Several months ago, I met Bill Milliken, a returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Kenya. He’s now working as the outdoor adventure coordinator for Eastern Washington University. During our discussions, he lamented that the students he takes abroad get to see touristy things like Antigua, Lake Atitlan, ziplining, whitewater rafting- but never the true face of Guatemala, life in the rural villages, the sorts of things that Peace Corps volunteers get to experience. This got us to thinking: for his next trip to Guatemala, could we set up homestay visits for his students, where they could spend a few days living with PCVs in their sites?

Within a month after his return to the US, we started planning. The honors college at EWU had approached Bill to arrange a spring break trip for a group of students, and he shared his idea with the dean of the honors college. The dean was floored. “What a fantastic opportunity that would be for the students!” he beamed, and lent his full support to Bill. They ran the gauntlet of the risk management committee, the university advisory board, etc. and got approval.

At the same time, I was explaining the program by my boss and our national security director. The plan was that we’d put two students with a volunteer, and they could go to work for a day (doing whatever the volunteer does; building water tanks, giving health lectures, whatever), then spend a weekend with them in their site, seeing local sites and meeting Guatemalan families. The bosses at Peace Corps were enthusiastic, and it’s a good way to promote the third goal of Peace Corps (to help Americans get a better understanding of foreign cultures). Their reservation was that we could only use PCVs that are in well-established sites that have seen a fair amount of white people, so as not to scare the locals. Sadly, that excluded most of my buddies, and even Emily and me! But I was able to find plenty of other enthusiastic volunteers from other programs.

So, after several months of planning, the students finally arrived in Antigua. They have a strange mix of excitement and incredulity at the goings-on here. We met up at their hostel, where they handed over all the computer monitors they brought me.

Oh, did I mention that? Bill hooked me up with eight computer monitors from the “too old to use” basement at Eastern Washington. Then, he talked his students into bringing them on the plane as their second piece of luggage! Awesome! The students were good sports about the whole thing, and really did their part to help out some needy Guatemalans. Here we are, loading up the Peace Corps truck I requisitioned for the event.

That afternoon, we all rode out together to Xela. In the 4-hour trip we passed a lot of things you’d not normally see in the US: volcanic lakes, farms on 45-degree hillsides, native Mayans hocking things at rest stops, horses with gunshot wounds to the head lying dead by the side of the road. One poor guy almost got kissed by a drunk four-and-a-half foot tall grannie. Welcome to Guatemala!

Emily and Bill had arranged dorm rooms for all the students and PCVs, and Bill (ok, EWU actually) took everyone out to dinner so the students could meet their PCV hosts. It was a great time, filled with lively and enthusiastic discussion as we got to know each other over a hearty helping of pepian, a classic Guatemalan dish. Towards the end of the evening, I got up and thanked everyone for their participation: the PCVs for volunteering their time, and the students for coming. For me, it’s a powerful thing when Americans take a chance and break out of their “safe zone”, widening their outlook on the world and how it operates. My hope is that they will take this experience back with them, and share it with their friends, families, and coworkers. We can learn about ourselves, when looking through the filter of someone completely alien to us.

I hope that everyone comes back with great stories and amazing adventures. I also hope that everyone stays safe; it would be nice to do this sort of thing again.