Partying with Children

Transitions sponsors a classroom of children with disabilities - what we would call a special ed classroom - in a school in the town of San Antonio de las Aguas Calientes. Fourteen students, ranging in age from 5 to 22 - are in the class. Today we visited there to see the program and get to know the children. The idea is for the children to become familiar with us and our gear so that we will have an easier time of interviewing them or "shooting" them when the time comes. Our visit coincided with that of an Ohio, church-based group called Mission Party. The members spend three weeks in Guatemala each year, hosting parties for children, and especially for children with disabilities. The children know them as the "people who bring the cake." The creative teacher of the class encouraged the children to "give back" to the Mission Party folks by putting on a presentation for them. They dressed up in traditional Guatemalan garb and performed simple songs and dances, based on concepts like colors, numbers, and days of the week. They did quite a wonderful job. Then the Ohio group brought out the chicken nuggets, balloons, cake and ice cream.

It was great to meet the children but troubling to hear about - and bear witness to - their disabilities. One story from today's visit: a young woman, pregnant and unmarried, was about to give birth. Her mother was angry about the unwed pregnancy and so prevented the young woman from giving birth in the hospital. The cord was wrapped around the child's neck, the child turned blue, and only then did the mother consent for her daughter to be taken to the hospital. The child was born with cerebral palsy. He lives in a wheelchair and is severely disabled. We're seeing the results of many birth defects and, in the 18- to 30-year-old population, many gun-shot victims. To say it is troubling is an understatement.

One high point of the day came early on when we were out on the playground, waiting for the party-givers to arrive. One of our group - Ari Sandoval, a drummer in a band at home - began to rap, using a camera case and a soda bottle as his drums, and was assisted with the rhythm by Eric Cuadra, another of our students. The kids - able-bodied and disabled alike - surrounded Ari and Eric, clapped along with the beat, and totally enjoyed the music. By the end of the performance, Ari had a couple of kids drumming along with him.