Day 7 - May 19

Our day began with a visit to Andrés Tos Toy, a former worker on a finca (a coffee plantation). Andrés was involved in a succesful strike staged by the workers of the finca in order to gain higher pay and more respect from the finca owner, Oscar Diaz, who was regarded as a king in the area. Andrés was a natural leader of the finca workers, and was selected to be the representative for the workers. Andrés was placed in many difficult situations, and he was even threatened with death numerous times. Andrés' story displayed the courage of the Guatemalan people and their desire to be independent. After our visit with Andrés, we then went to the finca where Andrés worked. The finca was still in operation, and the poor living conditions of the workers were evident. Needless to say, we had an extremely educational morning. In the afternoon, our group broke up to explore our interests. One group of students returned to the local hospital to volunteer. Another group went to San Andrés, the town where last year's group went to help build kitchens. During our time in San Andrés, we visited with the locals and brought a photograph and frame to a woman whom last year´s group met. We also shot more pictures of her in the finished kitchen WNEC students started working on last year. She was very proud of her kitchen, and even cleaned up some dishes for a nice picture. Also, in San Andrés we investigated the way in which water is pumped to the town and stored. Shown below, Greg and Jess are looking into the water storage tank that Jay and Greg opened for us to examine. The entire tank is also shown. Tomorrow we will be traveling to Quezaltenango (Xela, as the Mayans refer to it). There we will work with Agua de Pueblo, the water organization Dr. Clemens helped found.