Blog Entries tagged 'Guatemala'

Artist on Call: Diaspora of Hope

tbrozyna

By Kyle Evans

BuildaBridge is coordinating a Diaspora of Hope Artist on Call program this Thanksgiving in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Portau Prince, Haiti and Nairobi, Kenya. November [...]

Rehearsal and Celebration, Part Two

aforeman

Just before the afternoon session began, it started to rain—really, really hard. It was raining sideways, and, because the school is at the base of a valley, all of the water flows downhill towards it. While it normally trickled down the steep bank towards the sewage creek, the water shot o [...]

Rehearsal and Celebration, Part One

aforeman

The afternoon storm had threatened houses and created swirling rapids in the sewage creek. The following day, as the children arrived for their final presentation, “mineros,” miners, took advantage of the lowered water level to search for recyclables to sell. The color and enthu [...]

La Limonada-The Other Side, Part Two

aforeman

On the balcony earlier, Evertsz said that some time ago God had come to her in a dream, instructing her to visit the gang member with whom we had spoken outside of the school. While she was afraid, she went anyway. Later on, he was shot. This was one of the first times he had [...]

La Limonada-The Other Side, Part One

aforeman

“See all the shotgun blasts? That’s why people don’t like to
have windows.” While the rest of the group continued their teaching, I ventured
“al otro lado,” to the other side. There is no fence separating the two sides;
the gan [...]

The First Day in the Slum

aforeman

A four year old child responding to an inquiry about how to solve problems or conflicts made a comment about bringing a machete. This begs the question, what has he seen? La Limonada is one of the most dangerous and poverty-stricken areas of Guatemala City, and seventy pe [...]

The Weekend

aforeman

The days were devoid of the rain that came daily at the beginning of our trip, and they lacked the intensity of prison visits, overnight stays with Mayan families and trash dump observations. Wrapping up our first week in Guatemala, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were certainly l [...]

The Trash Dump

aforeman

Think of a postcard of a beautiful blue lake surrounded by volcanoes. Now, think of dirt hills covered in trash. From afar, the hills look covered in a light coat of snow, sprinkled with touches of color here and there. Now, add hundreds of people picking through the trash to make thei [...]

Days Two and Three, Part Two

aforeman

David Melby-Gibbons, an Eastern Graduate student,
played guitar while we sang several songs, among them: Amazing
Grace—first in English, then Spanish.We concluded the bonfire by
roasting some “angelitos,” marshmallows, which we enjoyed with the
children.

It was n [...]

Days Two and Three, Part One

aforeman

It’s hard to pick the high point of our second full day in Guatemala. It could be the three hour ride from Guatemala City to the Lake and surrounding Mayan villages—the farms, the colorful towns, mudslides and mountain vistas. Perhaps it was the choppy ride across Lake Atitlan during an afternoon downpour. Or maybe it was the nighttime ride hanging off the back of a pickup truck with about 20 other passengers, followed by a wonderful dinner and bonfire sing-a-l [...]

Artists on Call: Estrategia de Transformacion Mural-Final Day

ncorbitt

We didn’t have the proper party we were hoping for when we finished the mural today. The tall, sturdy ladder we needed to reach the top half of the wall was in use at the prison hospital most of the day. I had brought with me a change of nice clothes for the event, but someone spilled black paint on the blouse while it wa [...]

Artists on Call: Estrategia de Transformacion Mural- Day 3

ncorbitt

Today the men made us lunch. It was a nice surprise! Two fries eggs with beans and a lot of bread. One of the chaplains who translates for us was excited to take several photos of me eating it. One or two chaplains sit with the men every day. While I am here they are my guides and guards.

The men who gather to watc [...]

Artists on Call: Bonzai in Guatemala

ncorbitt

Leah Samuelson. It's hard to know what to think about the painting gangsters. They have such a strong and violent reputation here (no one will work with them), and I'm getting feedback from different outside sources:

One opinion is that these guys aren't a good use of our resources, which

would be better spent in poor villages with people who aren't murdering people. </

Another opinion is that the real enemy lies within the church- among those who d [...]

Artists on Call: Estrategia de Transformacion/BuildaBridge Mural- Day 1

ncorbitt

Leah Samuelson. Estrategia de Transformacion staff showed me to the prison for barrio 18 gang members at 9:00 this morning. We entered with a long line of wives and girlfriends bringing clothes and gifts to men inside.

I was introduced to two artists in a hallway who were interested in helping with the mural. My host from EDT asked if I was ready to begin painting. I said no, and

asked where was the wall we were supposed to consider. “Right here,” he said, [...]

Artists on Call: Leah Samuelson in Guatemala

ncorbitt

Muralist Leah Samuelson heads to Guatemala City on Sunday May 18 to begin a mural in one of Guatemala's prisons that houses gang members. The project, a local request, will

pair Leah with an artist inmate as they design and complete a mural on the theme of the Prodigal Son.

Leah is a professional ar [...]

La Limonada Arts Camp

ncorbitt

When one enters La Limonada the warnings of violence, the smell of poverty and the sheer compression of people, especially children, are overwhelming (over sixty percent of the country's population are children under 16).

This Thanksgiving a team of BuildaBridge artists joined hands with three collaboratin [...]

Thanksgiving in Prison

ncorbitt

"What do you expect me to do? Wait until I'm 80 to do this." That was Ron Hevey's (age 66) quip when I commented on his courage andinterest in teaching painting inside Gautemala's prisons over the 2007 Thanksgiving Holiday. This was his second trip with BuildaBridge and he saw many [...]

Kid's I know

ncorbitt

Rosa Lennix. This week I wanted to share with you a bit about some children I know in the community I am working in. This is Samuel and one of his little brothers. You probably recognize them from the picture you saw from my first week here. Samuel is in one of my classes. He´s a very bright and excitable student! It [...]

Guatemala Update: When the rain comes

ncorbitt

This week was an interesting one in La Limonada. What started as an innocent rainstorm hit the community hard, leaving one family of 5 dead and several others

homeless, or with damages to their houses. The family that died consisted of 3 children and 2 women; the rain caused their house (which [...]

Guatemala Update: Rosa Arrives

ncorbitt

Rosa Lennix arrives in Guatemala. She writes:

I´ve finally arrived in Guatemala! I´m excited and ready to work! The past few days has been getting used to the surroundings

in my new home. My first day I was welcomed with a pizza party in my honor—Dominos—what a surprise—a taste from home=)
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