Chirijquiac

This is the first of five blog posts about the camps where the D.C. students work each afternoon. 

An Aniekan Udofia original from 2008 on the Chirijquiac wall

Team Chirijquiac is Deon, Mackenzie, Max, Ronnie and Jesse along with a one week special guest appearance by Stan.

Chirijquiac, which means after the mountain in Quiche is the most rural of our five camps. The trip to camp takes about an hour or so each way. The bus wends and winds by other schools and through
cornfields before the group reaches their destination at about 2:15. Camp runs from 2:30 to 4:30 every day.

The schedule here is a bit different than other camps because the students need to make sure they catch the bus home at a certain time or it's a long wait for the next one.

When the students disembark from the bus they are greeted with lots of smiles and ready hugs. There is some horsing around and clapping games before camp officially begins, but at 2:30 it's time to get

to work.

Diggs and Mackenzie work with the girls. Chirijquiac is a well-oiled machine and the girls have won the championship at least five times. It helps that their director Lucy is a baller herself.

This is Mackenzie's first trip to Guatemala with Hoops Sagrado and it's been an eye-opening experience. According to Mackenzie, so much of it has been surprising.

"I knew I would like the kids, but I didn't know I would like them this much," Mackenzie said. "They are just so giving. They have so little, but they are always giving me drinks and treats."

Mackenzie said that the thing she loves most about the camps are the girls because they give 100 percent. She said they keep going no matter what.

The thing she likes least? Diggs. Joking of course, but she does have a very serious answer to the question.

"I hate that we have to cut two girls [each camp can only keep 10 boys and 10 girls on their teams for the tournament]. I also hate the sanitation that they have here, that they [the Guatemalan children] have to deal with every day. I don't like because it makes me sad."

Over on the boys side of the court they are hard at work as well. The boys are hard at work under the guidance of Ronnie, Max, Jesse and for this week Stan. While there is some initial silliness, the boys side quickly gets down to work.

While the boys side may not function with the seriousness of the girls' side, it is clear that everyone, campers and students alike are having a great time. Ronnie, who is a returning student on the trip has such a joie de vivre and that's clear in his work with the children.

Stan and the boys

"I wanted to come back this year because I had a good experience last year and I had fun," Ronnie
said. "I love the kids. They are fun and they really love playing basketball."

There's a water break at 3:30 and then it's back to work again with drills and maybe if the children are lucky a game between the two sides.

The tournament is less than 10 days away and cuts are coming soon. No one is looking forward to that, but it's all part of the learning process for everyone.

Camp ends promptly at 4:30 and while the D.C. students file out to wait for the bus, the children from the camp hang around with the students and make jokes and wait to wave good-bye. 

 So here's the thing about Hoops Sagrado, we hope that is makes an impact on the students from D.C., but we know that it makes an impact on the children here in Guatemala. A perfect example of this was on Monday when riding the bus to Chirijquiac, a young woman named Rosa asked me if I was with Hoops Sagrado and when I said yes, she proceeded to ask me about Ronald and Akasha and Brandon--all who had been on the Hoops Sagrado trip in 2008. Today Rosa is in her last year of high school and plans to study administration at the university next year.

Seven years from now, I hope to be on a bus riding through the cornfields of rural Guatemala and have someone ask me about Diggs or Mackenzie or Ronnie or Jesse or Max.