Trekking for a better world.

• Author: Ward, Michael
• Position: Travel narrative

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The lightning slammed into the ground 50 feet from our campsite on Volcán Tajumulco with a flash and a boom, rattling the tent and shaking our guides. John, a senior guide with Quetzaltrekkers, clenched his fists, covered his ears, and released what surely was some sort of obscenity. But the reverberating, rifle-like crack that followed swallowed his oral assault on Mother Nature. With our campsite located at 12,467 feet above sea level, we waited for the next bolt to hit.

Quetzaltrekkers, an all volunteer, nonprofit trekking company, supplies guides to lead different hikes through the beautiful highlands and volcanoes of Guatemala. The company engages volunteer guides, most of them foreigners, and donates all profits to Escuela de la Calle (EDEIAC), an organization that provides education and medical care for impoverished local children and shelter for youths at risk of abuse or neglect.

Quetzaltrekkers has been leading treks up Tajumulco--or "TJ" as they call it--for years. The hike is one of the most popular given the status afforded the volcano. This was John's sixth time up, Chris's second trip, and his first as lead guide. Neither had seen weather like this. John and Chris are volunteers. No one pays them for this. They set up tents, cook, and manage the logistics of each multi-day hike with only one thought in mind, that their work on--in this case--the highest point in Central America, is helping kids who would otherwise be living in the lowest point in Central America, the streets of Quetzaltenango.

The laughter of children floods the small courtyard of Escuela de la Calle, a school for some of the poorest children in Quetzaltenango. Inside one classroom, volunteer Rose Morgan is busy teaching an English lesson. Rose is a student at Aberystwyth University in Wales who is studying Spanish and art. She stumbled across a volunteer opportunity with Asociación EDELAC when she was searching for a country where she could work on her Spanish for a month.

"We have children who are fourteen years old and working at a first grade level," says Guadalupe Pos, director of EDELAC. He desperately wants to bring in fulltime counselors and professional support staff to work with these students, but the school simply does not have the resources. The parents of students here need only pay 80 quetzales (US$10) per year. Currently, they are running a calendar campaign to help raise funds. 20 quetzales buys a black and white...