We purchased two new goals for the aldea of El Llano in the Patzun area.

After a slightly painful 2 hour journey through the town of Patzun, we arrived at the village at dusk. Many eager hands quickly  put up the posts and fading darkness met the celebratory crackle of firecrackers.

We were invited back the following day to watch a tournament between local small villages.

In addition to the field repairs, we also donated soccer balls and uniforms to a number of schools and small villages, around the area.

Here are some photos of the field construction in the village of Moxocliot Alto, which we have mentioned before but couldn’t upload.

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures.

We will have a final report about the project after my dad returns from Guatemala in a few days.

Mocolicxot Alto

We visited the small village of Mocolicxot Alto today to see the results of the leveling of a playing field on the local school grounds and to bring some uniforms and balls for the school.

A 40 minute walk/hike down and up a gorge takes you to the village of Moxocliot Alto from the main town of Patzun. We passed an old lady with no shoes making it look easy.

A large group of local kids were there to greet us as we walked through the corn and pea fields up to the school.

This multi colored one wanted her own picture!

Even though for now it remains dirt, the field had already been used by all members of the community old and young.

This area will be seeded and hopefully produce grass once the dry season has ended and further work will be done with the help of the municipality of Patzun to install seating on the side.

After being overwhelmed by the amount of initial gratitude and eager energy we presented the children of the village with a set of girls and boys uniforms as well as some balls that the school will be able to keep and make sure they are used by everyone.

The school has a girls team who plays against other teams in  the area, and won an inter-school tournament last year.

We were given a couple small presents (woven canadian flag) and a heartfelt thank you from one of the teachers, my dad´s, Lorenzo Magzul´s cousin (who blessed the field) and the community representative.

This village of 250 families is one of the poorest in the Patzun area and very few (1  or 2) children continue school beyond grade 6. We will continue to support the community with further development projects (last year our family donated supplies and new chalk boards for the school-Michelle Buck and John Lydon) and our ties will remain close.

In addition to the levelling of a new field, the excess dirt was used to repair roads around the town. With the contribution of 15 community volunteers who donated their entire day these much needed repairs were realized and the initial single goal of the project blossomed into two.

More tomorrow.

Kieran

We have completed 2 of 3 development projects in the Patzun area in the past few days. I will just let you know about the first one today.

The third project will be completed Sunday just before we take off back to Canada.

On Saturday we payed for and helped install the new goal posts at the field in Cojobal.

After paying the local metal worker, we jumped on the back of a flat bed truck,with the goal posts, and wove through the narrow streets of Patzun to Cojobal.

When we arrived we were greeted by members of the local soccer team and various members of the Cojobal community.

The installation was truly a community effort as everyone from local children to the land owner lent a hand.

Within literally minutes the posts were in use.

The real community celebration came the day after when Cojobal hosted a local soccer tournament, and we became officially part of the community as the Cojobal  community representative recorded the event in the towns History book.

The man pictured below, Ismael Marroquin (affectionately `Santa Claus´) is the owner of the land the Cojobal field is located on. He donated it to the local community free of charge as a place for people to gather and enjoy themselves, not only for soccer. He had lived in the city of Guatemala for 50 years before returning to Cojobal, his birthplace, a few years back and has been an active communitarian throughout this time.

Ismael also plays on the local team which, at 65 years old, is quite an admirable feat (try and find him in the team photo above). We shared a drink after setting up the nets and he agreed to let us tell his story and photograph him.

This experience has truly been inspirational and we will return to visit Cojobal as soon as we can.

Moving Along

Our first real update from Guatemala-

It has taken a little while, as expected, for things to develop here but our last 2 weeks in Guatemala are now packed with things to do.

Firstly-

We have identified one community where our funds will be used to completely change the landscape of a schools uneven playing area into a soccer field for children.

The aldea of Moxoclicot Alto near Patzun, Guatemala, where we are staying, will be the benefit of this project.

The area pictured above will be landscaped into a flat playing surface with two nets, and although it will be dirt at first grass will hopefully sprout during the rainy season to make better playing surface.

The landscaping should be completed by next week and we will be giving the school a set of soccer uniforms as well.

Today-

This morning we surprised the small village of Cojobal (located near Patzun) local celebration and gathering and gave soccer balls and uniforms to the local school and town team. We said a few words about our project and the community leaders spoke appreciatively and were clearly moved by the donation.

After viewing the state of their goalposts at their local field we have decided to fund the purchase of two new, good quality goals for the villages use. This will be completed this Saturday and we have been invited to participate in a celebratory game on Sunday!

More updates Soon,

thank you again too all of you who made this possible!

Kieran