Susan Dietz: Guatemala

About this time last year I was informed by my two closest friends, Adam and Shannon, that they wanted to move to Guatemala in January 2013. They had just returned from a week long trip volunteering with Hug it Forward, an organization that builds "bottle schools" for children in many of the small villages of Central America. The mission is to get the communities involved in the building of the schools for their children while also collecting the garbage from their streets. This non recyclable trash is stuffed into plastic bottles which are used to form the insulation for the schools. Cement is then placed around the bottles to create the walls of the school.

Adam and Shannon were deeply changed by the trip and felt that their calling in life was in Guatemala. They graduated college and married in December 2012 and by the end of January were moving into their little apt. in Antigua, Guatemala.

Last summer, when I was first told of their new decision, I considered moving with them. They are some of my closest friends and I had been playing with the idea of moving to another country. Well, as life worked out, I had another opportunity come up that were amazing but took away the option of living in Guatemala for a time. However, in March, I learned that I could go for a month and stay with Adam and Shannon and also do some photography work for Hug it Forward. I ended up mostly editing and organizing the photos they already had but most importantly I was able to see a bottle school being built. It was all an amazing experience. I got to meet some wonderful people and see some beautiful places. I already miss the people, cobblestone streets, and drinking natural sugared Coke-a-Colas with Gerson :)
If you would like to get involved or just see what all Hug it Forward is about then visit their site at;
http://hugitforward.org/