By Jorge Olarte, posted August 6, 2011
(L-R) Jorge Olarte, Nayeli Gallardo, Amaya Cotton-Caballero, and Alexis Romero join health promoter Olivia for a family interview in the remote village of Panimaqip, Guatemala. Read more »
Submitted by REAP China on August 12, 2011 - 5:21am
Alexis Romero, in the field, New Providencia, Guatemala Read more »
Submitted by REAP China on August 5, 2011 - 4:26am
Posted by Doris Sempasa, August 2, 2011
There’s something you ought to know about Guatemala in the summer. It rains a lot! Don’t get me wrong I love the rain. And for me, there’s nothing better than experiencing a new place by encountering all of its beauty and variability. The rain here has a quality all its own, coming down when least expected and seemingly managing to alter the day’s expectations in truly beautiful ways.
We started off the day with a slightly wet and bumpy ride to a new community, Panimaquib, in the region near San Lucas Toliman where we are staying. Similar to the other parts of Guatemala that we’ve seen, this community was lush with so many different tropical plants. The road into the community was paved with tall corn crops and coffee plants drinking up the morning rain. As we arrived into the town, we were quickly met by the bright smiling faces of the local children waiting for school to begin. Then it was time to get down to business. Read more »
Submitted by REAP China on August 3, 2011 - 1:34pm
Posted by Talia Mahony, August 1, 2011
Angel, our San Lucas Toliman host and friend. Read more »
Submitted by REAP China on August 3, 2011 - 1:04pm
By Andrew Nepomuceno Posted July 29, 2011
Talia Mahony, Alexis Romero, Jeffrey Sweet, and Andrew Nepomuceno doing KP at Mission San Lucas. Read more »
Submitted by REAP China on July 31, 2011 - 7:33am
Posted by Jeffrey Sweet July 28. 2011
The Quetzal is the bird of Guatemala. I see it decorating everything from cars to tourist souvenirs. To me, the Quetzal is associated with the amazing kindness and hospitality of Guatemalans. The bees… not so kind-hearted. Do not take me wrong; I love bees. I find them fascinating, but not when they sting. The bees and all their inhospitality provide the perfect foil to the kindest and most welcoming people I have yet to meet. The Guatemalans we have met welcome us with a kind smile and try their best to make us comfy. And so I exalt these treasures, these jewels of humanity, that have the world working against them yet carve out a life for themselves and their families.
Submitted by REAP China on July 31, 2011 - 7:10am
Posted by Amaya Cotton-Caballero, July 26, 2011
Stanford's undergraduate research team travels by pickup to outlying vlllages to do research and help to deliver medical services. Read more »
Submitted by REAP China on July 27, 2011 - 6:47pm
View of San Lucas Toliman
By Nayeli Gallardo July 25, 2011
Greetings from Guatemala! We've spent Sunday getting settled into
San Lucas Toliman and today
has been our first day out in the field, in one of
the improved communities. But before I get into that, I have to say that
the
view of Lake Atitlan and the mountainous green landscape is gorgeous!
Most women
here wear very beautiful embroidered clothing and a lot of families
speak the
local language, Kachiquel. We soon realized, however, that there are
many difficult issues behind all this rich culture and natural beauty.
Read more »
Submitted by REAP China on July 27, 2011 - 6:30pm
CHINA 2011 RESEARCH FIELD TRIP: The Quest for a Better Life
By Mohit Thukral
The most poignant and apt description of development I have ever heard did not come from papers of development economics or discourses on the human condition but from a conversation with a migrant worker in Beijing. She said, “Our life in the city has to be better than that in the village…We came here to give our children a better childhood than we had”. This quest for a better life, to me, perfectly embodies the various faces of development that we saw in China. From the migrant communities (slums) of Beijing to the caves of Shaanxi, I observed that the common thread among the people that we interviewed was that they wanted a better life for themselves and for their children. Read more »
Submitted by REAP China on July 13, 2011 - 3:52pm
A Second Encounter in a Migrant Community Outside Beijing
By James Liu
Chen is another typical migrant kid – his father drives a truck and is seldom home, his mother takes care of the home. Chen is 17 and has never left his neighborhood.
“Tiananmen Square? I’ve never been there. I haven’t even been to the inner part of the city.” It’s hard to believe that the 17-year old boy has lived in Beijing for almost his whole life and never seen the sights that any tourist can see in a couple of hours.
Chen dropped out of school together with 4 other boys just a month ago, by his account due to their unreasonable teachers. He had one good teacher once, according to his memory, but the only good teacher left a year ago because the school administrative didn’t like the teacher and constantly find reasons to cut his pay. Then, he got a terrible teacher, who could not even speak good enough mandarin for the students to understand him.
Now, he is out. He said he wanted to continue schooling, but not in the one he dropped out from, although it seems he doesn’t have any better choices. Read more »
Submitted by REAP China on July 13, 2011 - 3:47pm