Service Team
Experiences.
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"I'll never forget that little mother giving us all hugs when we finished her house," recalls Dan Mayo. "She said thank you and was very, very happy at having a new home for her family," adds Rose Marie, his wife. The Mayos, who own a drugstore in North Dakota, were in Guatemala for two weeks as members of a GOD'S CHILD Project-organized ServiceTeam. Both in their mid-forties, they had come to Antigua, Guatemala, as part of a work group from the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit Catholic church in Bismarck. Their mission: To help improve the lives of destitute families whose children are sponsored in Guatemalan schools by GOD'S CHILD. "One of the most impressive things to me," continues Dan, "was the bringing in of so many volunteers from around the world to help needy people. Our ServiceTeam had volunteers from Minnesota, Montana, Missouri, Massachusetts and Alaska in it. And I know our labor was not only appreciated, but actually useful." "We recommend volunteering. It's a great cross-cultural experience and expands your world," says Dan. "It's very good to see how a Third World country works, and to experience how others live," adds Rose. "I really enjoyed working with the interesting people on the service team and being with the Guatemalan people." |
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"Dan and Rose Mayo moved
gravel in a wheelbarrow. Concrete was mixed with a hoe, on the ground,
for a floor being put into a Guatemalan home built by an earlier GOD'S
CHILD Project ServiceTeam.
Work is all by hand, but the weather is warm and the satisfaction of being of service to people in need gives a tremendously satisfying feeling to the Mayos." |
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Chuck Reichert likes volunteering for both the United States-base charity The GOD'S CHILD Project, as well as for the Guatemalan charity, the Asociación Nuestros Ahijados, which is sponsored by The GOD´S CHILD Project. "I enjoyed it and thought it was doing something God wanted me to do. My time was well spent because I was helping someone." Reichert was in Antigua, Guatemala, for two weeks, working with a GOD’S CHILD Project-organized ServiceTeam, building concrete-floored, rain-proof homes for native families in the slums of San Felipe. Part of a church group from North Dakota, he and his wife, Tip, helped build three houses, a bathroom and laid a concrete floor in a fourth for widows and poor families whose children are enrolled in a GOD'S CHILD-sponsored educational program. |
| "My
most memorable experience was getting hugged by a mother and grandmother
when we put electric lights in their newly-built home," remembers
Chuck. "I recommend volunteering through The GOD'S CHILD Project.
Others should have that opportunity to help."
"Rafters and framing boards of native timber had to be notched before being fitted together, as Chuck Reichert is doing here. Not all work was by muscle power. Electricity was available to run power tools on many sites." |
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"I heard about the GOD’S CHILD Project ServiceTeam Experiences through our parish and thought it would be a great experience," says Luke Armstrong of his recent trip to Guatemala. And it was. "I had a blast volunteering for the Asociación Nuestros Ahijados. The best thing I did was help improve the quality of life for the people." That's a pretty sage observation for a 13-year-old. But Luke is a pretty mature young man who is looking forward to volunteering again. "It's impossible to have a bad time," he feels in reviewing his two weeks. And it wasn't all work. "My greatest experience," says this student from North Dakota, "was catching insects. And we had a great cook at the native home my brother, Aaron, and I stayed in."
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| "Luke Armstrong is
a 13 year old student, mature enough to move full buckets of concrete from the mixing site to a new floor in a new home being built for native Guatemalan families. His hobby in San Felipe; catching new kinds of insects for his collection." |
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