A lot has happened in the past couple weeks. I finished working at the project, traveled to Honduras to do scuba diving, and now I’m in Quito, Ecuador. Everything has been happening so fast that I haven’t had much time to reflect on my whole summer experience in Guatemala, so I’ll try to do that now.
I always wanted to come back to Safe Passage after I returned from my first trip in 2009, so this summer was great to finally be back. I say a lot about how the connections with the kids and the project I have made are what always make me want to go back, but there is another thing that I hadn’t really thought about which makes the project so special for me. For me, it’s the endless possibilities of the project. It’s inspiring to see what Safe Passage has become in its 11 years of existence, but it’s also incredible for me to think about what more can happen. I think that experiencing the project as a volunteer, it was very clear what a strong base the project has in the community. So the possibilities of building on that base seem endless.
This summer really made it clear for me. Being able to teach guitar and English is something most projects don’t have the capacity for. Then, on top of that, being able to organize a community fair not just for Safe Passage, but also for the entire community around the garbage dump was incredible. It really showed me what a strong presence Safe Passage is in the community. Then it was small things that showed me possibilities, such as working individually with Francisco on songwriting, something that seemed to happen somewhat randomly. But that got me thinking about the possibilities of creating music on a computer for some of the kids. There are some children who don’t have the technical musical talent, but are incredibly creative and have music in their heads. So working even with a simple program like Garage Band would allow some of the kids to be creative.
Working with Francisco was very inspiring because I saw him grow a lot this summer. I think one of the main reasons was because he started to be creative. So not only was he thinking in a different way, he was gaining self confidence, and creating original work that he can always have. I think Francisco is a classic example of what the Creative Expression program at Safe Passage strives to achieve. Through any medium, being creative can be incredibly powerful, especially for the kids at Safe Passage.
My last day at the project was overwhelming emotionally. I had created very strong relationships with my guitar students and English students so it was hard to say bye. Also, my family and I decided to be Francisco’s sponsor which was exciting. He was so happy when I told him that he started crying. He told me that he had had other sponsors that were great, but he had never actually gotten to meet any of his sponsors. So he was very happy to actually have a personal relationship with one of his sponsors.
Then after I finished at the project last Wednesday I headed down to Honduras to Scuba Dive. I had to take a bus all day Thursday and spend the night in La Cieba, a big city on the coast of Honduras. Then I took the ferry the next morning to Utila, one of the bay Islands which is one of the cheapest places in the world to Scuba Dive. Then over the next three days I got certified to Scuba Dive and saw tons of amazing fish and coral, including a barracuda, a spotted eagle ray, and a sea turtle. It was unbelievable. It is like a whole different world Scuba Diving. Now I can’t wait to dive in the Galapagos. I bused back to Guatemala on Tuesday and spend Wednesday packing and getting ready to leave. Then this morning at 4 am I left Antigua for the airport and flew through Panama City down to Quito. I met my home stay family in the airport and I’m at their house now. I can’t wait to start my next adventure!
