Volunteers in Action

by Anna Braathen

Armand Boissy, a 38-year-old Frenchman, has lived in Santa Cruz la Laguna for almost 14 years. Married with three young children, Boissy devotes his energies to the Comité de Desarrollo Sostenible de Santa Cruz la Laguna, Sololá. He and his colleagues are fighting deforestation, working to improve the sewer systems and finding ways to dispose of waste more efficiently. “I can’t live comfortably in a place knowing there are people around me who are struggling. I have to try to contribute, it’s my responsibility,” he says.

This is how Boissy got here: “I was working hard for a congressman back in France, so I decided to take a year off to explore the Americas. It turned out to be a bit hazardous — these were times of political turmoil. I tried to write some articles, but it wasn’t very satisfying because of the same political reasons — no opinions allowed. My traveling stopped in Guatemala, which I fell in love with, especially the lake. I started working as a traveler’s guide for INGUAT — a perfect way to nurture my new love.”

After a sweaty climb toward the village of Santa Cruz, I find Janike Hartwig, 20, from Germany in the back yard of Casa Milagro, which provides health and nutrition education and classes in handicrafts for mothers and their older children. Children run around. In the main house, Thilda Zorn, also from Germany and the founder and manager of the project, is working with the kids’ mothers. Right now they work on different handicrafts.

“I’ve only worked here for a few days,” Hartwig says a bit shyly as children gather around. She seems to be doing just fine! Why here? “Well, I had finished off senior high and wanted to do something else before I continue my education. A friend of mine told me about Project Mosaic Guatemala — an organization in Antigua. I contacted them and they would help me find a project, so off I went,” she explains. Hartwig adds that she wanted to do something meaningful. “It’s good if I can help in some small way. Besides, I get to travel.” Janike was planning to stay with Zorn and Casa Milagro until late December. “I wanted to experience a rural environment first. I like it here in Santa Cruz. Still, I might try a more urban area later on,” she says.

Any surprises when she came to Guatemala? “Well, I honestly didn’t expect there to be so many like me here. You know, young European girls traveling on their own. Before I left Germany, my friends said I was crazy to go to a Central American country — me being a single, young woman and all,” Hartwig says, then adds with a smile: “And blonde. … But it’s not uncommon, after all, and I certainly don’t feel out of place.” While Hartwig continues to assist Zorn and the mothers and children of Santa Cruz, I jump on a boat and head for San Marcos.

Jilles Denis Lortie, soon to be 61, welcomes me in the house, which has been his home for the past six months. Denis used to be a teacher for children with learning difficulties in his home city, Quebec. The French-Canadian gentleman is still involved with helping children, only now it’s for free, methods are different.

“I came to Panajachel for a month-long Tibetan course. During my stay I visited San Marcos where I stumbled across a book. It described how to cure dyslexia with the aid of kinesology — an alternative method I learned 10 years ago. But this book explained very simply how to get rid of reading disabilities. It’s all about re-connecting the two halves of the brain. The theory is that when a child does not learn to crawl before it can walk, vital parts of the body’s motorics get lost, which can lead to difficulties in learning.”

Lortie proved the book to be right. While he did that, a man proposed to set up a fund so Lortie could continue his work for the benefit of the people of Atitlán. “Now we train the teachers around here. We also give them an intensive course of basic pedagogics. We want them to continue without us,” he explains.

His daughter, Julie, joins us. She’s in her 20s and has come here to help her father for their remaining year in Guatemala
“On a personal level,” Lortie says, “I strongly believe that children have great possibilities. We are all born with equal opportunities. To think that a child is limited because it is a child is a very grave mistake to make.”

Back in Panajachel, the next volunteer I encounter is Ursula Bischof, 43, from Switzerland, who greets me in the offices at Centro de Acopio de Material Reciclable — just beyond La Calle Las Residenciales. She’s back from a short vacation and it must have worked. Ursula projects a lot of energy. She is deeply involved with activities at the recycling center and was one of the pioneers in its creation. The center has existed in its present form since 1999.
Centro de Acopio receives and retrieves plastic, paper and glass. Better use of organic waste is also on the agenda. The center and its Committee for Environmental Cleanup are both mainly run by volunteers, and Guatemalans are strongly represented. Community officials are involved, too.

Bischof has lived by the lake for 14 years. She’s married to a Guatemalan and they have two sons, 11 and 8. “I worked in a trading company in Switzerland about 20 years ago, to save up money for traveling. I started out in 1982. First I spent a year in Mexico and then I traveled around South America. I was heading back to Mexico again when I came to Atitlán. I love to swim and wanted to spend time in this Eden-like place. And then I met my husband …”

Bischof settled down with her spouse in Panajachel. Then, in 1998, she was invited to a meeting. “I’ve always been concerned about environmental issues, so I went. It became the beginning of a project that still keeps evolving. It was easy to get involved — and why shouldn’t I care about what’s happening in my own community?”

As Bischof explains her role, 20 Peace Corps students visit the center. Their program is tight; they’re in Pana for part of their compulsory training. Ursula and her colleagues brief the young Americans. Then they’re moving on.Among the group is Julia Williamson, 23, who joined the Peace Corps to see more of the world and to learn something new. “You fill out a form, tell them who you are, what your skills are and so forth. I had no say as to where I’d go.”
Williamson is stationed in the Petén, in San Andrés, where she’s involved with environmental work. She also works in a library, reading to the children. Julia is happy in the jungles of Guatemala. “But now I really have to go. Sorry!” as she rushes back to the other volunteers.

The rest of my questions will remain unanswered. But I found out something: There’s so many ways of getting to Guatemala, maybe most of all by chance. But once you’ve gotten here, something takes hold. Volunteering or not — I guess it’s all about getting your heart into it. •