Life at Open Windows Foundation has been very busy. We have been fortunate to have visits from numerous volunteers from all over the world. One of our busiest, most enthusiastic volunteers, John, has provided a great deal of support, mentorship, and educational enrichment to Open Windows over the past several months.
Below, we will share his account of one of the many volunteer projects he has been involved in with Open Windows.
On
Wednesday, September 18, 2012 Teresa, the Director of Open Windows and I visited
a very special family, the family of Maria Concepción Reyes and Manuel de Jesua
Xulú. We had paid this visit to
find out how they liked their recently installed wood-burning stove, thanks to
funds donated to Open Windows.
It is
traditional in this part of Guatemala to cook over an open fire. The fire is typically in an open-air
kitchen with a corrugated tin roof which provides some protection from the
elements. There are many reasons
why this is not the best method of cooking, as Maria Concepción soon informed
us. She eagerly and
enthusiastically told us why the stove made such a difference in the lives of
her family. Looking on were three
of her children – Josselyn Marisol 17 years old, Jonathan Manuel, 13 years old,
and Nathali Concepción, 5 years old.
She first
mentioned the absence of smoke.
This was an especially important difference for Jonathan who is severely
handicapped and has respiration problems. However, all the family appreciated
this feature of the stove. For
example, when asked why she liked the new stove, Nathali said she liked it
because there wasn’t any smoke.
Maria pointed out that it was better for all of them, for their eyes as
well as for their respiration.
The next
important benefit that Maria pointed out to us was a financial one. When they were cooking on the open
fire, the family purchased a unit of fire wood for about the equivalent of
36.00 US dollars. The wood lasted
for 15 days. With the new stove,
the same unit of fire wood lasts for 3 months, a huge savings! To put this in perspective, most
families like Maria’s and Manuel’s live on less than the equivalent of 4.00 or
5.00 US dollars per day. It is
easy to see why Maria is so grateful.
Maria also
appreciated that her children were safer now. She feared potential accidents with the open fire. As it was, the children often got minor
burns from getting too close to the fire.
And lastly,
she told us that it is much easier to cook on this stove. She can manage her various pots better,
placing them on hotter or cooler surfaces over the fire as needed. There is also a shelf on the front of
the fire for food that has finished cooking or for food that is finished while
other food is still cooking.
We also
spoke of the children’s education.
Josselyn goes to high school.
It is unusual for children in this family’s life circumstances to be
able to attend school. The parents
are often illiterate, as is Maria, and often don’t appreciate the value of
education and/or can’t afford to send their children to school. They also want their children to be
home working, helping the family to survive. Indeed Josselyn was actively
assisting her mother doing the everyday chores necessary to run a
household. However, she attends
school in the afternoon thanks to parents who do support her, and to a
scholarship provided by Open Window’s donors. It was she, who wrote down the names and ages of the family
members for me.
Evelyn and
Jorge were not present, both at school in the morning. Evelyn is also going to school on a
scholarship.
Jonathan had never been to school.
There are no resources in this part of Guatemala for Jonathan to attend
school. He doesn’t have control of
his arms and legs, is confined to a wheelchair, and doesn’t speak, or so I
thought.
After our
interview, Teresa spent time with Maria, admiring the many flowers that Maria
had planted around the house. As
they were engaged in this, Nathali was vying for my attention. Jonathan was nearby and happily
participating in our play. He is a
very cheerful boy, with a big wide smile.
His birthday would be in two days, and he was very excited about his
upcoming party.
As part of
our play, I was trying to get Nathali to speak a few simple phrases in
English. She was not drawn in,
simply breaking into giggles and wanting me to continue “threatening” her with
tickling. So I gave off the
English lesson and some few minutes later, I heard a male voice say, “Thank
you”. I was taken aback because I
was the only male there, other than Jonathan, who I thought didn’t speak. When I finally put this all together,
he then said, “How are you?” He
spoke the words perfectly, with no trace of a Spanish accent. There is an intelligent mind in this
broken body. It is impossible not
to think how different his life would be, if he had been born in the U.S.
When Teresa
and I were finally ready to leave, I felt like I had participated in something
very special. There was such
obvious love and joy in this family.
Everyone was quick to smile and to laugh and to participate in this
intrusion into their daily routines.
They cheerfully waved us off and I left this family, knowing that the
money spent on their stove, and for the education of these children, was money
well-spent. It takes so little by
U.S. standards to make a huge difference in the lives of this family.
~
