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   Luis I. Monzon says:

   January 3, 2012 at 2:51 pm

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   Searching for Keith

   It had been two months since my wife and I had begun our Guatemalan humanitarian adventure. We had been volunteering with a wonderful organization called Proyecto Corazones de Los Ninos. This organization, through their various partnerships with other NGO's, does great things to help the impoverished children of Guatemalan, more specifically in the department of Sacatepequez. The programs they undertake help provide education in the form of schools and scholarships, nutrition in the form of monthly provision baskets, health relief in the form of free medical and dental care and overall well being by tracking the socio-economic progress of the 2,500 children who are touched by the organization. They also provide avenues in which people can assist a specific child in terms of their education, nutrition and health through monthly donations of 20$.

   On Wednesday December 28th, 2011 something very special happened. The director of the organization had told me that there some very important people would be visiting each of the four different centers the organization had in four different towns around Antigua, Guatemala. As a volunteer with the organization my wife and I had assisted in various capacities like preparing 125 provision baskets for the children of San Miguel Milpas Altas or dressing up like Santa Claus to give gifts to some of the poorest children in Guatemala. To see the glowing smiles of children receiving what would likely be their only gift this Christmas was an amazing sight to see. On the Wednesday, in question, though, when our special guests arrived I was asked to act as a translator as the director of the organization didn't speak English and there were limited Spanish-speakers among the visitors. After an initial welcome from the 250 children of the center in Santo Tomas I was introduced to a man, who at that point, I had only known as "Keith". I had no idea that I had been shaking the hand of Keith Ferrazzi. He along with his group, which included Emlyn Lee of Cultural Embrace and other wonderfully kind people, had a special message for the children which they asked that I translate for them. The message was a request that each of the children present do three things. They asked that each child, upon waking up in the morning, look in the mirror and say "I'm beautiful, I'm intelligent and I'm special". This is truly valuable advice and the children repeated the phrase aloud with all the purpose and truth their tiny little voices could muster. I didn't know that there was more to that phrasing than what it revealed on the surface. As the different visitors broke into groups to spend some time with the children Emilyn asked that I assist Keith with whatever translating he may need. I walked over to where Keith had been kneeling down to converse with a small child. He then asked if I could help him with something he wanted to do. He asked if we could find 10 children who exhibited very specific characteristics. He wanted us to help identify 10 children who showed traits of outgoingness, charisma and most important of all he wanted to meet the children who were brave enough to stand up and ask to be counted. One by one we began finding these children and we brought them into a vacant classroom. It was in this classroom that Keith taught us some valuable lessons. He told us that he too had been a child growing up in humble surroundings just like them. He too had harbored hopes and dreams of one day rising up from the poverty in which his family had suffered. The children along with their mothers all learned that someone had picked Keith when he was just a boy and his life had changed forever. This generous benefactor had seen in Keith the potential for greatness if only given the proper chance. Through the kindness of this person he was able to go to school and eventually he graduated from some of the top schools in the world, Harvard and Yale no less. He wanted to let them know that just as this person had helped him, he was about to do the same for these ten children. It was at this point that the full weight of what was about happen began to hit me. As I looked at the children faces I could see expressions of gratitude to the point of tears begin to form. You don't have to worry now, he told them, you will be taken care of. He was going to sponsor these 10 children and through that sponsorship they would be given a wonderful opportunity to change their lives for the better.
   It was under these circumstances that I met Keith Ferrazzi and it was in seeing the way he cared so sincerely for these children that I truly got to know the human side of a very kind person. By coming here to Guatemala and sharing his story he hoped that one of these children would make the most of this opportunity and then one day help another child with similar challenges. It was a truly touching experience to have witnessed and I saw many mothers struggling to hold back the tears.
   The gift, Keith and these visitors were bringing was truly precious they were giving these children the gift of hope and reassurance that it is possible to overcome poverty to do great things. I hope one day one of those children will grow up and return to a town like Santo Tomas and will kneel down before another impoverished child to tell them about a guy named Keith who told him to believe in himself.