Margarita Tejada School, Social Privilege and Christian Vocation

We spent the morning at Margarita Tejada School, the only learning institution of its kind in Guatemala. The school is for people of all ages with Down Syndrome, from infants through adolescents through adults through the elderly. The school was set up by a family wanting to support some sort of school after they lost their daughter in a tragic accident.

Students divided up into groups of two or three and spent time in classrooms doing crafts, baking, cleaning whiteboards and windows, teaching students hand tricks (that was Izzy), and doing physical exercise outdoors. We interacted with the young people and adults for a couple of hours after seeing a video about Down Syndrome and hearing the story of Margarita Tejada. It was a meaningful day for us all. Regan wrote (used with permission): “When trying to communicate with the children and adults today, I often found myself saying hello and smiling with my eyes. When doing this, I know I recognized Jesus in every single one of them.”

In the afternoon, Israel facilitated his penultimate session of “Youth and the Fulfillment of Humanity,” focusing on social privilege (being served) and Christian vocation (the privilege of serving). Among the things he/we discussed were not being educated for selfishness. Israel said, “God has called us from selfishness to sacrificial service. This is where faith makes a difference, since we are bombarded with messages about self-centeredness.” He also said, “You are called to be the best participants in society, and you are called to the Humbleness Revolution.” Israel said that although humbleness and “changing the world” don’t always seem to go together, they actually can and should. In addition, in the first hour the group discussed race and racism, and he discussed his own struggle with identity as a person with indigenous heritage in Guatemala.

Miranda wrote in her journal (used with permission): “After every class that we have with him, I feel like I have a commitment to make and keep once we leave Guatemala. That is being informed and doing everything to help make a change. He makes me think about my relationship with God more. I see that he has a very good and strong relationship with God, which makes me want to further mine.”

In her journal, Sofia (Puerto Rican Sofia) wrote: “I’ve really enjoyed SSTT and I know this experience has marked my life greatly and it is something I’ll never forget and for which I will be forever grateful. I’ve made new friends and I’ve been able to create hopefully unbreakable bonds with them.”

We have only one more full day of classes at SEMILLA, and then we will be in Antigua for a day and a half before returning for some closing sessions on Friday, and then packing to leave Saturday morning. Wow.