When you travel, you are immersed in the culture of the people. Included in that culture is the news that does not always make the American papers. On day two, we visit the central area of Guatemala city and at market is this small memorial. Crosses, ashes in the center, flowers and a board painted with three girls swinging on swings all surrounding a central memorial plaque.
Extending to the memorial are two ladders with the names of the 41 orphaned girls killed in a fire at an orphanage. A mother of one of the girls stands vigil over the memorial, cooking and selling some food as people pass by and stumble upon the place honoring the young girls' lives. When we use the term orphans in America, there are no parents. Unicef estimates that of the 132 million orphans in the world, only 10% don't have parents.(1) Conditions of poverty force parents across the world to leave their children to the social welfare systems of the country in which they live. I saw it in Bali as well, where I sponsored a young women for two years who had parents and a younger brother, but lived at the orphanage in hopes of a better life than her parents were able to give.
This particular story of the fire, I had not heard about in March of 2017. And it is tragedies like these that give me pause in life. What can I do? As we stand at the memorial and see the names, it is more than just a news story, 41 teenage girls, set fire in a room they were locked in, trying to force staff to change conditions at an orphanage, poorly funded, poorly managed and over crowded, as well as dangerous and abusive.
Maya, my mom and I stand at the memorial moved as we travel on day two to San Lucas Toliman. We leave the city and move through the beautiful country side to our home away from home at the Unbound center (2). The image of the memorial visits me throughout the week.
Today we are greeted at one of the projects by a group of children, excited and happy to see us. They perform poems, dances, songs, and provide testimony to the good that they are receiving through Unbound. It is very moving as the first of many visits throughout the week. I am dusting off my Spanish from high school and college for six years as I attempt to interact with children. The common language of smiles and laughter will be my friend this week.
Mom asked me today, "Are you living your purpose?" And though I teach that to other women through Hot Pink YOUniversity, I feel that I am close, but not quite there yet. I am called to complete Janet and Chris Atwood's Passion Test again and our own Hot Pink Life's Purpose exercise to reveal where I am currently. It is always changing, always evolving based on the current information we have in life. And this trip will be another evolution on my journey to define my place in life, my purpose.
Christie Gause-Bemis, Hot Pink YOUniversity
She is a mother, a daughter, a psychotherapist, artist, and writer. www.hotpinkyou.com
1. http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/march/40-girls-die-orphanage-fire-guatemala-asks-evangelicals.html
2. https://www.unbound.org/
Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/may/04/femicide-rallying-cry-families-girls-killed-guatemala-orphanage-fire-san-jose-pinula
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