‘Muchas gracias’ and a handshake in Guatemala

By Grant LaFleche:

The man’s body was thin. He was slightly stooped forward, as though a lifetime of carrying something heavy on his back had permanently bent his spine.

The lines that cut across his face were the product of a life lived in the hardest of hard ways, aging him well before his time. From under his cowboy hat, tired eyes twinkled. The smile across his face was infectious.

I smiled back.

He gripped my hand gently with the short, thin fingers of his right hand. An equally fragile left hand squeezed my shoulder.

“Gracias,” he said.

“Muchas gracias.”

Moments later, another man carrying the same weight of time also took my hand and thanked me. And so did another. And then another.

What had I done in the tiny mountain town of Sanyuyo to warrant such heartfelt thanks from these men?

Nothing. Not a single, solitary thing.

And yet, they thanked me and my travelling companions, a team of volunteers working with Wells of Hope, all the same. For we were in their home, atop a Jalapa mountain with Wells of Hope.

The men and women of the town did not know we will have nothing directly to do with getting a well in their town operational.

Our own direct contribution to the people of Jalapa was scheduled to start Monday, with a housing project. Wells of Hope founder Ted van der Zalm brought us to Sanyuyo, though, to learn about the community and how Wells of Hope works with them.

But during a public meeting on a soccer field, van der Zalm promised a desperate town he would have their well working within a week. And because of our association with him, the gratitude they felt for him was also directed at us.

Before we left, the people of Sanyuyo lined us up single file so that one by one, they stood before us to shake our hands and say thank you for what Wells of Hope is doing for them.

It was a degree of gratitude I have never experienced before.

I did not know such an expression of heartfelt thanks could exist for strangers, most of whom do not even speak their language nor know their customs.

But it does. And it will be impossible to forget.- – –

grant.lafleche@sunmedia.ca

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