GUATEMALA, COMMUNITY MOSAIC PROJECT, 2013

Un proyecto de mosaicos en español...

In April and May of 2013, my husband Marcus, 18 year old son Rory and I visited Guatemala for 3 weeks, 2 of them working on this mosaic project in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. The second largest city in Guatemala, it is referred to as Xela  (pronounced shay-la) by locals. While we began the project with an organization called "Gente Joven" (which translates as "Young People"), it turned out that 'Gente Joven' did not exist as a bona fide organization. There was/is a director but there is no core group of young people that are actively involved or actively served by this organization.  So after many missed appointments and failure to come through with promises made, we were on our own to see the project through to completion. Several people jumped in to bridge the gap and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about how helpful everyone was. It was an amazing experience, and I am planning on returning in 2014 to create another mosaic mural in the city.