Coffee Cupping

Thursday we got up early and drove to Lizza's Uncle's farm for a coffee cupping.  A few of the good people we were with started Resurgam coffee to help fund the work in La Limonada and were looking to buy beans from her family.  It was a rough ride for Isa and she arrived feeling really motion sick.  She laid around for most of the time that we tasted coffee.  The farm was beautiful and it was nice to get out of the city's pollution and hustle and bustle.  

Guatemala City

Wednesday Lizza showed us some sites in Guatemala City.  She took us to her favorite slide from when she was a kid.  Her memory failed to recall the overwhelming smell of diesel and the mats soaked in oil.  You can imagine it was a fast ride down.  Lizza really wanted Isa to feed the pigeons in the square.  I could tell Isa did not like that idea at all but she went along with it.  She hates birds and was on edge the whole time.  We went shopping in the underground markets which was fun and so much less stressful with a Spanish speaking Guatemalan friend with us to do all the negotiating.  We went to a 3D map of Guatemala which was really helpful.  We ate at Pollo Campero for lunch and then drove to a look out spot above the city.  

La Limonada

I grew up in a small, friendly town.  We played on the streets and road bikes up town with friends.  I don't remember ever feeling afraid.  I was fed and educated.  I was encouraged to dream and told I could be anything I wanted to be.  

Our first two days in Guatemala were spent in La Limonada,  Situated in a valley that runs through Guatemala City, this slum is home for an estimated 60,000 people.  If you grow up outside of this slum, you are warned never to enter.  It is largely gang controlled and most have turned their backs to the residents living there.  

All my senses were on high alert for the two days we spent in this place.  High alert in the richest way.  I saw with my eyes the way the staff of Vidas Plenas (supported State side by Lemonade International) tenderly hugged, kissed, loved, and educated children, teenagers and adults.  I tasted Pepsi purchased for me by a family that cannot afford their $20 a month rent because their mama needs medical attention she can't afford.  I heard prayers spoken over the broken-hearted and hurting residents that were laced with empathy and compassion and longing and hope.  I smelled warm rice and beans that filled hundreds of hungry bellies at the academies.  And last but certainly not least, I was physically touched with hugs and kisses from strangers who welcomed us into their lives and also spiritually touch by the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who was felt as sure as we felt the wind on our skin.  "I am here.  In this place that most want to forget, I am here."  

There are currently three academies in La Limonada with a fourth being built.  The goal is to eventually have 10; one for each of the 10 neighborhoods within the slum.  Each neighborhood is controlled by a different gang so they must have an academy in each.  

If you can, please sponsor a child, a teacher, or both.  Encourage that child and teacher to dream.  Help feed their mind and body and spirit by supporting the beautiful work in La Limonada.  

May the faces and spirits of the beautiful people we met be ever on our minds and hearts and actions. 

Sponsor a child or teacher HERE.  

Give $10 a month to feed the children of La Limonada HERE.