[Music begins. “Expand Hope Global Impact Trip Guatemala 2019”. Video of traveling through Guatemalan streets.]
[Voiceover. “Edmonton to Guatemala City”. Video from the global impact trip in Guatemala and of a plane taking off.]
I think with this trip, it makes me want to be a better person from within, but definitely it makes you want to be a better person and to help other people.
[“Guatemala City to Antigua”. Video from the global impact trip in Guatemala. Voiceover. “Antigua to Nebaj”.]
Before the trip I was nervous and I knew it would be eye opening and life changing, but I didn't know how.
[Voiceover. “Nebaj to Antigua”. Video from the global impact trip in Guatemala.]
So once we saw pictures of the schools the Marvin and Leah built, the team came together and decided we wanted to do the same thing, but raise the funds ourselves.
We came up with enough money for a 3 classroom school.
[“Antigua Xonca, 2 Schools Opened, 300+ students will benefit each year”.]
And then the cherry on top was March of this year, I got to go down to Guatemala, open the school, cut the ribbons, welcome the community in, which was a pretty amazing experience.
[Voiceover. Video from Antigua Xonca, Guatemala.]
When we pulled up it was so overwhelmingly like the kids came running into the van and it was just, it was just so much stimulation.
[Voiceover.]
When I saw the Expand Hope sign, it was overwhelming to see it completed.
[Clapping.]
[Voiceover.]
They're looking down like it was all small children.
[Woman in video.]
It says Antigua Xonca Nebaj, Recognition to Expand Hope, Pastor Franz and Dorothea Schmidt.
[Voiceover. Global impact trip attendee. “Classroom #1, 2 & 3”. “Classroom #1”. “Classroom #2”. “Classroom #3”.]
We felt somehow in Guatemala, we tried for this generation, and we prayed that for the next generations this school might be a wonderful opportunity to expand hope so that these people can follow a dream and also can see new opportunities.
[Clapping, voiceover.]
The kids in each community are happier and they want an education.
It's just some kids don't have the resources yet and it's nice to be able to see them slowly getting those.
When we visited the different communities, I just realized that they were in different phases development and weren't really any different than other communities in and around the area.
[“Antigua Xonca to Chacalte”.]
[Voiceover. “Chacalte, 150+ students will benefit each year, In Honour of the Mascots Race for Hope”, video of Chacalte.]
For me, the highlight of the road trip was Chacalte.
Yes, it was like Chacalte one hundred percent and that's because I was there last year, heard from the community about their needs and their dreams and aspirations for a new school.
Most of the parents that spoke in that meeting said they couldn't read or write, but they did not want the same for these children.
[“Classroom #1”, “Classroom #2”, “Classroom #3”, “Classroom #4”, clapping and cheering.]
And that really spoke to me because as a parent, I want what's best for my children.
I want them to do better than I have.
So I related to that and I connected with that message very much.
So when the school was built in Chacalte, I knew what that meant to the parents and I'm glad I had the privilege and opportunity and blessing to be there when the school was opened.
[Voiceover.]
When you're put into a space that's completely new, you need to step out of your comfort zone.
But you just grow you, you build relationships whether you realize it or not, with those people who you were holding hands with in the community.
[“Chacalte to Rio Azul”. Voiceover. Video of Rio Azul.]
Expanded Hope's a great name, capital 'E' capital 'H' is the name of this organization, but if you put a small 'e' and a small 'h' there, that's the big deal.
See, we're all on this mission to expand hope wherever we go.
[Voiceover.]
You know I think regardless of where you are in the world, women are the fabric of society.
The difference that I saw there is that they allowed themselves to be proud about it, that they had strength in numbers and that they could be a force to be reckoned with and that they could make a change in their community.
[Voiceover. “Rio Azul to Acul”. Video of Acul.]
I truly feel so much gratitude towards this experience and the opportunity to go on something so, so life changing for me and yeah, that will never leave me.
That experience will never leave me and I truly believe it has changed me forever, forever.
[Voiceover.]
The conversations that we had each evening and just to see daily how people are being transformed.
Now that we've returned, I can see the change in people for the better, and that just proves to me that that what we're trying to accomplish is working.
It's not just a sugar high, it is a high that keeps on going and it's a transformation.
[“So many memories, so much laughter, so much love. Changing Lives One School at a Time.” Music fades out. “Expand Hope One School At a Time” registered logo.]
