Hi world!
Just to let you all know who I promised a postcard, I am still planning on sending you a postcard. The thing is, I haven't seen any postcards yet, being that Ive been rather isolated in the jungle and the only town ive been to is very far from touristy. I am going on a trip to Flores tomorrow or the next day, and im going to see the ruins of Tikal. Im rather overdue for a break, because we have been so low on volunteers and I havent been able to leave. Normally we are supposed to have eight days off every three weeks, and ive already been here for over five weeks without a break.
Casa Guatemala have been approaching the edge of an abyss for the last few years and I happened to arrive right in time for the leap of faith. the head lady is going to court tomorrow because the workers here drew up a law suit against her. They havent been paid on time nor have they received their proper minimum wage salaries. Also the Casa itself is in debt some 40 thousand dollars, so its pretty much a certainty that the number of students will redice from 250 to 50 or 60. these 60 are the only kids that are true orphans, while the rest belong to families or at least have living relatives who cannot support them or who cannot afford to send them to school. anyway, Im gonna stake it out for the time being and see what happens with this place. At this point most of the volunteers are pretty disenchanted about the running of this place, and I think the reasons we are staying have more to do with a conscious ambivalence to the problems and a duty to the kids. Im partially staying here because I want my 300 dollar donation to be stretched as far as possible, and partly because I want to try to stick with these kids. They are so used to seeing volunteers come and go all the time and I dont want to abandon them so soon. Anyway, ill keep youall posted on my situation, and I hope all is well back in the states.
love and kisses,
Alex
