Wednesday
Today was a pretty simple day. First of all we started out by going to the dental clinic. From there we went to the school to give fluoride to all the little kids. I am so grateful for America’s school system. We think we have disgusting poor education, but it is nothing compared to the school system here. I mean absolutely nothing. To explain the situation it is like having a cardboard beat up box with holes that smells like rotting cardboard compared to a clean house with fancy furniture. It is pathetic the way the school works here. The kids go to school in a very dirty place every room we went in made me want to gag because they smelt really bad. They seriously smelt like the walls and floors were rotting and they were hot too which made the aroma of the kids bad too. We are blessed to have the schools we do and people that take care of them and actually care about our education. Although we could do better we also can do a lot worse. The education system is terrible if you don’t have money. All the brothers and sisters in this family only went to school til 7th grade. Since they didn’t have money to send their kids to school in Pana they could not receive higher than a 7th grade education. This could be one of the reasons the girls here get pregnant earlier because they don’t get a good education and they have nothing else to do. The boys go and find jobs after finishing 7th grade and the girls usually learn to work from home and do house work and find a spouse. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to get a good education and had the opportunity to live a life and discover who I am and who I want to be before having a child. The life these boys and girls live. It is sad to me, hence why Kate wants to bring Viola and Andres to the states for school. Kates aunt and uncle will pay for them to come to the states to learn. Viola is actually 17 and her mom and dad could pay for her to go to school but they don’t want her to be like her sister and meet some guy and get pregnant. It is sad that they have to worry about that when they should be worrying about the education she can have. Thank you mom and dad for making sure that I had a good education and always encouraging me to get good grades and learn as much as possible. I think the whole theme of my experience here is be grateful for what you have because there is always someone better off than you and someone worse off than you. It is the things we have, that we need to be grateful for. These people are content with what they have and as should we. I thank my stars and have been counting my blessings because I am blessed. Oh how I am blessed. I have an amazing family, I mean amazing, good education, equal opportunities, and how lucky I am to have the life I have. The life I live is great and I am rich beyond compare. I may not have money wealth but I am wealthy in ways an outsider could never comprehend. I love all of my precious wealth’s I have, such as family and friends. Thank you all for enriching my life.
Love you,
Desi J
Thursday
Tomorrow is my last day with the family and how sad I am. I just got here it feels like I am truly cheerless to come home. I have made life time friends and family here. I am so sad. I love these people so much. They are so kind to us. Also Mama Cruz and Papa are so accommodating and always make sure we are taken care of. I don’t know how to explain myself my situation my feelings. I feel like I did the first day emotional roller coaster. I want to cry but I don’t. haha. I feel like I am standing in the middle of an empty grassy field my home to the west on the hill and this home on the east on a hill. I am stuck in the middle unable to choose the destination of where I want to be. I sit like a captivated vine behind bars and only allowed to reach so far only allowed to grow one way. In the end I know which way I will choose to go but my memories will always be a part of my growing journey. Although I am emotionally captivated I have been able to be part of an experience that so many will never experience. My experience here has been one of the most bubble bursting, humbling, amazing experiences of my life. Unless you experience something like this for yourself you will never understand. There is something about living with others strangers, learning to communicate without words, learning customs, learning a language, and learning to live a way you have never lived before. I don’t know how to explain it to anyone. But I truly grew as a person down here and I know that this is exactly where I needed to be in this time in my life. I developed as a person in ways I couldn’t at home. In our lives we are blinded by what we have what we do every day. Sometimes it is hard to think that there are other people out there. The world is so big and we are so small but we definitely need to be less selfish in our daily lives. You never really realize how blind you are tell you take the time to step out from behind the black curtain and look beyond what is right in front of you.
Sorry enough deep thinking for today. Today I did a lot more sealants this time I didn’t use the dentist chair we had to use regular chairs no water no air no nothing. Hahaha it was hard. We got 30 kids teeth sealed today. After we finished one of the supervisors came from the University of Dental School here in Guatemala to check up on the Dental students work on the sealants he took 5 random kids, 4 of the students and one of mine. Hahaha I was so nervous. I knew the job I did today wasn’t as good as the other day and he didn’t know that I was helping with the sealants he thought it was only the students doing the sealants. So he starts with the first 4 and he was so angry although I didn’t understand everything, he was talking so fast in Spanish, I could just tell he was angry and the vibe was off in the room. After the 4 he got to my patient. Turns out I had the best sealants he was just upset because I didn’t do one of the permanent teeth that I should have. Hahaha it made my day to know that I did a good job. So all in all it was a good day. Now we are just going to hang out with the family for the rest of the day.
See you all soon. J
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