Today we continued our journey on to Guatemala

Flying in you could see so much of the lie of the land – brown, rolling valleys and peaks, with glimmers of red and smoke wisps from the more active hot spots of the landscape. The city itself seemed to suddenly appear over the peak of the mountains as we came in to land – a massive, sprawling collection of colourful looking buildings.  But then, as we came down, they revealed themselves as masses of corrugated iron and concrete chaos. The centre of the town rises up from the relatively flat areas of the outskirts, filled with colonial buildings and skyscrapers, each placed in a wonderful juxtaposition against the other.

Once we left the airport, we wasted no time and met the Viva Guatemala team straight away, and within half an hour of our arrival, we were off out for a very quick bite and then on to our first encounter with the children.

Our afternoon activity focused on an area of Guatemala City called ‘Las Minas’ – the mines – which, although at the heart of the city, is one of the key areas from which a stream of children migrate to the streets. Although it is not actually a mine, I imagine that it is given the name due to its shape. Once you enter the area, you follow the path down many many steps until you find yourself close to the bottom of an enormous canyon, but contained within the space of only a few miles. The canyon is full of vegetation, but when it rains, the area fills with water which runs down into the gully, eroding away the paths and hillsides on which this community makes its home. In past rainy seasons, many homes have been burried under mudslides.

The area has its own entry gates, but the Viva team have managed to get a contact there who is happy to open these gates and allow them to come and work with the children there. And what incredible children…

The poverty is obvious the minute you step inside – makeshift houses and structures, each fitted around the chunks in the hillside. The path is made of steps, but many of the steps are very steep and quite dangerous – especially when there are sheer drops around many a corner right down into the ravine. As we made our way down, the children seemed to spring up from around each corner and from behind every gate or pathway. They shouted and called to their friends and so our journey down gained momentum. By the time we reached our resting place, we had about 25 children with us, and still they kept appearing from above.

The children all seemed to be quite young, the eldest probably about 12 or 13 – some of the youngest that joined us were only 2 or 3. Games were played, stories told, and although these children seemed aware of the fact they were dirty or didn’t have any shoes on, they cast that aside as they joined in the games and lessons with such enthusiasm and joy. The scrubby little faces shone with hope and potential, yet it broke my heart to see that some of them – many of the older ones, couldn’t even count to ten. A little boy told me he didn’t go to school but that he liked it when the team came because he learnt about numbers. Another little girl said, when I asked her, she didn’t know how old she was, and that her hair was very short because she had had lice.

During the time we spent with the children this afternoon, we saw some amazing work in action – the teams came and gave so much of their time and attention to this group that they were obviously adored and admired by all. The mothers of the families also came and had some time with other members of the team – a parenting class to talk with the ladies about caring for their children, hygiene, relationships and how to help encourage the children to stay as part of the family unit, rather than seek a life within the gang and street culture that influences so many of Guatemala’s teenagers.

It was a truly wonderful afternoon, and one that has enabled us all to see in very simple ways just how much these afternoons mean to children like those in ‘Las Minas’. One child summed it up when they were asked why they thought the teams came and spent time with them – he simply said “because they like us.”