Arriving in Guatemala

While most Americans were watching the Super Bowl on Sunday, I was in Guatemala on a mission awareness trip for the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, a 25-year-old charity started by Catholic laypeople in Kansas City, Kan. The purpose of the organization is to help impoverished people in Third World countries get the training and education they need to improve their station in life. CFCA is also committed to helping land reform in Guatemala, where 18 extended families own all the land in the country. It has helped indigenous people acquire land in this country that suffered through a terrible civil war two decades ago.

The trip I took is designed for people who sponsored children in the area. The sponsors meet the children whom they help. For $30 a month, Americans are able to sponsor one child in the Third World, including places like Colombia, India, the Phillipines and Kenya. Put into perspective, a man I met Sunday was a mason who makes about 35 Quetzales per day during a six-day work week. That comes out to less than $30 per week. Three of his children have been sponsored by CFCA, and he expressed gratitude to the sponsors and to God for their contributions.

We arrived in Guatemala City Saturday night and drove three hours to CFCA's Guatemalan headquarter in San Lucas Toliman on Sunday. There, we were met by a procession of children who walked with sponsors from the town to CFCA´s compound about a mile away. The whole time they were singing hymns and religious songs, including one of my personal favorites "de Colores." I will try to attach sound files later.

The afternoon was spent visiting a small village, Cerro de Oro (meaning Hill of Gold) just outside of town. The unpaved roads were dusty, and the village was very impoverished. Yet it seemed these people still kept their spirits high. Perhaps it was an act, but I think it was more a strong faith that God will provide.

Attached is a photo of a girl in a sponsored family who showed us how she weaves materials that she sells at the market.

We attended an evening Mass in San Lucas. In a twist, Father Mike Walker from the Pueblo Diocese concelebrated Mass (along with a Spanish priest, who is on the trip as a sponsor). Father Walker is a rare breed: a diocesan priest who has spent most of his life as a missionary. Most missionaries are order priests, after all.

I will add more to the blog later, including testimonials from sponsored families and sponsors. If there is anything in particular you would like to know, fire away in the comments section.