Firewood and Tourism

The Guatemalans are a beautiful and hard working people. Yesterday while walking through one of the villages we saw some young children of maybe 5 carrying bundles of firewood. This is actually a pretty common sight in rural Guatemala as many people can't afford gas for cooking. As a result their young children are taught how to forage for the wood necessary for cooking. Since looking for wood in depleted forests is time consuming and hard work the impact on the life of a child is significant. For many it means dropping out of school which leads to the continuation of the cycle of poverty. And in some situations the heavy load supported by a wrap around the forehead can also contribute to health issues. Because of how obvious an issue this is there are several NGO's active in Guatemala. Some are providing high efficiency cook stoves which can reduce the wood required to cook by up to 70%. And others, like Impact Ministries, are providing both the schools and the funding necessary so that families can afford to keep their children in school. It's pretty great to get to partner with people who are making a real difference in the lives of the people. As far as our family goes, it's been amazing for our kids to witness life in a totally different context. We've been having lots of great conversations about how life is so different in Canada from what most of the rest of the world knows. While they have chopped wood at the cabin, the chores they do at home are pretty minor in comparison to what we have seen here. Today we took a boat taxi to another village and did some site seeing. While it is the "off season" for tourists there are still a lot of foreigners in the places we have been. Tomorrow we are leaving Lake Atitlan and heading 3 hrs by van around some more mountain roads down to the Pacific coast. The barfing boy is pretty nervous about the upcoming trip ;). Thanks for your prayer!