Culture and Host Families

The first week in Guatemala has been an incredible learning experience. This is my fourth trip to Central America and second time to Guatemala, and this country continues to amaze me. The culture is so rich with the indigenous Mayan culture still present in many of the rural communities. During our stay in Joya de las Flores we stayed with host families of a couple of the community leaders. Three members of our group stayed with the community leader, Ana. Marianna and myself stayed with another leader named Fulgencio. 

Each time I stay with a host family, I am completely blown away by the generosity of the host families. In addition staying with host families is an incredible interchange of learning for the family and the students. 

Marianna and I really enjoyed our time staying with Fulgencio. His family included 9
girls, 4 boys (between the ages of less than 1 year to 23 years old), grandmother, grandfather, dog, chickens... it was a very busy household, not to mention the cousins, aunts, and uncles that frequently visited the household. With all of these mouths to feed it was very humbling when the family insisted on giving Marianna and myself the first plate at every meal with the best pieces of chicken and the two best seats at the table. This family did not have a lot to offer in terms of materials, and did not even have running water, but they gave us all that they could in our short time there. 

Some of the most memorable experiences in the host family included time spent at the kitchen table learning various things about Guatemala with Fulgencio over broken Spanish, sweet bread and instant coffee. We learned about the various regions of Guatemala, and the various indigenous languages, including Cakchiquel which is the language of Joya de las Flores. We learned the Cakchiquel word for "thank you", "matioche". We talked about music, and our families in the U.S., holidays, even economics. Fulgencio worked as a farmer in a moderately sized garden behind his house, where he grew herbs, flowers, limes, and many other fruits and vegetables. 

Although we were only living with this family for one week, we felt completely at home. In the morning we would greet the grandmother with "seker ma" which means "good morning" in Cakchiquel and when we came back after a long day of working on our project and home visits to patients, the children would greet us with smiles and hugs. Followed by a dinner of chicken, tomato sauce, rice, beans and tortillas and stay up at night playing games and dancing salsa, listening to Mark Anthony's "vivir la vida", and looking at family photos. 

On the final day the community put on a "despidita" for our group, which is a cultural way of saying thank you and goodbye. For the despidita reception our host families offered for us to wear the traditional Mayan clothing which consisted of a "huipil", the beautiful hand made shirt, and a "corte" or skirt that is tied together with a fabric belt. 

It was a really great opportunity for us to learn by being completely immersed in the Guatemalan culture while also providing education for the people of the community through teaching a few English phrases and providing education and support through our project. 

Greetings from Guatemala!!

- Ellen Lepore