CHARLENE'S TUMBLR

Guatemala

Every summer I take my son and at least a couple other people and go to Guatemala to help in villages there.  I am a team leader for Global Citizens Network, an organization based in St. Paul.  http:/www.globalcitizens.org

We do different projects, depending on what the village elders want to get done. Sometimes we dig ditches, other times we work on the school, other times we talk about how they can sell their products in a global market.  The friendships that I’ve made have been long-lasting, and we communicate via email fairly frequently - or whenever someone can get to the internet cafe.

Spending these years in Guatemala has been the most rewarding experience I’ve had.  It has also made a huge difference in the way my son sees the world.  He has been going since he was 12 and now has branched out and has been to Bangladesh too.  

Here is a great way to build the next generation of world changers - take your kids, even if they are pretty young, to other countries to do service work.  Being a tourist is not the same and you won’t get to become a part of the culture.  It’s very impactful on the kids and, of course, on the community that you visit. You also get a good feel for the kinds of innovations that would be truly helpful to people.  For example, in one village there is no access to dental care.  What if there was someone trained to clean teeth and to detect cavities?  People could be sent to the city for dental care, which they would otherwise not bother to get.  Trash is a huge problem because there is no pickup of trash, so people just throw things out their windows and there it stays.  I could go on.  Being there helps to cement ideas about how things could change, and about the barriers to change in the communities.