Nuestros Niños: The "Kitchen" by Matt

Angela and I have been working on a wide range of projects on several previous trips to Guatemala. These have ranged from the ONIL stove installations, roof replacements, field days with kids, and the list goes on…. So when I heard that our construction project on this trip was going to be building a kitchen I felt pretty good on what to expect…always the unexpected with Guatemala building projects.

We began our day heading over from Panajachel on the way to San Antonio Palapo. Angela and I had visited this village as tourists initially many years ago. Then last year we did work in San Antonio installing stoves. The views are breathtaking and the people appear to be in a tight knit indigenous community. The village found a bright spot in our hearts. The people, the colors, the town itself, I really could not say precisely why. There was nothing overly remarkable that was just earth shattering – it was just something that touched us. So I was happy to be heading off to work here, although my experience last year told me we were undoubtedly going to struggle to get our supplies to the worksite.

There are only two roads in this village – one in and one that forks and goes slightly further into the town. Everything here is carried up by hand. After an adventurous drive over in the vans (roads still not fully recovered from last years mudslides) we arrived ready to work. Our group was going to split up with a few teams heading to install ONIL stoves, one group working at the pre-school, and our team on the construction project.

Jonathan, Tom, and myself were ready to go…but as often occurs in Guatemala we had to be patient for a bit while all of the details were sorted out and supplies arrived. After everything had finally arrived – we hopped in the back of the pick-up for a short trip to save us a few hundred feet of walking. The truck labored up the hill as far is it could, and we hopped out to begin unloading our supplies. 4” x 4” posts for the corners, 8’ x 4’ sheets of laminar (corrugated aluminum) for the walls and roof, some clavos (nails), hammers, levels, and our wits.

I always love telling this part of the story…..you see Jonathan and Tom are in good health and are strong fellas. We all take pride in our ability to carry as much of the load as we can. So we (as male pride dictates) push ourselves to load up and haul as much as possible on the way. When I saw how much Jonathan and Tom were loading themselves down with I suggested they didn’t need to be heros and the air up here (5000+ ft) was not quite what they may have been used to. I grabbed more than I probably should have as well and we began our trek. Here’s the “I told you so” part. After about 8-10 minutes, maybe a little less, of going almost straight up without good footing or pathways, around bends and through tunnels, Jonathon and I agreed to drop our individual loads and team carry the rest of the way.

The house they were working on was just to the left and a little higher than the bright pink house with green at the bottom.

It was one of those moments I hope to remember for a very long time. We caught up to Tom at the family’s home and got a chuckle out of his labored breathing and tongue hanging out of his mouth. We all agreed to team carry the balance of the supplies. The kicker for the three of us was watching the man and woman of the house, who are in any measure very small people take trip after trip of the supplies without skipping a beat. Something to be said for being used to back-breaking hard work at high altitude.

Existing Structure

Mayan families had partnered us up a helper that was a great worker, but only spoke Kachiquel and some Spanish. Truthfully the language was not much of a barrier at all. We used gestures and quickly got the layout of the project we were about to begin. It began with the “demo” of the existing structure they were using as a kitchen. This took only a few minutes. Then we began leveling the ground (the family had a hoe we used). The family we were working for had three sons. One was about 17 years old and the other was about 9 years old. The older son got to work with us along with Mom. Dad helped carry supplies for some of the stove projects going on nearby. The younger son has a medical condition that has taken the use of his legs. Mayan Families has sought medical care for him the past but have been told his condition cannot be treated. He is carried on the back of his parents wherever he goes and while with us sat on the ledge of the family home and watched us throughout the day. Often whistling to us and giving us a “thumbs up”. It became a game and he really seemed to enjoy the attention whenever we paused to interact with him.

Once we had the sight leveled the digging of the footers began. This was somewhat challenging for us, with only old worn machete blades to use as shovels. We dug the footers into the ground the depth of our arms. Needless to say – this took a while. I won’t give you all of the blow by blow steps to completion, but I will say that we were humbled by the way the family worked shoulder to shoulder with us throughout the project. We learned a few things as well. Like the value of the magic grease the father put on the sawblade when we were cutting the wood. It was worth it’s weight in gold to us that day as we labored through the cuts.

We also learned how the people of Guatemala are so good at getting by with what they have. I think it was in all of our American minds how nice it would have been to have a post-hole digger or an 18V cordless saw to work with. Perhaps they don’t know any better, but even if they did it was just a part of life to work hard with your hands and get the job done. I am sure they would use whatever tools they had at their disposal – but time and again while I am in Guatemala I see the people managing to do so much with so little. What I did know by the end of our afternoon was how much I enjoyed working with my friends Tom and Jonathan, and how much the family looked as though they enjoyed their new building.

The new lamina kitchen can be seen just to the left and up a bit from the pink house. It is the shiny new metal lamina.

We all posed for a picture or two before beginning our hike back down the mountain – and smiles were abundant. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity – and look forward to once again seeing the people of San Antonio Palopo and working with my friends once again.