A Visit to Iximché
By
Friday we had the most wonderful visit to Iximché, Mayan ruins, about an hour from our children’s home. You can read more about Iximché by clicking HERE A few weeks ago I mentioned to our kids about their Mayan roots and first they thought I was talking about roots like in trees but then they had NO idea who or what the Maya are. I was shocked. So we took a trip to see the ruins to do a little learning about the value and importance of the Maya. We want our kids to have pride in who they are and the richness in their culture. We will adding more to our kids’ curriculum to make sure they know from where they come, which will include their own Maya spiritual ceremonies, the meanings of their nahuals and the history of what they Maya brought to Guatemala.
Our morning started early. We left the children’s home at 8:30AM, mostly everyone loaded up front in our double cab truck but us older folk and kids in the back (actually the best place) for the hour trip. The Iximché grounds are gorgeous, clean so well kept. We were fortunate to be able to watch an entire Mayan ceremony, well over an hour, and our kids sat quietly watching with great interest. It was such a wonderful experience. After viewing and climbing the ruins we went off for our picnic lunch and because the kids where not not the least bit tired we played parachute games. The kids also found a cliff to jump from and after putting some padding on the ground all the kids and the adults jumped over and over again. Thankfully, not any broken bones.
On the way back to the children’s home we stopped for peaches. We have a short peach season in Guatemala so we stocked up on lots and lots of peaches to snack on and make peach jam this week.
Our weekly field trips and hikes into the mountains are directly tied into behavior. The kids earn enough stickers for each day of the week and the kids go on the trips. This has really improved the children’s behavior. We always expect squabbles and regular kid behavior but we do not tolerate disrespect of children or staff, violence of any kind or destruction. So our new program, appropriate behavior earns a sticker a day, seems to be working. In a family if one or two misbehaves in not such a huge deal but when 32 kids are out of control that can be insanity. It is always a challenge raising 32 kids.
Because we survive on your kindness and generosity please consider making a donation to keep our kids thriving. Thank you, we are grateful.
