I know before even starting this post, that I will fail in adequately describing the emotional impact to the team today.  If the importance of this undertaking were not clear before today, it is now.

Along with great training from John and the EQUIP team, we were blessed to hear stories from some of the locals regarding their anticipation for what will transpire later this week.

Earlier this week people lined up along the streets, cheering on those completing the Guatemala Próspera March that began in Atlanta weeks ago.  Mother’s running out to hug some of the walkers telling them they had been praying 20 years for this emphasis on leadership to be brought to their homeland so their children could have opportunities that were once only a dream.

Honestly, this is all somewhat overwhelming.  The only real examples of support I can compare to in the United States is when we have joined together after some major disaster of tragedy involving the loss of human life.

I believe that what is going on here in Guatemala is about the loss of human life.  Not in the sense of what you think but in “life” that represents the basic rights we enjoy in the US and other Industrialized Nations.

That life, as most of us enjoy it, is not the rule here in the Country of Guatemala, it is the exception.  Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and were told that your country is about to be transformed into something that you have only heard about, something better than anything you have ever experienced before.

That is the attitude of the Guatemalan residents.  Thousands wait to see the impact of this transformation.  The chant of “Transformation begins with me” or to correctly represent it “Transformación esta en mi”, is becoming the war cry of the people.  The Government is being transparent and asking to be held accountable for this change.  Think of the implications of that in itself.

I ask you to take a moment and just picture what it would be like to live in a country with 360,000 orphans.  That number, as a percentage of the population, would be millions in the United States.  A country that has 140,000 people added to the workforce every year with only 20,000 jobs available.  A country that has been praying for years for change that will allow those with the desire, to have an opportunity to succeed.

There is not one person in this Country that matters any less than you or I.  They deserve a chance.  They deserve to have someone believe in them.  They deserve a reason to believe in others.  THEY DESERVE HOPE!

Tomorrow we meet with our translators and coordinate the training that will begin on Thursday.  This I know, my life has already been transformed and in a discussion with some of my fellow coaches tonight we agreed … we have already accomplished so much but have not even started.  This is just the beginning.  Tomorrow starts now!

I know some of this may be hard to understand and this really has been a “you had to be there” experience.

But this I know, when I look into the eyes of those that I will be blessed to train this week, I can only hope that they can see my heart and that I can see theirs.  This week I am not an American and these men and women won’t be Guatemalans.  We will all simply be people sharing this planet that want to be part of the solution.

The solution starts with the Hope that is already here.  Now it’s time to go from relevance to significance.  That will only come from within.  “Transformation Begins with Me” or as I now refer to it, “Transformación esta en mi”

• Click here to read Day 1
• Click here to read Day 2

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Barry Smith    6/11/13   photo by author  © Building What Matters 2013