As mentioned in previous blogs, what we did in Guatemala was work-service learning, wherein we worked with the people and other volunteers and experienced their culture and lifestyle. Our Saints' class worked daily for almost 2 weeks, from 9 AM - 12 noon and from 2-4 PM, mainly doing manual labor such as harvesting coffee beans, sifting coffee beans at a coffee processing plant, adding fertilizer to coffee saplings at a nursery, sifting sand to eventually make a wall on this same plant, moving rocks to clear the way for an eventual basketball court at the Women's Center of San Lucas Toliman, adding sand to maintain the parish school's soccer field and so on. Some of our students even did house visits, visiting patients and translating for a physical therapist from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota to assess their health care needs and provide instructions for bodily exercises.
We also experienced the hospitality and kindness of the Mayan people at San Lucas Toliman. They are friendly, accommodating, helpful and hardworking. Everywhere we go, we were greeted with smiles from children to the elderly, and greeted with either "Buenos dias," or "Buenas tardes/Buenas noches" depending on the time of day. One time Jose Fernandez, Mark Wolford and I went to a local laundry center to handwash our clothes and one woman offered to do this wash for us. When Fr. Kirk and I celebrated a Sunday Vigil Mass at San Jose Church in Pampojila, a barrio of San Lucas Toliman, every single parishioner, even the choir members, came to greet us after Mass, wish us well and shake our hands as they were leaving church.
The 12 Saintsmen who are part of this class - Juniors Bobby Jertberg, Joe Zehentbauer, Eli Ashenafi, Miguel Rodriguez, Rico Dominguez, Jose Fernandez, Koichi Ishino, Robert Baughman, Mark Wolford and Sophomores Fernando Galan, Philip Park and William Smith were all amazing. They cared for each other, associated with different people, looked out for each other, were eager to help and learn and were involved in the daily work schedule. They participated in all the Sunday Masses (we went to 3 altogether) and some of them even attended the daily 8 AM Mass presided by Fr. Alvin at the parish - Parroquia San Lucas Evangelista. Our Saintsmen were wonderful to be with and work with overall.
In addition, our boys bonded and worked with a number of college students from different universities here in the U.S., also serving as volunteers for 2-3 weeks at the Mission San Lucas Toliman as part of their January intercession courses in their respective colleges. We met students and professors from St. Thomas University of St. Paul, Minnesota; University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Notre Dame College of Baltimore, Maryland (an women's college); the Engineers without Borders chapter of Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the University of Wisconsin Steven's Point, the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire and Gustavus Adolphus College in southern Minnesota. We also met parishioners from upstate New York, Minnesota and Kansas. It was incredible meeting all these fellow American short-term volunteers, numbering almost 100 at one point.
Finally, the short-term work-service volunteer program operated by the parish mission itself is very organized, which was very good for us first-time volunteers in this part of Guatemala. The parish has 4 long-term American volunteers coordinating the entire volunteer effort in 4 different projects - parish school - Colegio San Lucas Toliman; the Women's Center; the hospital - Hospital San Lucas and the coffee processing plant - La Granja Juan y Ana and other projects, such as the reforestation project. Such an organized program made it easy for us from Saints' to work, live and visit at San Lucas Toliman and surrounding areas. Mission San Lucas Toliman is a mission parish of the Diocese of New Ulm, Minnesota. More infomation can be obtained through their website: www.sanlucasmission.org. Thank you so much, Fr. Kirk, Saintsmen, St. Augustine High School, Province of St. Augustine in California and dear God for such an incredible, life-changing experience.
-Fr. Alvin Paligutan, OSA
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