by Joey Stewart
As the clock strikes midnight and the calendar turns a page, we find ourselves in the embrace of 2024. So many of us think about how we can make the world a better place during trying times: New Years Resolutions! I have been pathetically bad at both making them and carrying them out.
I do want to be a better person each and every year: I do small things, being kinder and saying hello and smiling at people on the street especially if they seem lonely – a very Canadian thing to do and being more generous to people who are struggling. I keep a small stack of $5 and $10 bills in my pocket and give them to people who look like they could use them.
A few years ago, my daughter was living in Chile and learning to speak Spanish. When I went to visit, I was very envious of her abilities. We learned that when companies were transferring people to Latin American countries, they sent their families to Antigua or Guatemala to learn Spanish.
So, we decided, as a retirement project, we would try to learn Spanish, too. In the year 1543 CE (Common Era) the village in Guatemala used to be the capital of Central America. About 30 years ago the village was struggling economically. Someone had the idea that if they had about 1000 Spanish teachers, they could attract 1000 foreign Spanish learners, who would stay with about 500 families willing to open their homes and their lives to these foreigners and voila! A whole new industry was born!
The idea has been a brilliant success. The first time we went, my one-to-one teacher was about eight months pregnant with their third child and she was not welcome at the Spanish Schools and so my teacher, Lis and I studied in her kitchen garden. She delivered Christian, a child who turned out to be a very lively and bright.
In Guatemala, the gangs recruit bright young kids into their realm, they don’t want stupid people, they want the cream of the crop: up and comers! Christian’s parents were very worried that Christian might be of interest to them. So, we stepped in and sent Christian to a private school that was a safer place for a child like Christian to be. One US dollar goes a long way in Guatemala.
When Christian was 18, he applied to Medical School at the University of Guatemala. He was accepted and we’re very proud of the hard work he has put in – we had become his quasi-Grandparents. One day we learned that Christian was copying his classmates’ textbooks because he couldn’t afford to buy them. We stepped in and each January 1 and July 1 we sent him US $1500 to cover tuition, books, transportation, and sundries – as I said, US dollars go a very long way in Central America.
He sent us photos of him holding tiny babies when he worked on his Paediatric rotation, photos of him in his scrubs in the OR, always with a huge smile on his face.
Two weeks ago, Dr Christian graduated! We have never been happier or felt more satisfied in our lives.
What did we give up being able to do this for him: fewer restaurant meals, more deliberation about the ‘stuff’ we thought we needed. We don’t give money to canvassers at the door for many reasons anymore, we don’t know how authentic they are and sending money to Christian has been much more satisfying. The man of the house calls us “Independently Frugal”!
In the long run, Christian will be better off, his family will be better off, and his country will be better off.
So, the message is: be kind and generous in places that you think will make a difference: so Canadian and so needed in the world.
Happy New Year!!
*Photos with permission of Dr Christian
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