CBC 2011 Team

CBC 2011 Team
CBC 2011 Team: Cherri, Nick, Lana, Diana, Karie, Christy, Sherry, Rebecca, Steve

COUNTDOWN TO GUATEMALA

"Live a life worthy of the calling you have received." — Ephesians 4:1

International School Project

We are traveling as educators for the International School Project, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.

We have been invited by the National and Local Guatemalan Ministry of Education to conduct a teacher-training seminar in Guatemala City.

The overall purpose for this trip is to:
1) give the public school teachers a curriculum that they will use to teach their students about Christ and Christian ethics. 2) The Leadership Development Conference allows the invited, previously trained teachers, to discuss & share together how the ISP curriculum is changing their students’ lives, how they might develop more lessons, and how they might grow spiritually at a personal level.

All of these elements in combination give the teachers the encouragement and tools they need to have greater impact for Christ in their classrooms and communities.

Education

The government runs a number of public elementary and secondary-level schools. These schools are free, though the cost of uniforms, books, supplies, and transportation makes them less accessible to the poorer segments of society and significant numbers of poor children do not attend school. Many middle and upper-class children go to private schools. Only 69.1% of the population aged 15 and over are literate, the lowest literacy rate in Central America.

Economy

According to the World Bank, Guatemala has one of the most unequal income distributions in the hemisphere. The wealthiest 20% of the population consumes 51% of Guatemala’s GDP. As a result, about 51% of the population lives on less than $2 a day and 15% on less than $1 a day. Guatemala's social development indicators, such as infant mortality, chronic child malnutrition, and illiteracy, are among the worst in the hemisphere.

USA--Guatemalan Relations

Most U.S. assistance to Guatemala is provided through the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) offices for Guatemala. USAID/Guatemala's current program builds on the gains of the peace process that followed the signing of the peace accords in December 1996, as well as on the achievements of its 1997-2004 peace program. The current program works to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives by focusing on Guatemala's potential as Central America's largest economy and trading partner of the United States, but also recognizes the country's lagging social indicators and high rate of poverty. The three areas of focus for USAID/Guatemala's program are modeled after the Millennium Challenge Account areas--ruling justly, economic freedom, and investing in people, and are as follows:

More responsive, transparent governance, through:

  • Strengthened justice
  • Greater transparency and accountability of governments.

Open, diversified and expanding economies, through:

  • Laws, policies, and regulations that promote trade and investment;
  • More competitive, market-oriented private enterprises
  • Broader access to financial markets and services.

Healthier, better educated people, through:

  • Increased and improved quality of social sector (health and education) investments
  • Increased use of quality maternal-child and reproductive health services, particularly in rural areas.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Day 3, Leadership Development Conference, Flores, Guatemala

The following is an update for Day 3 of the Leadership Development Conference in Flores. We will be meeting up with them soon.
"Hola once again from beautiful Flores, Guatemala! It has been quite a day for all of our team, and while we are tired and some of us not feeling too well, we continue to praise God for the blessing of being here and experiencing first hand what God is doing in the lives of teachers, students, parents and whole communities. It truly is such a privilege to know that our labors and efforts in Guatemala are already beginning to have such significant and eternal impact.
Today began with an early morning birthday ‘party’ for the Guatemalan national director for ISP, Anibal Duarte, as he celebrated his 50th birthday today. It was great fun to celebrate with Anibal, and even the teachers at the conference today had birthday cake! This evening we ended our day with music, a piñata, and more birthday cake which the hotel staff brought to Anibal’s table and then counted off his 50 years! Lots of smiles and picture-taking for everyone!
Day 3 of the conference once again saw over 100 teachers in attendance, and today the small group facilitators repeatedly said how enthused and interested the teachers were in all of the topics being presented and discussed. Alan Scholes spoke this morning on Jesus being fully man and fully God and how important that perspective is in teaching morality; Paul Neumann continued his series on communication skills and all of the teachers were taking notes on this presentation as fast as possible; Jose Ajsivinac presented his second talk on the importance of Spiritual Values, and the Inductive Bible study presented the application phase of this method. (Tomorrow one or two teachers in each group will lead the Bible study as they begin applying this method to the final two chapters of Titus.)
After lunch Haroldo Arreaga spoke on dealing with difficult people, and the final presentation of the day was actually a movie titled The Ultimate Gift. The teachers really enjoyed the movie and enthusiastically participated in the discussion of the movie afterwards.
Our day went by so quickly, and it is hard to believe we have already passed the half-way point in our time here! We also saw a significant change in the weather, with quite a wind storm in the afternoon that caused more than just a few short-lived power outages. Still, we were able to finish the conference today on time and then meet for a team meeting to go over the day, plan for tomorrow, and spend some time in prayer together.
We have quite a few of the team ‘down’ with some type of stomach virus, others fighting a cold, and of course just general fatigue at this point. Please continue to keep us in your prayers for health and stamina, as we so want to finish well.
We have had some wonderful team stories come in, and I would like to share those with you tonight. It reflects many of the things we are hearing from teachers, administrators and others in this region of Peten. And as I said earlier, it is such a blessing to our hearts to hear first-hand how God is multiplying the efforts of ISP. So here are these encouraging and uplifting reports:
From Bob Dunshee:
“On Day 1, following Dr. Scholes’ talk on the best basis for teaching morality, I asked the question ‘Have any of you taught lessons on morality or character development?’
All nine of the teachers and directors in my small group answered “YES!” And then several continued to tell me how the students were noticeably changed as a result, and how supportive the parents, other teachers and administrators were. The excitement in their eyes and the passion they exhibited while telling me and the rest of the group was enough evidence for me to say that we are truly witnessing God’s work in the lives of these people, and that what we are doing here has had significant impact.”
From Lynn Maynard:
“At lunch on Wednesday, one of the ladies in my group was talking about her new study Bible. She is Catholic and her husband is Evangelical. When he saw her reading her bible on Tuesday night, he started crying. She asked him what was wrong? He said that nothing was wrong….but he was so happy to see her reading the Bible because he had been praying for that for years! This was an answer to his prayers and he wanted to help her read it every day!”
From Diane Mabee:
“Edgar de Leon was at the conference in Peten in 2008 (two years ago.) As he returned to his school (he is a school director), he immediately started his teachers using the curriculum. He said at first he wondered if the students were really learning anything. But about eight months after the school had started using the curriculum, a student came into his office with a 50 Quetzales bill. (A little over $6 U.S. ) The student had found the bill in the hall. The student wanted to find the person who had lost the money. Edgar said that a few months before this, any student who found money would have just put it in his pocket and been quiet about it. Edgar began questioning his teachers and found out that it was now common for students to try to locate the owner of lost pens, pencils and even money. Edgar feels that his students are not only more honest now since the ISP curriculum has been taught at his school, but they are also more compassionate toward each other and happier as a result!”
Thank you, again, for joining us in this incredible adventure with God. You are truly a part of all that is happening here, and we are indebted to you, our family and friends, for your faithful prayers for us.
With great love and appreciation,
Linda
For all ISP team here in Guatemala"
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Natural Disasters

Guatemala's location between the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean makes it a target for hurricanes, such as Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and Hurricane Stan in October 2005, which killed more than 1,500 people. The damage was not wind related, but rather due to significant flooding and resulting mudslides.

A town along the Pan-American Highway and in close proximity to a volcanic crater

Guatemala's highlands lie along the Motagua Fault, part of the boundary between the Caribbean and North American tectonic plates. This fault has been responsible for several major earthquakes in historic times, including a 7.5 magnitude tremor on February 4, 1976 which killed more than 25,000 people. In addition, the Middle America Trench, a major subduction zone lies off the Pacific coast. Here, the Cocos Plate is sinking beneath the Caribbean Plate, producing volcanic activity inland of the coast. Guatemala has 37 volcanoes, four of them are active:Pacaya, Santiaguito, Fuego and Tacaná. Fuego and Pacaya erupted in 2010.

Natural disasters have a long history in this geologically active part of the world. For example, two of the three moves of the capital of Guatemala have been due to volcanic mudflows in 1541 and earthquakes in 1773.

Volcano Pacaya

On Thursday May 27, 2010 (05-27-2010) the Pacaya volcano started erupting lava and rocks on Thursday afternoon, blanketing Guatemala City with black sand (and forcing the closure of the international airport). It was declared a "state of calamity." The Pacaya volcano left about 8 Centimeters of ash and sand through all of Guatemala City. Cleaning works are in progress.