From now on

This weekend, I had to go to the small town of Thetford Mines for a pre-trip orientation weekend for my upcoming 5 weeks humanitarian work-trip to Guatemala. I gave a lift to two other participants(two women around 60) and on our way there, we were talking about this upcoming orientation and we all wonder what it would be about because non of us had any clue. But now that I've done it, I realize that it should have been obvious...

One of the big part of this formation was about the Guatemala reality. Their history, the Spanish conquest of the Mayas, the 1960-1996 civil war, etc. We also learned about the 21st century Mayas who still today form the majority of the population with the Ladinos(Mixed aborigine). What I retained the most about this civilization, was the fact that the are a proud population loving their country who prefer to live as refugees in their own land or beg in the street than leaving their birthplace.

The other big part of this weekend, maybe the biggest, was about social relation and respect. Social relation and respect among our group and social relation and respect with other cultures. During opening minds workshops and games we have created bonds among the group and began to understand what will wait us in this trip. But it all began when we were asked to put our luggage in the dormitory. 32 persons, men and women sleeping in the same room, beds 1 meter apart, no privacy, only basic facilities. The morning after the first night everyone said that they didn't sleep but let me tell you that with all the loud snoring that have kept me awake all night some of us must have slept! Lesson #1: bring my earplugs to Guatemala

After, they made us participate to a fake spiritual celebration provoking many reactions among the group. They putted us in many other uncontrollable situations where our values, our judgements, our team work was challenged. For example, they separated us in small groups with playing cards. We had 5 minutes to individually read this new game playing instructions and rules. They took back the instructions and ask us to play in complete silence. Of course, there were some differences among the group members' comprehension of the game but that wasn't so bad but when they said that the nominated winner and loser of each table had to move to another table, the real trouble began! The migrating players didn't had the same already agreed rules of their host table and the impossibility to communicate with words created all kind of reactions. After the game we have learned that no group has received the same game instructions and rules at the beginning so while everyone thought they were right, no one had the truth. A good analogy for someone who has to live and work in a different country who has a different culture...

The rest of the weekend was used to talk about the practical aspects of the trip: The humanitarian projects, A typical day of work, The security precautions we need to take while working in the most criminal part of the capitol, etc.

At the end of the last day, it was amazing to already see the complicity of the group. Not everyone of us will travel at the same time of the year, only 6 of the people who were there will travel on the same dates as me. There are several pre-trip weekends organized so I haven't met all my future workmates. But among the people I have met, I discovered many interesting individuals even if I'm 15-20 years younger than the age average of the group. The most touching moment of this weekend happened during the last activity where we were asked to explain in front of the group, using a pool drawing on a board, how much deep we were willing to plunge in this venture. Since most of the member's reserve toward the group was now disappeared, there were many emotional, hand and voice shaking testimonies heard from many different persons who were about to fulfill a long awaited dream, a big personal challenge or new life resolution. Me, I said that I was choosing the highest dive board to jump in the deepest part of the pool because I plan to plunge in this experience as deep as I can.

To conclude this short weekend report I would like to talk about one of the trainer who was there: Hugo, a Guatemalan political refugee. This authentic aboriginal really gave me the taste of Guatemala with his amazing knowledge about the politics, culture and history of his country and with his interesting and funny way of explaining it. He became even more funnier Saturday night when a few of us sat around a camp fire to talk and have a couple of beers. Nothing beats a half drunk Guatemalan telling Newfie jokes!

Although, later that night the conversation took a more serious but interesting turn when we talked about men and women respect and relationships. First, the different cultural realities appeared between our two countries but soon after, many different perceptions about love and respect appeared among the Quebecois group itself...

No consensus was found when I went to bed that night, but on my way to the dormitory, I saw a shooting star and I made a wish.