for those who expressed an interest in getting a Guatemalan born/Lynn, MA residing child as a pen pal for your child: I spent the other day running from place to place in Lynn, making connections and attempting to organize efforts. I spoke with several teachers in the Lynn school system who were very excited about the idea! One elementary school class is 90% Guatemalan immigrant children, all learning English while adjusting to their new country. Another interested group was a local Guatemalan church. I am awaiting confirmation emails or phone calls from both the school system and the church. In the meantime, I will bring along a sign up sheet to our weekend event, for any interested families. These would be, for the most part, snail mail pen pals, rather than email friends. Its good practice for children to write, and the letters can be kept indefinitely. The goal of this project is to give our children a connection to their birth country through another child. I chose to connect to Guatemalan children living in the US instead of children residing in Guatemala because having a pen pal in New England means visiting is not out of the question financially. Also, the city of Lynn has a festival for Guatemalas Independence Day that may be of interest to kids and families exploring their Guatemalan roots. (Lynn has one of the largest Guatemalan communities in the USA). Wherever I went that day, from a thrift shop downtown, to the diner where I had lunch, I encountered members of the Guatemalan community who shared my enthusiasm for the project (I talked to EVERYONE!) One woman took my hands in hers and with tears in her eyes, told me she thought this was a wonderful thing, because many Guatemalans see the adoption of so many babies and children to other countries as a symbol of the failure of the Guatemalan government to serve its people properly. She was not blaming us, but thanking us for stepping in to help the children when their own country did not. She said some people think of our children as the lost generations who will not know their history and culture. It was a moving experience. I hope to have more information by the time our weekend in Plymouth begins!
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 05:15:43 +0000
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