Lessons from the least learned on high school mission trip |
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Written by CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT, St. John's Jesuit Academy
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Saturday, 25 October 2008 01:00 |
TOLEDO—When 16 students from St. John’s Jesuit High School in Toledo set out in mid-June on a 13-day service trip to work among the residents of the garbage dump community in Guatemala City, Guatemala, they knew they would be in for an educational experience. What they didn’t anticipate was what they would learn and from whom they would learn.
In many ways the garbage dump residents of Guatemala City are an enterprising group. With no marketable skills and many lacking the ability to read or write, the garbage dump dwellers find ways to scratch out an existence for themselves and their families.
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Michael Quinto and Thomas Schoen teach students chess at the Francisco Coll School located at the edge of the Guatemala City dump, so the younger students can compete in the Guatemala City chess tournament. (Photo courtesy of St. John’s Jesuit High School)
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With their only resource being the refuse of others, the dump dwellers embark each day on their own kind of treasure hunt, finding value in what no longer holds any value to others. Whether it be a plastic milk jug, a glass bottle or a sheet metal scrap, finding it is worth delving deep into the piles of garbage that seem to be continuously dropped off by an unending parade of trucks each day in the Guatemala City dump.
There are no food stamps, welfare or unemployment benefits available to the dump dwellers. It’s either find a way to live or find a way to die. For some, this cold reality is too much to bear and a haven is found in alcohol, glue sniffing or running away — away from a family that can’t be adequately provided for and responsibilities that are too great to fulfill. Those who stay, though, courageously accept their plight and work together forming alliances for the benefit of many, pooling their resources and sharing the bounty their collection of “valuables” brings them.
While their parents and, oftentimes older siblings, are laboring in the dump each day, many fortunate children have found a haven of their own. A nursery stands on the edge of the dump and is a refuge for children ranging from newborns to kindergarteners, housing more than 300 children each day. On the other side of the dump, an elementary school provides shelter, safety and a way out for 280 children in first through sixth grades.
The St. John’s students spent a considerable portion of their 13 days in Central America with these school children, working with them in the classroom and playing with them in a nearby field that serves as a recess playground.
Though many of the American students know little or no Spanish and the Guatemalan children know even less English, the communication gap was quickly bridged by the power of presence.
For the Guatemalan children it wasn’t necessary for the American boys to speak their language; all that mattered was they were there. The Guatemalan children had been told by their teachers that these students gave up part of their summer vacation and spent their own money to travel there. Quickly, words were replaced by gestures, pictures were drawn to explain, soccer balls were offered to kick, open hands were offered to hold and American teenagers and Guatemalan children were now friends walking together on a makeshift soccer field and sitting together in a classroom.
As part of the experience of witnessing poverty up close, the high school students visited some of the homes of the children. The American students were first taken to a new home, a concrete block dwelling with electricity, a sturdy roof, a concrete floor and two rooms for the family of seven to share.
The home was one of several that had been built by Central American Ministries, the organization started by former St. John’s Jesuit High School President Father Don Vettese, through which this mission trip was coordinated. The students listened intently as the mother of the family spoke with pride about her new home and how much it meant to her family.
Next, the St. John’s students visited a home with a sheet metal roof and walls and dirt floor. A family of six lived here. On a bed in one of the two rooms was an older woman who appeared to be pregnant. She was not that fortunate, however, as her pregnant appearance was actually the result of a large cancerous tumor growing in her abdomen. The woman’s daughter explained her mother was ill and there was no money for a doctor or a hospital; instead the family would provide the best care they could for her in their home. The room fell into a deep silence as 16 high school boys and their companions contemplated what they were seeing and hearing.
The culminating event of the mission trip was a “fiesta” held at the elementary school the day before the travelers returned home. The principal of the school told the American visitors this was the most anticipated day of the year for the children.
Thanks to the support of Central American Ministries, each child at the fiesta received his or her own personal pizza, a can of pop, a slice of cake and a small gift. Additionally, a clown had been hired to entertain and a sound system rented to provide music. The American high school students helped decorate the school the evening before the fiesta and when they arrived at the school the next morning the excitement was palpable.
As the festivities began, the school children looked for their American friends and sat with them during the show. When the time came for the pizza, pop and cake, the students lined up to receive their portion and returned to their classrooms to enjoy their bounty. Surprisingly, many of them hesitated or did not eat the food. Some of the children put their food in their backpacks. When questioned why they were storing their food away, the children all responded they were going to bring it home to share with their family.
How far would a four slice personal pan pizza stretch? It didn’t matter. It would be shared at home. Still other students hesitated for a different reason — their American friends didn’t seem to have any food. And so these children who had made it through each day with so little to sustain them offered to share their food with their American friends. Humbled, embarrassed and stunned, the high school students explained they would receive their own food, too, it just had not been their turn yet.
Throughout the trip the students and their advisors shared their thoughts and experiences in nightly reflection sessions. Without fail, each night a member of the group would remark he wasn’t sure what he was contributing to the people of Guatemala, but he was sure they were giving him much more in return. Frequently, the reflection sessions would reference the Gospel passage, “I tell you whatever you do for the least of My brothers, that you do for Me.”
This trip had been a mission experience — no doubt about it — but to the high school students, it was no longer clear who was really the “least” on this trip. Could it have been them? For though the children of Guatemala experienced the poverty of material possessions, they had the wealth of a generous spirit; though they had little reason to hope, they had hope in abundance; though they had little reason to smile, they had smiles that shone brightly.
As has always been the case, the material poverty suffered by others gives the opportunity to find purpose and meaning to the lives of those who have an abundance. In extending a hand and lifting up brothers and sisters in need, we are often surprised to find they, too, have lifted us up.
As 16 high school students discovered in the garbage dump community of Guatemala, it is from those whom society labels “the least,” we often learn the most.
According to Central American Ministries (CAM), shortly after the trip taken by the St. John’s Jesuit High School group, tragedy befell the residents of the Guatemala City dump.
Seasonal rains caused a landside in the 75-acre dump leaving 12 confirmed dead and 50 to 80 missing when the search for bodies was suspended in early July due to the risk involved to the city’s fire department.
According to a United Nations report, more than 900 million people live in the world’s urban slums and garbage dumps. CAM sponsors medical and social missions, including an alternative spring break program for high school and college students, to raise awareness of the problem and raise funds to improve conditions of the poor the organization works with in Central America.
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Christopher Knight is principal of St. John’s Jesuit Academy and was a participant on the mission trip to Guatemala and El Salvador coordinated through Central American Ministries. For information on CAM’s programs, visit www.camon-line.org.
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Last Updated on Monday, 22 December 2008 11:12 |
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