August 2024 Newsletter

St. Christopher’s Day in Chichi

Our first full day in Chichicastenango, July 31st, was the celebration of St. Christopher’s Day. As befitting the patron saint of travelers, cars and trucks were decorated for the occasion

Sticky notes make an easy decoration!

Three Participants on the 2024 Volunteer Trip

The group included perennial volunteers Jim and Archer Heinzen and Teddi Ahrens.

We visited and consulted with all three

Co-partners’ projects, one in Guatemala and two in El Salvador. In both Guatemala and Ilobasco, Teddi ran a fabulous kids’ program, while Archer did a workshop on Resiliency with youth and adults. In El Salvador, Archer, Jim and Teddi worked with the organization in Apastepeque, still leaving time for Teddi to market her book, Painting Joy about Salvadoran artist, Fernando Llort.

Left to Right: Jim, Archer and Teddi, with Red de Mujeres board members in Guatemala.

In Guatemala, the members of the Red de Mujeres took the Resiliency training seriously. That was not the case in El Salvador, where the group was younger and out to have some fun. The foundations of Resiliency Training come from studies of children who were placed in foster  care, were born to teenage mothers, were gang members, were sexually abused or had substance abusing or mentally ill parents.

Studies show that children growing up in these”high risk” conditions do overcome the odds and have successful lives.  In most studies, the percentage of children who overcome the odds seems to average between 70 and 75 per cent. More about resiliency training in the December Newsletter.

Art with the Niños by Teddi Ahrens

What has 32 legs, dark eyes, and giggles? Sixteen boys and girls. The sixteen children waiting for me and whatever craft projects I’d brought that summer of 2012, my first trip to El Salvador with Archer and the other volunteers of Co-Partners of Campesinas.

Although my Spanish fluency has never advanced beyond kindergarten level, I was enthusiastic about the work of Co-Partners and the women of La Nueva Esperanza that I couldn’t resist figuring out how I could be a useful member of the team. But I soon figured it out—the kids. The possibilities are endless when you have kids, colorful paper, scissors, glue and lots of imagination!

And so that first year, the children and I met in Ilobasco in a rather dark, rented room with

rough, wooden beams, a tarp overhead and a concrete floor. Thanks to the generosity and hard work of fundraising by Co-Partners and the Nova Community, the women and children of La Nueva Esperanza now have their own building with classrooms, kitchen, and even a garden in the back. Now, the children can sit at small tables to make their art, and I can hang their work on the walls for all to see. Thankfully, I’ve also enjoyed the assistance of bi-lingual speakers who have been a huge help explaining to the children the various art projects.

The arts and crafts projects come from ideas I’ve collected over the years from my experiences in Girl Scouting, elementary classrooms, summer camps, and internet research. I choose those that I think will most appeal to kids, markers, paper, etc. that I can pack and that won’t make my suitcase too heavy.

Teddi with kids

The winning projects that the kids never tire of are the self-portraits (assisted by templates of

skirts, pants, shirts, etc.); pendants with dangling beads; fleece, no-sew pillows; ribbon-weaving; and collage. Once the frenzy of grabbing ribbons or fabric or beads is over, the kids find all kinds of ways to express themselves with color and design.

Although the ages of the children range from five to twelve, and their cutting skills vary dramatically, they create wonderfully unique portraits of how they see themselves.

The boys often add hats and belts to their figure. Some of the girls add jewelry and draw eyelashes to flatter their eyes. Whatever scraps of fabric or paper are left become the material to be cut up or squashed for images and ideas they later use in  collage. Rainbows of crushed tissue paper emerge, landscapes take shape out of paper and patterned fabric, and imaginative houses bask below a fluffy sun. I might have as much fun as the kids, just watching them create their masterpieces. Each day, time is a challenge.

Art needs time for its creators to stir their imaginations, to play with ideas, to choose colors, shapes, materials, and then time to make it happen. Then we need to be finished and ready for snacks when they come—often sticky and wet! Then clean up and prepare for project #2. Then lunch. If all goes smoothly, we have time between projects to get up and play, do the hokey pokey (which generates lots of giggles), balloon volleyball and the “earthquake game” (which generates lots of screaming and running around!) Each day is a joy! The kids are a joy. They are beautiful, and their creations are beautiful and amazing. I am so grateful that I’ve been able to share my little bit of art, paper and glue with every one of those kids these many summers!