Field Based Training

Contrary to my father’s assumption that the 6.8 earthquake that hit Guatemala last Wednesday knocked out internet access, the reason for my lack blog updates is the simple fact that I have been entirely too busy. I just got back to my little town after an exhausting yet fun week of Field Based Training (FBT). All the Small Business Development Adult and Youth volunteers spent this past week in Quezaltenango (Xela) out in the western highlands implementing the things we have been learning in training.

Every morning for over two hours, we taught classrooms of 6th graders in two little indigenous aldeas outside of Xela about the fundamentals of business. I shared a classroom of about 45 students with two other SBD Adult volunteers. The curriculum, Fundamentos Empresariales, is an integral part of the SBD Youth program, but our trainers wanted the Adult volunteers to have experience using it should be wish to teach in the schools as a side project at our sites. For me the experience basically served to reinforce the fact that I have absolutely no business teaching children.

Don’t get me wrong, the kids were cute and for the most part really well-behaved (an example of a business selling Chocobananos produced some snickering…hmm, I don’t know why a banana covered in chocolate on a stick would be amusing to a bunch of kids whose hormones are just starting to kick in), but interacting with children is definitely not one of my strengths, especially when it is all in Spanish. There were times when I would just answer, “Sí. Sí,” when I had no idea what they were saying. Despite my rudimentary language skills, though, we were pretty much gringa celebrities in our classroom. All the little girls wanted to hold our hands and the boys were drilling me about my knowledge of American luchadores (professional wrestlers). For our last day teaching, the kids decorated the classroom with balloons and pine needles, performed a traditional dance in our honor, and each gave one of us a gift. I received Mayan woven cloth, pottery, stuffed animals, and cards. It was really touching to see such an outpouring of generosity from such a poor community.

The afternoons of FBT were spent visiting cooperatives and women’s groups in the area with whom volunteers are currently working, as well as the agency that is in charge of all the cooperatives in Guatemala. A highlight was visiting an indigenous women’s group working in agriculture near Cantel. The women there dressed us all up in the traditional costume consisting of a huipil (the loose fitting blouse) and a corte (a long skirt). Mayan women weave the intricate huipiles on back-strap looms, and each huipil takes about three or four months to complete. Each region or town has its own pattern for the cortes usually incorporating the four colors main colors with Mayan significance: white, yellow, red, and black. The colors represent the directions: north, south, east, and west, and symbolize heaven, hell, day, and night respectively. The traditional corte of the aldea we visited was considered to be a boring pattern, so the women instead opted to wear more exciting designs.

As a bit of a reward for a week of hard work, we got to spend the last morning of FBT at Fuentes Georginas, a natural hot water spring bubbling out from the slopes of Volcán Pico Zunil. I bet some of you are wondering why sitting in a steamy hot pool in Central America would be an enjoyable experience, but the Quetzaltenango area of the country is quite cold, especially when it is raining…which is every day. In fact it wasn’t until the drive back home along the Pacific lowlands through sugarcane fields, rubber plantations, and banana trees that I saw the landscape that I had previously envisioned all of Guatemala to look like. It was pretty amazing to see the drastic change in temperature and scenery as we descended about 6000 feet in less than 30 miles from the hot springs to the turn-off onto the Pacific Highway. Aside from the training aspect, the trip was good just to get out of my small town for a bit and to see some more of this country that is going to be my home for the next two years.