Preparing "la vuelta"

I am the queen of procrastination. Seriously. In college I would routinely wait to write a paper until the night before it was due, staying up half the night to finish it. When I need to clean, do laundry, or in this instance, PACK for my trip (the plane leaves at 6:40 am tomorrow), I end up finding something else to occupy my time with and put off the thing that I really need to get done. For example, starting this blog. I sat down to write an email to all of my friends & family explaining my relocation to Guatemala, and then, on a whim, decided to start a blog. I guess that I have always wanted to start one, so here I am with my first attempt, hopefully it will improve over time.

Although I am currently procrastinating packing for my return trip to Guatemala, it does not mean that I am not excited for the trip. In fact, I am ecstatic! I can't wait to be there! I spent 2 months last summer there with the same NGO (www.safepassage.org) and absolutely fell in love with the culture, the people, choco bananos, and especially the students I worked with. I cannot express how excited I am to see those little kids again, lice and all. I currently sponsor an 8 year old boy named Elías who likes soccer, superman and breakdancing. He was one of my students last summer, and is absolutely adorable, although not the best behaved little boy. He has no idea that I am returning so I hope to surprise him and the other students a worked with!

For those of you who don't know, Safe Passage works with the poorest, at risk children and families in the Guatemala City garbage dump, providing them with "opportunity through education." It is an incredible program, serving almost 600 students now, from babies through high school aged, as well as the mothers & fathers of the students. This particular group of people use the city garbage dump as their primary source of income, scavenging it for items such as plastic & glass bottles to recycle, materials to build their make-shift shacks with, clothing for their families, and even for food. The work Safe Passage has done to provide these people with another option toward upward social mobility is remarkable. Not only do the children receive an education, but they partake in arts, music, and sports programs. Most importantly, however, is the incentive of FOOD. The kids are given two meals a day, which is most likely the primary (well, at least most immediate) reason they attend the project.

For more information on Safe Passage visit the site. And for more info on the Educational System in Guatemala, read this article that was published by the think tank I was interning for last fall, COHA.

If you or anyone you know is traveling through Guatemala, I would love to meet up with you/them!!

OK, time to get to packing.


some pictures from last time:

people working in the dump:


where the project is located:



me with some of the boys: