Bites & Frights: School Vacation at the FSC (Part II)

Text and photos by Elizabeth Barnes (unless otherwise noted)

Last week we started a blog series on the activities we've held in the last month or so at the Family Support Center. Today is the last regular day of the project for 2016. As the kids are enjoying a water balloon fight and afternoon movie in Llanos del Pinal, we're looking back on one of the funnest days of school vacation: Halloween!

Director of Social Projects Carmen de Alvarado invited some helpers to Pop Wuj on the morning of October 28 to prepare pumpkin pie for the Halloween party. Older students who aged out of the Family Support Center came from Llanos del Pinal (no easy feat given that unexpectedly, no buses were running that day!), and long-time Pop Wuj volunteer Ashley Aue brought participants from her  new project, Pathways, serving adults with developmental disabilities in Xela.

We used every part of the pumpkin—the seeds for roasting, the insides for pie, and the shells for jack o'lanterns! (Photo by Marie Barranco, Pop Wuj Social Work Spanish student)

Carmen and our bakers roll out dough for pie crust! The pies turned out absolutely delicious, but they didn't last long enough to be properly documented by our photographers. (Photo by Marie Barranco)

That afternoon, with dozens of pies of all sizes baked, we packed up in a hastily rented minibus to head out to the FSC Halloween party.

First we helped everyone get into their costumes. We had a huge jumble of witches, pirates, zombies, princesses, Spider-Men, vampires, a Little Red Riding Hood, and a butterfly. (Participating adults were a bat, a pirate, and a soccer witch in a jersey and spooky shawl.)

Trying to get everyone to keep their costume on, hold still, not show off their karate kicks, look at the camera, and smile at the same time proved to be the scariest part of Halloween.

Costumes on, we gathered in the party room to tell scary stories.

The room was lit only by jack o'lanterns.

Spooky jack o'lantern light completes Ilcy's witch look.

The kids and Carmen took turns telling scary stories. In Carmen's tale, dogs howled as the dead walked past. She asked the kids over and over, "What did the dogs do?" and over and over, they howled.

Stories told, we turned the lights back on, had pumpkin pie, and set up trick-or-treating. Kids approached Pop Wuj students in pairs to say either "Trick or Treat!" or "¡Dulce o Truco!"

Wilson and Manuel choose from mini Halloween notebooks offered by Pop Wuj Medical Spanish student Katrina. Another student, Will, handed out candy at the next trick-or-treating station.

Halloween is always a blast. After our party on Friday the 28th, the FSC had a few days of vacation for the children to celebrate Día de los Muertos (or Día de Todos los Santos) with their families. Check out our next blog post to see what they've been up to since then!

"Can you smile, Andrea?"

Hikes & Kites: School Vacation at the FSC (Part I)

Text and photos by Elizabeth Barnes (unless otherwise noted)

If you were to visit the Family Support Center on a typical weekday morning between February and October, you'd find only the children too young to attend school (ages 2 to a just-turned-5). Schools in Guatemala usually run January to October, and most offer classes in the morning. Our school-age participants join us around 1 p.m. for lunch and stay the rest of the day.

Since mid-October, when the older participants started their long vacations, the FSC has been busy with everyone all day long. We take advantage of the extra time with all the kids to host a ton of special activities—academic support, outdoor excursions, crafts projects, sports, and more. Our new director Shaaron Hurtado has implemented some new ideas, but we've also observed all our annual traditions.

This post and two follow-ups will highlight vacation activities which Pop Wuj Spanish School students (and the Student Coordinator!) have joined in the last five weeks.

First up: hiking!

Katrina plays customer at an imaginary restaurant run by Emmanuel, Ximena, Yadira, and Daniel. She and fellow Pop Wuj Medical Spanish Program student Lucy joined the FSC crew on October 20 for one of two hikes. The older FSC participants were all off playing soccer and too blurry to photograph! 

The FSC teachers took the kids on a second hike on the morning November 3. One advantage of the Llanos del Pinal location is being surrounded by breathtaking mountains! (Photo by Shaaron Hurtado)

The group heads back from the October 20 hike. Despite having the shortest legs, the little ones never seem to complain about being tired like the older ones do!

Next up: kites! You see them all over Guatemala around Day of the Dead on November 1. We held our flying day on October 27 after a week of kite construction at the FSC.

FSC teacher Santos launches a kite. Yosvin, Samuel, and Moisés figure out their own.

Arturo proved to be one of the FSC's most skilled kite flyers.

Andrea (who recently turned 3) had very little luck with getting her kite off the ground, but not for lack of support from Katrina! They both had fun anyway.

Another one of our older boys, Manuel, is also an adept kite flyer.

He kept his kite aloft despite cows, trees, and a host of other obstacles!

Most children at the FSC have attended the project for years, which means we get to watch them grow up. Annual events like kite flying highlight those changes.

Here's Evelyn (age 6) with her kite in 2012....

Evelyn (age 9) with her kite in 2015....

and Evelyn (age 10) with her kite in 2016! 

Better said that these activities highlight how kids stay exactly the same! Evelyn still loves kites.

Keep an eye out next week for Foundation Todos Juntos newsletter and another post on Halloween. To our U.S. readers, have a wonderful Thanksgiving! At Pop Wuj we are grateful for everyone involved in our projects, from participating families to the students, volunteers, and donors who make our work possible.

Halloween in Llanos

Text and photos by Elizabeth Barnes 

Last weekend was a festive one in Quetzaltenango. Sunday, November 1 was Día de los Muertos — many Xela families visited the cemetery to pay respects to loved ones who have passed away. On Saturday, October 31, throngs of people filled Parque Central to admire the alfombras (carpets) lining the streets and watch the image of la Virgen del Rosario parade around the park and back into the church.

It was also Halloween, of course. While Halloween is a much bigger deal in the United States, Xela had its share of decorations and costumes, and Pop Wuj celebrated at the Family Support Center. Every year we have a party with decorations, treats, costumes, and scary stories.

The day before our party, General Projects Coordinator Albizael Del Valle repairs an orange shirt worn by one of our pumpkins. All of the more elaborate costumes were made ahead of time by Pop Wuj staff and volunteers.

On Friday morning, los grandes (the older kids) bused down to Pop Wuj to make decorations for the party that afternoon.

The most popular choices were pumpkins, bats, and ghosts.

After making dozens of paper decorations for the walls of the Family Support Center, the kids tackled the pumpkins to bake pies and carve jack o' lanterns.

Our carvers begin by scooping out the insides of each pumpkin.

Some of the pumpkins had thin, brittle shells that had to be cut with care.

Carmen, our Director of Social Projects, led the kids through the laborious process of making pie dough, rolling it out, and transforming gooey piles of pumpkin into a delicious filling.

The kids take turns kneading two batches of dough.

After cooking the pie filling on the stove, students moved it to the blender and added spices.

Carmen shows the kids how to smooth the dough. 

The pie turned out absolutely delectable, and somebody couldn't resist breaking into it early!

At lunchtime, the kids headed back to Llanos del Pinal to eat fiambre, the traditional dish for the Day of the Dead, and put up their decorations. Pop Wuj staff, volunteers, and students followed with all the costumes, and the party started with everyone getting into character!

"Dr. Shanti" poses with Princess Amy. Shanti is a Medical Programs Coordinator for Timmy Global Health.

General Projects Coordinator Albizael Del Valle cowers in fear around four terrifying zombies and a ferocious lion.

Mid-photoshoot, Princess Amy charges in to adjust Oscar the Robot's cardboard head.

Ilcy, one of our witches, shows off her costume.

Once everybody's costumes and face paint were ready, we killed the lights and lit the jack o' lanterns carved earlier that morning. It was time for scary stories!

Albizael and Gustavo, a teacher at the Family Support Center, spooked us all with their stories.
Allegations that Albizael's jump scare made me yelp in fear are entirely unfounded.

Stories done, we brought the lights back up to feast on pumpkin pie. Ashley, a longtime volunteer and Medical Programs Coordinator for Timmy, taught the kids how to say "Trick or Treat" in exchange for a piece of candy.

Full of pie and sweets, the kids sadly had to take off their costumes and pack 'em up for next year. We hope your Halloween was just as fun!

More Family Support Center Vacation Activities

Text by Amy Scheuren
Photos from Jeff Leventhal

Friday October 31^st was a big day for the Family Support Center participants.  As we’ve already shared, the afternoon included tons of Halloween costumes, scary stories, and jack-o-lanterns during the Halloween party.  

However the morning was just as busy.  The older kids, ages 12-19 years, traveled to Xela to prepare the dessert for the party.  The group of 13 arrived promptly at Pop Wuj at 9am and had a laugh before dividing into two groups.

Half of the group set to work on making apple crisp while the other half began working on the decorations for the Halloween party.  The groups traded activities halfway through the morning.

The kids washed, peeled, and cut the apples while others prepared the sugary, oatmeal mixture that would go on top.  Other kids worked on the first jack-o-lantern.
 

Damaris and Angelica get to work

Peeling and cutting apples

Gaby and Carmencita work on the second batch

Two trays in!

Three apple crisps cooling

Jacqueline and Angelica matando a una calabaza

Jacqueline separating seeds

In the other room Lena, a Pop Wuj Social Work Spanish student, Adam, and Lily, worked with the kids on creating decorations and later playing board games. 

Gaby and her pumpkin

Selvin creates a bat

Brandon

'Fred' and the group