Our Local Connection to Guatemala

Mary Morales is a 23 year old teacher from Guatemala here on exchange from the Salud Y Paz school, spending the summer in various host homes on the Seacoast and working as a camp counselor at the Southern District YMCA's Camp Lincoln. Exeter Rotarian and YMCA Executive Director, Rob McGregor arranged for Mary, Jeff Gleason of Camp Lincoln, Judy George a host from Stratham and Patti Marsden of Eliot Congregational Church, to come and speak about their experience this summer.

Mary lives with her husband, mother and siblings in Guatemala and teaches 1st grade. Her father has been living away from the family for the last ten years so that he can work at a better paying job in order to support the family and his children's educations. Her mother makes very intricate traditional Guatemalan clothing (Mary was wearing an example) which takes her a month at a time to complete and is paid about $40 for each completed garment. Mary spoke about the importance of the work that Salud Y Paz does in making education, health and dental care more accessible to the community. She is thankful for our support in those efforts and for Phil's participation in a recent trip down to the facility. Coming to work at Camp Lincoln for the summer has been a tremendous opportunity for Mary. She works with 7 and 8 year old campers and has been able to gather new teaching ideas, improve her English and build her savings towards she and her husband's goal of building their own home next year.

Judy, Patti and Jeff spoke about Mary's positivity, smile and willingness to dive right into her surroundings. It is very clear that everyone involved in this experience has been changed for the better. Thank you all for sharing your experience!