No Particular Place To Go

There are many opportunities to volunteer in Guatemala and we spent some time researching the multitudes of volunteer agencies, deciding which effort we wanted to support and what exactly we wanted to contribute. We chose IVHQ, an international New Zealand based agency which was recommended on several websites and had volunteer opportunities all over the world. IVHQ in turn put us in touch with their affiliate in Antigua, Maximo Nivel, who arranged a homestay, Spanish lessons and a volunteer experience teaching English at a public school. Volunteer opportunities at Maximo Nivel in Antigua and nearby communities range from working in various orphanages, daycare centers, residences for the physically and mentally disabled to medical clinics, construction projects, after school tutoring programs and teaching at public and private schools. The sign on the front of the all-girls public school building (well over one-hundred years old) reads “La Esquela National Para Ninas No.2, Antonio Castro y Escobar”. We volunteered for two months, March and April, teaching English to four classes Monday through Thursday (grades 3-6) from 7:45 – 12:30 and on Friday 7:45-10:30 for grades 1 & 2. In Guatemala, school is free through the sixth grade after which tuition is often required and it was sad to know that, for some of these girls, their educational opportunities would end and they’d be following the traditional life of early marriage with large families. The task of teaching English for the first time to large classes was demanding but the girls made our meager efforts hugely rewarding. It was a pleasure to walk into the school, and each classroom, and be greeted by girls who were genuinely pleased that we were there to teach. Passing by students in the hallway we’d be greeted with waves, occasional hugs and, “Good morning, teacher” or “Nice to meechoo”. In retrospect, volunteering was about a cross cultural exchange in which we may have learned much more than we taught. At the end of our volunteer assignment, the school Director invited us to go on a field trip with the girls to an amusement park, IRTRA, in the capital, Guatemala City. We gladly accepted and spent a memorable last day with “our “students. By Richard and Anita, June 2013