Truly a Scoundrel

This is going to be very hard to write for a number of reasons.  On August 27th 2011 Alexander was arrested along with three other members of (apparently) his gang.  He is, at this writing, in jail (where he probably belongs) in Chimaltenango.  The four are charged with kidnapping Guatemalan women and rape.  As you might imagine the fallout has been tremendous.  Alex has been labelled as the "boss."  Just two days prior to his arrest Alex's oldest son, Denis, achieved the best report card that he has ever had.  Now the fourteen year old is quite simply, devastated, as are his sisters.  Gladly the two little ones are too young to know or understand though, because of the news, they have been "suspended" from their pre-school out of safety concerns for the other children.

Whatever help that many gave to Alexander it was never enough and, quite obviously, it never would have been.  Those who know him are shocked that he could be what he apparently is. Perhaps it is just not possible for a street kid to grow up in good order.  It always surprised me that Alex was not (apparently) violent and not involved with either drugs or alcohol.  It seemed to me that he had a gentle nature but that was the only side that I saw quite obviously. A very sad ending for a probably unwanted and uncared for infant born 35 years ago.  Just three months ago he was strapping the youngest two into their seatbelts for a journey to the zoo and holding the hand of his youngest son.  I guess I should have seen more into his disconnectedness from his children. There was a glimmer of caring about Jackie and Denis but obviously not enough.  Astrid who will be 12 in November never seemed to care much for him and the youngest two call him "Alex." He called Denis the other night from his jail cell professing his innocence and saying that he needed money.  He always needed money and now he probably really does but I don't know anyone who is going to give him any.  It is a good thing that Denis had only very recently come to terms with the fact that his dad rarely spoke the truth.  Likely a sociopath.

The challenge now will be to get the little ones back into school and to help the three older kids come to terms with who their father is.  Gladly, in their world probably few have made the connection between them and the news reports which were many.  Estela has already made contact with the local psychologist that is available to them and my Spanish is likely to get a real workout when I return to Antigua.  New vocabulary words that I never expected to have to know.  If the kids want to see their dad I will take them as no one else will.  I would hope to see on his face all of the pain that he is causing his children.  However, at the same time I realize that he never really had a chance.  For so many this world is a really ugly place.

The Real Scoundrel!

I guess it was inevitable that one day Alexander wouldn't show up at the airport in Guatemala City. I called to tell him that I would be out front.  He said he would be right over and he never showed up.  I called him back and he told me that he was having car trouble.  I took an airport taxi, nice fellow, nice car, good driver, nice price.  Done!  No more Alexander.  However, as I write he has been telling anyone who would listen (and many who don't want to) that the car that I helped him "buy" had been stolen.  He has even offered up imaginary rope burns on his arms to try to prove that he had been tied up.  Funny they didn't take his cell phone, the most commonly stolen item in Guatemala.  He calls and calls and I tell him "not my problem, no more cars."  I don't believe for a minute that the car was stolen, rather it has been returned to the person he supposedly bought it from with my money because he was really renting it and didn't make his payments.  He is clever. He will find another sucker very soon.  That is all he knows, sadly.

Michelle participating in English

That brings up the dilemma of his youngest two children whom I am sponsoring to go to school.  A friend who lives here got wind of the fact that the mother borrowed Q2000 from me last year, signed a note and never paid the money back.  The word "loan" has a very different meaning in Guatemala.  I was always suspicious that Alex had put her up to it.  Today Nina and I went into the market where the mother works and, after asking several people, found her sister and then the mother herself.  Alex had told me that she was afraid of me because of the loan and wouldn't come near me.  Yet when she saw Tia Joan who is making it possible for her kids to go to school she smiled broadly and greeted me.  Hmmmm

Christopher learning important skills.

Nina, who has been in Guatemala long enough to know exactly what is going on, told Marielos that if she wanted her kids to continue in school that she would need to pay me Q1000 (US $130) before I leave in three days time.   I offered my phone number and she indicated that she had it.  I told her that I wanted to keep her kids in school but that we needed to clear up this matter of the debt.  No es corecto.

I feared that I would never see the money and would have to stop sponsoring her kids who are doing really well in their bi-lingual Montessori pre-school.  Much to my surprise about 6pm my phone rang and Marielos asked if it was OK to come by and pay me the money.  I told her "yes" and phoned the guards to tell them to let her and the children in.  I hear the voice of Nina cautioning me not to be too gullible but Marielos was extremely apologetic and told me that Alexander had told her that he had paid back the money last year.  She promised to return next month when I am next here to pay the remaining Q1000.

Michelle is happy that she gets to stay in school.

It was dark when she left to take the "chicken bus" back to her village where she lives in one room with her three children (yep, there is another one by some other guy).  Some of them work so hard and for so little.  I will listen to Nina and remain cautious but I am hopeful that this woman, like Estela, won't let me down.  One does wonder where Latin men got the idea that they are so wonderful.

Giraffes in Guatemala

As I have expected both Alexander and Estela have adjusted to being "divorced."  I use the quotes because most often the poor in Guatemala simply say "I do" or "I don't" and fairly quickly change partners. A much less onerous arrangement than in the developed world and clearly there is little property to squabble over.  The kids stay with mom but feelings get hurt all the same.

So, while there is still a certain amount of finger pointing and tearful (Estela) tales, true or maybe not, I have learned to ignore the tales and walk right down the middle. I focus on the children and their education. Alex and Estela have both been told that they get paid for the work they do, that the Bank of Joan has closed permanently and that education is the limit of what Tia Joan will fund.

I have learned that, while "no" only means that they will wait a while before coming around again one seems to gain a certain amount of respect by defining the limits. Too bad it took me so long to figure that out.

Michelle, 3 and Christopher, 4 and girafas

So, after six months or so of not mentioning Alex's youngest two children he told me (true or not, I will never know) that Michelle, 3, had been asking for "Tia Joan."  So, the four of us (Mom was working in the market) went off to the zoo on a Sunday and what little it cost was worth every quetzal to watch Alex schlepping the Mickey Mouse diaper bag (which was not needed, only for emergencies) through the Guatemala City zoo.

The two children were absolutely thrilled (a trip to the zoo is only a dream for most of the many poor children in Guatemala) and, interestingly, they were far better behaved that many of the more affluent children in the zoo. They quite literally ran from one exhibit to the other and knew the names of most of the animals. Christopher quickly picked up "please" and "thank you" in English in order to get cookies from Tia Joan. After "happy meals" at Pollo Campero which resulted in ketchup and grease all over the place Alex, el machismo, rolled his eyes at the mess as he started cleaning up. I suspect that he is now doing more parenting than he ever did with the first three. It is very entertaining to watch him in the single parent role. El Señor Mom.

Hard day at the zoo

Diaper bag came in handy.

School. Of course they have to go to school.  As those things go a friend told me about a bi-lingual, Montessori pre-school run by a American woman.  I rode my bicycle over to have a look and the next day was the first day of pre-school for Christopher and Michelle.  Both were very excited to go but the reality was a little scary especially for Christopher.
Michelle was wide-eyed and very curious.  She reported to her mother at the end of the first day that she had a new friend.  Christopher, normally very outgoing, dissolved into tears more than once.




After a couple of hours they were both laughing and going down the slide that they didn't want to go near a bit earlier.  Two weeks later both have had a very positive report from the school director who says they have made remarkable progress and Alex reports that Michelle's new favorite word is "OK" and that she wants to wear her Hannah Montana backpack all day long.

I surprised them at school the one day and I could see Michelle's eyes widen as she said "Tia Joan" from inside the school. At the age of 37 months she has quite obviously figured out who is the key to her future.  The two came running out holding the little books that each day have a comment about them from the teachers.  Both had excellent reports.

Michelle wears her school backpack all day long.

For all of his shortcomings Alex does seem to know that school is the key for all of his progeny. He now sees that all five get to school on time and home again.  The director of the pre-school has told him that he needs

an email address as they communicate with the parents by email.  I told her that I would work on that the next time I was in Guatemala.  In the meantime they are printing the emails and giving them to him to share with the children's mother.

Does Estela know?  Yes, she does and, as she once told me, "the children are innocent."  I told her that I was putting the two "chiquitos" (small ones) in school as well.  She took that in stride.  A new private international school is soon opening in Antigua and I am hoping to get Estela's two youngest into this school which will be based on the US system and mostly in English. Astrid will likely be admitted without any problems but Denis at 14 is suffering from having a kid as his father.  He desperately needs a good male role model.  He remains a nice boy but his grades are lousy despite everyone's reports that he does all his school work.

However, in a place like Guatemala where there are so many good people working for a song trying to make a difference the director of the new school has offered to work with Denis to see if "I can help him to help himself."  Denis has had a couple of meetings with Jim who has offered to review his homework for him.  He has asked Denis if he thinks he might bring his grades up so that he might be able to go to the new school thus putting the decision on Denis. Jim has asked both Astrid and Denis if they are willing to study English and, at this writing, they are both doing a minimum of an hour a day on the Rosetta Stone Level 1 English program on their computer. (The computer, which is not connected to the internet, needed a new hard drive thus I made sure that very little apart from Rosetta Stone was reinstalled.)

Denis finally has something to strive for and a fellow in his life who cares whether or not he makes it.  Astrid has lectured her older brother about what a great opportunity the new school would be and has told him that, if he blows it, he will be relegated to a government school where he won't learn anything.  So there!

Jackie, too, has less than ideal grades from the first quarter in her new school. However, it is a new school and her classes are all in English so I am sure they will improve with time. In her school uniform she looks like a rising young executive.  Given her love or reading and passion for school
I am optimistic about Jackie.

Stay tuned for education updates.  I now have six (Astrid's cousin,
Brenda too) in private school and three more in government schools
thanks to some of my blog readers. Changing a few lives is what it
is about.

Along Came Diego

Happy New Year from Guatemala!  After hours of fireworks last night I am certain that the Chinese economy is doing better this morning.  Odd how people who can't feed their kids and tourists set free from legal restrictions on fireworks will drop hundreds of dollars on Chinese made fireworks.  The first day of 2011 will be about cleaning up the debris on the terrace and getting the dog to go outside again.

Veronica, 13,  lacks confidence, could use a tutor

Another year has passed and "poco a poco" there is progress in Guatemala.  I visited Casa Broccoli to see the two indigenous children who are being sponsored to attend school in San Antonio Aguas Caliente.  Interestingly they are siblings of Charlie's whom you may remember from earlier blog postings couldn't cope with being the oldest in the third grade.  He dropped out of school in the middle of the third grade at 13 and, his siblings report that, a year later, he is working.  Picking vegetables no doubt..

I was expecting to see Veronica, 13, and Elmer, 8, but there was a third child with them.  Diego is 6 and indicated that he is very eager to go to school so he will.  Elmer and Veronica both demonstrated their reading skills.  They are both in the same grade despite their age difference.  They will enter fourth grade in January.  Elmer is an excellent reader while Veronica is coming along (Jackie needed to help her).  She is perhaps inhibited by a lack of confidence not uncommon in girls in this country, sadly.  I gave each of them a package of educational games, one math based and the other language based. I found myself wishing I had the time and the patience to tutor Veronica.

Diego, 6, wants to go to school

Elmer, 8, reads like a champ

Which 8-year old grew up in the US?

Casa Broccoli was neat and tidy and it was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours sitting in the garden taking in their million dollar (by US standards) view.   Estela served us something dry and starchy with fruit for a visiting friend who is a vegetarian.  My vegetarian friend and his wife have a son adopted shortly after birth from Guatemala.  Ruben is the same age as Elmer so having seen the recent 20/20 report on malnutrition and stunting in Guatemala we photographed the two 8-year olds who did have the same exact dental configuration (missing the same teeth).  Can you guess which one has grown up in the US?

The very poor neighbors next door have been discovered by an aid agency that is building them a very small cinder block house and is now sponsoring the girls to continue in school.  Every December I send them replacements for their two water filters filled with staple food items.  There are seven children in this family.  The eldest son is married and I was dismayed to see his young wife cradling her third child.  Estela reported that she had tried to get her to go to the WINGS (www.wingsguate.org) office in Antigua for some family planning assistance but that she was not interested.   Perhaps this family will only ever understand the hazards of 7 children bearing 7 children and so on when they run out of space on their tiny little plot of land.  If we can just keep the girls in school there is a chance that they won't all have seven.

The Guatemalans do seem to enjoy a party more than their gringo neighbors.  Central Park is all lighted up for the holidays and musicians just show up serenading the whole park in Christmas carols.  A brown Santa hangs around the fountain and earns his tortillas by posing for photos and doling out hugs.  The shoe shine boys and peddlers are in abundance.  One evening a little boy named "Amadeo" tried to sell me some silly Christmas light thing.  We had a chat and I gave him Q50 ($6) and told him "Feliz Navidad."  He willingly posed for a photo as the going rate for a photo is Q1.  He told me he was six and when asked where he lived he rattled off his complete address including the apartment number in Solola near Lake Atitlan.  At six he is a master salesman.  I encountered him again on New Years' Eve as well when he was selling scarves.  The advantage of speaking Spanish is that you can engage beyond the "I need money so I can go to school" dialogue.  A friend and I chatted a bit with Amadeo and told him we didn't need any scarves at which point he dropped the price by 50%.  (By the way there are gringos who teach them phrases in English, French, German designed to earn them a few more quetzales from unsuspecting tourists.) I gave Amadeo some spare change so he wouldn't get in trouble with his mother and told him we would catch him later and he said "OK."  The good news is that he did know how to spell his name so perhaps he is going to school.  I didn't ask because I knew I would get the answer that he thought I wanted to hear but not necessarily the truth. I expect I will see Amadeo again as he will always keep an eye out for the gringa who gave him Q50.  How does a six-year old become such a ruthless salesman?  Aren't there a zillion companies who would want such a salesperson?

Estela and children came on Christmas Eve without Alex for the first time.  Alex comes and goes from his bachelor pad at the far end of Casa Broccoli but is pretty much out of favor with Estela and the children as well who are tiring of his steady stream of untruths.  One wonders if becoming a sociopath is always the end result of a child growing up alone on the street struggling to survive.  Sad to think that Amadeo might become Alex though Amadeo does have a mother at age 6.  Alex did not.  Denis at 13 is obviously conflicted about his father and is desperately in need of a good male role model (they are in short supply in Guatemala).  He lacks self-confidence and is not doing as well as his sisters in school.  I suspect that he might be suffering from dyslexia which no one here is equipped to deal with.  A gringo friend is spending the occasional Saturday with Denis in the hope of bolstering his self-confidence and giving him the idea that he doesn't have to follow in his father's footsteps/missteps.

What does 2011 bring for Guatemala?

New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/opinion/30kristof.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=nicholas%20%20kristof%20spanish&st=cse is recommending that everyone study Spanish which could help the Spanish schools and teachers in Guatemala.

CNN recommends Guatemala as the #8 out of 9 places one should visit in 2011.
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-12-28/travel/top.destinations.2011_1_maori-new-zealand-destination?_s=PM:TRAVEL

Elmer and Veronica can read and Diego will get to go to school   Hopefully, Amadeo too.  Jackie starts a bi-lingual "diversificado" (high school) this month and spends most of her free time with my old Kindle that I loaded up with books in Spanish for Christmas.  Denis is using iTunes to put music on a Nano for his mother.

Two well qualified women gained high government posts based on merit over male contenders.

The Mexican drug cartel, the Zetas, has moved into the Coban area and has declared war on Guatemala.

Although the tourist areas are quite well patrolled the average Guatemalan suffers daily from a lack of security and corruption at all levels of government.

ABC News launched a year long series called "Be the Change, Save a Life" with a piece on malnutrition and stunting  in Guatemala anchored by Christiane Amanpour. 
http://abcnews.go.com/2020  Look for the December 17th piece entitled "Tortillas and Coffee as Baby Food."

The first North American producer of Plumpy Nut, a highly acclaimed nutritional supplement, Edesia, is seeing that their products get to some of the neediest in Guatemala. 
http://www.edesiaglobal.org/

Riecken Guatemala has received a donation to build a new community discovery center in nearby Jocotenango which will not only change the community but be conveniently accessible to visitors to Antigua.
http://rieckenguatemala.blogspot.com/

So, it is still a muddle but a pleasant, always entertaining muddle.  Where else can you experience perfect weather, stunning views, $15 gourmet meals, devastating poverty, AK-47s, talented craftsmen and happy smiling people on any given day?

Jackie Sprouts Wings

Today marks the fifteenth birthday of Jaquelin, Estela and Alexander's eldest.  Last year during her "summer" school vacation (summer in Guatemala for some strange reason occurs in November and December despite being in the northern hemisphere) Jackie, on her own, started a reading program for the younger children in her village.  I donated some plastic chairs to accommodate the 20 or so children who would come to listen to stories and answer questions about what they had heard.  A friend who is the director of Child Aid (www.child-aid.org) donated books.

This "summer" (as in the US the school calendar was originally designed around harvest time, in this case coffee) the friend with Child Aid offered to have Jackie work as a volunteer at a reading program in Chimaltenango which is a double chicken bus ride from Casa Broccoli in San Antonio Aquas Calientes.  Jackie would need to ride the bus alone to Chimaltenango and back.  Both parents objected strenuously thus the first day Estela who has only ever been once to Chimaltenango herself went along as did a Child Aid employee.  Once Estela discovered that the bus stopped right in front on the school where Jackie needed to go she gave up her objections.  Once Alexander saw how delighted Jackie was to be doing something useful he drove her to Antigua to get the bus to Chimaltenango though he remains mystified as to why anyone would work for free.  While I am giving Jackie the $2 per day bus fare there is no other compensation but Estela understands that she is gaining experience and future job skills and that there is no turning back for Jackie.

So, Jackie leaves home each morning at 6:30am to spend about three hours a day on the bus so that she can read stories to kids and play educational games with them for three hours a day.  Yesterday she was invited to attend an all-adult librarian/teacher training workshop and spent the day learning skills that she can not only use but pass on to others.   There is a childrens'  library in the village of Casa Broccoli, about 1/2 block away.  Jackie and her siblings had never been there as, for the most part in Guatemala, children are locked away in their houses when there parents are working.  Jackie has been introduced to the man who tends this library two hours every afternoon and has been invited to help him with the younger children and to bring some more little ones around.  This is something that she will be able to continue when school starts again in January.

Last month Jackie became the first in her family (on either side) to finish "basico" (middle school, 9th grade).  Her choice at this point is to pursue a bilingual secretarial program for "diversicado" (high school).  She will learn English and computer skills and could choose to go on to university.  With her loves of books and reading I can certainly see her being sought after as a librarian by several organizations when she has finished her education.  Last week we registered her at her new school and I was pleased to see a "No Spanish" sign on the office door.  The director allowed as how it did not apply to me, however.  The school has a good feel to it and is conveniently a five minute walk from my house.

A fifteenth birthday is a big affair for a Hispanic girl and frequently money that is needed for essentials is squandered on a ridiculously expensive party.  I am slowing learning how to manage the expectations in Guatemala and each time I was told how much a party would cost I ignored it.  Finally I said that I was not paying for any parties but that I would take anyone who finished basico with a grade average of more than 75% on a trip anywhere they wanted to go within Guatemala.  The mention of an airplane ride to get to Tikal gave that location a very obvious edge.

Last Saturday Jackie and I were picked up at the ungodly hour of 4am for that airplane ride to Tikal.  We stayed in a hotel, climbed up Mayan ruins, saw monkeys and other jungle creatures, learned about her ancestors, talked about safe sex and not getting pregnant when the time comes that she has a boyfriend (thankfully, she has no interest at the moment which may be partly about the shenanigans of her father).   On our 45 minute flight back to Guatemala City we had a "meal" service (take that, American Airlines) which consisted of choice of potato chips and soft drinks.  By then Jackie had mastered my camera and was taking some pretty interesting photos of her own.

Estela and Astrid were waiting by the gate when we got back to Antigua.  Estela reported that tears of excitement were rolling down Jackie's cheeks as she told her family about her trip.  Estela's brother, who was also at the gate, said that for him it was a dream to go to Tikal.

Tikal by Jaquelin

I had offered to put a book in Spanish on my Kindle for Jackie as I wanted to see if she would take to the electronic book.  She picked a 500 page biography of Queen Isabella of Spain.  When she finished it I told her if she would write a book review on the book I would let her choose another Kindle book.  The next day she turned up with a well written book report.  It is the norm in Guatemala to find unbelievably bad spelling so I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of Jackie's writing.  She has now decided that she is going to write a book, the story of her life.  Yes, Alexander is worried and with good reason.  This could be a best seller in the US of A.  So, yesterday I gave her as a birthday present a very thick spiral notebook and six pens to get her launched.  If she pursues it perhaps we can do something jointly - my perspective and then her perspective.  She went home with Pride and Prejudice and Robinson Crusoe on the "borrowed" Kindle which I do intend to give her as a Christmas present.  Poco a poco.

Rags and Riches

A week or so ago I was enjoying a swim in a friend's lap pool in Antigua in fairly perfect weather.  The pool offers unparalleled, commanding views of Agua, the inactive volcano due south of Antigua.  I couldn't help but think of the people I had seen earlier in the day crammed into a village church at the base of that volcano.  The village of San Miguel Escobar where many live, in very basic houses of cinder blocks with corrugated metal roofs, is a ten minute drive from Antigua.  More than 200 people, forty families who have lost their homes, are now living in the church and church yard.  Another 1,000 or so who have lost their businesses and/or cooking facilities are being fed at the church.  There is a certain amount of guilt in participating in disaster tourism but clearly the Guatemalans know that each disaster tourist might mean a bit more help so they talk and agree to be photographed.  Two of us went to have a look at what we had only seen on world news and we ran into my friend's carpenter in the church. "Don Julio" showed us both around the church and the area of the town where forty homes and six residents were lost.

Many bridges were lost throughout Guatemala during Tropical Storm Agatha.  The one in this village, sadly, held and was blocked by enormous trees and rocks that came down from the top of the volcano.  As a result the water rose from what is normally a lazy stream and flooded the land.  Portions of the stronger buildings still stood but for the most part what we saw was a wasteland of mud with little evidence that a month earlier people had lived there.  A bit further down the hill where some buildings still stood the mud line was half way up the walls and mud had washed through the houses taking of all the contents with it.  One of Guatemala's charms is that it is a "small town" where everybody seems to know somebody if not everybody.  Don Julio asked one woman whom he obviously knew if we could walk through her house which was vacant and actually quite grand but was missing its back wall.  The woman had an overwhelmed look on her face no doubt due from a couple of weeks of cleaning mud out of her house and the shop that once gave her a source of income.  Behind the house a man was making a feeble attempt to get a car that had obviously been covered with mud running again.  Beyond the car there was another wasteland where houses once had stood.  The only evidence was water bottles stuck on protruding pieces of rebar which marked where the columns of a house once where.  Piled in a heap was a "pila" the molded sink that is a required part of every Guatemalan home. 

As we approached the cheerfully colored yellow church we first saw a man who was organizing a group of children and playing games with them.  In front of the church was a huge pile of downed trees that had no doubt been hauled there to provide fuel for cooking for twelve hundred people.  There was also a long line of portable toilets.  Inside the church courtyard one was immediately struck by the number of people and piles of supplies as well as by the upbeat, organized atmosphere.  One corner had been closed off by sheets and was marked as the medical center.  Next to that area a number of women were making tortillas.  Another group of women lined a long table and on the wood fire was one of the largest cooking pots I have ever seen.  Amidst the piles of water bottles and other supplies the children (who were not in school as it was a Sunday) were lined up to get their lunch.  A couple of rooms were devoted to piles and piles of beans, sugar, rice, oil, milk, incaparina, toilet paper, diapers and more.  There was one television and several men were watching the World Cup.  In back of the church in a shed was a huge pile of foam and other mattresses.  Don Julio told us that the mattresses were put on the floor in the church sanctuary at night so that the residents could sleep.  Many children had found themselves a quiet corner to share their lunch.  For more photos follow the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfuetsch/sets/72157624320506482/

Estela reported that she and her children had gone through all their clothes and taken a quantity of clothing to the church for the "damnificados," are the victims are called in Guatemala.  

A number of organizations are doing what they can to help.  One such organization is ConstruCasa which, as many of you may remember, built Casa Broccoli.  They have built a number of homes in San Miguel Escobar and are currently trying to raise additional funds to aid those who have lost all or most of what little they had to start with.  For more information or to make a tax-deductible donation please visit their website at: www.construcasa.org.

I must admit that it troubles me to see such enormous need and such deserving people with engaging smiles who take it all in stride and then to return to the Silicon Valley and be assaulted by the entitled.  The cost of one Ferrari could rebuild all 40 homes in San Miguel Escobar.   The cost of one bag of groceries at Whole Foods could feed everyone in that church for a couple of weeks.  The homeless children in San Miguel Escobar laugh and play hide and seek behind the wood pile.  The entitled children in the Silicon Valley whine when their iPhones don't work.  What in the world is it going to take to level the playing field?  When are the entitled going to understand that poverty is everyone's problem?  Alex's youngest, little Michelle who lives in San Miguel Escobar but only lost the roof of the humble room that she shares with her mother and brother, is no less deserving than a kid in California with a wonky iPhone.

Speaking of Alex, father of many children, a month of so ago he thought he had cut a deal to upgrade his car.  He had a cash buyer for his existing car and a bit of spare change to add so I encouraged him to go forward.  When he went to do the paperwork on the new car the police turned up and took the car as it had been reported stolen so Alex wound up with no car, no money and no way to earn a living.  Yes, the bandito went to jail but Alex's money went somewhere else.  Another reason not to be poor and uneducated in Guatemala.  So, Tia Joan had to decide what to do.  Help him out again, or let him loose his sense of identity, his way to earn a living and to fail in the eyes of his children.  Fortunately, the perfect car was sort of waiting for this event and Alex is once again rolling and once again has some debt payments hanging over his head.

It's Very Complicated!

More than once I have said "I am doing it for the kids" and the kids are great.  Actually even greater now that I have gotten to meet two other, previously only rumored, children that belong to Alexander.  Unlike politicians in the US there was never any denial involved but it does sort of explain the decline in the relationship between Estela and Alexander.  Or was it the other way around?  It is definitely complicated but who are we to judge the poor with limited education, limited resources and not too many other ways to have a good time?  Certainly none of these excuses would apply to one time presidential hopefuls in the USA.

The reality is that "it is what it is," the children are here and Tia Joan has two more to help educate.  Gladly, a couple of years ago I made one of my all time best investments and thanks to counseling from WINGS (www.wingsguate.org) and my $40 Alexander had a vasectomy.   Santa Estela (mother of the first three) has been one of the first to say that the children are innocent.  Christopher, 3, has his Dad's charisma and Michelle, 2, her Dad's dimples.  Both appear to be clean, well-nourished and well cared for.  They both know what books are for as Mom reads to them which is a rarity in Guatemala.  So, I guess we can give Alex credit for picking good mothers and for taking some responsibility for all five children.  Now we all know the answer to the question of where all his money goes. And go it does.

As for those who don't belong to Alexander there are five in the village of San Antonio Aguas Calientes in school this year thanks to a donation from a womens' club in Southern California.  School is technically free and technically compulsory.  Neither are close to the truth.  Uniforms are often required along with gym clothing and school supplies as in the US.  Many families simply do not have the funds for school supplies or uniforms thus their kids just don't go to school.  Interestingly, two of the sponsored children, Veronica and Elmer, are siblings of "Charlie" who received a Rotary scholarship last year and apparently couldn't cope with being the oldest and the tallest at age 13 in the third grade. He dropped out and is, probably, up to no good.  His sister, Veronica, is 12 and very happy to be in the second grade and their brother, Elmer, 6, is also in the second grade though in a different class.  I explained to the two of them that there were able to go to school because some ladies in the United States were making it possible.  Elmer assured me that he could read.  The school year ends in October in Guatemala so if their grades are good they will be able to continue with financial assistance.

Speaking of books I was recently able to visit the Riecken Foundation library in Xolsacmalja, Totonicapan to which many of you have contributed.  The 100% indigenous village is about a 20-minute 4-wheel drive ride off of the paved, main road (3-4 hours west of Antigua) yet the progress in this library in scarcely a year was quite remarkable.  We were there to discuss an internet connection that is being partially funded by The Rotary Club of Woodside/Portola Valley (CA) and also to deliver two boxes of Spanish language childrens' books donated by a young girl named Quincy from Napa, California.  Quincy asked her friends to bring the books as gifts for her birthday party.  In the photo above Juana, who is the president of the library board, looks over the new books with her 3-year old niece, Elena.  Elena now has the very new prospect of growing up with books and computers in her life.  Despite, currently, having to travel by bus to another community for internet access the library staff managed to send Quincy a digital "thank you" for her book donation.

While at the library three young boys cornered me as "gringas" are a rarity in their community.  First, they eagerly posed for a photo so that they could see themselves on the back of the camera.  Then, they plied me with questions.  "Why are gringos tall?" was one of their first.  Since I wasn't sure of the answer I mentioned that gringos eat different food.  Then they wanted to know what gringos ate, what I ate when I was in Guatemala, how did I get there, how long did it take, what did it cost and why was my hair short.  I finally escaped the questions by asking them to get books and read so that I could take some photos.  All three read aloud in unison endlessly.  It was quite clear that they all were good readers and they were happy to show off their skills.  Bingo! Library

If you would like to read a bit more about the Riecken Guatemala libraries and see more photos just follow this link: http://rieckenguatemala.blogspot.com.