Walking With the Poor - Notes From the Field

MISSION AWARENESS TRIP TO GUATEMALA

Dec. 26 to Jan. 2, 2006

With 31 wonderful CFCA members, we begin a series of 24 mission awareness trips for the year 2006. At this time of year, sponsors are especially delighted to experience the sunshine and blue skies of our Guatemalan summer. Some of our travelers left areas of the U.S. with cold temperatures and snow on the ground.

An inspiring beginning

At breakfast, we had the pleasure of listening to the inspiring testimony of sponsored child Karen, age 13. Karen is recovering from cancer after three years of chemotherapy and now a broken foot, the result of a fall at school. She sees the future with hope and optimism. Karen expressed great love and thanks to her sponsors and to CFCA.

Karen’s mother, Isabel, has a tremendous history also. As a young girl of 7, Isabel was brought by her mother to one of the marginalized areas of Guatemala City, occupied by refugees of the civil war raging in the state of Quiche. There the violence had claimed the lives of Isabel’s father and older brother. At age 8, she began working as a domestic helper in wealthier homes of the capital city. As a young woman, she hooked up with a man who took to drinking and abandoned the family of four children—two of them quite ill. Isabel expressed profound thanks to the sponsors of her daughter Karen and to CFCA.

Karen and her mother, Isabel, were brought to the small hotel where the sponsors were staying accompanied by Heidy, one of our CFCA co-workers from Hermano Pedro Subproject San Antonio. Heidy’s knowledge of the history of this struggling family is impressive, and she expresses it in a very loving way. She lives and breathes compassion. Heidy is 22, one of nine children herself. Their father took off also. Thanks to her work at CFCA, Heidy is able to help provide for her mother and younger siblings.

Bring the family

This is a wonderful group. Several sponsors here are on their second or third trip with CFCA. Sponsor Nancy came to Guatemala at this time last year with her granddaughter, Jade. She has returned this year with more family members and two of her talented and delightful granddaughters. I feel confident that this group is well-informed and inspired.

Honest smiles, martyrs and landslides

Each trip has its own spirit and its own highlights. Sponsors speak of their initial anxiety, dissolved in the honest smiles of the children, the invitations we receive to visit the homes of humble families, the wonder and inspiration of the sponsored children and their families, and the unity and generosity of the CFCA staff. Together we witness the confidence of the sponsored children and the quality of their performances, meaningful and enjoyable liturgical celebrations as we come to know fellow sponsors and CFCA staff. We visit the martyrdom site of Father Stan Rother and later, the landslide area of
Panabaj, where 16 sponsored children were born to eternal life on Oct. 5, 2005.

Gratitude

I thank you for your solidarity and prayers during these journeys. I wish you God’s loving care and blessings for each day of the new year.

Bob Hentzen
CFCA-Guatemala
Jan. 2, 2006