By Jesse Eells-Adams | Long Way Home Intern
Thursday, the 16th of January 2014, school began for 65 Comalapan children in Guatemala. An unusually cold morning gave way to direct sunlight on the patio of the Técnico Chixot Education Center, in which grades K-6 are now officially being hosted in the tire workshops that will eventually serve the vocational students. The kids sat in desks outside in the sunlight as the teachers, parents and Long Way Home staff members convened and began the introductory process. A giving of thanks by a teacher led into the Guatemalan national anthem (which was composed by a Comalapa native, Rafael Álvarez Ovalle, in 1896), and with heads bowed, the anthem was sung by parents, teachers and students alike. Polite rumbles and plumes of smoke by the not-so-distant Volcano Fuego heralded the start of the school year.
My name is Jesse Eells-Adams and I have only been living and working with Long Way Home for a week and a half. My contribution to the opening of the K-6 school is small in proportion to the men and women who have been living and aiding Long Way Home since its inception in 2004. This is a process of visionary people collaborating with equally talented locals committed to a brighter future in their hometown. A belief shared by the members of Long Way Home is that development is had by hard work at a grassroots level. The resources invested in this single location to provide education to a handful of locals indicates the magnitude of help required to realize the system needed to change current education and waste management systems.
Daunting as it is to create access to natural rights and resources in impoverished nations such as Guatemala, every little victory breeds more hope. It is admittedly easy to become cynical about a country that is endlessly imperiled with organized crime and corruption. However, one of the most striking realizations I’ve had since my stay in rural Guatemala is how beautiful and friendly these locals are, the direct descendants from the ancient Mayan civilization, who still practice Mayan traditions and speak Spanish as a second language after their native Kaqchikel.
It is the contrast of what you read and hear versus what you experience when you work next to one of the Guatemalan staff, or help deliver drinking water to the local Mayan shop owner in a vase meant to be balanced on your head, that made the inaugural school day today so impactful for me. Seeing the kids ready to learn, playful, easily distracted and just being absolutely normal and good made every single cold bucket bath and antibiotic pill pay off tenfold.
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