Volunteering in a foreign country

Today was my first day of my assignment as a volunteer through the organisation IVHQ. 

Before I go into my day let me tell you a bit about volunteering in a foreign country. Some call it voluntourism which gives the impression that you volunteer and its a bit of a vacation. Believe me it aint!  It can be hard work but it can also be so very rewarding and depending on what you do is a great way to immerse yourself in a new culture in a different way to what you could as a tourist. 

This is my third stint. My first was on a game reserve in Kenya. Basic living conditions, before dawn starts, long drop toilets, showers and luxury, heat, bugs, crawlies and long days. On this assignment we were in a conservancy on the edge of the Maasai Mara so animals from the Mara hung out in our hood. But we didn’t have the tourists to gawk at the animals. We could drive (no roads) up close to them and got to know where each animal hung out and could recognise them from their markings. 

So there was nothing to do when we had down time except maybe update computer records with our sightings, or chill. We were miles away from anything except for a small village. We went to the village one day and got a glimpse of the primitive life the people live andalso had the chance to interact with the Maasai people (not the ones in the tourist villages that most people see). 

Volunteering involved going for two game drives each day and counting the numbers of each breed we saw. This information passed on to researchers to help build a picture of migration etc. We also had to update records to help animals we had seen during the day be identified - for example whisker markings for lions, scars or identifying marks for elephants.  We also spent an afternoon a week teaching English at the local school and another afternoon doing community work. Others got to spend time with the students at the guiding school. 

We were a team of 6, 4 women my age and two lovely young guys. The company was great, our manager looked after us well and the cook was amazing. Other than the fee (to cover room, board, transport etc) the only money we spent was when we went off site for the weekend. 

My time at Naboisho Conservancy with African Impact was one of the best experiences of my life. Apart from the usual volunteering activities we had so many special moments and the friends I made are friends for life. We were out of our comfort zones, suffered lack of sleep often, struggled with the heat but what we got in return far outweighed the downsides which are but a distant memory. 

My second stint with an organisation called IVHQ, was at an aged care community centre in Cordoba, Argentina where we stayed in a volunteer house with basic amenities, in a village called Saldan.  This stint was just a week but entertaining the elderly was so rewarding and our host was one of the most divine creature I’ve ever met. We danced with the olds told stories, listened to music, painted their nails, did handcrafts and by the end of the week they could recognise me and try to catch my attention so I could go and talk to them. It was so very rewarding I knew then that I would do it again some day. 

The only expenses other than the fee was bus fares to the assignment and lunches. The village was only tiny and our assignment was only in the morning so if we wanted we could go exploring but mainly we just hung around ‘home’ playing board games or chilling. A totally different experience to Kenya. 

And then came Guatemala. I chose this because I wanted to come to Central América to practice my spanish. IVHQ offered this program which coincided with a tour I want to do and so here I am. 

IVHQ contract MaximoNivel to run the programme and they do it so well. 

Communication was amazing throughout and everything is organised brilliantly. I was a little reluctant to be going to a home stay environment as I hate staying with people. But my room, although super basic is away from the family and we all come and go as we please. Our host provides breakfast and dinner ( not that I have breakfast) and the three people at my area share a basic bathroom. 

Meals are had in the hosts dining room and because she has so many guests to cater for we have two sittings.  

Dinner table conversations are fantastic; here we have students and volunteers so we each have a story to tell and most of us are able to compare notes of where we have been and where we are going. Of course I am the abuela of the lot and no one seems to mind Granny hanging out with them. 

The Maximo Nivel hangout is great too. There is always someone that you have met up with along the way and can sit and chat with so the whole thing is very social. Being based in a city is a bonus because we can, if we want to, hang out and do some sightseeing. Most of us are too shattered to do much but it is great to have meal options on the doorstep. 

And so to my first day as a volunteer in Antigua, Guatemala. 

Again I didn’t need the alarm clock. The neighbourhood animals started their serenade about 5:30am but by that stage I’d had a decent amount of sleep so I wasn’t too perturbed. 

Flora, the lady that I am at the same assignment venue with and I met up at 7:30am and caught an uber to ‘work’. While I waited I grabbed a few photos of my neighbourhood. The 30 minute ride to ‘work’ cost around $15 and worth every cent. We will have turn about paying for it. 

It was so much easier than the chicken bus and saved us some time in the morning. 

Arriving at work we checked in and went our separate ways, Flora to a medical ward and me to the activity centre to help with about 20 elderly women painting sheets of paper. Simple tasks, for some it was easy, for others a challenge but important that they had something to occupy themselves with each day. The papers they painted (some red, some green) will be used to form flower petals and ivy leaves for Xmas decorations. 

Most of the participants were both mentally and physically disabled to a big degree but you could see the look of pride on their faces when they had finished their sheet of paper. They had paint everywhere (and so did I) but when it came for me to clean their hands they gratefully put their hands out to be wiped. I hugged a few of them and their smiles choked me up. 

One young girl with very bad tremors could funnily enough colour in as good as an able bodied person. With pencil in hand her tremors stopped. Her smile when I hugged her was something so special. 

Another lady, the most able bodied one, introduced herself as Isabel and spoke to me in English. She was such a gem and we had a great chat. 

My job was to make sure that all of the participants had something to work on, all the time. Then taking their painting and hanging it to dry.  It meant lots of standing and walking back and forth. By the time I finished at noon my legs were ready to explode and I was pleased to be done for the day. In agony but on a high thinking about the smiles I got from the ladies. Already we were ‘friends’. 

And so today’s volunteering over Flora and I caught a chicken bus back to Maximo Nivel where we met up with some others that were staying in our neighbourhood and off we went for lunch. 

This time to a taco joint. Tacos are not strictly Guatemalan and are not what we call Tacos in NZ. Those are home are american versions of the northern Mexican versions of TexMex cuisine. 

Today’s were real Mexican Style. Mine a taco pastor which is pork on a spit with fresh pineapple, a salsa and chopped onion in a soft tortilla. With it I had a local Gallo beer which was not only the perfect accompaniment but made the world a better place with the first mouthful.  All for about $16. Tasty is an understatement; the sweetness of the pineapple balanced with the tang of the super tender pork was a winner, add a bit of salsa, some onion and wrap the soft taco around it and you have a match made in heaven. 

I walked home after lunch, had a quick kip, mucked around and then walked back for my Spanish class.  Kathy was a delight and explained a few things to me and slowly I am speaking a bit more. My school photos - my classroom and the courtyard. 

Tonight MaximoNivel had free salsa classes. I was dying to go but my poor legs could not have coped so I left all the young ’uns to it and walked home and went for a bit of a wander along the way. The place was buzzing. 

I was hungry when I spied a woman at the market making yummy stuff and I couldn’t resist. I don’t know what it was called but it went like this:  a soft roll which she split lengthwise, spread it with oil and toasted on the grill, then came a smear of mashed avocado, a smear of a pink sauce, a huge spoonfull of pulled pork with onions and a red sauce on top. Oh boy. I sat on the nearby fence and let the sauces run down my arm as I tucked in to this heavenly gem.  For $5 I had one of the tastiest things I’ve had in a while and it might just become my after class snack. 

Home and chilling I am about to do my homework for my tomorrow’s class and then I think I can call it a night. My first real volunteering day in Antigua is almost over and what a great day it has been too. 

Tomorrow I have a cooking class to look forward to. Yay. 

Today the unthinkable happened!

The day started pretty much the same as yesterday with an early start and an uber ride to work. 

As much as yesterday was physically challenging for me today challenged me big time mentally. Most of todays students were male cerebral palsy patients. Seeing the challenges they faced was so sobering. Their task for today was the same as the ladies did yesterday but it was a small group so I grabbed a chair and helped make Xmas decorations with less time on my feet and a far easier job. The residents painted the sheets of paper which we cut into shapes using a template. Those shapes end up as Xmas flowers:

The disabilities, both physical and mental that some of these people have are devastating but heartbreaking to see them reacting happily to the smallest thing. I struggled to hold back tears with each interaction. 

The ladies from yesterday were all wheeled past for todays activity and many of them remembered me from yesterday and called out or waved. I was chuffed. At one stage a couple of clowns visited and with the help of somepatients put on a show. The looks on many of the faces and the volume of the clapping said it all. How the smallest thing can have such an impact always throws me. 

The teacher introduced me to Alwin. Alwin has lived in Seattle, Washington, USA for much of his life until he had a stroke and he returned home. Alwin has been left paralised from the shoulders down with minimal use of his arms, and could not hold the paintbrush. He had to paint with his finger.  We struck up a conversation and he told me how sad he was. 😭!  shattering. 

A comment on my post yesterday from my friend Dora reminded me of another fantastic experience I had in Sapa, Vietnam. Sapa is the place in North Vietnam where you see the massive rice terraces going up the hills. In winter it is bitterly cold and the ground is covered with snow.

Quite by chance I had the opportunity to help a couple of Thai girls distribute clothing and shoes to the orphans of Sapa. For many it was their first ever piece of warm clothing and to see the looks on the faces of the kids when they realised what ‘warm’ was broke my heart.

This photo is of a wee girl who was the sole caregiver of the wee tot with her. Imagine one baby caring for another and not having food, shelter or food. A memory ingrained in my mind. 

The memory bank has opened and I thought of the kids in the school in Kenya. They had shoes! But the wee guy sitting in the front desk has shoes that were far to big for him and slid off each time he took a step. That kid walked 5k to school each day and back again, through country that was also home to man eating animals. That kid joined his classmates everyday in immaculately clean, ironed clothes and was excited to be learning. That kid broke me each time I looked at his skinny wee legs poking out of his oversized boots. That kid.  

Back to today, Time was up and Flora and I hopped on our bone shaking chicken bus for a ride back to town and decided we would stop at the first half decent food shop we found once we got off the bus. And that we did!  A gorgeous wee place called Wonderland. And Wonderland it was too.  We sat and without ordering anything were presented with a gorgeous tea set and a bikkie.

The tea festival is on at the moment and Wonderland is a participant so the tea was gratis and we were given a booklet explaining the festival, where if we visited 5 of the many establishments listed we would get a gift. With nothing better to do before our cooking class we decided then and there we would participate. 

But before setting off we had lunch. Me a not so great crepe and Flora a bagel and salad. But, and there is always a but, the tea (with notes of lavendar, camomile and rosemary) was so delicious (I scored it 8/10) we both bought some. I hope I can get it home again. 

With two hours to kill before our cooking class we decided to go to the nearby Choco Museum which was also participating in the Tea Festival. Walking in the door I swooned. The smell of sheer unadulterated chocolate hit my nose like a sledgehammer.  I swooned and wanted a way to capture it.  OMG.

The museum was a bit sad, more like a ‘shop’, but we did get to taste their choco tea and got a second stamp on our card. The tea was ok, just ok. I scored it 6/10.  

We still had time before the cooking lesson so decided to walk to another place and get one more stamp. On the way we passed yet another festival place an figured “why not”. Here we were in a very sophisticated coffee shop with a number of levels, lounge suites and a divine coffee. 

I dont remember the name of the tea but it was as spectacular, iced with hints of lavender and tiny jelly like bubbles that popped with flavour. (NOT like bubble tea).  We both rated it 10/10. I should have bought some. 

The place we originally came looking for was right aceoss the road so we tried that as well. The setting was sublime, the waiters wore hairnets, the tea came in heavy earthenware japanese style pots and was horrible 3/10 for them.  

Four out of Five stamps received we ran out of time for the fifth and returned to Maximo for the cooking class. I was the first to register and was so looking forward to it …

Until we arrived with about 50 other people to a long bench with about 10 workstations and a solitary fruit (half a watermelon, a pineapple, a pumpkin etc) on each which the participants were going to chop. There was not a cooking utensil in sight and nowhere to cook!!

By this time my back was sore, my feet were sore and I really wanted to sit for a while. And so a cooking class with no cooking was not hard to turn my back on. I never ever thought I would walk away from a cooking class but I did and was not in the slightest unhappy about it.

The unthinkable has happened. 

I wandered over the road to Maximo Nivel and had a rest. One of the ladies that lives where I do came over and we had a chat, then another two that I met the first day sat for a bit before I had to leave for my lesson.

It is such a neat environment where you can sit and constantly see a stream of familiar faces. Today my lesson went well. Kathy explained things I had not been able to get my head around and we had a few laughs. It was certainly worth taking these lessons. 

That done it was home time; on the way I bumped into the lady who occupies the room next to me and we walked together. It was then dinner with the fellow residents.

Each of us had a story to tell so we had a few laughs, shared ideas of where to go and what to do. It was great. And so my amazing day was over.  I have cried tears of happiness, tears of sadness, laughed, walked and drunk more tea that I could ever imagine and I abandoned a (no)cooking class. What an awesome day.  I am ready for bed and its only 8:30 but I know that it will be lights out very soon.

 Thanks for coming along with me. 

I wish every day was like today

Waking early again I struggled to open my eyes, ready to strangle the rooster and poison the dog I got myself ready well before the meeting time agreed with Flora. 

Where I found the energy to communicate that early in the morning I dont know but chat we did on the way to ‘work’. Today was much the same work as it had been on Tuesday except there were only a few old ladies and some of them didn’t do anything. The others painted the sheets of paper and my job was to give them fresh paper when they were done, taping them to the table so they didn’t move and making sure they didn’t paint their clothes as well. 

The work was similar but the atmosphere was not. I got kisses blown to me, hugs, winks and my hand stroked. Despite their handicaps they remembered me.  One toothless old soul kept winking and laughing each time I changed her page. Another kept making out she was painting on lipstick or eye shadow. I think she just liked to hear me scream NOOOOO. We did the hand movements to Macarena and sung Xmas carols. 

One lady told me she could speak English and Italian. She meant she could count to ten in English and to two in Italian. Another came along heavily made up, wearing beautiful traditional clothing. Instead of painting she spent the whole time grooming herself and adding makeup to the already overloaded face. 

Again it was physically hard going but I loved every minute of it. Tomorrow will be my last time and will be sad to say goodbye to them all. 

Work done, Flora and I caught another bone shaker bus back to the city and went into the first restaurant we could find for lunch. Hungry was not an appropriate descriptor for how we felt. Starving and dehydrated, hangry, light headed more appropriate. 

We walked into a place called Picadilly where immediately I sat down I ordered a coke!  Desperate for sweet sugary rubbish I consented to a Pepsi. I do NOT like Pepsi but for that moment even the Pepsi was ok if I skulled it quick. Lunch was a steak, about .5cm thick but at least not overcooked. It had been marinated and beautifully tender but didn’t hit the spot. But for around $15 with the Pepsi who am I to complain. 

Thirdt and hunger satisted we made our way to the last of our tea festival stops. This time a very posh hotel: The Camino Real.  It was gorgeous inside but we were ushered into a small side room ( possibly because I looked as though I had come out of a paint shop with multi coloured painted clothes and Flora was in scrubs) where we waited for our tea. 

The photo is not where we waited. 

And we waited.

A guy came along and set up a station with cups and an urn but the dick didn’t say that it was for us so we waited and eventually went and asked what happened to our tea. 

Oh! Its there waiting for you. Duh!  Well posh the place might have been, and free the tea might have been but one does not expect every single cup in the pile waiting for us to be grimy, stained or chipped. On top of that the Guatemalan Breakfast tea came out of the urn at turtle pace and was no different to a good old Dilmah at home. I scored it 0/10. 

We got our fifth stamp on the card and left hightailing it to the place we could get our gift. I was hoping for some tea but was really pleased with the cup they gave me. Perfect!  I have my electric jug with me now I don’t have to borrow a cup wherever I go. Perfecto!

Next stop MaximoNivel. I have hash tagged them a few times which meant I got a free MaximoNivel tshirt. Might come in handy and I was chuffed. 

I had some time to kill after finishing my homework so went wandering around town. It is such a pretty city, immaculately clean, people are divine and it is full of restaurants. 

There are literally thousands of students here, some learning English others learning Spanish, throngs of tourists both Spanish speaking and otherwise plus volunteers. There is no way most licals would be able to frequent most any of the restaurants. Although cheap for us they would be beyond the reach for most. 

A DOCTOR at the hospital I am at earns around 800 quetzales per MONTH. That is roughly 100USD per month. Even  a street food takeaway the other day was 25 quetzales (3USD). Go figure. But the people dont look poor, their housing is very basic and I guess expectations are low. 

Being in countries like this really makes you realise just how spoiled we are in our developed countries but I am not convinced that we are actually any better off. Sure our lives are easier with more opportunities but I don’t see smiles on faces when I walk round Wellington. I mainly see the tops of peoples heads as they walk round looking at their phones. I have seen more couples embracing or kissing in the street in my 5 days here than I would see in months back home. People move out of your way and vehicles all give way. It is unusual to hear a car horn and I have yet to hear a raised voice. 

A few pucs from my walk. Will post more next week when I will have more time hanging out. 

Spanish class was next and my hour with Kathy went by in a flash but again I got some of my questions answered and managed some multi part sentences. 

Dinner tonight was a very yummy pork steak with rice, beans, followed by fresh lycees and a delicious juice on the side. There were 7 of us tonight and with the encouragement of Mark, a Canadian guy staying just along from me, we all spent the whole time laughing. What about?  You name it we covered it!  Weta’s, laundry, crickets, WhatsApp, diving, Steve Irwin, Crocodile Dundee anything and everything. 

One of the things I have really enjoyed about this trip so far is the camaraderie. MaximoNivel have given us the opportunity to meet so many people and to be able to share stories with each other. I hope my future travellers are as much fun. Of course I have evenings after dinner to go out if I wanted but that is my me time so I can write and re-live my day. 

Tomorrow is my last work day. It will be sad to say goodbye. Hasta Mañana