Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Genevieve - I decided to work with GVI in Guatemala after my best friend, Libby,
suggested doing some volunteering together somewhere for the summer. We
have both lived pretty privileged lives and felt like giving back a little of the good
fortune that we have had. Growing up as an expatriate in Indonesia, I witnessed
first-hand the harsh living conditions many people are subjected to with the rate
of poverty in the world. Both having studied languages at university (Libby:
Spanish, me: French), and both having mothers that were primary school
teachers, teaching children was something we both felt we had a spark for.
Living in Australia, Libby looked around for organizations to work with - she heard
good things about GVI. Guatemala, and teaching children, was ideal. We wanted
to try and make a difference for someone, even as small as it might be.
GVI - What were your initial reactions when arriving on the project?
Genevieve - When I first arrived in Antigua, I found the GVI staff very welcoming.
I arrived just after the New Year with a big intake of new volunteers (about 11). It
was such a great mixture of people/ages/backgrounds, and pretty much
everyone was there with the same attitude: ready to put in the work and enjoy
themselves in doing so. The interns were all really helpful and I always felt that
there was someone looking out for us. They were genuinely just cool people. The
Spanish lessons were intense and personalised; I learned a lot of Spanish in a
short time (and also a lot about Guatemalan life and culture from having gossip
sessions with all the ladies from the language school!). My first day at Santa
Maria was powerful – having kids so excited to be there to learn, so grateful for
the fresh fruit break, all so helpful (and some so cheeky). Being smothered in
hugs at the end of the day by each kid made me feel like I was a part of
something special; they were grateful to me for being there, I was grateful to
them for allowing me to be a part of this community.
Genevieve - One of the best things about my trip was all the connections I made
with people: the interns, other volunteers, the Spanish teachers, the family I
stayed with, Doreen and Santiago up at Santa Maria de Jesus, and above all, with
all the niños I worked with. I made friends with so many people from different
walks of life… and some of them I know we will be friends for a long time. And I
got to know each of the kids in my class, working with them every day in school
for 6 weeks. But the best thing was seeing my kids progress in those short six
weeks that I spent with them – that it appeared I had actually imparted some
kind of knowledge or wisdom onto someone else. However, as well as being the
teacher, I also often felt like the student when the kids taught me about their
way of life, as they plaited my hair during the breaks, and as they exasperatedly
corrected me every time I mixed up the word for small (pequeño) with the word
for spicy (picante)… but who wouldn’t want to draw their circles a bit “spicier”,
huh?! We all became friends, me (a 23 year-old university student from New
Zealand) and my 40 or so four and five year-olds that all comforted me and
patted my hair as I became somewhat teary the day we came to say goodbye.
The best part of my trip was them.
GVI - What do you feel you gained from going away with GVI?
Genevieve - Going away with GVI, I gained some perspective and my concepts of
necessity and comfort changed. Having only one plug outlet to share between
three of us, as electricity in Guatemala was very expensive, meant deciding
which device I wanted charged that week: my camera, my ipod or my mobile
phone. It made me realise that a lot of the comforts that I deemed necessary to
live with before, weren’t really all that important. I learnt that having a toilet that
flushed was a luxury, and that one must choose between hot water and water
pressure when having a shower. I learnt that having clean water to drink was
precious and that simple things can make kids happy – like a pinch of glitter, a
dab of my lip gloss, or a plastic rubbish bag that moonlights as a batman cape. I
learnt that I did not need all of the luxuries of my old world to feel content at the
end of the day – that there were things bigger than that.
GVI - Is there a particular memory or interesting story you can tell us?
Genevieve - One of the moments that moved me the most was scholarship day
up at Santa Maria de Jesus- meeting all the parents/families of our students as
they came to collect the money to help send their kids to school. They were so
gracious and friendly, grateful to the program for the help that we were giving.
We were presented with a beautiful cake that all of the families had chipped in to
pay for – topped with fresh fruit and cream – to let us know of the gratitude that
they felt, and to thank us for helping make a difference in their children’s lives. It
really meant a lot to us all.
GVI – Has going away with GVI changed your life in any particular way? (e.g.: did
you find love, decide to change your career? etc)
Genevieve - Sadly, I did not find love (!), nor have I decided yet on what career
path I will take in life. However, GVI changed me in that it made me not want to
be stuck working in an industry that I now find somewhat superficial and
meaningless – because it made me realise that there are bigger and more
important things out there going on. Having completed my marketing degree, I
know now that I could never go into parts of the industry that before I would
have done so, where now fretting over something like “who should buy fabric
softener” seems so trivial on the grand scheme of things. I also know now that I
want to go back and spend more time in Central America throughout my life, and
I hope that I will see my little students every now and then as they grow up.