderful and humbling privilege to do God's work, and we hope to revisit Guatemala in the future to see his ongoing works with the amazing people in that country.