Spring break in Guatemala, alongside one of the world’s most beautiful lakes.
Sounds like an awesome getaway, but for a group of five Spanish class students from The Dalles High School and their three adult chaperones, the planned visit to the highlands of Guatemala is a service trip focused on bringing water filtration kits to desperately poor Mayans.
Lake Atitlan is in coffee country, said Spanish teacher Brian Greeley, who is leading the trip. The high-elevation area, at 6,000 feet, is home to the Mayan indigenous people.
The group is traveling through Worthy Village, a non-profit organization Greeley learned about last summer. His Spanish classes began raising money in the fall to buy water filtration kits through Worthy Village — they’ve done 10 so far, at $45 apiece — and the idea developed of taking a service trip to Guatemala.
“I wanted to find an organization in a Spanish speaking country where we could make a difference and connect directly,” Greeley said.
Students David Wring, Madison Richardson, Taylor Ramsey, Delaney Schanno and Dawson Hoffman are fundraising to make the trip, which is not sponsored by or affiliated with the school district.
The Spanish immersion trip, with a seven-day structured itinerary, will see the group going to local villages to deliver water filtration kits. They will also teach personal hygiene and will be visiting a few schools to work and play with the kids.
It won’t be all work, since they plan a day of fun activities to choose from including ziplining, kayaking on Lake Atitlan or horseback riding.
The group has already largely finished one fundraiser, where they are selling five-pound bags of organic pears for $5 each. That effort has raised about $1,500.
The trip will cost each student about $2,000, plus they’ll need about $200 for spending money. Breakfast and lunch are included in the cost of the trip, but dinner is not, Greeley said.
The group has a Facebook page, “The Dalles Guatemala Trip 2017,” and it has a link to a gofundme account the group has set up to help raise money for the trip. There are also donation boxes at area stores, including Red Wagon Antiques at 515 E. Second St., and Grinders Coffee at 502 E. Third St.
They are also selling raffle tickets for a Worthy Village weekender bag and a silk scarf. The tickets are $10 apiece for the top-selling $240 bag, or three for $20, and tickets for the $50 scarf are $5 each or three for $10. Inquiries can be made to the students or through their Facebook page.
A Lularoe fashion fundraiser is set for Feb. 5 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Westwind Frame and Gallery. Raffle winners will be announced there.
Greeley lived in Ecuador for a year and spent nine months backpacking through Mexico and Central America.
He has been on student trips before, but this is the first time he’s participated in the fundraising aspect.
He said he wants to make trips like this as accessible to as many students as possible because of the value it brings to the students. “I know because I’ve experienced it myself.”
“The main function of the trip is to immerse yourself in the culture and witness poverty firsthand. - “To witness firsthand what it’s like to see people living in what is pretty extreme poverty, and the power that can have,” Greeley said.
The locale they’re heading to is familiar territory to Greeley. “Lake Atitlan is considered by many the most beautiful lake in the world,” he said. “It’s amazing. I’ve been there four times.”
He said, “I’ve been to 17 countries and this is my favorite place on the planet.”
Though the scenery is beautiful, it is not a touristy place and the poverty in the villages dotting the lake is dire.
“It’s high poverty, very poor. The people don’t have running water and its cinderblock homes with corrugated tin roofs,” Greeley said.
And while the students are all in Spanish class, the people they’ll work with don’t speak Spanish, but a Mayan dialect, Greeley said.
Ramsay, a sophomore, is excited to help people and also for the cultural experience. “I’m really into fashion so seeing how they dress and the colorful dress they wear” is high on her list.
The thing she’s scared about is pickpockets and crime areas, but it’s a very safe area. Greeley agreed, saying, “Crime is not an issue.”
Wring, also a sophomore, said, “I’m excited to help people. I’m also excited to be able to understand what it’s like to live in other countries.”
The people in the village they’ll visit are mostly day laborers, Greeley said.
Worthy Village, the non-profit organization that the group is traveling through, has partnered with 50 artists and weavers that make products. Selling those products is how Worthy Village funds its work.
Richardson, a senior, said, “I’m probably most excited to go and teach about the hygiene because I want to be a dental hygienist.”
She’s also excited to be around little kids. “I’m probably least excited to be away from my mom because I’m a big momma’s girl.”
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