Continuing Promise 2011 Puerto San Jose, Guatemala Education Coalition

Continuing Promise 2011
Puerto San Jose, Guatemala
Education Coalition

USNS COMFORT Arrives in Guatemala
The ship almost docked at the Port of San Jose; however, there were
challenges with anchoring the ship directly to the provided gangway.
The Military Sealift Command Captain and mariners decided to anchor
the ship to a walkway attached to the gangway, which kept the ship
close to the shore. We used the ship’s small hospitality boats to ride
around the ship to the pier. The port included a beautiful yacht club
with a tiki hut restaurant. We were given the unique opportunity to
spend a few liberty (free) hours at the restaurant to enjoy the food
and utilize the free internet. The military members were able to leave
during their off-duty hours and most of the civilians were able to
visit the shore each night. It was pleasant to have the opportunity to
view and purchase local gift items available during our visit.

Rotary Welcome
We began our project development by contacting the Rotary Club of
Escuintla. The Rotarians were very engaging. The Maritime Civil
Affairs Team and I attended a morning Rotary meeting in Escuintla.
This Rotary meeting was only the second meeting that I have been able
to attend. I was extremely thankful for the opportunity to view and
learn more about the different services Rotarians provide globally.
The Rotarians also had an opportunity to tour the COMFORT. They
enjoyed the experience tremendously and even provided t-shirts for the
COMFORT volunteers who assisted with their transportation and tour
experience.

We were able to also visit each Rotary identified school alongside
club members to coordinate a dynamic three-day program.

COMFORT Collaboration
The Coalition began a unique partnership with the USNS COMFORT band
and Dental Department in Nicaragua and the program helped provide an
alternative program in Guatemala. We visited the school Escuela La
Ceiba in Escuintla to investigate delivering backpacks. Upon our
arrival, we learned that the school was actually two schools, 250
students in the morning and 270 in the afternoon. We discussed options
with the Director and decided to organize a band concert, dental
puppet show, and health and hygiene program. We had a wonderful
opportunity to reach over 500 children in Guatemala through one event.

Once we finalized the dates for our visits, we began coordinating
COMFORT volunteers and departments to solidify the upcoming program.
We were very fortunate to have so many people join the program to have
a successful experience with the children.

Education Program

1st day July 6th
Teeth, Hygiene, Dengue, and Music (Escuela La Ceiba, Escuintla Guatemala)
The UCSD (University of California San Diego) puppet show lead and US
Navy Commander in charge of the COMFORT Dental Department organized a
new cast of 2 US military and 2 UCSD volunteers to play in the puppet
show. This time the audience included over 500 children. It was
challenging to prevent the children from running back and forth
between the puppet show’s and band’s equipment, but we managed to keep
almost everyone in front of the stage.

The program for the day consisted of two shows, one in the morning
school and one in the afternoon. The dental puppet show was first
followed by a hygiene discussion noting hand washing and coughing
techniques. Rotary partners provided a discussion on nutrition and
Dengue Fever prevention. Following the education program, the USNS
COMFORT full rock band played a set for the children. The students
were a bit shy at this school, many students choosing to remain in
their desks. However, a group of little boys joined some Navy and Air
Force members to dance in front of the stage.

The COMFORT Dental Department donated 480 toothbrushes and toothpaste
for students at both schools. There were 535 children between both
schools, so we decided to distribute items to the first school and
give the additional donations to our Rotary partners to match
donations and distribute donations to the second school next week.
This avenue ensured that all of the children at the school would
receive a new toothbrush and toothpaste.

2nd day July 7th

Lunch with the General
In an interesting turn of events, I was requested to attend a luncheon
with General Fraser from US Southern Command. Our collaboration was
noticed at various levels within Southern Command, which is why I was
allowed to attend. There were a few NGOs that attended including
Latter-Day Saints Charities and Project Hope. The General visited the
COMFORT and different mission sites with a large group of
representatives from Southern Command and the Military Group from
Guatemala. It was an amazing experience to meet several new military
officials, NGO leads, and to have an opportunity to describe our
partnership in more detail to different military officials and the
potential that the collaboration holds for future humanitarian
development.

Escuela Canton Puente de Palo
Due to my attendance at the luncheon, I was unable to visit the school
coordinated for the second day. However, just as this mission has
trained many military members for medical response, our partnership
project has trained several military and NGO partners to facilitate
the project. While I was on the COMFORT, the Maritime Civil Affairs
Team and Courtney Lengberg and Nikki Brody from Latter-Day Saints
Charities led the educational program in my absence. The school
received the same programming from different participants and each
volunteer from that day expressed their appreciation for an amazing
time. I was so thankful for their support and happy that they enjoyed
the experience.

3rd day July 8th

Escuela Republica de Japon
We had a wonderful opportunity to bring the COMFORT’s nutritionist and
JAG officers with us for our third day of distributions. We also were
joined by Terry Fitch, a lead and dental hygienist for Latter-Day
Saints. Many times the work schedules of the ship do not allow several
people the opportunity to participate in other projects or
experiences. We were fortunate that this date opened for our new
volunteers to add a new special touch to the educational program. We
still offered the same educational information; however, like we
promoted in other countries when the information is from the
specialist, it is well received.

Escuela Bienestar Social
This school organized three lovely pavilions with decorations for our
visit. Brightly colored streamers lined the outside rim of the tarps
while wooden benches sat in a row beneath the tents. In an effort to
support the school’s organization for the day we decided to do the
entire program outside. The children participated as we reviewed the
information and moved from section to section to engage their
attention. The children, teachers, and schools in Guatemala were a joy
to visit.

A bit of Adversity
Just in case any of you decide to travel here are a few suggestions
from my experience in Guatemala.
1. If you find yourself in a high-paced dynamic environment, make sure
to never take your camera off.
a. Camera was stolen after I left it in our vehicle.
2. Do not…drink anything with ice and stay away from eggs.
a. Caught a heavy case of food poisoning, luckily I was on a medical
ship with IV fluids.
3. Watch out for puddles or any standing water.
a. Caught an animal worm that was carried through water and went
through the mesh portion of my boot.

Not to worry- all is well! We are organizing our last partnership
project for El Salvador.
I cannot wait to return to the states and share more details, photos,
and conversations with all of you! Thank you so much for your amazing
support! We have truly made a difference.

Kari Williams

Education Coalition
CP11-Guatemala

Rotary Club of Escuintla, Rotary District 6980, Give a Kid a Backpack,
Loving Hugs Inc., The Dictionary Project, Samaritan’s Feet
International, Clean the World, the College of Education at the
University of Central Florida, and Orange County Public Schools.

Guatemala Mission:
o Visited 4 schools with 992 children total
o Donations
o USNS COMFORT
 480 Dental kits
 10 soccer balls -Navy Ensign donation
o Education Coalition
 310-backpacks filled with schools supplies, soap, and stuffed
animal; (3 schools)
 190-backpacks filled with schools supplies, soap, and stuffed
animal; Rotary Club of Escuintla- donation for distribution
 19- teacher bags
o 66 USNS COMFORT volunteers: Military Personnel-USNS COMFORT Band,
Navy Medical Training Facility, Navy Air Detachment, Navy Maritime
Civil Affairs, US Army, NGO Partners-Latter-day Saints, Project Hope

Give a Kid a Backpack Arrives in Nicaragua

The COMFORT anchored within a 10 minute boat ride to the Port of San
Juan Del Sur Nicaragua. Immediately, we noticed a stark difference
from Tumaco. San Juan Del Sur is a resident beach town that receives
many tourists each year, several who visit to surf its shores. There
were several small fishing boats docked inside the harbor. We could
see the beautiful cliffs overlooking the water from our hospitality
boats.

The weather was perfect. We only experienced a little rain in the
morning. I was thrilled to have wonderful weather after experiencing
the storms that affected the backpacks.

Coordination Challenge
There is no Rotary Club in San Juan Del Sur. After working through the
District Governor for Rotary and our main contact in Managua, we were
put in touch with the Rotary Club of Granada. Granada is a city
located only 1 hour from San Juan Del Sur. The Rotarians in Granada
were wonderful and referred us to work with their partner, who is also
a school teacher in San Juan Del Sur. He recommended schools for us to
visit for the backpack project. One of the schools proved to be too
rural for us to visit. Our bus could not make it through the narrow
roads and thick mud to the site. After investigating the schools, we
decided to visit 2 schools for the backpack project and organize a new
program for the 2 other schools.

COMFORT Partnership
Our educational coalition has offered many opportunities for members
of the COMFORT to participate in community projects inside schools
through the shoe and backpack programs. In Nicaragua, we collaborated
with the USNS COMFORT band and Dental Department to develop a new
education and music program for two of the schools.

New Program Development
Since two of the schools that the teacher recommended were not
possible for distributions, I started to look for additional
opportunities to visit schools or orphanages. I discovered that the
band was scheduled to play a concert at a school on June 22. I went to
visit the school, Escuela Intregada de Cultura, with the Civil Affairs
team and learned that the school offered an after school program
through a free community center that provided art, music, and English
courses for the surrounding community. I talked with the directors to
assess their needs and see if there was anything that we could provide
them. I explained that I had some donations that had been affected by
temperate weather and asked if they might find these supplies useful.
They were enthusiastic to take anything, but we encouraged them to
focus their requests due to the timeframe of our visit. We helped
organize a visit on the 22nd for multiple programs and donations.

1st day June 22nd

Donations
I helped facilitate the day’s events by coordinating with the
directors the time and logistics for the different programs. The
directors conveyed to me that they were trying to push an incentive
program for those children who achieve high attendance in the school.
We focused our donations to best serve their programs. While the
dental volunteers and band members set up their equipment, our
partnership donated items directly to the school for their incentive
program. We provided 40 backpacks filled with supplies, stuffed
animal, and soap, 20 dictionaries, 37 pairs of shoes, 11 teacher bags,
40 stuffed animals; additional supplies- 61 notebooks and 20 school
supply kits. They have 80 children in their top attendance list that
will receive the shoes, backpacks, or stuffed animals based on their
attendance and age range. The teacher bag donations will be given to
their volunteer teachers at an upcoming training workshop and the
English dictionaries will be utilized during their evening adult
English classes. The other school supplies will be applied to their
art program or poetry program depending on the quality of the
materials. The directors also requested that we collect large cans,
for a recycled-object music program since they could not obtain
similar cans in town. We collected two large bags full of recycled
cans from the ship’s galley and donated them for their program.

Teeth and Music
A member from the NGO UCSD (University of California San Diego) Dental
Program brought onboard the COMFORT a fully equipped dental puppet
show for children. It was amazing! The dental department, including
UCSD, Canadian and US military sent 4 individuals who played various
roles throughout the play. There was a tooth, floss, toothbrush,
plaque/bacteria, and mouth. All of the characters were adapted in
Spanish. The children laughed along and paid attention to the
material. The children were quizzed on the material following the
performance and were very responsive, answering many questions from
the volunteers.

The USNS band also had a full concert program for children. The band
was wonderful. We provided some health and hygiene programming in
between the band’s intermission. The band members allowed several
children to play alongside them by distributing different instruments
to the children, giving them an opportunity to contribute to the
performance. We also had a unique opportunity to teach the chicken
dance to the children at the school. The children laughed as the music
gained momentum and all of the volunteers and children danced rapidly
to the band’s increasing pace.

Escuela San Francisco
The second school that we visited was across from the main medical
site at the Civic Center in San Juan Del Sur. Many patients waiting in
line to receive services watched as we piled out of the bus with
instruments, boxes, and bags. There were 233 children at the school
waiting for our visit.

The band and puppet show set up outside under awnings near the
classrooms, since this school was mostly open. We had a slight set
back with the power at the school going out; however, the band
adjusted wonderfully. Instead of their being a full rock concert, the
band organized their brass section to finish out the musical program.
Soon many of the children were dancing with the military and NGO
volunteers.

We closed out the day by giving each child and teacher a toothbrush
and toothpaste before they headed out for the afternoon. We also
provided each of the teachers with a teacher bag to say thank you and
gave the school a donation of soccer balls.

2nd day June 23rd

Escuela Sauda Bikerland

Backpacks and Music
Our Rotarian partners from Granada joined us at the school and were
wonderful at helping engage the children. We collaborated to visit
each classroom and provided health and hygiene education while
distributing the backpacks to the children. The COMFORT brass band set
up a concert outside the preschool classroom for the children. After
we finished the educational component, the band played a fantastic set
for the children. We did perform the chicken dance again.

“La Cuesta” Escuela HNOS. Mendoza
Mendoza was a small school of 51 children with only two classrooms.
Since the school was so small, we spent more time inside the
classrooms with the children and teachers. Due to scheduling logistics
with the military, it has been challenging to spend a great deal of
time at the schools which made Mendoza a unique. Each class performed
a song, which was a special treat for the volunteers.

Backpack Donation
We donated an allocation of 224 backpacks and 15 teacher bags to the
Rotary Club of Granada. The Rotarians will be visiting 4-5 schools in
the more rural communities surrounding Granada to distribute the
backpacks. We also donated 80 refurbished backpacks filled with
supplies to a Nicaraguan NGO-Tengo un Sueño for an afternoon project
called the Imagination Federation Inc. at Hermandad Maryknoll high
school in Chacraseca, Nicaragua.

Nicaragua was a beautiful and unique experience.

Thank you Partners!

Rotary Club of Granada, Rotary District 6980, Give a Kid a Backpack,
Loving Hugs Inc., The Dictionary Project, Samaritan’s Feet
International, Clean the World, the College of Education at the
University of Central Florida, and Orange County Public Schools.

Thank you for your support!
Kari Williams
Education Coalition, CP11