Don Pedro is an entrepreneur, a leader of a production and distribution cooperative that creates jobs in his community. His children are thriving in business and education. He is sought after to share his experiences and successes. On a sunny day in Sololá, Guatemala, he described his journey to fullness of life to the visiting Child Ambassadors. The following is his story. Don Pedro’s home was set on a path branching off of the mountain road. He, his wife, and their children live in a spacious house, with the bustle of business in the workspaces around them. On that day, he and his daughter Olga welcomed our visiting Child Ambassador team into their courtyard. As we stood around pleasantly chatting, his son Celso, age seven, darted across the space. Don Pedro smiled and shared that Celso was doing so well in school that he had skipped a whole grade. Celso flitted in and out of the group; he paused near me for a moment, and I asked him what his favorite subject was. He thought, then said he loved letters; he flitted away again, singing a song about vowel sounds as he went. This family was an image of vibrant life. Sparking Change
Sparking Growth He approached World Vision's local team, and they said that if he created a working pilot program, they would help him scale his business. Don Pedro started making batches of ten candles at a time in a small metal box, producing a total of 200-300 per day. He carried his product on his back to local stores, selling candles as he went. World Vision saw his determined initiative and agreed to help him scale the business. Don Pedro already had an idea of what to do. He envisioned a working machine that would dip up to eighty candles at a time, increasing his productivity eight fold. He said that he could build the machine; all he needed was a stove and some large pots to heat the wax. WV invested in those items and also connected him with some business classes. With the equipment from World Vision and his own efficient invention, he soon began to produce 3,000 candles a day.
Sharing Success Now Don Pedro’s work is expanding to encompass success for the people around him. He’s been able to build a house for his family, a warehouse, and several workspaces. He founded a group — Grupo Candelario — to include people from nine other families in the business, and he has outsourced the production of candles so that he can focus on distribution. He was especially proud that the people on his team can work close to home and thus enjoy spending more time with their children. His own daughter Olga, age twenty-five, has joined her father in business. She’s a talented artist and is turning her skills into a successful market for custom embroidered fabrics. When asked what he wanted next, what his next big dream would be, Don Pedro said simply that his dream was for his children. He says he hopes that one day his children will have their own homes and lands and that his grandchildren will have the opportunity to get the education he couldn’t have. More than anything, he wants them to have a childhood marked by joy and an adulthood marked by productive success.
Carrying the Light
Like the light of Don Pedro’s candles, hope is spreading across Guatemala. Residing in that country are people with dreams that can change generations. When they, like Don Pedro, achieve success, they can diffuse it across their communities. And when you invite someone to sponsor a child in Guatemala, you’re helping get the right tools in the hands of people with dreams. Don Pedro took a stove and wax pots and built a business legacy. As you advocate for the children on the sponsorship website or on your picture folders, imagine what the future would be like if their families were also empowered to reach their dreams. Let’s keep working in partnership with them until they, too, are surrounded by the growing light. Contributed by Emily Smith in Stories from the Field. Photos by Linnae Asiel. In last week’s post, I had the pleasure of introducing you to Maritza, my three-year-old sponsored child in Guatemala. You heard about her family’s strength and struggles and about their belief in the change that comes over time. This week, I’d like to introduce you to another family. They live only a short distance from Maritza’s community. They share similar struggles and similar faith. But for this family, change was coming too slowly. The dimly lit building hummed with people. Families, World Vision staff, and Child Ambassadors chatted and exchanged stories around a long table. Children were sprinkled throughout the group, drawing, giggling, the smaller ones being handed from adult to adult. In the midst of the pleasant bustle, a young woman walked to the front of the room. Conversations dropped off one by one as she introduced herself. Her name was Fabiola, and she had a story to tell. Fabiola had traveled to Chiantla that day to share with the visiting Child Ambassador team, for she, too, was passionate about the future of her community’s children. As she shared about her volunteer work in a World Vision-supported children’s center, we could see the energy radiating from her. She’s one of those exceptional people whom I could never imagine sitting still for long. She has a mission, and she is a woman of action. Just twelve months earlier, at age seventeen, Fabiola’s passion for the future had driven her to act decisively. She had grown worried for her two younger brothers and her sister. Across northern Guatemala, where Fabiola lives, small children die of preventable diseases; older children drop out of school to work family farms. Parents strive to change the cycle, but the remoteness of the region limits their access to opportunities. A better way forward seemed out of reach. So Fabiola decided to reach farther. She had heard stories of jobs to the north. If she could make it across Mexico and into the US, she believed she’d be able to work and save up to help her siblings. Fabiola’s father discovered her plans and insisted it was far too dangerous for her to go alone. If she was determined to go, he was going with her. Turning North
Reaching the Threshold As Fabiola began to relate the next phase of her story, I felt a quiet tapping at my hand. Maritza, who was standing next to me, was getting a little restless and had started carefully poking at a band-aid on my hand. When I looked down at her, she laughed and made a game of it — her sneakily trying to poke my hand, me silently pretending to try to escape her reach. When Maritza contentedly settled back to play with her mom’s scarf, I looked back up to the front of the room. In the few moments that had passed, Fabiola had continued her story. She had moved out of my line of sight, but I could see Rodrigo, our World Vision host, who was translating for her. The color had drained from his face.
Fabiola acknowledged that staying in the storage unit was hard, but that at least her family was together. On the eighth day, however, border authorities decided to send father and daughter to separate containment centers. Over the next two months, Fabiola would be shuffled to seven different locations, never knowing where her father was. A lawyer was sent to explain her situation to her, but the lawyer spoke only English. Fabiola knew just a handful of words in English. No one offered to translate for her. And she was not alone in her confusion. She recalled that at one center, she could hear the cries of younger children across the facility; worried that they were afraid, she asked if she could go comfort them. She was refused. Immigration authorities eventually determined that Fabiola should be sent back home, and they put her on a plane to Guatemala City. But Fabiola is not from Guatemala City. Her home is far to the north, and having never been to the capital, she wasn’t sure exactly how far. Since her father’s release date had not been scheduled to coincide with hers, Fabiola arrived alone, in a strange city, with no idea how to get home. Next Steps Fabiola related her relief when a bus driver noticed her and realized that she was lost. She said that he gave her a little money and helped her find a way home. Two weeks later, her father arrived.
Our Steps World Vision and the people of northern Guatemala are working to broaden their options, to implement change that will be safer and more sustainable than emigration. And their change can come sooner with your help. Today, in response to Fabiola’s experience, I have two challenges for you: one as a US citizen, one as a Child Ambassador.
Contributed by Emily Smith in Stories from the Field. Photos by Linnae Asiel. Time echoed through the mountains of Chiantla, Guatemala. Ancient haze settled over the mysterious peaks. Wind-scarred rocks loomed from the slopes. And amidst this epic backdrop, surrounded by her family, sat one small girl in a bright red dress. Maritza, age three, hummed contentedly to herself as she flipped through the pages of a cat-themed coloring book, her little ponytail bobbing in time to her tune. Every once in a while, she’d point out a particularly interesting gato to her mother, pull a crayon from her father’s hand, or smile up at her grandmother. “I wish you were staying for three days,” her grandmother said to me. “It always takes her three days to warm up to someone.” As I watched Maritza pick a crayon the color of her dress, I got the distinct impression that though she might not speak to me, she is not shy. She simply takes her time. I was in Chiantla that Tuesday with the Child Ambassador team. We were visiting Guatemala to learn people’s stories so that we could share them in the US, inspiring sponsorships and generating support for the programs there. As I prepped for the trip, World Vision asked if I would sponsor a child in Chiantla. If I did, I might be able to meet him / her. I agreed, and a picture of Maritza — wearing a cat sweatshirt — showed up in my inbox. A few short weeks later, I found myself face to face with this self-assured girl and her family: her mom Maria Elena, her dad Anjel, and her grandmother Maximiliana. While Maritza colored a cartoon of a cat holding a flower pot, her family and I talked. As we shared our backgrounds and swapped stories, I gathered that this family believed strongly in the power of time — just as time had shaped this mountain’s features, time would bring healing to its inhabitants. But in the meantime, they shared honestly, life is difficult. Maximiliana looked frankly at me. “Estamos luchando para vida,” she said. “We are fighting for life.” The Daily Fight As we were to later learn at a meeting between World Vision staff and community leadership, life is indeed a fight in Maritza’s community. The remoteness of the region causes severe concerns for its families. Most people in Chiantla farm, but access to international food markets is beyond the community’s reach. There is low demand for their products locally, so farmers must settle for low prices. With only a small income, families can’t afford to send their children to school. Children thus grow up to limited job opportunities and continue working on the family farms, barred from access to more stable income. The concerns get deeper. Because the farms produce only select crops, malnutrition affects half of preschool-aged children. Undernourished, children begin to develop other health conditions. But there are no doctors in remote Chiantla. A community leader shared with us in frustration that regional nurses had planned to serve in Chiantla twice a week, but in reality, they can visit only occasionally. When they do, they don’t always have adequate medicines and supplies. The malnutrition and limited medicines make a potent combination; diseases like tonsillitis and bronchitis still take children’s lives. Understandably, parents feel stretched to the limit. The Future But though they acknowledged the struggle of daily life, Maritza’s family were not in despair. Maria Elena and Anjel joyfully described Maritza’s intelligence and potential, and Maximiliana confidently stated that Maritza would one day have a career of her own choosing. How could they look to the future with such joy? Because they believed that hope was coming over time. Chiantla began a relationship with World Vision about three months ago. Currently, community leadership and World Vision staff are investigating needs and brainstorming goals and solutions. World Vision helped a pilot group of farmers start an animal husbandry program, diversifying their products for marketability. Community leaders and WV staff are conducting research on how to support schools and early childhood development centers. WV officers are helping children register for sponsorship so the community will receive donations that can benefit healthcare. Anjel and Maria Elena summarized it best in a letter they wrote me: the children of Guatemala have been remembered.
Our Challenge
Today we challenge you, CAs, to join Guatemala's parents and grandparents in supporting moments of childhood — moments of humming contentedly and blissfully coloring. When you finish reading this post, please head to the the team website, click on the Supplies tab, and order picture folders specifically for kids from Chiantla. (You can specify the community name and its code, 211057, in the special requests box next to your order.) Then, share those pictures with your circle of influence and invite people to sponsor. Guatemala is stepping into the change that comes over time. Let's echo the stories of their courage. |
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