Rough week

As my previous posts suggest, I have had the fortune to experiencing some amazing day trips around Guatemala, but in between these trips I found myself having some rough times during the week. During the last week of June, which would have been my fourth week here in Guatemala, I had a particularly rough time when many of my frustrations peaked and forced me to consider my situation and take some action.

During this week I felt that many of my frustrations could not be suppressed or ignored anymore. During this time I was especially feeling frustration with the job I was doing down here and how my previous hopes and expectations of my job were different from actuality. Before I came down to Guatemala I was under the impression that I would be working for an established NGO, which I assumed meant they had an office and full time employees which I would be in contact with and working with daily. The reality is that I work at the university here and work for the group SonRisas, which I recently found out is not technically an NGO. This fact does not bother me because they are working hard to become an official NGO, but they do not have an office and the members of SonRisas work on the project after their other full time jobs. On top of all of this my contact with them consists of emails throughout the week and a two hour meeting every Wednesday night. That being said, they are very passionate about the cause and devote as much time as they can to progressing the SonRisas organization. I was also struggling with the work they had us doing, which was often based around getting contributors and donations for the organization. I had been working on these tasks some, but the other intern Karie was devoting most of her time to these causes and having very little success. We did not think we were the right people to do this type of work because there is still a language barrier, especially on the phone, and we also did not know how to approach people for donations in a foreign culture, whether you have to be very open and kind, or you have to put extreme pressure with repetitive emails and phone calls. I kept thinking that in the USA if someone with a foreign accent called your business asking for a monthly donation of money, food, or goods, would you be open to helping them?…probably not too likely.

Possibly the most frustrating aspect of all was when I signed up to do this internship I was under the impression that I would be working with SonRisas and meeting with them every Saturday to do activities and work with underprivileged kids in a certain poor zone of the city. In the last week of June it had been four weeks, almost half my time in Guatemala, and I had not met the kids yet! This lack of Saturdays with the children had happened due to a brief break by SonRisas followed by a notice from the ministry of health telling us not to having these meetings with the underprivileged children because they did not want the swine flu spreading among young kids. These things were out of my control and I knew that, but it was still hard to accept. All I could do was look forward to Sunday, June 5^th when I had planned a day at the zoo with SonRisas, AIESEC, and all the children.

On top of all these challenges and struggles with my work, I felt like I was being bottled up and couldn’t explore the city and discover things for myself. The main reason for this was safety, and it really is a huge concern in Guatemala City. It has been so much different living down here than in the Midwest or in Spain because I can do anything I want in the city and discover all parts of it at my leisure. I love finding a favorite coffee shop or bar to hang out in and get some alone time. And I also love everything outdoors: hiking, biking, running, walking, camping, etc. and the reality is that walking places and taking the buses in Guatemala City is unsafe and is NOT advisable. This is a huge shock for my lifestyle and another hurdle I must overcome and accept.

Through all of this, and all of my struggles, I just kept telling myself that I am EXTREMELY fortunate to be in my situation. I am living in a different country, experiencing a new culture, practicing my Spanish, and making friends in foreign countries…those things really amazing to think about. I consider myself an optimistic person with a very positive outlook on life, and during my struggles I had to keep telling myself how lucky I am to be in this situation and that I have to make the best of it and embrace the good in it. I had to see it all as a learning experience and how this was helping me learn how to cope with a hard time and how I was going to have to turn it around to enjoy it.

Jesse