by Keli Shipley
Intern at Porch de Salomon, Guatemala

"There is one consolation in being sick; and that is the possibility that you may recover to a better state than you were ever in before." -Henry David Thoreau

As I mentioned yesterday in my blog post, there is a misconception about always getting sick from street vendors. Coincidentally, today was the first day that I got sick. Just some stomach pains as of now, so nothing too serious. The problem with getting sick in Guatemala is that it is difficult to know exactly what made you sick. Yes, it could have been the street food that I ate. It also could have been the mango. Or accidentally opening my mouth in the shower and swallowing some of the water. The possibilities are rather endless, just as they are in the states; however, there is also good medical care as well as very caring people who are willing to help whenever they can.

So today, a group of us loaded up into the porch's van and travelled to a village outside of Pana called Concepsion. You have to travel through Solala and it is about a thirty minute drive. I woke up not feeling too well, but nothing to be too concerned about. About 2 minutes into our trip, we had to wait for about 10 minutes while the rock slide was cleared. The road entered Pana is a windy road through the mountains and during rainy season, there are a lot of mudslides and such. Luckily, they cleared up the roads fairly quickly.

view from the ride to concepsion

concepsion

one of the complexes salomon's porch has built

 The purpose of today's trip was for the groundbreaking of a new house. The house is being built for Olga. According to the project overview which each of the team member's are sent, "Olga (23) and her daughter (5) currently live in the corner of her mother's dirt floor, adobe house along with six other family members. Olga previously lived near San Lucas Toliman with her husband's family for three years. She gave birth to a second baby who was gravely ill; they went to the local, humble public hospital. When she left the hospital after several days, neither her husband or his family was there. Upon inquiry, she was told he had found another woman. Her mother, Juana, came for her and let Olga and the two children live in a leaky, dirt floor tin shed in the village of Concepsion. One month later, the baby died. Her mother was ashamed and then let her move into her adobe house where she and Olga's half-siblings live." There are people coming from the Element 3 Church in Tallahassee next week to help build the house. As a part of the groundbreaking process, everyone meets the family being helped and then there are many prayers said.

Sadly, I had to spend most of the time in the van laying down instead of praying, but after Betty (our awesome nurse) got me an antiacid and a 7-up, I made it to the end of the praying and then we all went back to Pana for the afternoon. Betty and I talked a little bit while I laid in the van and she mentioned that we come to Guatemala and most of us do get sick. We get sick with things like parasites or just basic stomach bugs. It's not like back home where you can be pampered, but you learn that you'll be okay. You will leave Guatemala with a new perspective on how you live your life in the United States, and I am slowly beginning to see that. It's odd, I have travelled many times, even with people I don't now, and today, I got a little homesick. Probably happened because I got physically sick and you can't help but wish for family and friends or at least familiar faces to be around. Luckily, everyone here is so caring and wonderful that today wasn't too bad. They can all relate and some have many worse stories than just my stomach bug. I'm praying that I get to feeling better before the group for E3 church comes on Saturday. Being sick, especially this kind of sick, was a rather humbling experience. I hate asking for help, but some people love helping and it's important to suck up your pride and ask for help sometimes, to put it simply.