If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed . Thanks for visiting! Somersaults , music, and hula hoops later, our group of 14 set out into the neighborhood, to visit several homes. Our route led down a narrow lane; accompanied by several children from the Coll, numerous mangy dogs, and our police escort, we followed our Pied Piper, Andres. Most noticeable was the smell– which I had last noticed in Nicaragua– of burning trash. It permeates everything and eventually is unremarkable, …
… That’s what our arrival at St. Francis Coll was all about on our first day. As we entered the facility we were given small handmade placards that said “Guatemala” and had a small doll on them. We sat alongside the walls of the inner courtyard and waited, warily, to see what came next. Andres informed us that an assembly would occur shortly and that we should sit tight. The bell rang. Chaos began as children poured from classrooms and …
I am going to break my “500 words, one post a day” self-imposed rule. Several of my friends (you who are reading, perhaps) have told me that they hate the short length and the tidbits of stories. They want to know everything about my trip, and now. It will take me a lifetime to unpack the last 3 weeks of my life: the connections, the stories, the transformations. Finally, something stirred my heart enough that I committed to writing in …
Customs was the simplest I’ve ever been through: our luggage was safe, we had all our teens, and we walked out into chaos outside the airport. People were standing along the edge of a gate perimeter that was on the street. We saw a sign “St. Francis of Assisi”! It was Carlos Andres. He felt familiar and safe—just because I knew he was expecting us. “Please, call me Andres,” he introduced himself. Andres introduced us to our driver, Juan Carlos, …
Once I landed in Houston, I grabbed a small snack at a diner and headed over to my gate, where I was going to meet with my friend Jen (and the 9 kids, 1 chaperone, and 1 parent) to wait for our flight to be called. Imagine my surprise when I learned that my seat was “premier” and everyone else’s was economy. I have no idea how I won the business class ticket lottery, but boy was it an experience …
