Selfless Service

Having spent the last years of my life in a materialistic country pursing materialistic goals it is very refreshing to get a different perspective. I hope you find this story equally inspiring:

The better part of my life has been spent doing things largely for my benefit. So I decided it was time for a new experience: volunteering, offering selfless service for the benefit of others. After some research (and some “lucky coincidences”) I come across a volunteer program in the tiny town of San Andrés in northern Guatemala.

After a dusty 30 minute dusty bus ride in the overcrowded collectivo (a.k.a. chicken bus), I arrive in San Andrés. The sun is so hot that it seems to burn everything in sight. I exit the bus and wonder down the street as a western looking man extends his hand to greet me, introducing himself at Mateo, and asks (in English) if he could help me. I respond (in Spanish) that I was looking for the Volunteer Peten organization. He smiles and says: “That is me.” (This time and from now on in Spanish). He knocks on the door of a house nearby, introduces me to the owner and tells me that I could safely leave my things here while he shows me around.

As we start walking past the library, a volunteer project of his, he explains to me the essence of his program: volunteers come here to help with infrastructure and educations programs. For a fee of 75 USD per week participants are placed in local host families (only one volunteer per family) where they receive 3 meals per day. During the day they are free to choose between any of the ongoing programs: the construction of a library for the children of this village, the improvement and maintenance of a city park, helping to make medicinal lotions and shampoos using plants growing in the botanic garden, teaching (generally English) at the local schools or simply playing with the children in an evening activity program.

As we walk down the street every now and then Mateo points to a building: “we built this addition to the school” or “we built this bus stop for the people so they no longer have to wait in the sun or rain.” As he shows me these accomplishments a subtle smile crosses his face.

We arrive at the library and he proceeds to check on the construction work from the past day, satisfied he then makes plans for what to do the next day. 15 minutes later he is finished and we continue our walk. He tells me that the town currently only has a small library (about 15 square meters) hardly big enough to hold 30 children (not much space considering the town’s population of about 2000 children). His book donation efforts are beginning to bear fruit and he is simply out of space so he decided to build a new library. He is happy with the progress and hopes to be finished in 2 months.

We walk by a school. As we enter the courtyard children run up to us and greet him (by name). A fellow volunteer is teaching English as we approach. Mateo tells me that he (and his volunteers) built a big piece of this school. He has maintained good relations so his volunteers are always welcome to teach English (an offer I would later make use of).

As we continue our walk, the sun by now has become a bit less hostile, I ask him to share his story: it all began 6 years ago. Mateo, a U.S. citizen, entered the peace corpse for 2 years and was sent to Flores, Guatemala. Deciding he preferred to live in small town he moved to San Andrés daily commuting back and forth from Flores. He summarized his peace corpse experience by saying that he was frustrated by the never-ending bureaucracy. Nothing ever seemed to get done and so much energy was wasted. When the 2 years were over, instead of returning home he asked the town San Andrés, which he had come to love by then, if he could stay to work on social projects.

He started by painting many of the ugly grey walls of public buildings (paint is frequently a luxury that is not part of a tight building budget). He then became aware of a large abandoned piece of land at the outskirts of town (an abandoned lumber company). He successfully petitioned the city council to make hem the custodian of the land and has since turned the piece of abandoned jungle into a beautiful park. He says: “in the first years it was difficult to get volunteers because no one knew about San Andrés.” But the world continues to spread and every year a larger number of volunteers arrives (this year he has an average of about 15 – 20 volunteers at a time who stay anything from 1 week to 1 year). He proudly explains that all this is self-funding through the volunteers and he does not have to ask anybody for money (volunteers pay a fee of 75 USD per week, half of which goes to the host family and the other half is used to fund the social projects).

We finally reach the park and the trees provide a welcome refuge from the sun. The volunteers are busy preparing the park for the forest fire season. By now I am confident that I have come to right place not only to get a deeper insight into Guatemalan culture but more to contribute to something beautiful.

Mateo smiles as he shows me around the park. He has accomplished so much (so selflessly) is such a short period of time. I ask him how much longer he wants to stay. “The work has just begun,” is his answer. A butterfly happily dances in font of my face, just as happy as the children paying in the library. Development work so subtle, so beautiful, so impactful!

Here is web site for anybody interested: http://www.volunteerpeten.com