Pictures say a thousand words!

My friend Mel and her son, my friend, Matt at the Berg.

Myself and my friend Emily on our 8 KM hike through the Berg.

The cascades.

Emaus Methodist Church.

Worship at Emaus Methodist.

Love wins!

Working with little kids always reminds me how much I do have to learn from them. The past few days I have been back to work with the preschool at Phakamisa. We have had twenty kids the past two days come to us with their normal preschool teacher from the townships to have some time to practice their motor skills in different activities such as drawing, cutting, painting, fantasy centers, pyschomotor classes, dancing, and playing in sand. It is truly amazing how well behaved children are when they have something to do. The children are completely fabulous. Today, one little girl taught me how to properly tie a baby doll on my back. Many women here in South Africa transport their children on their backs. So, naturally when the three year olds I work with are given a doll and a blanket they tie them to their back and leave them there while they play. My first attempt at this was a failure as the doll nearly had a fatal fall. Luckily Amanda was there to save her and teach me how to properly tie the baby to my back! I will have to keep her tips in mind for when I have babies of my own.

Yesterday as well was a learning day for me. I was playing with play dough with a few girls. Most of the children only speak Zulu and so I was teaching them the names in English for the cookie cutters we were using with our play dough. I taught them butterfly and they caught on very well. Then we moved to heart. I pointed to the heart and pronounced heart for the girls. After I waited for them to repeat it back to me, but without a moment of hesitation they instead said, "I love you" in their beautiful Zulu actions. I tried to correct them several times, but every time I pointed to the heart they said like little parrots, "I love you!" I laughed like crazy and they proceeded to give me hugs. It is so nice to be loved and hugged and kissed for no reason at all!

Often when I look at the children, some of whom have AIDS, and all of whom have tattered cloths and come from some of the poorest areas of the world, I feel such sadness and anguish. Yet, yesterday I was reminded in so many ways how they really know how to love one another. While playing with the play dough with them I was often a bit anxious that a fight would break out as they took dough from another one's plate and started creating with it, but there were no fights or upsets. The children all shared with each other. The kids helped each other up when they fell and loved on each others baby dolls. The children knew how to love and so amidst all that the world has thrown at them I was reminded today that love wins. Poverty does not win, nor AIDS, nor broken homes, none of these things have power over the love that the Holy Spirit has blessed them with each day. So, although many of my thoughts are filled with sadness today I was reminded through the hugs and kisses on the hand that in the end love wins!

The lost sheep.

Not but three days into my time here in South Africa I got to hear from Archbisop Desmond Tutu twice in one day. I think I might have endured the 27 hours of airports, plane rides, plane food, and swollen ankles simply to hear him speak. My good friend, Anna, who is in the picture had told me he was coming to Durban to speak and got me tickets before I had arrived. The morning session was for pastors and so my name tag read, Rev. Audrey Warren- can you handle it! Then we went to a dinner in the evening. His visit was to release a book called, Pilgrimage of Hope. This book recounts the history of the Diakonia Council of Churches in the Durban area and their work in the struggle against Apartheid.
The Archbisop had many things to say about the church, the upcoming election here in South Africa, and the status of his country. As always he spoke boldly yet with humility on all subjects. He made us laugh and then made us want to cry. Yet, what touched me most that day was his incredible interpretation of scripture. At one of his humble moments he reminded us all that we were all, in fact, damaged people. We were all the lost sheep. Then he went on to remind us of what the lost sheep looks like. Contrary to many paintings in our church Sunday school rooms or prayer stations, the lost little lamb was neither clean nor innocent. Tutu explained to us in all his humor that the lost sheep ran through some stables to get himself/herself lost. She probably charged through some chains and got wrapped in wire a few times. Needless to say she probably even fallen in a few ponds and then proceded to roll in pile of dirt. Desmond explained to us that it was that mud-caked sheep that Jesus draped over his off white robe and carried home to clean and love. What a beautiful image to poner. I think I will always hear this story differently now. How I love South Africa.

Teach a man to fish....

A couple of weekends ago I took a trip to an area of Guatemala called San Marcos which is very close to the border of Mexico. While there I visited a project of the Mennonite Central Commission, a project which puts into pictures the phrase, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." The project is located in a small town called La Vega, which means the Valley in Spanish. The pueblo is a small cluster of houses located about 3 miles from the border of Mexico. About two years ago the town was hit very hard by a Hurricane. The hurricane actually stayed in the valley for a few days. Many people lost their houses and some even their lives to flooding. To get to this small community we had to take a ride in the back of a pick up for about 1 1/2 hours through the gorgeous mountains of Northwestern Guatemala. When my group arrived we were given a tour of the area and saw the damage of the hurricane. Then we were treated to a huge lunch including their new special dish, trout.

About a year ago the MCC helped a few families in the community construct pools beside their houses where they can raise trout. The families sell half and then save half for their families. With the money made the families can send their kids to school and buy other healthy food to feed their children, which is very important since the region of San Marcos has the highest rate of malnutrition amongst young children. Some of the money as well goes into a community pot where the community will decide what to do with the money. Since they have started they have helped others build and buy pools to put beside their houses and are constructing an office headquarter in the middle of the town for business. I think what amazes me most is that this small community is lifting itself up out of poverty and infirmity solely with the help of a little funds and two very caring men. There are two men that work with them, one from the Catholic Church and one from the MCC. The two men help them dream and plan and make their dreams and plans come to fruition through ligistical work. Yet, the plan is that in a few years the community will be able to manage the fishing business all by themselves.

While there I stayed with a family in their house. In talking to the father of the family I found out that he actually worked in Immokalee, Fl for a while in the Tomato Farms there. I was completely humbled by his hospitality and the constant lack there of on my part to my brothers and sisters in Christ who are working and living right down the road from me in Immokalee. Sometimes this world seems so big to me and I am overwhelmed by how much need there is and the complexitiy of every community but this trip reminded me how small the world is and how it really is only small acts, like teaching someone to fish, that have made the biggest changes and have formed the deepest relationships.

Mi Amor!

***Confession! There is no spell check on this computer, and being a child of the 90´s I never learned how to spell, so please excuse my spelling and grammar it is horrible and I am very tired!


No, I have not met the love of my life in Guatemala...yet, but the title of this blog, mi amor, is the name that my mother here calls my father, and I think it is simply too beautiful to go unwritten! Whether Betty is mad or completely contento she calls Hugo, mi amor, my love. In the picture to the left is Betty, Omar, Hugo, their friend Perez, and me. We were eating dinner together to celebrate Perez´s 70th Birthday! Perez is a missionary from Puerto Rico and writes and sings and records his own music. Perez is definatly full of love as well! My family, as do many here in Guatemala, always greet each other with a kiss and leave each other with a kiss. So, I have been getting many kisses as I am apart of their family. It is amazing how much physical touch can do to the spirit! Last week prior to being here I felt very lonely at times but being apart of this family and feeling not only their emotional love but physical love in action and touch has meant much to my experience here. My mother has four boys and so it is a treat for both of us to have each other here and share in being women and being pastors. Mi amor, is not the only sweet name Betty has for people but she also calls all of her children, mio, or mine! This name is not said in a dominating way but I see it more in the way that the Isaiah says, "I have called you by name, you are mine!" As I pray it has been sweet to think of God in her lovely Spanish accent calling me, mio! Simply something to ponder!

Living in Color!

My friend Adrian says that anyone can be a photographer for national geographic in Guatemala because it is just so beautiful! This is true! I took this picture of the little girl hiding behind her mother´s scarves with my meager photography skills at the Ruth and Naomi project in Chichicastango. The project is run by the Methodist Church in the area and is operated by their pastor, Diego. They make all sorts of bags, purses, skirts, dresses, wallets, belts, table clothes, and some jewerly. The project started in the late 80s when woman would come to Diego and ask for food for their children and he had none to give. So Diego went to the conference office and asked for money there. They had none but suggested that Diego start a project with the woman. He came back and told them he didn´t get any money but they could make some if they were willing to work. Ofcourse, they were willing to work! Like Ruth and Naomi the generations of women without husbands started out on a new journey together, and like the story in the Bible, God blessed them indeed! The project now produces hundreds of orders for fair trade stores all over the world, including a lot of work for Ten Thousand Villiages.

What intrest me most about this project are the women themselves and their ability to create such color out of their very grey lives! The civil war in Guatemala lasted for 36 years and mostly affected women like those photographed above who lived in small villiages in the mountains. At the time of the war and today many were poor in the country and some in the country did not think this was right and some just didn´t care. There was a guerilla army and an army of the government. Some in the guerilla army were hoping for a revalution in the country and would meet together and plan. Whenever the army from the government thought that the guerillas were meeting in a certain town they would go and shoot and sometimes burn a whole city, targeting men mainly, because they believed they were the ones that could be apart of the guerilla. It was very sad and sad also to learn that in the 80s while Jimmy Carter was calling for Peace in Guatemala, the CIA was sending billions of dollars of guns to the government army! Peace was brought about after 36 years and in great part by efforts of the Catholic church and other churches which gathered Guerillas and Government officals together to reach a peace agreement. They have tried to establish a truth and reconcillation project but because of the great amount of impunity here it is hard to punish or pin point any of the wrong doers!

So in the midst of many men fighting these very strong women suffer the consequences. Many of their husbands left never to be found again, or to be found dead in ditches and ravins near their houses. Young boys were even taken from their homes and taught to fight for the government army. Houses and churches were burnt down leaving many already poor people homeless. Yet, in the midst of this very grey cloud that has sat over their simple lives, these women create things in color! It is interesting that even the bases of the belts they embrodier come to them in black and white and they sew beautiful flowers and birds and shapes in the brightest color combinations I have ever seen! And they not only create things in color but they also wear skirts and shirts and belts in brillant colors of bright pink, green, blues, and yellows! It is hard to seperate them from their art work! There is not doubt in my mind that their works of art while someday be hanging in museums all around the world, displaying not only their craftsmanship and creativity but also their perservence and choice to live in color!

Suena, me, and Diego

Antigua

Under the arch you might be able to see the volcano hiding beneath the clouds. Yes, this is Antigua, breathtaking! We only spent 4 hours in Antigua but it felt like I could spend my whole life there. The streets were buzzing with people and the scenary screamed out life all around us! There we celebrated the birthday of one of my friends here in Guatemala. We went the day before Indepence day and the roads were packed going both ways because of a great tradition where youth run from Antigua to Guatemala City carrying torches. So, every school in the area sends youth to run the rough 15 mile run. So all day we saw and heard groups of children running by us with wistles in their mouth and torches in their hands celebrating their freedom from Spain. The capitol used to be in Antigua and then was moved to Guatemala City sometime after they got their independence but I´m thinking the run has some kind of meaning with the moving of the capitol. The bus ride there and back was about one hour and a half and was full of turns, bumps, and water ballons that youth would try to throw in the windows along their run! I will be going back to Antigua soon to visit a friend from seminary and visit some monastaries there. My friends from school and I are also going back to climb the volcano under the arch! We hope to do it at night because the lava glows extra bright around 9 pm!