One Big Happy Polochic Family

Finally... the whole SHe and Choice group together... I think except for Dave Marble who "got stuck" in Mexico and showed up later that night. We are all displaying our marvelous SHe t-shirts before we get down and dirty in the projects. And, amazingly everyone looks pretty fresh since we haven't done any hard labor yet.

So, now is as good as anytime to give a brief overview of what we actually did in Guatemala because if you were basing it on my previous posts, you'd think we didn't do any work.

I went to Guatemala with a group called Singular Humanitarian Experience (SHe) and since this was their first expedition, they partnered with Choice Humanitarian. It was essentially a group of single working professional adults in our mid-20's to mid-30's. We were based in the Polochic region of Guatemala that is high up in the mountains between el Estor and Coban (both of which you can find on a map if you really want to know). We were on cloud level and had clouds roll through on a frequent basis... including the rain which graced us every afternoon after lunch and then overnight. Which meant that our clothes we tried to wash out usually never dried out completely... just stayed a little damp and got musty.

Over the week we worked on: 4 building projects (which included the first secondary school in the region, a kitchen to support the school (up the hill from the school), a medical clinic, and a water reservoir project), medical and dental clinics (6 villages in 6 days) and teacher/school visits, and workshops for village leaders (business development, teacher development, rural health promoter training, midwife training, sanitation).

Advice for the Day: If you are ordering t-shirts for an event and having people sign up for sizes, make sure you specify if the women's t-shirt is a baby-tee or if it is a regular mens t-shirt. It really does make a difference, like 5 inches in length and 1-2 sizes difference. Otherwise, you'll have a group of unhappy women who will probably never wear the shirt again after they have to wear it for a picture or will be asking you to change sizes. I know you will have good intentions, I'm just saying that it makes a difference. On second thought, if I didn't get it stained from clay and mud it might have fit one of my nieces.