An Audley Traveller meets the girl she sponsors in Guatemala
Meeting sponsored child
After eight years, and many exchanges of letters and drawings, there came an opportunity to meet. And for one Audley traveller it was an opportunity too good to miss; an opportunity that crossed cultures and brought people together. An opportunity that now will always be recalled as a ‘cherished day’.
Mrs Sheena Walker-Roberts has been sponsoring a girl in Guatemala through international children’s charity Plan since 2001. Guatemala is a beautiful country with a vibrant ethnic Mayan culture. However, it is still recovering from the throes of a long civil war and discrimination against the indigenous population is rife. Plan has been working to tackle the inequality and poverty faced by Guatemala’s poor since 1979, and when Sheena decided to holiday there with Audley she seized the opportunity to find out just what that work entailed. What followed is a remarkable and emotional journey into a rural and isolated community and an extraordinary coming together of cultures and people.
The journey begins at the Plan office in the region of Zacapa, approximately 120km from Guatemala City, where Sheena joined Plan staff for the drive to the community where her sponsored child, Leydin, lives. ‘Our drive took about an hour, along rough terrain and deep gorges,’ explained Sheena. ‘Plan staff told us the communities in this area are often cut off for days by floods and they are unable to reach them, but the hard-working farming communities know how to survive. It was amazing to see the chickens, turkeys and pigs roaming freely and rearing their young among the dense farmland’.
Sheena already knew something about the local community through the annual updates from Plan and the letters she receives from her sponsored child, Leydin. Through these she has a window on the community’s development projects which are funded through pooled sponsorship contributions. But to see these projects for real brought them to life, and for Sheena the most exciting moment was to finally meet Leydin in the flesh.
“We finally arrived at Leydin’s family home and I was feeling excitedly apprehensive about meeting this little girl, now an adult, who had been writing to me and sending me drawings and paintings over the last eight years.
‘We all made our way by foot along a very muddy water-eroded track and I stood looking at a rickety old wooden gate, wondering if I could hold back my tears. The first property belonged to Leydin’s grandmother who held out her hands to greet us. As I looked past this house and a little way down another pathway, I saw Leydin. She looked exactly as the last photograph and I felt a lump in my throat. We didn’t need introductions. I recognised some of the family from the photographs I had received over the years and I was soon sitting with them all, chatting in a relaxed atmosphere.”
Before sitting down for a meal, Sheena was taken to visit the community school and health centre. ‘The small concrete block-built health centre was very basic, but a huge asset for the community. Once every month, a doctor and nurse arrive to treat the under fives and pregnant women, giving advice as well as medication. After a further drive, we arrived at the school, meeting senior children and their teacher. Again, the school was very basic, but strongly built with a new roof, which Plan was pleased to show us. All the children looked happy and smart in their school uniforms, and we were amused to see horses and chickens on the school playing field. We were told they keep it grazed!’
It was then back to the community for a meal, after which it was time for goodbyes. ‘They were so hospitable, and both Leydin and myself were a little tearful. I told her we would be back to visit in a few years, and to stay happy and healthy. Her mama was so grateful to us for coming to visit and wished us good health and a safe journey.
“A visit like this makes people come together and helps us understand a different culture. It was an unforgettable experience.”
