I am the visitor. I am from Kiva. I am Jeremias. This has been my introduction for my first days in Guatemala.
Tueseday, we went to San Martin. It is a two hour drive from Guatemala City: thankfully it was Marco and not me who was driving so I could observe the scenery as we passed through beautiful rolling hills covered in forests. In the distance we could see small peaks, and each one was covered in trees.
Once we arrived, we were greeted by Bertha Carmelina Tohon, who just finished fundraising on Kiva. She gave us a warm we
lcome and insisted that we have tea before we leave her comedor (eatery). She was not shy to share her life story. I quickly learned that her kids attending college, one studying psychology and the other chemistry. I learned that she thought the Guatemalan school system did not teach the children anything practical, and that she has a typing school where kids learn using typewriters. I learned that she was hard working: “There is time to rest when you die,” she said.
But not all of our visits on this day would be this happy. Read the rest of this entry »
