8 March 2017

In honor of international women’s day, we did the only logical thing to celebrate: and that was eating cake. With much glee, we sang and celebrated the birthdays of those from February and March, in addition to celebrating women and the women in our lives. After our cake break, the guys so kindly offered to wash our dishes. Considering there are only 5 guys in our group plus Jim, we women had some time to kill until the guys were ready to return to Spanish class.

As we climbed the stairs to our classrooms our teachers (the majority of whom are women) decided to start an impromptu dance party with all the ladies. The boom box was brought out and we laughed and danced and sang. As I looked around at all the women around me, I couldn’t help but be incredibly grateful for the smiles, laughter and being of each woman. I am grateful for each woman for being who she is. As I have struggled with the machismo culture that is very much a part of everyday life in Guatemala, it was so healing to see women laughing and enjoying time in fellowship. I am so grateful for our teachers who have so graciously adopted us gringos as their students and patiently helped us to increase our Spanish speaking abilities in addition to teaching us much about life in Guatemala. This joyful event gave me hope. Hope because even in the midst of injustice there is hope, there is joy.

I will forever be grateful to Guatemala and for the people in Guatemala such as my beloved host family and teachers for showing me a different world, for showing me how much joy there is in learning new things, in diversity. Sometimes this makes one question their own culture, or question the ideas from a new culture, but that’s okay. It is okay to ask questions. Keep asking and exploring. There is so much to be learned from people different than you. To all the women, thank you. You are valued, loved, and important. Keep being you.

– Mariah Denlinger