Guatemala Part 3

The Bike crews first look at the project.

Sometimes it is hard to describe exactly what we do when we go to Shadow of His Wings in Monjas, Guatemala. It always depends on what talent we have on our team, but more importantly - what NEEDS to be done.
My husband, Mark, loves to spend his days off at the bike shop, or in his man cave barn tinkering with his bicycles - and he is good at it. He is also good at teaching, which worked out great when we assembled a group of us that had NO experience fixing bikes. The orphanage had told us in advance that there were some bikes to be repaired. Other teams had bought the kids bikes years ago, but through wear and tear of kids and weather they no longer worked. The wheels were rusty, brakes were shot, seats were demolished, tires flat, and pedals missing. I think Mark felt a little overwhelmed when he first saw them, but then we got to work. He taught Meredith and Derrick how to fix the tires, put new tubes in, new tires on. Natalia and Terri became the brake crew, testing, repairing and replacing brakes. Jane put seats on. We all took a turn at removing rust and painting wheels and baskets. One by one, each bike started to work.
The last night we presented the bikes to the kids at an ice cream party. They were so excited! They got to ride them around. The best thing - we heard later that one of our sweet girls - Clara, that had never had an opportunity to ride a bike before was learning from the other girls.  One of the many firsts that she and the others that have not been at Shadow very long will have the opportunity to experience.

But our team also had another rare talent that we could put into use - Kassen is a great welder. When we first got to Shadow, we noticed a little girl with an arm in a sling. We found out that she had fallen when the rotted teeter-totter had broken.  The four teeter-totters were dangerous, so we decided to go buy the steel beams to replace them so Kassen's welding skills could make it safer for "our" kids. Scott fashioned new seats from some beautiful local wood, and Alicia and I helped remove the old teeter-totters.
Play is important to ALL kids. For some of "our" kids, Shadow of His Wings is the first safe place they have had to play. Safe to be kids, and not caretakers of their younger siblings. Safe from abusive parents. Safe from predators. Safe from drugs. Safe under the Shadow of HIS Wings.


Kassen & Margarita
 

If you are interested in going on this mission trip, please contact me. There are 3 churches from our area that take teams to Shadow - and all are open to people outside of their own churches. First United Methodist of Russellville usually makes the trip over the New Year's holiday and spends 8 days in Guatemala. Participating in the fundraisers earlier in the year helps to offset the cost per missionary.