Let her shine
in your wake
like wine
glistening in a glass cup
under the heat of the desert skies
with her relentless beauty
untamable until she reaches your hands.
she falls vulnerable
melting under the heat
seeping into every crevice of your
fingerprints teetering
between the security of your grasp
and falling between the cracks.
Yet you mull her around
as if she were the most precious wine
created for your lips.
Your hand slips
deep inside mine
or maybe you slide mine
deep inside yours
but they glide nonetheless
like nothing I have ever seen
eloquent but messy
nervous yet sanguine
and full of a perception
where we endure
a new adventure
that has yet reveal it’s mysteries
I stand before you
meek but mighty
letting your beauty
encourage and entice
my every step
feeling your breath
swell inside of my
own lungs
sultry and waiting
for that smile that ignites
my body like a narcotic
walk with me under the trees
in the stark moonlight
like thieves
stealing one kiss at a time
look over and smile
at me with those
dangerous eyes
and whisk me away
into the night
Ruffle my ear drums
with your satiny voice
and delve into my
warmth with your arms around me tight
reach beyond the skies
and bring the moonlight
back into my eyes
and keep me safe
during these
still nights
Stay with me here
in the stillness of
our peace
lean on me
as I lean back onto you
feel the pressure
of our pasts bring
us together
let us strive
rather than suffer
take my hand
my curious friend
on a journey towards
the ever after
Slow kisses linger on her wild smile
like smoke lingering in the air
after a long drag
and desire her watery blues
like the ocean craves salt
dance in her waves
of brown hair exploring them
as if she were foreign territory
make her feel like a goddess
with your touch
Where are you looking
dear shadow?
For even that part of you is fading too
Why do you never come around?
Your child calls for you
The monster that lurks under your skin
has defeated any good you have
touched
But your life could change love
if you just
woke up
My head just isn’t here today
but in a world of your own
I drift in and out like the tide
being pulled by the moon
as you toss me on the shore
then tug me closer
flailing into your murky beauty
so I can feel your waters
as the salt and sea encompass me
Last month I was granted an opportunity of a life time. Whole Foods Market had determined that I had won a trip to see their foundation (the Whole Planet Foundation) in action. To be completely honest I didn’t think it was real, I thought it was some mean joke my team leader was playing on me and was almost afraid of believing him, but it was true! Out of every cashier in the company I had risen the most percentage of money per sales, in little Tucson, me! But the trip itself was such an amazing experience I can’t keep it to myself, I want to share it with everyone I come into contact with.
I was very nervous going to Guatemala since I never really learned much about it. There was only one way to and I dove right in. The team I went with was all different people from other Whole Foods stores who had excelled over everyone else in their departments in the entire company so it was a great pleasure to know I was in such an ambitious crowd. There was so much excitement that it was truly hard to contain it.
Most of our time was spent in Pena Blanca, a very rural community that has built a trust with Whole Foods team members and the staff of G.V.I. (Global Vision International). We were able to actually meet the people that so many have donated money and donated their time, love, and energy for. We has learned that there was about 800 people in the community and only around 80-90 homes. Most of the village was agriculture with a school (built by GVI and Whole Foods Team Member Volunteers) and homes intermingled within the community. They had one store that we had seen that they could buy some goods from but it was clear they depended highly on towns like Panajachel for other goods they could not produce. Another thing that was interesting was that they mainly spoke Chaquequal (not sure if I spelled it right!) But it was the traditional Mayan language, one of 23 different dialects! So what ended up happening for most of the translations was that it was translated first into Spanish and then to English.
But our first day in Pena Blanca was to visit the school. When we arrived they were doing some sort of assembly, my take was it was of a talent show and the children were dancing to different songs. We weren’t sure if it was improv but it was adorable nonetheless. There was one particular little boy that just stole my heart who was dancing solo and was wearing his shades and just sort of bobbing for a few minutes to the tune. You could just tell that the kids were excited to show off their dance moves and when it was time to go back to normal class they all scurried to their classrooms….kind of. They didn’t show the same discipline as kids do in schools in America but maybe it was the fact that there were strangers with cameras? They were very excited to have us photograph them. But to walk in the school that I know my fellow team members were helping teach and helped build was so humbling that I didn’t know how to react. One little girl, I believe her name was Rosa was following everyone with a camera and asking us to take photos of her! So of course I have a few of her. Another thing that was very important to me was that the kids (partially to entice and encourage their education) were given meals at the school. It was all about their nutrition and making sure that they grew up to have better lives and healthier lives. Which is personally what I am all about.
After the school we walked through a corn field to see two stoves that were being built by team member volunteers. We were blessed that not only did we meet the team members (who had their teenage children tag along to help) but we got to meet the families that were receiving these stoves. One family even let us take pictures of them and let us see the stove and the inside of the room they cook in. It was black and caked in soot and I could only imagine how smokey it was when the wife and daughters were cooking before the stove was put in. And it wasn’t anything fancy, just an enclosed stove for burning wood and a chimney to guide the smoke outside rather than in their lungs.
The next day we started at the Banural- Grameen bank (the bank Whole Planet partners with) in Panajachel so that we could actually meet Almogir the director of Guatemala’s branch. We were able to hear so many stories of great success and then learned that in his area there was a 100% payback rate. I couldn’t believe it! No loan was left unpaid and these women were prospering. How wonderful, a dream and a miracle coming true for so many made available by this bank. After we talked to him we drove back up to Pena Blanca. The short was was closed due to mudslides, which is very common and can really isolate villages like Pena Blanca. So on our way up I was actually able to ride in the same car as Almogir. What a wonderful soul he is. And he is so down to earth, I loved being able to hear him talk about his work and his life, just an amazing story.
We had gotten to the one thing I had worked so hard and waited to see, the Pena Blanca meeting for the micro credit clients. Granted we were two and a half hours late due to the detour so we just wanted to use the restroom! That I still believe broke the ice and let them laugh at us and feel more comfortable around us. While we were waiting for the team to use the restroom we had the chance to talk to talk to the one woman who was fluent in Spanish. Her name was Maria and with her loan she not only was able to expand her business and have her children go to school but she put herself through school to learn spanish and is now going to technology school so she can work with computers in the city.
Once everyone was ready for the meeting it had begun. I am not sure what happened in the first part, I am guessing a prayer because they all bowed their heads and closed their eyes but looked very serious and then after a minute they were back to the meeting. They were lined in groups to pay the portion owed at this meeting and they didn’t seemed burdened to do so. In fact, they seemed happy and proud. We got to here how they were able to now give their families food and their children books and pens for school. They were now able to survive with supportive husbands and a supportive community. Maria had also taught them to write their names, so each woman (there were about 20-25?) got up and wrote their name on the whiteboard, giggling the whole time of course.
After the meeting it was a slur of photographs and deals being made to show us their goods. We had agreed to go to one of their homes which was close and easy to get to according to them, not so much to us. We drove for a small ways and then trudged on foot in the rain up a hill across a mini waterfall and back down another hill to where they lived. They basically had an adobe house that was empty on the inside with a single lightbulb. I was perplexed, this is worse than the poorest poverty I had ever seen in the US. But they called it home, and this was moving up? But they had plans for more rooms and bigger housing, and I know they will accomplish this.
The trip itself was amazing, to see the foundation not only working but thriving more than I had believed it could. I want to go volunteer and I encourage people to donate. For those of you who want to know more about the foundation this is the website, and please consider donating!
WWW.WHOLEPLANETFOUNDATION.ORG
