Guatemala? Imagine that!

By Paul Prosser

The paper covering the exam table at the Student Health Center crackled as I shifted uncomfortably, listening to the doctor. Her mention of three upcoming vaccinations was not news I wanted to hear, but I accepted it as part of starting my Guatemalan adventure. Now I must tell you as an older student, my health screening was more rigorous than those for younger students—a gift of age. So, don’t get uncomfortable or think about the screening as a big deal. It really isn’t. Besides, suffering to further my education isn’t the story I want to tell.

Chris Rainier, the renowned photo-journalist from National Geographic Magazine, met with us last week to talk about telling stories through photographs and video while abroad.

“Visualize the story you want to tell then make the pictures tell the story you visualized,” he said.

So here is my Guatemala story: I’m getting on the plane with the lightest and smallest suitcase of clothes and things I can manage to arrange. Like a fanatic backpacker trying to drop all unnecessary weight, I’m thinking I won’t take a razor or shaving cream. I’ll just let my beard grow and embrace my inner Indiana Jones.

Two weightless things are on my list of things to bring: a positive attitude and smile. They will be among other easily packed things like friendships with the fellow student-travelers I know, and the willingness to build new friendships and relationships with those I don’t. Curiosity about the Guatemalan people and customs, adventurous taste buds and ears attuned to melodies, rhythms and language of Guatemalan life will also make it into the cranial suitcase. It’s possible that I won’t be able to close that suitcase properly and it will burst open in the Guatemala City Airport with a fit of dancing and singing—beware my friends, it might not be pretty, but it will be joyful.

Part of the reason for “packing” joy for the trip is our study topic—sustainable neighborhoods for happiness. What we’ve learned so far in class about happiness is that it comes in two forms; one is a short term, impulsive happiness. Making the choice to dance like no one is watching is a perfect example of this type of happiness. A deeper, long-term version of happiness comes from a series of considered, intentional decisions that lead to a deeper satisfaction with one’s life. Most families with enough to eat, intact relationships, access to jobs, satisfying well-paid work and a sturdy roof over their heads possess this type of happiness in their homes if not in their neighborhoods. We don’t know if we can bring that deeper happiness to people in the Guatemalan neighborhoods we’ll visit, but we can bring cheerfulness, a quality that always lightens the work of getting to that more deeply satisfying and sustainably happy place. As we’ve learned in a Tempe neighborhood this spring, happiness needs to be part of the process, not just the result of the process.

Another universal principle of community development is that we aren’t there to “fix” the “problems;” we are there to lend a hand. The ideas we bring to Guatemala are not vaccinations against problems people might face in the places they live. Our purpose is to work alongside local people to help them improve their opportunities for a happier life—no more, no less.

With that in mind I’m headed to Guatemala on a mission to understand the land, the people and their situation. If I gain one new friend in Guatemala and leave behind one small thought or idea that leads to more happiness opportunities for them, I will have served my purpose. In my imagined ending to that story, we all end up happy, in that deeper way. Newly acquired happiness makes my pre-travel vaccinations and the resulting sore biceps worth every aching moment. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.