Field Report: Education and Pollo Loco in El Hato

Posted on December 31st, 2009 by Keith Ferrazzi

ElHatoI spent today in the village of El Hato where I was introduced to seven children who are desperate for scholarships to go to private school in Antigua. They had excelled in middle school, and had high school tuition promised to them by a Canadian donor. Unfortunately he pulled out at the last minute.

The entire village made a case to me to help support them. Each of the kids introduced themselves as did the parents. One after another, I heard their stories.  One proud father talked about the fact that his father never let him get an education. Even though he was smart enough and wanted to go to school, his father told him it wasn't what men who were born in that village do. He was to go harvest flowers in the mountains.

This man committed to do anything to make sure his son had the chances he never had.  I looked into the face of this gaunt Guatemalan man but saw the spirit of my own father and his commitment to me and my education.

I couldn't stand to hear them plead for a minute.  I'm going to make sure these boys and girls get their shot.

This decided, we ate.  We had brought a ridiculous delicacy according to Cultural Embrace: Chicken.  I'm talking Pollo-Loco kinda chicken that apparently every kid in a village someday dreams of being able to eat.  So the kids and their families and supporters ate chicken.  What was amazing was that the seven students who were granted scholarships asked if they could SERVE their village, and when there weren't enough plates for all the kids, the seven donated theirs. And I'm telling you these seven were no more fed than the rest and had never ever had such a treat themselves, but they wanted the kids to be served. "They had already had their gifts today," they said - another shot at an education.

Every one of these kids told me that their future would include coming back to help their village. Watching them serve their parents and the other children, I believed them. This more than anything else gives me hope for the future here.

There's more to this story, but I'll save it for next week.

  • See my pics of the children of El Hato here.
  • Donate here.
  • Learn more about Cultural Embrace, the group that organized my trip, here.
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6 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

  1. Incredible! You're an inspiration Keith!

    I volunteered teaching English at an orphanage on the border of Thailand and Burma a few years back. All the children were refugees - victims of the military dictatorship of the Burmese government. Even though these children had lost everything, they still had big smiles on their faces, held hope for the future, and were incredible grateful that I was there to help teach. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

  2. Hi Keith,

    This is great that you are giving back!

    I am an avid follower of yours.

    Please advise the best and easiest way to create a manageable contact list on the phone. Where and how do you store all your contacts? How about the backup source where you store the contents in case you loose your phone? How do you manage your contact list.
    Thank you

  3. Howard Tucker says:
    December 31, 2009 at 6:29 pm
    Reply

    Josh, I have Verizon and it comes with a backup assistant. My phone is backed up each day and, if I lose my phone, all I need to do is log into the Verizon Wireless site. (Luckily, it's never happened..at least not yet.)

    Keith, I agree, you are quite phenomenal to undertake this visit. One of my best moments of the past decade was being able to meet and chat with you, in addition to reading your two masterpieces.

  4. Kathy Bitschenauer says:
    January 5, 2010 at 11:17 am
    Reply

    Hello, Keith,

    I applaud your good work with the least of the world. Several years ago I helped a refugee family from Afghanistan, who were victims of the Russian invasion in their county, get on their feet in California. Their sponsor could not provide the support funds he had promised, so I took them in my care and used my church as a resource and support system for a year. The family of five needed hope; most of their family had been assassinated and all their possessions confiscated by the Russians...so they had nothing. I learned so much from them in that year, especially how people who have lost their homeland, family, job, everything...could still smile in the face of such adversity. It was an experience I will never forget; it left a deep imprint on my soul.

    I wish you and your team all the success and blessings in your outreach efforts.

    God bless you,

    ~Kathy Bitschenauer

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