A little geography

This is the backdrop of our build site - the department of Alta Verapaz. Wow!

Here's what I've learned about the area:

• a varied terrain ranging from mountains to lowlands
  
• humid forests
• home to orchids, white monkeys and the quetzal - Guatemala's beautiful emerald green national bird
  
• locals grow mostly corn, beans, coffee, and broccoli
• cardamum is an important crop for export
  
• the climate in November is cool and wet

We will be working with the Habitat affiliate out of Coban, a 5 hour scenic bus ride from Quatemala City. Coban is the capital city of Alta Verapaz and is about 1,300 m or 4,290 ft above sea level.

Aidan, my 8 year old science & nature guy, wants to know what kind of bugs & snakes I'll find and if there are any berries to pick. Unless you know, I'll have to get back to him on that.

Habitat in Armenia

Habitat for Humanity works around the world giving deserving families the opportunity to get decent, safe and affordable housing. To me, the following story is a perfect illustration of what Habitat is all about.


A Decent Home in Armenia

Sargsyan Hrach (50) and his wife, Susan (48) have raised their family of four in very dire conditions in the mountainous village of Khachik. Their home did not have a kitchen and a decent bathroom.

After decades of bearing the heavy snowfalls and the long wet months, the roof of their home could serve them no more and allowed water to leak into the rooms.

Only after their two girls got married, and the two sons, Artak (22) and Arthur (18), started helping out their parents with the work in their fields, could the family start improving their home. With the help the Sargssyan’s received from Habitat for Humanity Armenia, the family now has a decent toilet and a kitchen, and more importantly, thanks to the new roof, is looking forward to spending a dry winter indoors.

“Finally we have a decent home. We hope Habitat will be able to help each and every Armenian family in need for better housing conditions,” Hrach said.

To join in the battle against substandard housing in Armenia, join the Global Village trip going to Armenia October 18—31, 2009, being led by Murray and Jan Coates. For more information and to apply, please visit http://habitat.ca/tripschedulec235.php?PJID=134 or contact the Coates at m.coates@shaw.ca.

How to get to Guatemala?

Today's challenge... figuring out how to get to Guatemala. Apparently there are no direct flights from Winnipeg to Guatemala City - hmmm.

There's No Place Like Home

Why is it that as good as a vacation is, coming home is even better? After all, vacation is a pretty sweet deal - no cleaning, no cooking, no mowing the lawn, no house repairs, no phones, no computers, no meetings, no work demands just sitting around, going to the pool, being entertained and hanging out with friends and family.

What is it about coming home that feels so good?

Is it the routine? Is it the sense of being in control once again (not saying I have control issues!!)? Is it the security of all things familiar? Is it being surrounded by all your possessions? Is it simply being in a space you can call your own?

Whatever it is - I love the feeling of coming home. Perhaps that's another reason why building houses for others is so appealing.

Vacation?

Does this trip to Guatemala count as a vacation?

If a vacation is about relaxing in every way - physically, emotionally, spiritually. Then I'm not sure a Global Village build could be considered a vacation. I suspect I will be physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted by this trip.

But if vacation is about travel, adventure and experiencing new things - by golly Guatemala counts.

There is no doubt however, that my next two weeks can definitely be considered vacation. One week at family camp (Camp Wasaga in Riding Mountain National Park,the most amazing place!)where everything is taken care for us - food, lodging, entertainment, etc. The most exhausting thing we'll do is play Volleyball in the afternoons. Then, one week in Disneyland to celebrate Grandpa's 70th birthday. The extreme opposite experience of a Guatemala build.

So, it's off on vacation I go. Have a great two weeks.

Collect the Whole Set

I just got my Global Village Habitat T-shirt. Woo Hoo!

So far we have several white ones from previous builds here in Winnipeg, a red one from Darryl's adventure as team leader this year and now, a green one.

Blue is usually for the homeowners so we won't be getting one of those, but there's still yellow, orange, purple, pink etc. I wonder what we'd have to do to add those to our collection?

After all, it's really all about the T-shirts!

Coffee

An alarming thought just raced through my mind - will I get my morning cup of coffee in Guatemala?

Of course, you coffee aficionados (how's that for using Spanish!) know that Guatemala produces some very fine Arabica beans. But, growing and picking them is a long way off from roasting and brewing them. Reminds me of life back on the farm, just because we grew barley doesn't mean we drank a lot of beer. (Ok, we did drink our share, but there was no "producer discount").

So the question remains - Do Guatemalans drink coffee?

According to the June 2009 Coffee Report of the International Coffee Organization, the per capita consumption of coffee in 2008 in Guatemala was 1.3kg. At the same time it was 5.8kg in Canada. In other words, we consume about five times more coffee!

Perhaps I should begin weaning myself to one cup a day.

Here are some other interesting coffee facts:
* There is a world coffee crisis - the supply of coffee far exceeds the demand. While this doesn't seem to affect the price of coffee at Starbucks or Tim Horton's, it greatly affects producers, especially the small, family owned coffee farms in coffee producing countries like Guatemala.
* We pay more for one cup of coffee than a producer receives for a pound of coffee beans ($1.19/lb). Some farmers receive even less - they're at the mercy of the "coyotes" the middlemen between farmer and trader.
* Fair trade coffee buyers work directly with the producer thereby cutting out the middleman and paying producers their fair share.
* It takes 1 to 3 years for a coffee tree to produce 2000 cherries needed to make 1 lb of roasted coffee.
* The International Coffee Organization, in its effort to combat the coffee crisis, offers a "Step by Step Guide to Promote Coffee Consumption in Producing Countries". One step in the guide includes disseminating positive health-related information on coffee to potential consumers.