Life In The Field

Sally Turnham and Tom Heron

We run our own business, and 2006 was our best year ever, by far, so we thought long and hard about a way to reward ourselves. We weren’t interested in a new car, a fancy cruise or all the other materialistic treats, but since reading about a ‘volunteering holiday’, I’d always longed to do that, and managed to convince Tom, my partner, that it was a good idea to take some time out of the business and do something to make life a bit better for some people, much less fortunate than us.

Having spent considerable time researching the options, the GVI stove project in Guatemala, seemed like the one for us. It combined travel to a country we’d never visited before, making a direct and immediate difference to the quality of life of local families, the chance of furthering our knowledge of Spanish, which we’d been teaching ourselves for the last 18 months and finally doing something completely different, probably totally outwith our comfort zone.

GVI handled everything extremely efficiently and professionally and this gave us the confidence that we were dealing with a reputable and conscientious organisation. It was great to be able to speak directly with Dom, in Guatemala, prior to signing up, to chat about the project and life in the country, and this helped to dispel any concerns we may have had about our suitability, safety etc.

This was a real adventure for me, and it became reality, when we were greeted by Dom and Doreen at Guatemala airport – with all their usual, infectious enthusiasm. I knew immediately that this experience was going to be the best ever – and it was.

How sensible to install newly arrived volunteers in a hotel for the first night, to let them adjust and ‘come to’ after a long journey! I couldn’t wait to ‘get going’ the next morning, and was keen to be taken to meet the family we were to stay with for the 3 weeks of our stay. What a warm and friendly welcome we got from Christina, our landlady – her home was to be ours, as she told us. It wasn’t exactly 5 star, but we weren’t in Guatemala for that sort of trip – at least not for the first 3 weeks. The house was small, with not much space for relaxing, and with a distinct touch of grubbiness – but we chose to come on this sort of trip to visit a poor country and stay with the locals, so we got used to it. The kindness was second to none, and the food was very good, and although we were given the opportunity to shift accommodation, we couldn’t possibly have hurt the family’s feelings. As we settled in and got to know the family, we had so many laughs, and were introduced to other family members.

Spanish school – 8 hours a day of 1:1 conversation, for a week – with homework flung in for good measure! – left us gibbering by the end of each day. Let’s face it, after 15 minutes you’ve used up all the information about your country, home, family etc, so it proved to be amazing the topics we covered in Spanish. Lunch times were spent in the park, relaxing before the afternoon sessions, which invariably involved a visit to some place of interest. Not only did we improve our knowledge of the language considerably, we also found out a huge amount about the way of life and culture.

Working on the stoves at Santa Maria de Jesus was brilliant. We were definitely the unskilled labourers, sieving sand, mixing concrete, bricklaying and plastering, but it was great to learn a new skill, and quickly we really felt as if we were contributing. The families we were building stoves for, were lovely and so warm and welcoming. I’d never experienced such poverty before – and it made me ashamed to think of how extravagant and materialistic we are at home in our throw-away society, when these people literally have nothing – and yet they will share the little they have with you. It was a privilege to be able to work in these mud floored homes made of corrugated iron, or bamboo and to be able to contribute to improving the health and lifestyle of the family, and to help to reduce the amount of wood needed to fuel their cooking. The gratitude of the families, when, after 2 days hard labour, you finished the stove and then had a photo session with them beside the stove, was unforgettable, especially when they presented me with a small handmade gift. It brought me close to tears and was the best bit of the holiday.

It was exhausting work, especially in the heat and at altitude, but after our half hour trip back to Antigua on the chicken bus, we were temporarily revived – although we crashed out most nights by about 9pm.

We got quite into the lifestyle and really enjoyed it – I actually amazed myself, getting up before 6am every morning – with no complaints! I was quite at home in Antigua and felt quite safe coming and going about the town. We really enjoyed being able to participate a little in the project school, and were able to be included not only in the sports day but also at the monthly birthday party. What a joy it was to be with such lovely children, so affectionate, and full of life, despite the hardships that they experience. In many ways, life in Guatemala is so much richer than ours in the ‘civilised’ world. They don’t seem to have sunk to the depths of materialism, political correctness and ‘stupidity’ that we seem to have got to. They are too busy just surviving to get caught up in the trivia that we seem to fill our lives with. It’s great to see the kids coming running up the street to meet the volunteers off the chicken bus in the morning and to walk down to the school hand in hand with the teachers, and to give a cuddle to the volunteers leaving the project, or to be able to give them a hug at their birthday party – we’ve lost spontaneity in our world as we’re so hung up with political correctness.

The weekly barbecues at Dom and Doreen’s were hugely successful and enjoyable – what a great way to get everyone together and to welcome new volunteers and bid farewell to those who were leaving. It was a great opportunity to share experiences and find out about the others on the project. We were most impressed with the commitment, responsibility, professionalism and dedication of the volunteers. GVI certainly manages to attract the best sort of people and although the work is hard, it’s very enjoyable and immensely rewarding.

The time flew by and suddenly our 3 weeks was done and it was time for our ‘real’ week’s holiday, which I have to admit to being a bit of unashamed luxury in a couple of very nice hotels. All in all, we did a lot and saw quite a bit of the country – climbed a live volcano, visited the Mayan ruins at Tikal, skimmed over the treetops of the rainforest on a zip-line (and survived!), visited Lake Atitlan and the nearby nature reserve where we watched monkeys and racoons, went to the market at Chichicastenanga, and thoroughly explored Antigua …………………and built 3 stoves each – with the help of Alberto, Carlos and Felix.

Did we enjoy it? Absolutely.
Would we do it again? You bet.
Would we recommend it? Without doubt.
Bad bits – honestly can’t think of any, not even any niggles.
Best bits – finishing my first stove – it still brings me out in goosebumps thinking about it, the kindness of the local people, the innocent spontaneity of the children, and last, but most definitely not least, the GVI people – staff and other volunteers – a great bunch.

One final word about Dom – a great guy, full of life and completely dedicated to the cause. Nothing was ever too much trouble or seemed to get him down, and he and Doreen make a fantastic team who bring out the best in all around them.