Day 7 - Guatemala Update PART 1

I have ALOT to talk about for this particular day... so I think it's going to have to be broken into two days. Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1: This was the day we had built up to all week long. The "You are Special" Carnival was today! There was lots to do before that could happen though:

• Vendors for pizza, popcorn, bouncehouse, and a music dj had to set up.
• A trip to the bank was needed in order to pay the above vendors.
• Our men, having completed the playground and grass project, had a few hours to construct some booths for the carnival.
• The Toddler's had yet to be introduced to their special playground.
• Duties for the booths needed to be assigned.
• Left over supplies from Rotations needed to be organized so that we could leave them with the Director for future use.

And I'm sure there were lots of other things that needed to be done that I'm unaware of.

Breakfast, for a change, was next door at McDonalds. After that, a trip to the bank - it was next door to the hotel also. Some of the men headed on to the Orphanage to get started on the sets for the Carnival and to do a final cleanup sweep of the Toddler Playground. The rest of us enjoyed our last morning walk to the Orphanage, excited about the day. We didn't notice the uninvited visitors that followed us. Upon arriving, there were bags to unload from the vans and lots of general busy-ness. What happened next, I didn't personally witness. It all happened so fast. I walked from the inside of the orphanage out into the front gated area where the Toddler Playground was and stepped into a crisis of shock, sobs, and general confusion. The gate was being pushed into the closed position. "What's happened?" I asked. Jouleen was being protectively whisked inside, with tears running down her cheeks, by Jason. Several of our translators were in tears and visibly shaken. Silence. "A gun was pulled on Jouleen and she was robbed," someone finally said to me. A cacophony of confused voices then broke through the silence . Everyone had their own eye-witness account and we pieced together what happened, as we tried to calm down and process the emotions. Apparently, we were followed from the bank. Jouleen had a substantial amount of money in order to pay our Carnival Vendors for the day. The gunmen must have seen this exchange, or been tipped off by someone in the bank. This, I learned, was not entirely uncommon. What actually happened, I will not try to describe. It is too emotionally charged, too powerful. And since I was not there, I cannot accurately recreate it. But I know that it involved Tod trying to grab the bag away from the assailants (to which the guns were then revealed.) I also believe that our bus driver was on top of the bus unloading bags, and he layed down flat so as to be unnoticed during the altercation. When the gate was locked, he was shut out... must have been scary for him also! Along with the money, Jouleen's passport and some personal effects were in the bag. This created a 1-day delay in her return to the States. As you can imagine, the festive atmosphere quickly turned to one of shock and fear. I now understood the barbed wire and the locked gate. As we processed it all, we realized we may have gotten "sloppy" in our safety precautions. More than anything, we were grateful and could not thank God ENOUGH for his protection over a potentially deadly situation. After a little while, Jouleen was taken to make the police report and to change hotel rooms (her hotel key had also been in the bag.) We tried to get back on task knowing full well that the "show must go on!" We were all ready for the welcome distraction of introducing the Toddler's to their very own playground area! The weeklong project was finished, the men were excited, and the toddlers were going stircrazy! Below is a cute video of the kids coming out into the area for the first time. They mobbed the playground, happy voices shrieking and laughing. At one point, I cracked up because almost everyone of the adults had a camera out, trying to catch the moment. Below is a video of the "battle of the slide." Look closely at the picture below. One little boy is tumbling backwards off the slide. I was sitting on the bench next to his mother... She was visiting him for the afternoon and laughed really hard at this picture when I showed her. I wonder what the circumstances were... Why was he in temporary custody of the orphanage? His mother clearly loved him - I hope they are reunited permanently soon. I also wish there was a way I could get her a copy of this picture. We played hard with the kids for over an hour. The little red wagon, pictured below, was a personal gift from our team-mate David West. He was so kind and gentle with the children... and wanted the kids to have their very own red wagon. It was an instant hit!

This playtime was a welcome distraction from the stress of the morning! And this was the main project that we had come for. To see the hard work made complete with the giggles and excitement... I just can't express the fullness that I felt. The little girl below wanted to jump into Rick's arms: over, and over, and over! Our day could have ended here and now, with the excitement on the playground. I felt like we had already lived a full day already! We ordered pizza for lunch and ate on the playground while deciding who would take what tasks at the Carnival. And on that note, I'll have to leave the rest for tomorrow's update.