Gatekeepers

It's not uncommon to be walking down the street here and stroll by an armed guard--outside of banks, parking lot entrances (which, on average, might hold 10 cars) and businesses.  Sometimes if, for example, there begin to be too many people in the bank waiting room, they'll ask you to wait outside and eventually direct you to enter.  Sometimes the position seems unnecessary; however, it tends to keep things a little more orderly and equitable. 

(Back to Texas) A few years ago the women in my family suffered a slight bout of insanity and decided to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving.  Do you know who the shining stars are on this day?!?! The doorkeepers!....or whichever employee is brave enough to approach the doors with a key, as the crazies wait in line outside.. at 4 in the morning..under a cold drizzle.  Hail the mighty (humble) doorkeeper!! 

As our year as YAVS began, we were challenged to think of ourselves as gate keepers.  Gate keepers.  People who opened a gate, an ebb and flow between those in the dominant center and those in the margins...I would say the old "have and have-nots", but i think it would be more accurate to say the "have and have-too-muchers."  (But that's another ramble.)  

I recently had the pleasure of giving my first teacher training and (per the request of the teachers [!]) am in the process of planning another for next week.  And yes, google search, youtube, and translation.com work miracles, but today I have been especially grateful for friends and co-workers who are also just a click away, generously sharing their expertise and resources.  Thank you Lauren, Joan, Ana, Kelly, Kay, Annie, and the rest of the Caldwell crew!  It's curious that, when I shared what i would be doing this year, many of my teacher friends expressed how they had always wanted to do something similar (eh hem... Debbie Merritt).  And thanks to technology, you really can.  Debbie and I are cooking up a plan to have teachers here observe her giving a writing lesson to her class via Skype. 

Gatekeeping.  I feel like I'm coming into my role as a gate keeper (though I can't decide if it has a hyphen or a space or is, indeed, a compound word).  It's nothing glamorous.  Once the shoppers have their hands on that 60% off Playstation, old mister who unlocked the door couldn't be farther from their minds (now it's the CASHIER!!)   As we arrived in Guatemala months ago, we shared our hopes for the year but doing so we also realized that we were most likely not going to turn the world upside down in a year... we're not going to change the system....
but we can open a door...or a gate.  And we can do it with love.