This morning was an opportunity for some of the group to see the sites. While that group left to go to the coffee plantation and museum (the
monastery was not open when they got there), Jim, Greg and Brad headed back to the school to help the Guatemalan mason crew. As mentioned previously, a friendship has been made with these men. Today the mason crew wanted to show their appreciation for the help given by our group so they made lunch (meat,
guacamole, and
re fried beans) for them. As you can imagine, our group was very touched by this offering.
The hard work is paying off! Jim finished the cabinets today and Mayra told the group that they are actually a couple days ahead of schedule! How awesome!
Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow's church service at the school and meeting the kids. We are hoping computers cooperate so we can talk to our group in Guatemala. This will be a wonderful experience!
It's hard to believe this trip is coming to an end. Tomorrow will be the last full day in Guatemala for our group. They will leave Guatemala around 2:00 p.m. on Monday and arrive home a little after 9:00 p.m. It will be great seeing everyone and hearing about each of their personal experiences.
Guatemalan Fact for Today...
(Taken from www.gvnet.com and www.cnn.com)
A recently published report by the Joint Council on International Children’s Services has revealed that one child is abandoned in Guatemala City every four days – and over three quarters of them are newborn babies. Families and parents in Guatemala abandon children because they feel they have no other option. Poverty and large family sizes mean the children simply can’t be cared for. Other children are abandoned because they are physically disabled or have learning difficulties. Without social services to help them, these children and babies are struggling to survive on the streets. The more fortunate ones are cared for by older children or street families. The less fortunate ones will die. Unfortunately adoption is not an option at this point for these children.
As a result, the thousands of street kids who inhabit Guatemala City do what they can to scrape by -- begging, selling bananas for a few pennies, salvaging what they can from the garbage dump, and some will join gangs and turn to crime.
Most of them are homeless, sleeping on sidewalks or by an abandoned train station. To curb their desperation and hunger, many have become inhalant addicts, sniffing industrial solvents that almost certainly cause brain damage. The street kids also face another menace -- death squads practicing what is referred to in Guatemala as "social cleansing." Although the police still figure in many of the atrocities, as well as private security guards hired by business owners who see the kids as a menace, the government does not run a single youth shelter for these children in Guatemala. Their only refuge can be found at one of the handful of private shelters in the city.
Children arrive at these shelters filthy and suffering from disease. They are cured of infections, and their wounds are tended. Often malnourished, they are fed back to health.
In a society where many poor people never break the bonds of poverty, the street children of Guatemala City are perhaps the most forgotten of all. 
