Life Lessons in a Cup of Coffee
Brendan Monroe
Issue date: 3/19/10 Section: Life & Times
Before March 5 I knew almost nothing about Guatemala. I had signed up for Rollins' Alternative Spring Break trip for primarily two reasons: I wanted to do something exciting over Spring Break and I had never before been to Latin America and thought now was as good a time as any. The program, entitled "Make Coffee, Not War," sounded compelling because it would provide me with both of these things in a unique learning environment: a Guatemalan community made up of ex-combatants left standing following the country's long and bloody 36-year civil war. Today these same men and women have traded in their arms and ammunition for shovels and a safe place to raise and educate their children.
Before March 5 I now realize I knew almost nothing about the world outside my own. I have been fortunate enough to travel somewhat extensively over the last few years, taking trips throughout Europe and Russia as well as through my own country and Canada. On none of these trips however did I meet people who live as modestly as the people I encountered in Guatemala. In the community of Santa Anita where our group of 12 students and three faculty advisors stayed, residents have limited access to clean water and the availability of food depends mainly on what you raise and grow yourself. Upon arriving, students were broken up into groups of two, each pair then taken into the home of an individual family who were kind enough to share their meals with us over the course of a week. I was paired up with Economics major and fluent Spanish speaker Andi Perez (Class of 2010) which, considering my Spanish can be described as woeful at best, was definitely a good thing. Otherwise, I would not have been able to hear the sad account our host mom-a wonderful, weathered woman named Wilma who also fought in Guatemala's long civil war-gave us about her personal struggle during the conflict, though the deeply entrenched lines in her leathery skin serve as a testament to it.
While 6 months pregnant with her daughter, Wilma lost her husband in the fighting. Now 17, her daughter Maria sits and eats with us quietly, enraptured in our depiction of life back home. Her brother Luis likes the bands "Guns and Roses" and "Coldplay," and he stares in mock astonishment when I admire his old, beaten up Samsung phone. "You like my phone?" He says in Spanish, the surprise universally clear. Such is the way here, and luxuries are not. During our stay we participate daily in one of four activities.
Before March 5 I now realize I knew almost nothing about the world outside my own. I have been fortunate enough to travel somewhat extensively over the last few years, taking trips throughout Europe and Russia as well as through my own country and Canada. On none of these trips however did I meet people who live as modestly as the people I encountered in Guatemala. In the community of Santa Anita where our group of 12 students and three faculty advisors stayed, residents have limited access to clean water and the availability of food depends mainly on what you raise and grow yourself. Upon arriving, students were broken up into groups of two, each pair then taken into the home of an individual family who were kind enough to share their meals with us over the course of a week. I was paired up with Economics major and fluent Spanish speaker Andi Perez (Class of 2010) which, considering my Spanish can be described as woeful at best, was definitely a good thing. Otherwise, I would not have been able to hear the sad account our host mom-a wonderful, weathered woman named Wilma who also fought in Guatemala's long civil war-gave us about her personal struggle during the conflict, though the deeply entrenched lines in her leathery skin serve as a testament to it.
While 6 months pregnant with her daughter, Wilma lost her husband in the fighting. Now 17, her daughter Maria sits and eats with us quietly, enraptured in our depiction of life back home. Her brother Luis likes the bands "Guns and Roses" and "Coldplay," and he stares in mock astonishment when I admire his old, beaten up Samsung phone. "You like my phone?" He says in Spanish, the surprise universally clear. Such is the way here, and luxuries are not. During our stay we participate daily in one of four activities.
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