My "Ponderings"

In considering how it is that I have found my way to Mexico, much of the initial credit would have to go to Guatemala. Like most things in life, my pathway to Mexico has been a round-about journey. I always had an interest in what we might call humanitarian work. Whether it was going on a tour of the LDS Humanitarian Center with my church youth group, family parties dedicated to putting together hygiene/education/or new baby kits, or listening to the stories my sister would tell of working in orphanages in Ecuador, I had many influences throughout my life that sparked my interest in the world of humanitarian work.

Those sparks turned into a true fire the day I signed up to represent the nation of Guatemala as part of a competition known as Model United Nations (or MUN). For some reason, I still remember the moment the sign-up sheet was passed to me in my sophomore history class and I looked down and saw that all the "good" countries had been taken. No one had signed up for Guatemala yet and, at first, the idea didn't appeal to me either. Nonetheless, I put my name in the little box for Guatemala and the UNHCR (which I later learned stands for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). I had no way of knowing the magnitude of the impact that decision would have on the rest of my life.

As much as I'd like to say that I went to the MUN competition and represented the country of Guatemala like a professional, I have to admit that I barely opened my mouth or raised my placard during the whole event and felt terribly about my performance. It wasn't the political nature of the experience that turned sparks into flames; no, Guatemala changed my life before I ever arrived at the competition. To prepare for the competition, my teammate and I spent hours researching the issue we would be discussing at the competition. As representatives in the UN refugee agency, we hit the books, trying to figure out why Guatemala needed to be a part of the UNHCR in the first place. It wasn't long before we found reports of a 30-year civil war that had driven thousands upon thousands of indigenous peoples into the mountains or across the border into Mexico to escape what had, in some instances, turned into a massacre of their people.

I can see my 16-year-old self right now, sitting outside the gym after basketball practice with my friend (who was also my teammate and fellow Guatemalan representative), trying to process all of the horrible things we were learning. The world, it seemed, was a far more dangerous and cruel place than the halls of my high school, and I wanted so badly to change that. Two years later I would travel to Guatemala with my cousins on a humanitarian trip, during which we began construction on a schoolhouse in a community like those I had studied. That experience then triggered a thousand different questions in my mind about humanitarian aid and the power of education, which led me to add a minor in International Development to my studies that I would begin that fall.

Fast forward seven years and here I am living in Mexico, knowing that what I learned in school about helping people help themselves is a complicated business of which I really understand a small fraction. Nonetheless, I hope to use this blog to share what I do know and what I know I will learn about development—both the good and the bad. Because development is such an all-encompassing topic, my "ponderings" will cover anything from education to water, rural poverty to tourism, border factories to immigration, renewable energy to internet, and more. Let me know what you are interested in learning and I will do my best to share what I know and can learn.

1/24/14
As this blog has developed, my pondering has focused much more on the gospel meaning I have found in the miracles, trials, and adventures my husband and I have encountered as we have prepared for and then followed through with our plans to live in Mexico. I still plan to address issues of development on this blog, but I feel quite at liberty to add what life in Mexico is teaching me about the purpose of life. :)