Sleepover

Last night the grade 7 class from Chicoy celebrated the end of elementary school. So all the grade 6 and 7 students (there are only 9 grade 7 students) and the teachers from that school spent the afternoon and night at the school. Unfortunately I missed the piñata because I arrived late after teaching high school. But I did not miss churrascos (typical beef dinner), movie (Yogi Bear, in Spanish without subtitles of course), and a whole lot of soccer. We also had a fun time of games, marshmallows, and advice for the grads around the campfire. After all that fun, we eventually decided to go to sleep, with our blankets on the cold hard cement floor of the classrooms, at 3am. I knew it would be a late night. I surprised myself by staying awake. But what I did not expect was the students getting up at 5:30am. We girls talked about waking the boys up at 4:30. That didn't happen. But I guess I just assumed they were planning on going back to bed and getting up at 7, maybe breakfast at 8, and leave at 9. Nope! All the students had eaten breakfast and cleaned up and were out the door by 7am. I left with the teachers a short while later and as we pulled onto the highway, we passed one of the students, Allan, herding 3 cows along the highway. I guess grade 7 students in Guatemala have work to do, on Saturdays, even after a sleepover. It shouldn't surprise me, but it did, because that is not what would have happened in my Grade 7 class in Canada.

I'm proud of these students, though, for graduating from elementary school. That is not the norm here. I am reminded of my trip to Guatemala in grade 10 when we visited the village of Pombach. I was told that the drop out rate in the public school there was 50% between grade 1 and 2. I will never forget that. These students from Chicoy told us all last night what they want to be when they grow up: doctors, teachers, architect and engineer. The difference between a grade 1 drop out and a grade 7 graduate with dreams of becoming a doctor so they can help people is the work God has done in their life through being a part of Impact Ministries' schools and the sponsorship program. For those of you who have donated to Impact Ministires, sponsored a child, or come here on a missions trip, I hope you know that you are making a difference - a difference in the lives of these children, their futures, and the lives of the people these doctors, teachers, architects, and engineers will touch. On behalf of these students, who at their young age have already lived through a lot, thank you.        

Chicoy students and staff around the campfire