The Michigan Difference: Guatemalan Style

Bueno  noches!

It is now Tuesday and our trip is sadly about half over.  Our time here has flown by as we experience so many new things--the previous blog posts serve as a testament to that.

The great thing about today is how relaxing it was.  All that stove building was pretty strenuous work.  A lot of the houses were in such remote areas, far away down a steep, rocky hill.  Carrying the heavy parts for the stoves was no easy breeze, and the help from the families was greatly appreciated.  It seemed as if they had less trouble carrying the cement pieces.  It makes me think about how much manual labor they have incorporated into their daily life; even the little kids could carry some of the smaller pieces.  Despite the strenuous work we had, knowing how much the families were grateful for our work really was a strong motivating factor.  They would repeatedly thank us.  I remember on Saturday, a few families offered us some refreshments and snacks, even though they really should be keeping the food to themselves.  The mother of a  Katzhecal family in San Jorge was very thankful: I recall her thanking God for this blessing, for bringing us there to help her and her family.  Her humbleness and the deep appreciation she showed to us was very endearing and heartwarming.  Just thinking about these experiences really made the stove building a great part of the trip.  It helps to remember how much of a difference we're making.

Another thought I have is about the Michigan difference.  Even before attending the university, we students are exposed to the strong notions of the far reach of Michigan's greatness.  Being here on this service trip, I'm starting to realize more about what the Michigan difference really is.  In one aspect, it's the global recognition of the Wolverine pride--we have met people here who are familiar with UM.  For example, during dinner tonight, we spoke with one lady who's daughter actually is the nutritionist for the sports teams at UM!  Such a small world!  And seeing how many Wolverines go abroad, it's no wonder how UM is so recognized.  It's also about utilizing the great diversity found on campus for the greater good.  Campus houses many different races and ethnicities, and with that comes a better understanding and way to comprehend others who are different.  Our group itself is very diverse, which itself is a microcosm of the widespread global infusion at UM.  Having this diversity at school, in my opinion, helps acknowledge and understand what it means to be here.  It's about being aware of our own identities while not allowing it to be inhibiting.  It's about understanding and coexisting, and working together for a greater common goal.

And so, with a few more days left on our wonderful trip, I can't wait to see what more we can experience and what more we can learn.  I look forward to the next few days, as well as coming back home to my loved ones! (but not school). ;)

Kevin Chung

http://picasaweb.google.com/110451788994899868894?gsessionid=n6pdVr6zZWS0pI2z_O4ctA

Simply Awesome!!

Day 4

After the relaxing day of shoping and going for a boat ride, we were back to business. We all woke up early and left for breakfast by 7.30am. After having a filling breakfast, we went to Mayan Families where we then given our plans for the day. We were going to build stoves in Terralinda, a settlement that was high up in the hills which overlooked Lake Atitlan. The ride up in the truck was a bit bump but the scenary and views we got from high up in the hills was magnificient. Personally, I felt the houses we visited today were in a worse state than the first day and I think one of the contributing factors to that is accessiblity. Some of the house we built stoves were on steep slops and getting to them was a challenge. But all in all it was worth it to see the smiles that we brought them. On our return to panajachel, we decided to hike down the hill which took us about 40 minutes. Getting back to the hostel, all of us took a quick shower and headed off for dinner and then proceed to the talk that we had by a local Mayan activist. The talk was very insightful and brought more meaning to the work that we were doing here and what it means to the people here. The speaker shared his personal experience growing up during the Guatemalan Civil War and the healing process that he is undergoing with his current work. All in all we had a really great day, tired but certainly worth it. Looking forward to day 5 !!!
We did stop to get a cone of ice cream for desert !!

Cheers,
Girish

By the way here is an interesting link shared by our speaker today.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=guatemala+documentary+mountains+that+tremble&oq=guatemala+documentary+mountains+that+tremble&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=1310l30942l0l31798l62l62l13l35l47l0l190l1463l4.10l14l0

Tercer Día

We started our day at 7.30am. After having our breakfast, we went to a restaurant nearby our hostel and we have a speaker, Juan Skinner. He talked about some interesting facts about the lakes in Guetamala. Some of the things that he have mentioned reminded me of my biology classes which I thought was really educational. Also, he mentioned about the Michigan Great Lakes have great resources! In his sildes, he showed a lot of statictics about the Guetamalan community. His statistics were broken down into categories like gender, educational status and cities. From his talk, I got to know that some of the rural areas are almost 100% illiterate and only about 20% of the people in the city received tertiary education. I felt more appreciative that I got the chance to be educated and just because they were born in a different area, they have a completely different life from me.

After that, we went over to the Lake Atitlan. Also, we took a boat ride for sight seeing! The volcanoes were very huge and I must admit that it was one of the most beautiful views that I have ever seen in my entire life.

I was glad that we got the chance to see this!

By the way, the following are the pictures taken.

Finally, I just want to say that this has been a very wonderful experience working with the Rotaractors of UofM!! Go Blue!

By,
Pauline Low

Pictures

Friends and Family,

I forgot one last thing. There may be pictures of us up online soon.

Google Mayan Families Picasa and maybe youll find some pics of us. Be on the lookout for 2.25 onwards

Cheers,
H

Saturday

Best first day ever.  After waking up to Hari's lovely singing and getting to breakfast extra late, we made it to the Mayan Families headquarters here in Panajachel. Juan Carlos built an instructional stove for us, with Charlie translating of course, and we were off, loading the trucks and riding up into the beautiful mountains of San Jorge.
Team Fuego tore it up out there, hauling all our materials up a couple of side streets to a pair of houses well off the beaten path. The first stove we built was for a woman living in a 3-ish room house with her seven little girls. All completely adorable of course. The second was for a rowdy family of seven with a pig and a flock of chickens in their yard. After lunch our teams built 2 more stoves each, leaving the rest to be built Monday in Tierra Linda.
All in all, a fantastic first day. We had a ton of fun and accomplished so much. This first day alone was worth all the work we put into this trip, but I think everyone's looking forward to a less physically demanding day tomorrow.
Buenas noches a todos, y hasta luego.
Love,
Rotaract

Team Fuego Killing It Today

Dear Friends and Family,

Today was an awesome day! We woke up around 7am and headed towards breakfast by the lake. Unlike last night, we actually got to enjoy the beautiful scenery. We were told later that the lake is apparently one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, according to Yahoo Travel. Don´t worry ' we have lots of pictures ! After breakfast, we headed to the Mayan Familes office headquarters, learned more about the community,culture and finally learned how to make the stoves we would spend the entire day installing! We broke off into four teams and went to town building these stoves. It was an amazing experience for me. Honestly, I dont think Ill ever forget this day in my life. The houses we went into for the most part, and people we met epitomize local poverty in the region. The community members were extremely friendly and thankful for our services. I was extremely humbled to have met everyone that I met. Im  really happy that we all  made a difference in the lives of the homes we built the stoves in. Team Fuego (consisting of myself, Emily, TJ; Ishani, and our honorary member Rui) worked extremely hard. The worst injury we had today was Sam getting hurt by jumping on the trampoline, yeah true story, but all is good. There were some dangerous moments, not going to lie, but everyone had an awesome physically demanding workout and overall had a great time. I cant for all of you to see the pictures we took. The scenery, the cute kids we interacted with, the food we ate, and the car rides back and to the local villages sort of sum up the whole day. But hey, the night isstill young.  The time is now 10:10 pm, and we are heading out into the local town after showering after a hards day of work and dinner.

Thats all for now.

Loving you and missing you all.

Cheers,
H

Hola

The whole journey has been a roller-coaster ride from the early morning flight, to a delayed connecting flight to Guatemala City, to a bumpy and speedy van ride to Panajachel. I was really excited when we arrived in Guatemala City. Even though the traffic was bad and the weather was warm and humid, it reminded me of Malaysia and it's good to feel at home for a week. However, I personally didn't enjoy the van ride because we were going through winding roads and the fact that the driver was just driving pretty fast like its in a fast and furious movie scene didn't make the whole situation a lot better.

At last, we arrive in Panajachel and were greeted by two great people - Mike and Bethany - who were also voluntering here with the Mayan families. They brought us to dinner and told us of their stories here. I feel that it's amazing how these people can leave their comfort zone and come to a foreign country, and a pretty impoverished one at that to help out those in need. Their hardwork and passion is what driving me to overcome whatever obstacles or difficulties that we may face in the coming week.
Even though it's exhausting for all of us, the sight of the town and people and the culture were just overwhelming.

Ian

Today has been the definition of change. Flying in a plane for six hours and driving in a mini-van for three hours through a hilly road has brought our group from a first world country to a place I've never imagined of the living conditions.I have traveled a lot, but today´s trip to Guatemala was truly unique in that I have never been to a third-world country.

The city was packed with cars ranging from rusty corollas from the 80s to brand new Mercedes; chucky cheese and oddly-designed burger king stood by the dirty streets; police and security guards armed with shotguns and submachine guns guarding certain locations in the city. This was quite expected, as I learned from CIA website that Guatemala is a very dangerous country filled with organized crime that has been stuck in a poverty after the civil war. I was honestly very scared, and I regreted coming to this trip; however, as we drove away from the packed city and drove to a hilly mountains, my view slowly changed.

We drove through a mountain for three hours. The roads were very steep and curvy, and Ray was getting sick from this. Actually, everyone got somewhat sick, including me. Me! I never get car sick, yet I was getting a headache too. However, despite the slight pain, I couldn't take my eyes off the road and be amazed at the sight of Guatemalan countryside. The first thing I noticed was the numerous roaming dogs, stray dogs. Second, the poor infrastructure and poorly built buildings made of simple bricks and metal pans. Third, students in uniform coming out of school at an evening. Seeing these things quite made me nostalgic, as it reminded me of Korea in the 90s. When I often visited my grandparents in the country side of Korea, it would hold the exact view.

Once we arrived at Panajachel, my view toward Guatemala changed dramatically again. I actually expected shady streets and gang members, but it actually the complete opposite. Peopel were very friendly while the streets had that Miami-feeling. The place was filled with nice restaurants and bars, which I didn't quite expected it. Speaking of restaurants, our group ate a restaurant by the lake with Mike and Bethany, members from the Mayan Families. Even though it was dark, I could still feel the lake through the sound of wave splashing and birds chipping. The meal was excellent too (I had beef. There were choice of beef, chicken, pork, and vegetarian. Ohhhh, there were also a choice of lemon or orange juice)

Sam

     So as today comes to an end I can truly say that my impression of Guatemala has changed greatly. I would have never imagined that Guatemala had such a great influence from the western world. From Burger King to Chuck'E'Cheese, and even McDonalds Dilvery mopeds. I am just blown away at the amount of culture that Guatemala contains !

Friday, February 24th
First day in Guatemala!

If I have learned anything this semester, it is that college life is unpredictable. The week before break was spent preparing for exams in the depths of the library, and it passed in a quick blur. Today, spring break began, and time slowed down. In the past twenty four hours, I have gone from trudging though the snow that blanketed  the streets of Ann Arbor late last night, to flying over the Gulf of Mexico, to driving along the winding mountain roads of Guatemala, to strolling through the narrow cobblestone streets of lively Panajachel. Though it has barely been a day, the new experiences, tastes, sights, and strengthening of friendships that have already taken place made the little bit of our trip that has gone by seem like much more than that.

Though I usually dread hours spent on long car rides and flights, my favorite part of today was the time spent en route to our destination. I have never before been south of the United States, tending to look towards Asia and Europe

I have yet to charge the battery on my small panasonic camera, so when the urge came over me to reach for my camera today, I forced myself to burn images into my memory instead. Some photographs that are now hanging in the dark room of my mind:

- Rui frantically counting all of us off when we loaded into the buses in Ann Arbor. The amount of work that he put into this trip is amazing!
- Lucy pressing her nose to the plastic of the tiny airplane window, oohing at the beautiful shades of blue and tiny islands that we saw as we took off from Miami,
- Pauline and Girish dozing in the airport as we waiting for our connecting flight in Miami.
- Stargazing with TJ on the back of a pick-up truck as we drove back from dinner.

Audrey

First Impressions

Environment

It smells like China.  Everyone keeps commenting on how everything here feels so familiar.  Girish mentions how the car shops are like in Malaysia.  Hari and Ishani speak about India.  The way the shops look, the weaving of the motorcycles all remind each of us of something familiar.  The weather is warm and breezy, the three volcanoes surrounding us carry a certain awe and mystery, the town we are staying in is quaint and friendly, and we can finally see the stars.  I already feel like I´m at home.  

People

What I notice most are the smiles.  Smiles are universal.  They testify to how easy communication can be, even without words.  A smile can brighten a face, and in that split second, I feel that I have reached an understanding with the person smiling back at me.  So of course, I smile at everyone.  

In introducing ourselves to Philiberto, the man kind enough to drive us three hours from Guatemala City to Panajachel, Hari has become Javier and I have become Lucia.  I think people are making the effort to become a part of normal life here and to really understand what it is like to be a part of this community.

Team

We have become close effortlessly.  Already we have jokes and secret looks that bind us together, and I know these stronger ties with each other will translate into the service we do and bolster the experience we receive from this trip.  I already know that I can trust the people I am with. and  I mean trust in a greater sense that just with the material.  I mean trust as in the personal, the feelings that I have.  There is a certain empathetic connection that has emerged between us out here so far away from what we are used to.  When I speak, I do not need too many words before I hear murmurs of agreement.  When I want to take a picture, someone else already has their camera out.  I am learning not just from being in this incredible place that I have yet to completely soak in, but also from my teammates--my fellow Rotaractors--my friends.

Absolutely entranced, 

Lucy

Finding Our Bifrost

At the first Rotaract Mass Meeting last semester, I mentioned a Harvard Business Review article by Oliver Segovia that calls for us to abandon the pursuit of passion and instead focus on finding the big problems facing the world. For many of us, 'passion' has taken on a reverent status through years of deliberate cultivation by the people and institutions that have shaped our character and values. Our notions of purpose, meaning and self-fulfillment are therefore intricately linked with our passions, and the pursuit of which becomes the race of our lives. Analogous to the Bifrost in Norse mythology, passion has become that shiny rainbow bridge that offers a shimmering path to true happiness.

Now I would like to echo Segovia's sentiments that passion is not the only Bifrost to purpose and meaning in our lives. After all Dorothy had the Yellow Brick Road, Jack had his beanstalk and Narnia was reached by a closet. The point is, the path to fulfillment comes in many forms, and passion is just the one of many routes to achieve the ends of a purposeful life. Before we are too quick to jump onto the bandwagon and follow the Bifrost of passion, I feel that it is crucial to first examine the things that motivate us to action and then decide to make a path of it. If you ask me for example, I could not tell you what my passion is because like many of my peers, I'm too am searching for my Bifrost of meaning. But I can definitely tell you what are my values and principles, and these personal pillars are what motivates me to action. Understanding our deepest beliefs and motivations is thus the key to unlocking our most suitable Bifrost.

Now what does all these have to do with the our international trip you say? This is where finding problems that we want to solve come in. Passion on the one hand, is certainly worth pursuing. But it is also centered on the self, focused on personal interests and inward-looking. Segovia's plea for us to look beyond our passion to find fulfillment targets precisely this egocentric notion of a meaningful life. There is a whole realm of happiness and fulfillment to be discovered through advancing the interests of other people. We need to look past the trappings of individual satisfaction and instead ask ourselves what we can do for the benefit of others in order to achieve a higher degree of fulfillment. To this end, I cannot put it more eloquently than Segovia does:

'We don't find happiness by looking within. We go outside and immerse in the world. We are called to a higher purpose by the inescapable circumstances that are laid out on our path. It's our daily struggles that define us and bring out the best in us, and this lays down the foundation to continuously find fulfillment in what we do even when times get tough.'

As we count down to the final hours before our journey, I hope we can all keep this thought in mind. That finding fulfillment does not necessarily have to occur over a single-lane bridge. If we can build a Bifrost of purpose that empowers the lesser endowed; that combines our own ends with the ends of other people, then we know we have achieved something special. 

In the spirit of service,
Rui 

Bienvenida

Welcome to the University of Michigan Rotaract club's travel blog for this year's service trip to Guatemala.  Prepare yourselves as it is through this medium that you can catch up with our talented team as we learn, experience, and define what it means to do service, give back, and open our eyes a little wider to see and work to solve the problems in this world.

We will regale you with the personal memoirs of each member of the team as they reflect and draw from their time in Guatemala.  Some will choose to write poetry, some will take pictures, some will record quotes, etc.  In these posts, you will see our individual personalities reflected.  As there are many methods of expressing our thoughts, we also come from different backgrounds and varying values.  As we approach this trip, though, we are coming together through a commonality present in all of us, a desire to help and create an impact.  That is the thread that ties us together, which this blog will reveal and strengthen.

In Guatemala as well, we will search for that human connection and seek to disavow the notion of an "us" and "them," but realize that we are all just "people."  Despite the different cultures and languages we possess, which seem to resurrect barriers between us, people are still connected.  It is this empathetic link that will bring us together and allow us to gain the most understanding.  We must go into this service trip not with the mentality that we are saviors there to help, but see it as a reciprocal relationship between equals as we have much to learn as well.  Only then can we create sustainable relationships and our own remembrances of the trip and our work there will be much more valuable.  We are going to Guatemala to learn and improve ourselves just as much as we are traveling there to do what we can for service.

We hope to take you with us on this journey of self development that we have set out on, one which for some of us may change our worldview, our dreams, and our decisions.  We know that this trip will be one  to truly affect us and bring us together, one week we will never forget.

Love,

Rotaract International Trip Team 2012