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SYSK's Guatemalan Adventure, Part Two · Stuff You Should Know

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  Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: from House Stuff Works dot Com. And now for the
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  Speaker 1: exciting conclusion, it's s Y s K is Guatemalan Adventure.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Here we find team Stuff you Should Know about to
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: depart for their second school visit. So we take off
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  Speaker 1: from there and we go to our second school for
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  Speaker 1: our first Computer Center inauguration. And it's here, Chuck, that
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  Speaker 1: we ran into one of my favorite people, Mr Howard Lab. Dude,
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  Speaker 1: Howard Lab is one of the coolest, strangest dudes I've
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  Speaker 1: ever met in my life. I'm just gonna go ahead
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  Speaker 1: throw that out there, and he grows on you like
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  Speaker 1: real quick. Remember when we first met him at the
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  Speaker 1: hotel in Guatemala City. He came up and was shaking
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  Speaker 1: our hand and wearing a Fannie pack and talking real fast,
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  Speaker 1: and he was all smiles and he leaves in the
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  Speaker 1: three of us cynics were like, that guy's weird. Then
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  Speaker 1: we meet him again. Really, um, I think it was
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  Speaker 1: before this one we got to hang out with him,
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  Speaker 1: but by the time we interviewed him at this Computer
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  Speaker 1: Center inauguration, we hearted Howard, Yes, we hearted him very
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  Speaker 1: much and still do. Howard's a great guy, a stand
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  Speaker 1: up guy, as I call him in one of the interviews,
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  Speaker 1: that I don't think we're gonna use. So the computer
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  Speaker 1: program Josh works a lot like the textbook program. UM.
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  Speaker 1: But why should we talk about it when the truly
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  Speaker 1: weird and awesome Howard Lob can describe it for us?
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  Speaker 1: In large part, we typically work with larger schools and
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  Speaker 1: a textbook program. Uh, if the school has fifty to
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  Speaker 1: a hundred kids, you're good to go. It doesn't matter
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  Speaker 1: a number of kids so much. But in the computer center, UM,
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  Speaker 1: we typically look for schools that I have about two
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  Speaker 1: d kids or more. That way you cover all the
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  Speaker 1: costs and still keep that student contribution guns and you
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  Speaker 1: have partners as well. Right, that's right. All of our
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  Speaker 1: like Rotary Club, Mike Soft, UM, other foundations, et cetera
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  Speaker 1: help us with that seed donation, and Microsoft as well
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  Speaker 1: helps us with licenses. So that's an ongoing gift and
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  Speaker 1: kind UM. And that that kind of starts that jump
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  Speaker 1: starts the program, and then after that we look for
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  Speaker 1: the communities to really make it self sustaining. We don't
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  Speaker 1: expect donors to come back year after year to pay
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  Speaker 1: the electric bill, to pay the to provide new computers. No,
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  Speaker 1: the ideas it's kind of a prompt our promise to
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  Speaker 1: the donors that their money is well spent um in
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  Speaker 1: a in an effective way and that the community will
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  Speaker 1: take that ball and run with it. So so that's
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  Speaker 1: how it works in a nutshell. Um, much like the textbook,
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  Speaker 1: revolving funds self sustainable. But the kids paid just a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more money. Well, I think it's more frequent.
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  Speaker 1: I think where they paid two dollars a year for
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  Speaker 1: a textbook, they paid two bucks a month form a computer.
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  Speaker 1: How is that what it is? Yeah? And um, but
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  Speaker 1: you spread it over two hundred kids again in five years,
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  Speaker 1: you have that self sufficient s grow fund um that
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  Speaker 1: compared to replace all the computers. And the computers chuck
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  Speaker 1: were they were nice computers. But there was something really
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  Speaker 1: strange about them. Do you know what? It was? No Internet?
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  Speaker 1: No Internet. They had a simulated internet. Here's what the
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  Speaker 1: kids learn on these things they learn, these rural, poor
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  Speaker 1: Guatemalan children are learning Microsoft Office programs courtesy of Microsoft,
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  Speaker 1: one of their little partners, which is great. Yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: think he mentions them in one of the clips. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: they learn how to email, they learn in Carter, which
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  Speaker 1: is might seem a little old fashioned to us, but
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  Speaker 1: it's great for them, right and Windows movie Maker, and
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  Speaker 1: they have a simulated Internet, so when they eventually get
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  Speaker 1: out into the workforce and see the real Internet, they're
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  Speaker 1: not like, what is this? What's going on? But it
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  Speaker 1: will still be blown away. Yeah, I'm still blown away
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  Speaker 1: on a daily basis. Right. But one of the things
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  Speaker 1: that you were talking about that that blew you away was, Um,
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  Speaker 1: these kids are just encountering computers for the first time,
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  Speaker 1: and they were already making like power point slide shows
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  Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Right. And um Howard was telling
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  Speaker 1: us about, uh, some of the successes that have come
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  Speaker 1: from these computer centers. Uh that cooperative for education a
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  Speaker 1: k A. Co ed sponsors or sets up. Um and
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  Speaker 1: uh he was talking about these kids that made a
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  Speaker 1: T shirt company. Right, Yeah, let's hear that one. For example,
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  Speaker 1: in a town not far from here, this um group
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  Speaker 1: of girls broke into a group of four six students
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  Speaker 1: and they did a project that we call Microsoft or
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  Speaker 1: Project Off excuse me. And in this project they learned
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  Speaker 1: to create a business usually it's as simulated business. In
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  Speaker 1: this case, they made it a real business. And they
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  Speaker 1: decided that they were going to create T shirts UM
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  Speaker 1: to sell to UH, to sell to UH fellow classmates
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  Speaker 1: and things like that. So they use Microsoft Sell to
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  Speaker 1: create a budget, They used Microsoft PubL As Sure and
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  Speaker 1: MovieMaker to create advertising material and like a fake a
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  Speaker 1: mock tv ad UM, they worked with a local silk
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  Speaker 1: screening company and created T shirts and started selling them.
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  Speaker 1: And even though they graduated from middle school, they still
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  Speaker 1: got this thing going. So so you've got kids going
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  Speaker 1: from middle school and actually generating income for themselves, UM
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  Speaker 1: and their families. How awesome is that? It is pretty sweet?
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  Speaker 1: Really really cool? And Chuck it's uh he he tells
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  Speaker 1: another story that we didn't use UM where kids in
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  Speaker 1: in the surrounding or kids going to school who lived
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  Speaker 1: in the surrounding area. It was all agriculture, all farming.
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  Speaker 1: And so there's this ongoing debate over whether snow peas
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  Speaker 1: or broccoli were more profitable, and UM, these kids did
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  Speaker 1: data analysis of all the costs and outputs from broccoli
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  Speaker 1: and from snow peas and found, in fact, snow peas
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  Speaker 1: are actually more profitable and then they made a presentation
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  Speaker 1: and gave it to the town and completely changed them
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  Speaker 1: minds of all the farmers around there so they could
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  Speaker 1: make more money. Pretty amazing. That is really amazing. Well,
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  Speaker 1: it's so amazing that a guy like Howard quit his
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  Speaker 1: good job in the United States to move to Guatemala.
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  Speaker 1: Most of them, we should say, most of the co
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  Speaker 1: ed UH coopetive education is based out of Cincinnati, and
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  Speaker 1: most of them live there and they go to Guatemala
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  Speaker 1: a few times a year, but they can work remotely
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  Speaker 1: because of the Internet and all the great things there.
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  Speaker 1: But a few of them actually live in country, and
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  Speaker 1: Howard is one of those, and he gave up his
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  Speaker 1: life in America. Of course he met a Guatemalan woman. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I might add something to do with it. And here's
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  Speaker 1: what he had to say about that. I think you've
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  Speaker 1: seen today that the people here are very expressive, very
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  Speaker 1: grateful for the help that we can bring to them. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: the kids want to learn. The parents now know how
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  Speaker 1: important education is, and that just that just feeds are
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  Speaker 1: any emotion that we came to this country with um
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  Speaker 1: and so it's it's kind of easy to help in
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  Speaker 1: that sense. Um, and really in code. I think all
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  Speaker 1: of us who work here have now find found a
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  Speaker 1: way to to help development human development a little bit,
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  Speaker 1: and we feel like it's like, maybe it's really having
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  Speaker 1: an impact. It's we have a mechanism, a system that
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  Speaker 1: provides a sustainability and that's key, you know, just to
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  Speaker 1: donate something, drop it off and run. We've just seen
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  Speaker 1: it over and over. It just doesn't work. So we
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  Speaker 1: feel like we're kind of grateful that we have this
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to help others. Um. That makes us happy. Hope
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  Speaker 1: it makes them happy. Um, And we we'd like to
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  Speaker 1: think it's having a real impact. And more, more and
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  Speaker 1: more we measure our programs were between seeing good results. Awesome,
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  Speaker 1: thank you sir. We meant you. Yeah, glad, I meant you. Guys,
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  Speaker 1: We're glad we met Howard. Yeah, he's a cool guy,
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  Speaker 1: very cool guy. So we go to the school and
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  Speaker 1: they have a big shady tent set up, cool breeze blowing.
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  Speaker 1: We're kind of out on the open range. Remember it
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  Speaker 1: was like you could see for miles. Oh yeah, it
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  Speaker 1: was great, very nice scene. They get this old guy
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  Speaker 1: out there to play the harp. But it wasn't like
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  Speaker 1: a regular harp. It was this like a harp guitar thing.
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  Speaker 1: Do we have any of that harp music? Oh? Is that?
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  Speaker 1: It is? That? It? I hear right now? That is it? Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: That guy was good. He was very good and like
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  Speaker 1: a hundred and thirty and he was very old. And
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  Speaker 1: there was some ritual dancing. This is when the little
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  Speaker 1: girls came over and picked us up and by the hand. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and we danced with them. First of many humiliating moments
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  Speaker 1: for a man. You're not a big public dancer. No,
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  Speaker 1: I've got like that that like plastered grimace of like
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  Speaker 1: embarrassment on my face. It's just horrible. Right. It was
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  Speaker 1: very cute though, actually, and we had pictures of that
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  Speaker 1: that we're gonna have on the website and fantastic. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: We thought that we were going to see a live
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  Speaker 1: chicken sacrifice right in front of our faces. It came
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  Speaker 1: down to the last second. They're doing another traditional Um,
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  Speaker 1: this one wasn't the corn dance? Is it just like
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  Speaker 1: the symbolic sacrificing of the chicken. It was a it
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  Speaker 1: was a Mayan dance, right, and they come out with
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  Speaker 1: a live chicken and strangely enough, like earlier in that day.
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  Speaker 1: They we've been told that Jeff told us as some
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  Speaker 1: of the Mayan ruins they'll find like dead chickens. There's
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  Speaker 1: still some blood sacrifices that that are carried on at
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  Speaker 1: Mayan ruins. And so within four hours some kids walk
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  Speaker 1: out with a live chicken in the middle of a
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  Speaker 1: ceremonial dance, and we're like, are they really gonna do this?
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  Speaker 1: And this girl like like dropped the chicken and lifted
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  Speaker 1: it up and then just slid her hand right off
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  Speaker 1: the end of its head, and the chicken was like yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And there's literally like twenty Americans in this horseshoe configuration
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  Speaker 1: within in the middle, all just thinking, oh my lord,
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  Speaker 1: but again with the smiles, places like, hey, it's your
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  Speaker 1: culture exactly. I don't want to knock it to each
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  Speaker 1: his own right, and I haven't covered in chicken. But
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  Speaker 1: luckily the chicken was spared and it was all symbolic
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  Speaker 1: and we all breath the little side relief in the chicken,
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  Speaker 1: and yeah, the chicken was glad too. They ate him
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  Speaker 1: later that night, though, I'm sure. And then we went
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  Speaker 1: to the computer lab and this is when the kids
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  Speaker 1: actually paired us up and sat us down and they
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  Speaker 1: showed us some of the things that they've been working on.
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  Speaker 1: And that's when you really get to see the good
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  Speaker 1: that co Ed's doing. When you sit down and you
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  Speaker 1: see a Windows movie maker slide presentation that a kid
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  Speaker 1: in Rurled, Guatemala made who had never seen a computer
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  Speaker 1: six months ago. That's where it really hits home. And
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  Speaker 1: that was it for that school. Yes, it was, it was.
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  Speaker 1: It was a lot think computers, Howard, it sounds like
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  Speaker 1: my high school experience. Uh So then we go to
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: the hotel Albert Gas Detech Pond, the weirdest hotel in Glanamala. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's a compound. It's not a hotel. It's a compound
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  Speaker 1: surrounded by a high wall with razor wire. And the
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  Speaker 1: best thing we could describe it was it looked like
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  Speaker 1: the Michael Jackson of Guatemala might have owned the property
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  Speaker 1: at one point. It was like a Neverland ranch. It
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  Speaker 1: had these life size it was like a never Land
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  Speaker 1: ranch that had been left out, exposed to the elements
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  Speaker 1: for many, many years. It wasn't like nice and new looking.
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  Speaker 1: They had like a life size chess game and these
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  Speaker 1: yes statues all throughout the property. Each each area was
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  Speaker 1: more unsettling than the last. It was a little weird,
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  Speaker 1: but it was kind of cool for sure. And uh,
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  Speaker 1: before dinner we went to h There was this girl
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  Speaker 1: on the trip named Gabby. Yeah, Gabby was I would
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  Speaker 1: call her the translator, but Gabby was like everything on
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  Speaker 1: this trip. Yeah. She's definitely a jack of all trades
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  Speaker 1: for co ED. Yeah. She she's the facilitator pretty much
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: anything we needed. Remember in Antique at the end, when
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: we were you're not supposed to give tours yourself because
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  Speaker 1: they have like the city tour people are the only
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  Speaker 1: people that are supposed to officially do that, and Gabby
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  Speaker 1: like always headed them off at the past and like
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  Speaker 1: explain to the cops what we were doing and they're
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  Speaker 1: like all right, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, and that works
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  Speaker 1: because she is a psychiologist, right, Yeah, that's her background.
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  Speaker 1: She went to school, she's a psychologist. Like well, and
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  Speaker 1: then she takes time off from her practice. Oh I
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  Speaker 1: thought she quit her practice this, I know. She just
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  Speaker 1: like takes time off and she's like, you guys go
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  Speaker 1: nuts for a little while. I'm gonna go do some
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  Speaker 1: co ED stuff. Right, So she's got a really good
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  Speaker 1: gig she's educated. Uh, she is one of the more
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  Speaker 1: fortunate people in Guatemala too, had not come from a
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  Speaker 1: very poor family. Did we say she's Guatemala, Yeah, oh yeah,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: she's Guatemalan. Did I not mention that? I don't know?
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  Speaker 1: She's very Guatemalan and just an awesome, awesome person. And
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  Speaker 1: we asked her why that she would, you know, leave
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  Speaker 1: her practice, private practice to go work with coed like
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  Speaker 1: she does, and she said this, how can I not
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  Speaker 1: do it? How can I not believe in this. It's
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  Speaker 1: my people, it's my country, it's my kids, and I
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  Speaker 1: just love them. And I've have the chance, incredible chance
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  Speaker 1: to meet some of them personally and just keep track
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  Speaker 1: of them. And I see how they've been like no
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: in their houses, you don't speak any Castellano, any Spanish.
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  Speaker 1: And then they're now they're learn English, they know computers.
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  Speaker 1: They bought a piece of land and instead of farming,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: they are constructing, and they're working in a They just
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  Speaker 1: have my heart. And Josh's interview went on. She got
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: pretty emotional about what these kids and Guatemala mean to her,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: and let's just hear what she had to say about that.
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  Speaker 1: You can you can grasp or you can take count
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: with their fingers. This the kids that they're they have
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  Speaker 1: so much strengthened them, and they're fighting and they're going
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: against everything. So you got the tissues out, buddy. I
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: know it's pretty moving. Yeah, it's really sweet. Um. I'm
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: one of those guys who's just like, yeah, yeah, you've
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: got a hard life whatever. But you know, when you
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  Speaker 1: see somebody like Gabby who you almost you almost feel
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: for other people through somebody like that, you know, it
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: was real nice, that's another way to put it. So, Uh,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: that was the end of our night. Had another awesome
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: dinner steak that night, remember yeah at that place at
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: the roadhouse. Yeah, it was like a roadhouse, and uh,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: we go to our separate cabins and go to sleep.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Jerry had a really creepy went off in the woods.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Jerry was scared. First of all, Jerry made me walk
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: or to her cabin, and I'm thinking, I hope Jerry
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: doesn't try to put the moves on me and and um,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: by the time we get to her cabin, it's been
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: like an hour and a half walk and now I
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: have to walk back in the dark by myself. But
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: it was scary. I was like, all right, see you later.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Good look and he helps the scream. It wasn't even
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: that far, but it's funny. Uh. Then we go the
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: next day, we go to an orphanage school and uh
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: we were late because Dan one of the guys on
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the two her who was like, I'm so surprised Dan
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: just didn't end up walking in front of a horse
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: something like that. Like Dan just things just went wrong
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: for Dan. But he always had a great smile on
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: his Facebook. He couldn't find his alarm clock or something,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: so he just kept sleeping. That was the first admitting
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: the tour was where's Dan? Incidences that happened? Dan was awesome. Uh.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: So we we go to this orphanage school and what's
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: said about this one, Josh, is that it was an orphanage. Well,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of these kids aren't true orphans, though a
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: lot of them are dropped off. They have parents and families,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: but their parents know that they can't provide the life
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: for them that they deserve. So the parents dropped their
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: kids off and leave them there and maybe visit once
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: a month or however often they can. And we got
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: one really good story from this school that um remember
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the girl that went up on stage when they had
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: the little presentation. They do this deal where they sort
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: of have fun with how to take care of the
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: textbooks and and they'll ask different questions. Well they'll they'll
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: tell them how to do it. Then they bring three
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  Speaker 1: kids on stage and asked them to repeat what they
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  Speaker 1: had just heard about caring for the textbooks, and that
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: they picked two boys and a girl. And the two boys,
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  Speaker 1: you know, they were kind of cutting up and laughing
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: and they had nothing to say. But the one girl
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  Speaker 1: like knocked everyone out. Yeah she did. We all have
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: presses on the very cute young girl and she completely
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: just like took charge of the room and recited exactly
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: how to take care of the textbooks. And you could
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: tell that she was on the ball right. So um,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: after the whole, uh, the whole presentation, we were out
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: back interviewing Holly, who had gone and found out this
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: girl's story. Because they co had also identified scholarship students
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: kids were really going to benefit from, like direct help
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: from donors um and this girl had scholarship student written
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: all over. So Holly went and found out what her
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: deal was and she came back and told us. So
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  Speaker 1: after the presentation. I called her over to talk to
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: her a little bit, and I asked her what she
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: wants to do, what's her dream in life, and she
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: said that she wants to be a bilingual doctor, which
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: is wonderful. And I talked to her about her parents
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: and what they do, and it turns out that her
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: dad works in agriculture and he travels around to go
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: and work in the field. So he's kind of the
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: lowest level of agricultural worker here in guatemal He probably
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: earns three dollars a day, maybe at the most, maybe
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: two dollars a day. And her mom has left to
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: go be a servant for a family in the city
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: and just comes home on Sundays. So this girl, who
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: is fourteen years old, for the last year, has been
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: going to school full time and doing everything in the
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: house for herself and her ten year old brother and
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: her six year old brother. So she gets up at
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: five in the morning and makes the tortillas, she gets
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: them ready for school. She's basically a little mom and
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: has been for the last year because her parents have
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: gone away to work. And um, you know, I was
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: amazed by this. I couldn't believe that she was doing this,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: and I asked her why her parents had left to
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: do that, and it's because, uh, neither of them can read,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: neither of them has any education. They went to school
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: until third grade, but they really didn't pick anything up.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: And those are the only options they have to get
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: a job that's good enough that it will allow her
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: and her younger brothers to continue their education and to
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: go further in school. So then I asked her, well,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: why do your parents care. They're they're getting along, they're
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: they're making it somewhat, So why do they care if
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: you have a good education? And uh, she said what
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: most people say is that they wanted opportunities for us
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: that were much better, better than the opportunities that they had.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: They have no choices in this country. So she kind
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: of captured all of our hearts. I think. I think
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: I said at the time in the interview that if
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: I was a thirteen year old Guatemalan boy, I would
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: ask her to the next dance and then probably to
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: marry her shortly thereafter on the ball and just ride
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: on her coat tails after that. Yeah, she wants to
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: be a bilingual doctor. Yeah, how cool is that? So
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: we took off after that, we went to our last
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: school stop, and this Josh to me, was the best one,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: mainly because Jerry gave a speech. Yeah, ladies and gentlemen,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: for the first time in the history of stuff, you
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: should know you're going to hear Jerry's voice. We tried
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: it once before in the Hiccups podcast. We originally had
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: her say boo. It just didn't work out, so it
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: got cut. So here is Jerry the producers voice. It's
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: definitely my honor and privilege to be here with you today.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Most of us have come a very long way to
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: be here, UM, to let you know that we care
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: very much about your future. Amente laud uh. These these
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: textbooks here today, UM, are just like any other tool
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: you could ever use. As long as you work hard
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: and you use it correctly, many great things will come
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: from it. UM. I would like to say directly to
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: all of the young women here, you can do great
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: things in your life and it can start here. And
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I'm I hope to see all of these succeed. And
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: I think that we all feel the same way. Very
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: proud to be here. Your your country is beautiful, You're
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: beautiful people. Thank you so much for having me. It's
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: a man. How awesome was that? It was great. I
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: remember filming this. I had the camera at the time,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and I got all choked up, I know. I remember
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: being like, why does Chuck get the camera? Right, I'm
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: gonna go have a cigarette. So this was called the
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Santiago Cooperative School. And the other cool thing about this,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: besides Jerry speech, was the principle that ran this joint. Yeah.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: So this guy was around in in Santa Santiago was
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: a hotbed of of activity during the Civil War, and
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: this guy was a prominent figure in the town and
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: had to shut the school down. Uh. And he was
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: kind of lefty, he liked to you know, he saw
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: things the ten years of Springway, um, and he had
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: to keep his mouth shut. But as he was, he
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: was also quietly building this school so when the civil
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: war ended he could reopen and hit the ground running.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: And Chuck, like you said, he is a revolutionary and
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: that he um thought girls should be educated, right. Yeah,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: it's not the most popular notion that that women should
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: have the same rights as men or girls and boys
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: in Guatemala. So he's done a very unpopular thing for
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: many years and and fought to get girls the same
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: rights and the same education as boys. Right, So the
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: the demographics in his school, at least gender wise, are
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: about now right. Well, yeah, and I think a few
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: years previous you could count the number of girls in
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: a school on one hand, and the day that we
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: were there, they were numbered about And you could tell
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: this guy um is very much revered by his students
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: and the people in the communities. They could stand up
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: guy great order actually and again moving experience. Yeah, he
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: could run for the He should run for the president
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: of Guatemala. Yeah, I'd vote for him. I would vote
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: for him in a second. He would I would write
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: in as a writing candidate, as a green go write
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: in that. But like you said, a very effective speaker,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: very moving and like we went to a classroom him
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: uh later on and he was giving us some more
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: stories and again sap that I am cheered up, Chuck, Yes,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: can we get some like party resort? Saw some music
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: in right, here is it time? It's time okay and
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Joshua's this music is playing because we wind up our
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: trip the week in Antigua. Antigua is one of the
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: more popular tourist destinations, and that's where you're gonna find
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: that's where we saw more Americans than anywhere all week
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: because it's lovely, it is gorgeous. It's the old capital,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: or it was the capital until seventeen seventy six. Yeah,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: so it's preserved in time basically as the largest city
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: from seventeen seventy six. There's some amazing stuff around there there.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: It was wrecked by earthquakes over the decades, and some
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: of these churches that were built in the sixteenth I said,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: sixteenth century, um, and we're just huge collapse partially so
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: we were actually we toured an abandoned well. It was
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: actually still in use, but the back part of it
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: was in ruins, and these huge columns that were like
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the size of a school bus were just on their side,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: right in front of you because nobody could do anything
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: with them, and they just fell during an earthquake. But
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: it was it was like these were five year old
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: columns that were just sitting there. It was really amazing, gorgeous.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Remember the arch over the main thoroughfare. Uh. And the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: reason they had that built was because it was a
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: nunnery on either side, and the nuns didn't believe in
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: letting anyone see them or see their faces. So they
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: constructed this walkway above the streets so that the nuns
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: could go from one side to the other. And the
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: town square with the fountain. Very awesome. So we check
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: into our hotel coincidentally also the best hotel of the week. Yeah,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: the Hotel vih Colonial. This place was awesome, like manicured gardens. Uh,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: it was. It was really awesome. Some cat helped me
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: carry my bag to my room. You had a bell hut. Yeah,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: I didn't know man, Oh yeah, I think it was.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: He didn't do anything else but take my bag to
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: the room. Did you chip him? Yes? And actually I
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: felt bad because I only had like a couple of
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: cats always on and um, which is not much money. No,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: And I actually found him later on, I think later
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: that night or the next day, and I found him
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: and tipped him better, and he was looking at it
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: was all happy, and one of the guys who spoke
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: English he was tending bar, was like, he thinks he
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: just won the lottery because he gave him Like yeah,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: So we have a little happy hour that evening by
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the pool and the gardens, and that's when we were
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: introduced to ron Zakapa yep, who was not our friend.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: I like him. It is rum. It is aged rum. Yeah,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: ron is rom in Spanish. And I didn't uh, I
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: didn't know I was a rum guy until I had
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: the Ronza Kappa. Chuck, I don't think that's a very
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: fair characterization. This is not liking ron Za coppa does
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: not make you a rum guy. This stuff is as
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: one of the one of our listeners who commented on
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: the blog during our trip when we mentioned that we
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: were in Guatemala said, try ron Za Kappa. It is
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: the nectar of the gods. It was so. I think
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: we're a little loath to play up alcohol like this,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: especially because we have younger listeners. But when your kids
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: get to be twenty one, makes your first drink ron
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Za Kappa, you won't be disappointed. And Josh, we should
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: point out Jerry just stopped us to mention that we
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: had the twenty three year aged Roza. Jesus is a
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Kappa fan as well. So we have another delicious dinner.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Remember the second floor, it's like an open air balcony
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: overlooking the gardens. Delicious. I dined with the Ann I know.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: By this point we were actually mingling with other people
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: on the trip and and the other tourists, Like we
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: definitely skewed the median age one a little bit one way,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: right that. Um, but I mean there were there were
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: lots of retired school teachers, um, lots of older women, uh,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: women of a certain age I should say, who turned
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: out to just be awesome like this, This isn't normally
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the crowd we run with. And but all of them
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: were just super cool, super fun to talk to. And
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: it wasn't just like polite like you're talking to your friends,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: you know, grandmother mom kind of conversations like I had
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: really real conversations with these people. And right, it's so weird,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: like my skin didn't prickle. But um, but but by
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: this night, by this dinner, we were all kind of
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: separated and like mingling with the rest of the tour,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: like on a really fundamental level. I thought that was cool. Yeah,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: we all ate dinner with our own little groups, and
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: I charmed everybody at my table. Sure you did. You
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: were like the cool cousin at the wedding. Thank you. Sure.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Uh So the next day we uh we took off
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: for town and they the co ed gang, took us
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: on the walking tour that we mentioned earlier when we
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: got in trouble from the local cops, but Gabby worked
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: it out, and that's when we went around to the
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: chapels and the churches and they had a lot of
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: knowledge and it was you know, it's like a really
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: good tour. I've never been on such a good tour
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: in my life. Yes, And the last bus back from
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: the square was leaving, which left Dan running after it,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: waving and waving with a big smile on his face.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: And that was the first time we saw a horse diaper. Yeah,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: I've never seen that, and it was full and it
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: was pretty much what you think it was. It was
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: a diaper on a horse that kind of hung low. Sure,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: it was weird. So uh. We go on this tour
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: for the first half of the day and saw all
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: this great stuff, and then the second half of the
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: day we meet back in the town square and our
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: group was the three of us and then this guy
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: named Steve who was old buddies with the Burning your
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Brothers and a co ed supporter all these years, obviously
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: because he's a good friend of the family and believes
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: in what they're doing. And he's a doctor in Cincinnati,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: right and bilingual, so he went with us, and then
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: we were paired with two kids from the co ed program,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: a boy and a girl, and they were charged to
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: take us around town while we shopped and helped us
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: like haggle and Jerry took a little shine to the
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: girl there and that was our little buddy. Yes, they
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: turned out to be fast friends. It was very cute. Yeah,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: which is sort of like the KFC of Guatemala. I'm
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: sorry to just steal your thunder because I mentioned the meal. Yeah, yeah,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: I didn't eat this meal though. Actually remember I wasn't hungry,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: that's right, oddly, and so they took his shopping and uh.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: One of the coolest things on this little excursion was
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: we got together and we're like, hey, let you know,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: we should buy these kids something because you know how
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: it is when you go to when these kind trees,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: like these handmade goods are like dirt cheap. And that's
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: not why we decided to buy him something, right, but
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: we can buy one of these kids something. Yeah, we thought,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: you know, let's let him pick out whatever they want.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: And we had Steve translate because he was the man
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: in Spanish, and we asked, uh, we told him to
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: tell the kids pick out anything you want, and we'll
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: buy anything you want. And I thought that they would
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: pick out some toy or some like fun thing. The
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: little boy picked out a crucifix cross to where I
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: noticed and that what did the girl get? Jears bracelets
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: for her family. I don't know if that came through,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: but that was Jerry. But they've already heard her now
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: the cats out of the bag. So that just kind
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: of touched us all, you know, that they were thinking
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: of their family or his religion instead of you know,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: do they have iPhones around here anywhere? Neither one of
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: them asked that. So we left, We parted company with
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: our kids and um, I already set that up. Dan
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: was running after the bus. Right. Actually, we did a
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: little more shopping on our own. Remember, oh yeah, we did,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: the three of us. That was fun, Yeah, it was fun.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: And we ended up back at the hotel um for
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: the last night's dinner, right and the last night's happy
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: hour with more runs a copy, And we didn't explain
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the runs a cop of thing you're are meant to
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: burn the devil out? Remember, Oh yeah, that's pretty cool.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Let's tell him what that is. So when you finished
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: the bottle, you, you rub it. You everyone stands in
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: a circle who's trank it and you rub it all
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: over your buddy and you get it like roll in
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: your in your hands and you get it all warm.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: You do this for a good five minutes and then
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: you hold the lighter up to the end and this
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: like blue flame comes out. It looks like a caramelizing torch. Yeah,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: it kind of shoots out, and they call They do
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: that because the Guatemalans believe that if you ingest liquor,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: then that's the devil living inside of you. So all
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: you gotta do to write the ship is just burn
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: the devil out at the end of the bottle and
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: you're all set bing bang boom. So we did that
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: and that was a lot of fun. We'res in a
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: great mood of this week. We're all buddies, and it
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: was we're all having a blast. So we have the
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: final night they have um a slide show of the week,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: which is always nice. It's like camp. There was a
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: picture of me fighting a bull with firecrackers on its back. Yeah,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: we both did that. I was wearing an apron and uh.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: They did a little slide show which is really nice
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: and then this was Jerry's birthday, so they brought out
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: a cake and they came to me earlier in the
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: night said, hey, do you think if we got a
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: cake it would embarrass Jerry? Yes it would, and yes
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: you should. So they did so, brought the cake out
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: and in Guatemalan tradition, they forced her to put her
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: face in it. Yeah, I'm not sure that was guatemal
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: In like a co ed thing. So Jerry had to
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: take a bite of the cake without using her hands, essentially,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: and she did it, Yes she did. She was a
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: good sport. Jerry is letting loose at this point. Yes,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: I saw a whole new side of her. So after
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: after dinner, in the slide show, we had the opportunity
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: everyone there if they wanted to say a few words
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: about their week, uh, to do so, and I, uh
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: put you back in your seat and took the opportunity
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: to speak for the team. Yeah, and I was very
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: very glad you did, because Chuck, you killed it. You
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: had everyone in the room little teary eyed except you.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: I think I probably was really sure you had the
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: heart strings pulled. I was pulling like a kite, like
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: a box kite. It was very sweet. It was very
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: It was a very good speech, and you you did
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: a good job capturing the this since that we had
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: a kind of our eyes being opened down there and
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: our hearts being open to I appreciate that I spoke
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: from the heart a minute. Good job man. And another
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: one of the people that spoke was Michelle McMaster, Yeah,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: who we were on the trip with, and um, I
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: don't remember if we were just tired, we didn't want
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: to record anymore. Jerry worked like pretty much the whole
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: time we were down there, we worked a lot. I
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: felt really bad for Jerry. This point, we were like
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: put the camera away for the night. So we we
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: knew Michelle lived in Atlanta, and we're like, well, have
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: you come in and how about we interview in Atlanta
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: because we want to get the perspective of a donor.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: And she was kind enough to let us off the
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: hook and say yes, So we we did get her perspective,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: and she did come in and sat down and we
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: asked her some questions about why she was donating to
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: co ED because when we were down there, she was
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: basically on like this distribution tour, a memorial tour for her. UM,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: her her mother in law, and this is her third
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: trip to guatemal and she was like an old pro
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: at donating. She's not she she doesn't come from this opulent,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: wealthy family necessarily. She's just a normal at lantin who
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: really figured that this is a good way to to
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: do something with her money. It's just such a poor
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: country and I am so fortunate. I my family is fortunate,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: and I just feel at this point in my life,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: I can do something about it, and I can get back,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: and you know, I hope that a lot of people
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: have the opportunity to do that, because it just it's
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: way better feeling for me than it is for them
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: to receive the books. I mean, they thank us, but
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: I mean I really feel like I should thank them.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: And Chuck, Um, Michelle was not the only veteran donor
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: that was on the tour with us. You remember Casey
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: and Cathy, Do remember they're very awesome. Yes, they have
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: a little little place in my heart. Yeah. And um,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: they've they've gotten into sponsoring this is I don't I
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: don't remember how many tours they've been on by the
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: time they went on this one, but um, they've really
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: taken a shine to code and they They and Michelle
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: are very exemplary of the kind of people who go
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: on these tours, especially repeat tours. There are people who
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: are like, you know, I can just take a little
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: bit of this money and it just grows and grows
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: and grows. And I think that's one of the reasons
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: that Coed has such like this loyal following, uh, this
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: really dedicated group of people that they attract and keep
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: because the money stays there, it doesn't get used up.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: It's sustainable. It's a sustainable model and it's a pretty
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: amazing one too. Yeah. I like, I want to find
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: one person that's gone on one of these tours that
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: comes back and it's like, wow, that was nice, good
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: luck with everything. I don't think it happens like we're
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: we're signed up for life with these guys. Yeah. So
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: after dinner, it's Jerry's birthday, so we decide that we
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: need to go out and celebrate a little bit in
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: town because there's like clubs in Antigua evidently yes, scott clubs, yes,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: and don't don't you have a little I have a
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: disclaimer here that I'd like to insert. I did not
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: go out that night. I stayed in. I was very
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: tired and happy to stay in, but I was also
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: happy to see you guys go and have a good time,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: most of the co ed folks. And boy, how doy
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: did you guys go out? Yeah? Yeah, from what I understand.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: First of all, at breakfast the next morning, I could
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: barely sit at the same table as you guys so bad.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Do you want to recount a little bit of this, Well, Josh,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: I'm really not allowed to say what went on that night.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: We've all been support to secrecy. But let's just say
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: there was a nightclub involved. There was a band, live
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: band playing Guatemalan sky music. I danced for hours and
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: I am not a dancer, and the next I'm not
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: a dancer. And the next day I woke up with
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: bruises on my hands because I fell out of the
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: back of a pickup truck at some point onto a
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: cobblestone street. It's not it's not good, Chuck. No, it
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: was truly one of the best best nights I've ever had.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: We kept going the next morning, and you're just like, shut.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: It was great. It brought me back to my college
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: days as if I was an exchange student in Guatemala,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: that the experience I never got to live back and
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: you said the band was like right there right, Oh yeah.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: I mean I've never been to a club that's more
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: crowded in my life and it was just like dancing
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: and sweating and having a great time. It's just that's great.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: And I've just gotten word from Jerry that it was
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: the best birthday of her life and she's like forty
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: so best speech from you, but wow, best speech from you,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: best birthday from Jerry. My cold black heart opened up
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: a little bit, you know, like Mr Burns, Oh you're
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: not Mr Burns, Oh thank you. Checking I saw the
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: warmest side of you that I've ever seen, really, and
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: I haven't seen it since, but we'll just call it
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: Guatemala and Josh, okay, you just keep that to yourself.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: I loved it. Uh Any final final thoughts on the
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: whole trip, Yes, chuck um. Remember we originally went down
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: there to do a podcast on whether education can alleviate poverty,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: and in very short order we were like, no, this
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: this actually deserves its own podcast. This is a pretty
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: amazing organization. It deserves too. Exactly. It has all that
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: your marks of a great organization that deserves a podcast.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: It it's an underdog. It's kind of small. It's been
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: chugging along for fourteen years. Yeah, started out super small
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: and it's just just grown and been more successful and
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: amazing yep. UM And there's a lot of really dedicated,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: genuinely good people who are really giving themselves and not
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: exploiting these this group this is I asked Jeff what
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: percentage of UM donations go to the actual people? And
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: I think the industry standard is like fifty and they're
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: hitting like eight five something like that. That's huge. It's
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: an enormous that's an enormous contribution, you know. Yeah, you
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: know why I figured out is they're all really really smart.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Everyone down there that we talked to from co ED
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: was like really sharp and had honed this program down
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: to like an efficient, a really efficient charitable machine. I
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: guess is the best way I can say it. So Shook,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: I have a feeling that you have some final impressions
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: you'd like to share, and I'm not the only one,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: I think who wants to hear them. Well, I could
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: just say did oh Josh would do it? You gotta
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: slather it on pud Well like we said, I mean,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: the people of coed are just doing amazing work. They're unbelievable.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: The people of Guatemala were just some of the warmest,
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: most welcoming people we ever met, Um, that I've ever met.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: I know, like you said, they you know, laid down
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: like evergreen bells at our feet when we walked through
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: and the kids came out. You know, remember the last school.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: They came out and each one of them like hugged
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: us and like ushered us in like one by one,
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: and uh, you know, the principle speaking at the one place.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: And then people like Caroline who are give up their
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: jobs to go down there and live and teach these kids.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: It was just the whole thing completely blew me away.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: Change my perspective on on what we have here, what
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: I have, I'll never look at a pencil the same
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: way again. I'll tell you that excellent And um, I
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: would go back again. And Jerry is going back again. Yes,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: she's going to get in the summer. They have taken
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: a shine to her and vice versa. Yeah, she's doing
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: some video work for them, which is pretty cool. Yeah,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: she's going on the July Snapshot tour. Right. Yeah, So
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: anybody who wants to go hang with Jerry and Guatemala
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: can that's your chance. Yeah, uh and Chuck. If people
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: want to see pictures of our Guatemalan tour, the one
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: we've already been on, we have them on the site.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: You created an image gallery, right, Yeah, seventy photos of
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: us and Guatemala. Get a pencil out or a pen
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: people write this down. We're also going to post this
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: on Facebook if it's too long for you, but for
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: you non facebookers, it is www dot adventure dot how
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com, slash stuff dash you dash should
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: dash no dash, Guatemala dash pictures dot htm. So essentially
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: it's Adventure, how Stuff Work, stuff you should know, Guatemala
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: pictures right with hyphens in between. Yeah, and like I said,
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: we'll put it on Facebook and tweet it out and
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: uh so those of you in the know, well we'll
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: have an easier time with that. And if you want
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: to know more information about the Cooperative for Education co ED,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: the work they do, that's you man, you know all
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: about them. I'm talking to the people now. Um, you
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: can log onto their internet website at www dot co ED.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: You see dot org that c o E D You
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: see dot org and Jerry tells us that you can
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: just type in Cooperative for Education and this U r
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: L bar and it'll redirect. Yeah, they got info on
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: their website about UM the tour that you can take.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: It's not very expensive actually just to go down there
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: for a week. They really take care of you. They
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: have like you know, security with you. It's really safe. UM.
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: I guarantee you will have a life changing experience. And
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: they haven't got a video about the tour are on
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: there that you can watch, and I defy you to
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: watch it and not get a little tear eyed. Uh.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: And it's all there on the website all the information
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: and you should check it out for sure. To check
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: that out. And again, if you want to donate the
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: co ed UH, you can text a five dollar donation
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: by texting the word stuff s t U F F
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: yeah to to zero two to two. You'll donate five dollars.
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: You'll receive a text back asking you to confirm the donation.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: Simply reply with the word yes to complete the donation right,
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: and we have to say a one time five dollar
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: donation will be charged your wireless bill or deducted from
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: your prepaid balance. Messaging and data rates may apply. If
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: you change your mind before confirming the donation, you can
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: amply stop to two zero to two two, or if
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: you need help, reply the word help. Donations are collected
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: by the Mobile Giving Foundation. For more info, you can
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: call eight six six eight one oh one two zero
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: three or go to h m g F dot org
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: slash t what a website. Huh wow, nice job man. Thanks. Uh.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: And some wireless carriers limit the number of donations you
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: can make, so you check with your wireless carrier if
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: you want to make more than one. Yeah, and uh.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: On a personal note, I just want to say we've
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: had awesome response from our Kiva sponsorships. So we kind
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: of talked the stuff you should know Army up to
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: co Ed and we said, uh, five dollar text, that's
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: the way to go. Like, these people will definitely hear
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: the story and they'll definitely want to throw five bucks
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: your way. And uh, so I just want to literally,
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: we don't ask people for much often, but I'm gonna
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: ask you to do that text five dollars and um,
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: the clock is sticking a little bit because these text
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: donation campaigns they're not like they don't run in perpetuity.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: So I think it's through what is it jars into July.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: So pick out your phone right now, just do a
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: little quick text. Like we said, five bucks, we'll buy
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: textbooks for one student for an entire year year and
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: then it goes into the Revolving Fund and it's self
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: sustainable and essentially you bought textbooks for life. And if
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: you want to donate more, you can go to their website.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: They have information on how you can, like you can
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: actually sponsor a computer center, get your name on it
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: and go down there and visit it and cherish it
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: and hug it. And now you can go to their
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: website and they have all kinds of information on how
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: you can get more involved or go on a tour.
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: And it's really really great. And listen to us, Chuck,
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, like, really, we sound like we are hosting
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: a telephon. I I never thought that I would I
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: would be doing something like this, And I think to
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: the very fact that we are doing it hopefully lend
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: some sort of credence to to how we actually feel
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: about co ED. Absolutely, we wouldn't be doing this for
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: any uh fly by Night nonprofit. These guys are great,
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: So again, If you want to learn more about co ed,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: go to www. Dot co ed. You see dot org.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: Uh and we're gonna post pictures on our blogs. Uh No,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna set up an image gallery and we will
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: put that on Facebook and then the blog. How you
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: can get there and we'll have you know, probably close
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: to like a hundred pictures of our trip. Excellent. Well,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: that's it, right, Viva Guatemala. For more on this and
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: the house stuff works dot com home page. Brought to
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. It's ready,
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: are you