Connecting with those in poverty
SMSU coach, professor look back on mission to Guatemala
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MARSHALL -- For the longest time, Southwest Minnesota State University Associate Professor of Science Dr. Kris Cleveland has shared her experiences involving mission trips to Guatemala with SMSU women's Assistant Basketball Coach Hanna Geistfeld. Then one day, Geistfeld sent an email to Cleveland and asked how she could go on a mission trip.
"Well, you're going," Cleveland recalls her response to Geistfeld.
In early August, Geistfeld joined Cleveland on the long trip from Minnesota to San Lucas Toliman in Guatemala. They spent a week in city of 17,000 that sits on the southeastern shore of Lago de Atitlan.
The mission is sponsored by A'Kala Mission Trips, which is a Christian ministry dedicated to serving children and families in San Lucas Toliman, according to its website. With the help of volunteers, A'Kala provides sustainable "access to nutrition, housing and education -- honoring our promise to restore hope and uplift human dignity."
"So the word A’kala means children in their native language, which their native language is Kaqchikel," Cleveland said. "The foundation’s direction was to take care of children who are suffering in poverty. So most of it is single moms who are either single because of many different circumstances. Some of their husbands actually come to the United States to try to find jobs."
Geistfeld said she was curious in what it would be like to serve people from a different country and just experience a different country's culture and how they live and how they do things.
Looking back, Geistfeld said it was all that and more.
"I feel like every day, it was kind of just incredible. Like God’s presence was just like so evident, and just all the different things we did, being able to serve these people and communicate with them and connect with them," she said. And A'Kala does such a good job too, and so organized. And the people that we went with -- like we had a group of 23 people that all went together on this mission trip -- and they’re just all incredible. Like there was some younger people who went that just graduated high school from Iowa, and there’s like older people in our group, and you just would never know like the age difference. Everyone just connects, Like everyone has similar intentions. Just want to serve and help people."
Before the trip, they held a shoe drive. They estimate 400 to 500 pairs of shoes were collected.
"The big thing we did this time was shoes," Cleveland said. "Some kids either don't have shoes, they have shoes that don't fit or they have shoes that are so worn out that their toes are sticking out."
Once there, Cleveland worked with children with physical disabilities, while Geistfeld worked with a crew that made bunk beds and delivered mattresses, sheets and pillows.
"And just every house we went to, the kids are just -- and the moms -- they’re just so joyful. Like they’re just so grateful to see you, and it’s like you get there and the kids want a hug, like right away. Like they just automatically just like love you, and the moms are so grateful," she said. "Like they really don’t have a lot, but they all want to offer you something to drink or something to eat, and they want to thank you for your services too. So I think just like every family that we went to their house, like we just connected with them."
Geistfeld said it was that love and connections that makes San Lucas Toliman experience so much different than in the U.S.
"They just know you’re there to help them and serve them, so they just automatically trust you right away -- the moms and the kids. So I feel like that was really impactful just to build those relationships with these families because we’d see them one day, and then the next day we’d go back and deliver the mattresses and bless their family and pray with them. The kids are just so excited to see you that next day too. Like they remember you, and that part is really special. So I do feel like every family that we spent time with, we connected with and built relationships with," she said.
Both Geistfeld and Cleveland said the people they were helping are born into the life of having nothing.
"A lot of people (in the U.S.) are like, ‘Well, why can’t they just get jobs and get out of poverty?’ And we know in the U.S. too, it’s hard to get out of poverty. It’s a vicious cycle that it’s just hard," Cleveland said.
"Most of it was kids with disabilities. We work with a clinic. So there’s a nurse that’s lived there for 30 years that gave up everything and moved there and started a clinic. So I’ll see kids in the clinic. Or if their families have no way to get to town, and they just don’t have the transportation, or it’s very mountainous, so maybe it’s just too hard for them to get their child there. So we’ll go to their homes."
Geistfeld and Cleveland slept and showered in a motel, but spent most of their time outside.
"It’s very clean. It’s very comfortable. It’s not the Holiday Inn. But they keep it super clean," Cleveland said. “They made three meals a day for us. But you have your own twin bed. There was four women that we shared a room."
The region is in a middle of rainforest," Cleveland said.
"You open your door and it’s a rainforest. It’s super super cool. And because I was trying to think about like you’re really tired when you get home, but we’re outside all the time. We eat outside. The only time you’re in your room is when you’re taking a shower, sleeping. Otherwise, we eat outside. We we do everything outside. So it’s a lot of good fresh air."
Geistfeld is glad she decided to to join the mission trip and plans to return.
"I'm so grateful to have gone. It definitely impacted how I think and how I think about treating people, and I want to go back. I told the owner of it to put me on the list for next year because it’s just such a positive experience, and you just come back so filled with joy and love for like everybody, and it’s really hard to explain unless you can experience it. But it’s very impactful," she said.
"I always tell all my students like you should do one mission trip. And it doesn’t have to be to a foreign country. You can do mission work. You can go to Minneapolis and work in the homeless shelter or the food kitchens. I think it does open your eyes," Cleveland said. "You have to go out of your comfort zone."