Our Guatemala Mission Team Shares Their Experiences
  
     
   
     
 

Gander Trip to Guatemala

            A recent mission trip to Guatemala proved to be a life-changing experience for members of the Gander Pastoral Charge of the United Church of Canada in Newfoundland.
            "The ones we went to serve, served us," said the Rev. Stephanie McClellan, leader of the 15-member team. "The ones to whom we gave from our abundance, gave back far richer gifts of love and hospitality from their
scarcity. They gave of themselves. Open doors and open hearts!"

Guatemala Mission Team 2006 with 350 kids
at Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH) Orphanage
which translates in English as "Our Little Brothers & Sisters"

               The team spent a week at an orphanage with 350 children and a week at a  program for children whose parents work at the Guatemala City dump as garbage pickers and recyclers. In both places, the host organizations said that while the donated school supplies the team distributed were important, "the most important thing we brought was self-esteem," the minister said. "We cared enough to come and share our love and let them love us and that was the best gift we could ever offer."
              McClellan, who ministers to the Fraser Road congregation in Gander as well as United Churches in Glenwood and Benton, said the two-week trip at the end of April put her everyday life in Gander into perspective. After describing scenes of overwhelming poverty, she said they also saw "a joy, a love and a generosity that no one would ever expect."
           "When we left Guatemala, we as a team, recognized the depravity of our own society even stronger. We saw the pain of keeping up with the Joneses as empty and meaningless. We saw the hope of a better life encompassing love, joy and togetherness, rather than a new car or a better housing situation. Our priorities change when we face such pain and poverty and yet, see such hope."

Vultcures circle at the Guatemala City Dump


             While the visit to the dump site, which covers the area of eight football fields and is a hundred metres deep, was a new and eye-opening experience for most of the team, the Gander minister saw it two years ago and was able to appreciate some changes that have been made. Then, families were living in the confines of the dump with a pole shoved down into the garbage and a tarp covering it to serve as house and home for seven or more people. After a fire swept through the dump in 2004, the government enacted legislation that forbid people to live in the actual dump site and children under 16 are no longer permitted to work there.
             Camino Seguro (Safe Passage) has provided the first school experience for children from these families. When asked previously what they wanted to do when they grew up, they would have expected to work in the dump like their parents and grandparents. Now they answer - maybe a doctor, social worker, singer or dancer. Hope springs anew.
             "There was joy amongst all that pain. Not to glamorize it but the pain made the joy even more satisfying; the hope even more brilliant," McClellan
said.
              The changes haven't meant an end to the risks faced by these children. Previously tots as young as two could be seen running through the dump looking for shiny things that could be recycled. At the age of four, they could climb into garbage trucks and search for 'the good stuff' before the load was dumped and made public. This still happens, but it is on the roads as the trucks make their way into the facility.
               Safe Passage is a non-profit organization founded by Henley Denning and a group of volunteers in Maine. Henley has worked with Guatemalan children for eight years as director of Safe Passage. Since its inception, more than 500 children have been provided ongoing school support. The children attend local schools in the morning or afternoon and come to Safe Passage for a healthy meal, assistance with homework and educational reinforcement the rest of the day.
              

Children at the Safe Passage Daycare at the Guatemala City Dump

                The minister summed up the team's experience in a communion liturgy written for their last night in Guatemala as part of the debriefing experience and final worship together as the Guatemala Mission Team 2006. "We went to be among the least of these, our brothers and sisters, and found that we were the least. We saw the true meaning of Communion in a small boy sitting at a table in the garbage dump enjoying every morsel of healthy food in a peaceful and safe environment. Content! . . .We could see Christ sitting at the head of the table.the Prince of Peace with friends sharing bread."
                 Marilyn Boone, one of the adult volunteers from Gander on the trip, said she saw God, among us and those children, every day she was there. Sarah Eastman, a Glenwood teenager said, "I see Guatemala every day, in everything I do. It is a part of me now."     

 

 
     
 

A Life-Changing Experience

            A mother of two small children says the values that shone through the impoverished lives of those she saw on a recent two-week mission trip to Guatemala have dramatically changed her outlook on the materialistic
lifestyle she had been striving to maintain in her hometown of Gander.
     Melissa Kinden admitted she has "always been one who has tried to keep up with the Jones'. I've always worried about not having as much as all my other friends and family." However, her visit to Guatemala as part of a 15-member mission team from the Gander Pastoral Charge of the United Church of Canada "has shown me that it's OK not to have a fancy car, brand name clothing, nice jewelry and an expensive home."
     She said the material things will never provide her with the contentment and inner peace she has been seeking. "Having seen people and children with next to nothing, seeing them have to work daily in a dump to survive, watching them chase garbage trucks so they can be the first to jump in the back in an effort to get the best pickings, has shown that God has blessed me in so many ways. "I should never be in want for anything . . . ever," Kinden declared.
      In thanking members of the Fraser Road congregation for their support that made the trip possible, she emphasized "you have made it possible for me to be a better person. You have helped bring me closer to my Higher Power. You have helped to make me a better mother to my children."
     Describing the trip as a life-changing experience was a common thread that ran through the reflections of all six youth and nine adults on the trip in late April.     
      Mission leader, Rev. Stephanie McClellan, spoke of the overwhelming poverty the Newfoundlanders saw there, but quickly added, "Human dignity and spirit shone through in ways we will never forget."
      One of the youth, Christina Oates, cited possession of a basketball as an analogy of whom the poor really were. It's not the orphans in Guatemala but the households in Canada where the 'little things' are not appreciated anymore. She noted that a basketball that costs $20 is used to measure ability here while in Guatemala that ball is priceless as it represents one more smile of pure joy.
     Oates continued her comparison between kids in the two countries as she recounted her visit to a hostel in Antiqua for children who have experienced severe abuse in their lives. "They seem so happy, even happier than some
kids I have seen here. . . It really shows how much strength they have," she said in noting how they still carry on with their lives. Oates thought the biggest difference between them and abused kids in Canada is that the Canadian victims grow up to be kids who abuse others, or who still suffer from substance abuse and cannot be open to love while the Guatemalans  were still open to love even after being badly treated by loved ones.
     Jessica French found it both amazing and inspiring that the children from both the orphanage the team visited and those that lived around the city dump "weren't worried about their clothes or hair, they were just happy to be
alive each day." Referring to five boys she worked with during their time at the orphanage, she concluded, "I like to think I've made a difference and an impact on these children, but it's for sure they made a difference to me."
 
     
 

Glenwood Teen meets 'Godchild'

     A recent mission trip to Guatemala by 15 members of the Gander Pastoral Charge of the United Church of Canada provided one teenager with a unique and thrilling opportunity.

Sandra, Sarah & Cora Eastman's Godchild

     While many North Americans sponsor needy overseas children through various humanitarian agencies, relatively few get to meet 'their child'. Sarah Eastman, however, had just such an experience when the Gander team visited the Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos orphanage in Parramos. "Sandra, my Godchild, had very little English experience, and I have next to no Spanish, but we managed to have a great time together," Sarah said.  (In the sponsorship program there, each child is matched with a "padrino" or Godparent.)
     Sandra put everything in perspective for me on our last night at the orphanage, Sarah recounted. "She simply looked at me and said 'You will never forget Guatemala' and she was right. She told the United Church congregations in Gander and Glenwood on the teams' return home, "I see Guatemala everyday, in everything I do. It is a part of me now."

 

Girls ready for school at NPH

 

During the week the Team spent at the Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH) Orphanage the day began at 4:30 a.m. when the Gander team went to the houses to help the children get ready for school as well as assisting with homework and chores. Throughout the day, the visitors helped with English and music classes, worked in the kitchen and filled the children's free time with fun activities.

 
Jessica French & Boys at NPH
    

Mary French & Sylvia Burry playing spintops with the boys at the Orphanage

Melissa Kinden blowing bubbles with a child at the "Babies House" at the Orphanage

     Sarah wasn't the only one to return as an ambassador of sponsorships. Melissa Kinden, a mother of two, told the Gander congregation about Safe Passage, a school support agency the team visited in the second week of their stay in the Central American country. There, a mere $10 a month can feed 40 children a day. "If you've ever wondered if you can really afford to sponsor a child, don't think any longer," she pleaded. "Sponsor a child and help make a difference!"

 

Caretaker with Jose Alberto , Juanita Andrews's Godchild

Maria, Godchild of Marilyn Boone

Jessica, Godchild of Sylvia Burry

Alvira and Maxine Barbour (Maxine's daughter's Godchild)

Rev. Steph & her Godchild Leo

      Rev.  Stephanie McClellan, Minister of the Gander Pastoral Charge that also includes congregations in Glenwood and Benton, took the opportunity to adopt a child while she was there. Translated from Spanish, the name of the orphanage is Our Little Brothers and Sisters. "The orphanage was a safe loving place to be," the Rev. McClellan said.  "Who else has 349 brothers and sisters watching out for each other?" she asked. The Safe Passage program, aimed at helping children whose parents scavenge in the Guatemala dump to eke out a living, was "an oasis amidst the desert of dried up dreams," McClellan noted.
      Information on both the orphanage and Safe Passage programs, and on various ways people can help, are available from the team members and the Gander church.  

Group picture at NPH, Maxine & Con Barbour's Godchild in front far left, Maria

All Photos - GMT

 
 

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