Random Stuff

In reading back through the journal entries I've already posted, I realized I left out some things I wanted to mention. So, this post is going to be random stories & observations.

• A documentary filmmaker came to the Ministry on Tuesday to shoot video & photos for a documentary he is making in hopes of raising awareness about the drug problems & poverty issues in Guatemala city. He told a story about seeing a woman breast feeding her child & huffing glue at the same time. He said he knew right then that he needed to do something to help!
• The mom of one of the teenagers who comes to the Ministry for lunch every day was shot while we were there. Her older son is not in a gang but is affiliated with some members of one of the gangs. He was seen hanging out with some members of the other gang & as retaliation, the gang he is "affiliated" with came after him. His mother was trying to get all the children inside when she saw the semi-automatic weapon & was hit with shrapnel from the gun. Thankfully, she was ok & her younger son was back at the Ministry a couple of days later.
• I noticed the children & teenagers would wear the same clothes 2- 3 days in a row. It didn't matter if the clothes were dirty, stained, too big, too small - they still wore them.
• One day before lunch, we didn't really have anything to do so we went to the mall to try to find paint brushes. The mall we went to was very different than our malls. There were no "name brand" stores (i.e. Gap, Belk, etc). There was one store that had advertisements on the window showing they sold clothing from several different name brand stores (Banana Republic, A&F, etc). I thought this was very strange! While we were at the mall, Tina bought us fresh donuts - not Krispy Kreme but they were still yummy!
• There are security guards everywhere in Guatemala City. Most of the security guards have small pistols but the police have semi-automatic weapons strapped on their backs. Some security guards even have semi-automatic weapons. We walked past a security guard on the street outside the Ministry - he was guarding a water truck & had a semi- automatic! I could tell them apart by the colors of their uniforms but I never quite figured out how their roles are different - I am guessing they would sort of be like our Highway Patrol & City/County police. The police usually have very nice trucks & 2 officers will ride in the front & 2 or 3 other officers will ride in the bed of the truck. I'm really not quite sure what they do besides ride around - like I said before, everyone in Guatemala drives CRAZY & breaks all kinds of traffic laws but they rarely (if ever) give tickets.

More later...