|
Newsletter - Fall 2009PeacePal Goes to GuatemalaContinued from the Newsletter homepage
Although the predominant spoken language is Spanish and I am limited as to what I can understand, I did understand this: People want to be friends. I see this as one of the main goals of PeacePal: to forge connections, create lasting friendships, and to educate one another about cultural differences and similarities. Through the practice of letter writing PeacePals begin to understand that there are many differences in standard of living but there are many commonalities that connect us and bring us together as human beings. I am very excited to have had the opportunity to found a branch of PeacePal in Guatemala, connecting 25 students (so far) from here to Guatemala. One of PeacePal's goals in the future is to do exactly what I did: visit their PeacePal's country and learn from direct experience about their PeacePal's life and culture. These students will not just be visiting though; they will be there to execute a service-learning project. This aspect is not just an idea; PeacePal has already begun to implement it. For instance, just this year, students at Holy Ghost Middle School in Albuquerque raised $450 to buy a generator needed for their PeacePal's school in Pakistan. This example is one of many in which PeacePals have connected and worked together to bring about positive change for the PeacePals they have only met through letters. Next year I hope they will be able to do as I did and visit their friends and see the impact they made through bake sales to give a school in Pakistan working lights and water. Peacefully, |
While en route to Guatemala City via "Chicken Bus" a man and wife got up to exit and said to us "Goodbye My Friends" in perfect English. A beggar in the market stopped me and asked in me what my name was, where I was from, and how long I would be staying. Our taxi driver from the bus stop to our friend's house smiled in the rear view mirror, made a thumbs up sign and said "Obama!!" and also made sure to point out the piñata made in Michael Jackson's visage.