¡Hola nuestra familia y amigos amados!

What a busy day we had today! We started our morning early at a school for children with a range of disabilities in Xela and took a tour through the different classrooms; one of the teachers touched our hearts when she told us that even though they have very limited resources to use with the students, they do their best to offer them special education. After that, we made a song circle and were outnumbered by the excited children, and we had a memorable time playing with them. Right after, we traveled to an elderly home for grandmothers in Xela and met occupational therapy students from the University of Rafael Landivar that were doing field work with the ladies. Right away, they welcomed us with applause as if we were all family and we did “gymnastic” exercises with the group – dance moves that replicate actions that the women are familiar with, such as “making the bed” (arms waving up and down) and “washing the dishes” (one hand moving in a circle) which was a fun combination of music and therapy. Many of us experienced powerful emotions as we saw first hand the intersection of different languages, cultures, and ages to connect through eye contact and smiles. Many of us cried; we will remember our time here when we return home to start our own fieldwork.

After that, we headed to the University of Rafael Landivar for a much-needed lunch, which they made very special for us by catering delicious food and giving us a beautiful presentation of the work they’ve been doing since last year’s group from Xavier OT visited them. They also gave us a tour of their campus which showed us how much we have in common as Jesuit universities – we both value beautiful greenery as an inspiration for our education, study space in libraries, and having an on-campus chapel with its own parish. 

After this, we split up to go to the sites that we did not go to yesterday – half of the group went to the TRAMA cooperation for weaving, and (our) half went to the temascal where we stepped out of our comfort zones and into a very hot, tiny room where we experienced the Mayan tradition of the “baño,” cleansing ourselves of toxins. We reunited again as a group to watch a documentary on the painful history of Guatemala and spent much time afterwards reflecting on all of the incredible experiences and emotions we shared today. We had more things to share than we had time for, and we ran back to our host families in the rain for another warm meal and night’s sleep before tomorrow’s activities.

How can it get better than this?

Adiós y mucho amor,

Katie y Paige