Unidos para Siguatepeque

Me making the opening comments with the help of my translator Jorge in the first meeting of United for Sigautepeque

Yesterday I had the honor of bringing the opening statements at the first meeting of United for Siguatepeque. Gathered together at CELebracion were many local pastors, leaders of NGOs, the Mayor of Sigau, doctors and businessmen. We came together to address the problems that the youth of this city are facing. The purpose driving this meeting was the idea that there are convergence points that exist between the Church, Government and community leaders and that when we merge our efforts where these needs meet, we will be able to accomplish our goals much more effectively. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first meeting of this kind and with this purpose to take place here. The results were outstanding!

The idea for this meeting was a joint effort between myself and Tim Hagler. The opportunity came out of the time I have spent with the Mayor discussing water issues, wells and other problems in Siguat. The idea for the forum came from a long time dream Tim has had for an event like last nights. Timing is everything, and the time was right for this.

We began the meeting with coffee and cake in the ComuniCafe. It was amazing to watch and listen as men and women from the community visited with each other, drinking coffee and eating pastries. Eventually we moved upstairs to begin the meeting officially.

Tim Hagler (right) with David Guevara (left) and Pastor Noel (center)

From the beginning of this event, I was and remain convinced that in order for something like this to work it must be every ones. I opened the meeting making this fact clear and asking each of us to use "me" less and "us" and "together" more. If you have the time, watch this 9 minute video of my "speech". The quality is awful, the sound poor and I am even uglier than usual, but I believe that the message of "unitedness" is one we need to hear more. Click on this link to go to YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCY703asyCQ 

Here's another great video Ben took, coming from the street into the meeting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvAIX__6k3g&feature=youtu.be

One of the small group discussions

So what came out of this meeting. Well, a good sense of unity, talk of a youth center and another meeting scheduled for next month. For me it really has been an honor to be able to be a part of something like this. I do not know what the future holds, but I do believe that as we work together, in what ever form that takes, we will be more effective and accomplish more of the things we hope to see happen. Things like a future and a hope for our children.