The past couple weeks of my life have flown by faster than the pouring rain flooding the streets of my new home in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala. My name is Brian Belcher and I graduated from Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business seven days ago. Santa Clara's integration of social justice into its curriculum has influenced me to accept a position with Mercado Global (mercadoglobal.org), a fair trade non-profit organization that specializes in the exports of artisans and cooperatives to developed regions in the world. I will be working to help launch Mercado Global's new microfinance bank, a bank established to provide credit for its network of artisans. Because of my academic background in the microfinance industry and my strong passion for working with the bottom of the pyramid (the largest and poorest global socioeconomic group), this was a great opportunity for me.
BRUTE LABS has been gracious in allowing me to share my journey with you. I reached out to Joshua To and the BRUTE LABS team earlier this year after finding the BRUTE LABS website and falling in love with their mission. I had the opportunity to meet the team and attend weekly meetings, as well as their very successful fundraising event this past spring. During my undetermined time in Guatemala, I will be working with BRUTE LABS to explore the possibility of a BRUTE LABS project in Central America.
The first five days in Guatemala have been quite adventurous. I am still in the immersion phase, but the family I am staying with in San Pedro La Laguna is making me feel as comfortable as I am with my own family in Seattle, WA. San Pedro La Laguna is a small village on Lake Atitlan, which is approximately four hours west of Guatemala City. Surrounded by three volcanoes, Lake Atitlan is absolutely beautiful and its daily dose of rain makes it the greenest place I have ever been in my life. Because my office is in Panajachel, another village across the lake, I'll be taking a small boat to work each day. My Spanish is not perfect, but my host family is taking the time to help me out.
My host family has four children of all ages. They were very excited by the gifts I brought: coloring books, crayons, a yo-yo, a paddle with the ball attached, and their favorite, silly putty. On Friday I got a change to hang out with them. We played basketball in the village center, and although I towered over them, we had a lot of fun. After that I brought out my guitar and played some songs for them. I even began to teach one of the kids how to play.
This past weekend I went to Antigua, a tourist village three hours from Lake Atitlan, with another volunteer named Meggie. There were many attractions to see, but the best part of the trip was the hike up Volcano Pacaya. Despite the tour book's warning to not go up during rain, we took a bus to 6,000 feet and hiked up to the peak at 10,000 feet. It took a couple hours to get to the summit. As we got closer to the top we began to smell the sulfur and feel the heat. At the peak we saw LAVA! It was hot and on the move, but it was raining so hard that you could only pick your head up to see it for a couple seconds. After that we began to retrace our steps down the mountain. Unlike tour guides in the US, Central American tour guides are less concerned about the safety of the group and the liabilities involved. Our whole group got separated and Meggie and I were left alone to find our way back down. We could not see a football field's length in front of us and the lava rocks were acting as quicksand. At one point, I was taking about two steps per minute. We finally hit the tree line and I was able to use my "Man vs. Wild" skills (following horse manure and the water trails) back to base, but not before getting a little bloody. While stuck in the quicksand of lava rocks, a basketball-sized rock skidded down the volcano and crashed into my leg, leaving an ugly but manageable gash. It was quite the experience and if this is any indication of the following months, Guatemala is going to be quite the excursion.
Today is my first day of work at Mercado Global and I am excited to begin work on this program. After I get more acclimated and begin to understand where we are with the bank I will be sure to update you on its progress.
Saludos,
Brian
BRUTE LABS has been gracious in allowing me to share my journey with you. I reached out to Joshua To and the BRUTE LABS team earlier this year after finding the BRUTE LABS website and falling in love with their mission. I had the opportunity to meet the team and attend weekly meetings, as well as their very successful fundraising event this past spring. During my undetermined time in Guatemala, I will be working with BRUTE LABS to explore the possibility of a BRUTE LABS project in Central America.
The first five days in Guatemala have been quite adventurous. I am still in the immersion phase, but the family I am staying with in San Pedro La Laguna is making me feel as comfortable as I am with my own family in Seattle, WA. San Pedro La Laguna is a small village on Lake Atitlan, which is approximately four hours west of Guatemala City. Surrounded by three volcanoes, Lake Atitlan is absolutely beautiful and its daily dose of rain makes it the greenest place I have ever been in my life. Because my office is in Panajachel, another village across the lake, I'll be taking a small boat to work each day. My Spanish is not perfect, but my host family is taking the time to help me out.
This past weekend I went to Antigua, a tourist village three hours from Lake Atitlan, with another volunteer named Meggie. There were many attractions to see, but the best part of the trip was the hike up Volcano Pacaya. Despite the tour book's warning to not go up during rain, we took a bus to 6,000 feet and hiked up to the peak at 10,000 feet. It took a couple hours to get to the summit. As we got closer to the top we began to smell the sulfur and feel the heat. At the peak we saw LAVA! It was hot and on the move, but it was raining so hard that you could only pick your head up to see it for a couple seconds. After that we began to retrace our steps down the mountain. Unlike tour guides in the US, Central American tour guides are less concerned about the safety of the group and the liabilities involved. Our whole group got separated and Meggie and I were left alone to find our way back down. We could not see a football field's length in front of us and the lava rocks were acting as quicksand. At one point, I was taking about two steps per minute. We finally hit the tree line and I was able to use my "Man vs. Wild" skills (following horse manure and the water trails) back to base, but not before getting a little bloody. While stuck in the quicksand of lava rocks, a basketball-sized rock skidded down the volcano and crashed into my leg, leaving an ugly but manageable gash. It was quite the experience and if this is any indication of the following months, Guatemala is going to be quite the excursion.
Today is my first day of work at Mercado Global and I am excited to begin work on this program. After I get more acclimated and begin to understand where we are with the bank I will be sure to update you on its progress.
Saludos,
Brian
Labels: brian belcher, guatemala, mercado global, microfinance
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