Life in Guatemala Part II

Here is the second installment of things I've noticed about Guatemala.  I'm home now but I didn't get a chance to post it before I left. 


11. They have these little taxis called tuk tuks.  They fit 3 people, one driver and two passengers in the back. From what I've seen in passing, they are like a trike but with a shell of sorts.

12. The cows on the farms are very skinny, probably because they don't get any extra nourishment like silage and grain. They just eat the grass which is already pretty short.

We caught a bunch of frogs one night

13. HOL has a school on its property. It has become so good that it has won awards and now many of the wealthy people want to send their kids there too. They charge the wealthy twice as much to provide an education for the orphans. By bringing the wealthy and orphans together, they break a lot of social boundaries since they all wear the same uniforms, learn the same things, and have to get the same grades to graduate. This way the orphans also learn to develop goals and future aspirations. By learning about different professions, they can dream about being that. In the village, if you ask a kid what he wants to be when he grows up, he'll most likely say he wants to pick corn like his dad does or make tortillas like her mom does. They don't know anything else so that's all they can dream about. The younger kids have school from 7:30 to about noon, and the high schoolers have class in the afternoon, from 1-6.

14. Everyone dries their clothes on the line outside. Most also do their laundry in the river.

Kids with their TOMS

15. From what I've seen of Guatemala, there are only a few main roads and then the villages branch off of them. From Guatemala City to Rio Hondo we took one road. At night, you can clearly see the lights and villages forming a line that go along the main road.
 
16. When it rains, it pours.  It usually rains during the night or in the evening.  I've only been caught in it once but we just embraced it and continued watching the soccer game soaking wet.  Sometimes it rains so hard that you can't even talk to someone right next to you.

Stick bug

17.  Here there is no hiding when it comes to breast feeding.  In the US, women will buy these tents to cover themselves while they breast feed but here there is no shame.  They will whip it out in church, in restaurants, in the middle of a conversation, anytime.  They also don't carry around their babies in carriers.  In the US, so much money is spent on the car seats and strollers and the like but there just isn't a need for that here.  Their money is used on more important and necessary things.
  
18. The sound of bug spray is very common in the mornings as everyone is getting ready for their day. There are a lot of mosquitoes and I get at least a few every day. My legs look absolutely horrible because they've scabbed over.  I need to be sure to wear long pants for the flight home so that they don't quarantine me for having some weird disease.  I've stopped using bug spray though.  I found that it didn't help at all.  I might get a few more but I'll take that over feeling disgusting and sticky all day.

A banana tree

19. The temperature isn't as horribly warm as I had expected. In the morning and evening/night, it's really nice. Some nights I could have worn a sweatshirt but I was fine without. During the day it does get pretty warm but not unbearable since there's usually a breeze.  In the two days I've been home, it has been so much warmer than it was down there. 

20. To get your attention, they do this "ch-ch" noise.  At first I was a little offended because I thought they were talking down to me but then I realized that everyone does it.  It would be like saying "Hey you" in the States.

The last view of Guatemala City

An American Feast...Guatemala Style

I have less than a week left! It will be bittersweet leaving.  I'm just now starting to really form relationships with the Guatemalans that work at Hope of Life so it will be sad to leave them but I am excited to go home and have a regular schedule again. And to eat real ice cream :)

Last week we gave out flip flops at Pueblo del Rio and TOMs at another village.  I think I'm being called to measure feet.  Every single time we give out shoes (and it's been 4 times by now), I always end up sizing the kids' feet.  They moved all the babies in the baby rescue center up to the hospital to get it up and running.  Now they're making the rescue center into temporary housing for more mission groups since there's quite a lot coming the end of this week.  We repainted all the rooms to make it look nice.  On Monday and Tuesday, we did a lot of organizing for Eunice and played with babies.  So far it's been a rather relaxing week.

The kids and their TOMs

Our main event last week was our American feast for the 4th of July.  On Thursdays, we usually have a Cena Tipica as a last big dinner before the groups all head home but we the volunteers decided we wanted American food.  I made a menu and on the Sunday before, we bought some of the food at the mall in Chiquimula.  On Thursday, Rachel and I helped in the kitchen, chopping potatoes for french fries and mixing brownie batter.  We set up all the food outside and everyone ate outside at tables with plastic chairs.  There were red, white, and blue decorations everywhere and everyone was dressed in red, white, and blue too.  We laid out temporary tattoos for everyone.

The menu:
- hamburgers
- hot dogs
- BBQ chicken
- french fries
- beans
- salad
- potato salad
- cole slaw
- corn on the cob
- watermelon
- guacemole
- tortillas
- salsa

 The hamburgers and hotdogs we grilled where we had the food set out so people could get it right off the grill.  The men from all groups ended up being the grillmasters.  They looked rather comical, all standing around the grill holding spatulas.  The only thing that was missing was a can of beer in the other hand.  There were so many people here with all the groups, the office people, some of the orphans, and all of the volunteers and translators so it took more than hour until everyone got their food.  I was one of the last ones to eat but once I sat down, the fireworks started.  I had the best seat though.  I just had to look up and I could continue eating while I watched.  When that was done, everyone went back inside for the regular Cena Tipica events like the orphans' performances and testimonies.  We didn't end up serving the brownies because Brigitte, one of the kitchen ladies, said that there weren't enough but she made a plate for the volunteers and we devoured them once the festivities were done.  They were the best brownies I've ever had.  Even though some things didn't go as planned, the feast was still a success and the Americans loved it.  However, the night ended Guatemala style--we came back to the mission house and didn't have any water.  Because it rained so much the night before, there was flooding and one of the pipes up in the mountains broke.  The fire department brought a tank of water so we did have some for the night.  I am still not certain if the pipe is fixed yet because sometimes we have water and sometimes we don't.

Look at all that food!

The grillmasters

So much food!

That's all for now! Another Life in Guatemala post is coming tomorrow!

I was taken hostage....by some kids

Sorry it's been a while! Here is a quick recap of what I've been up to for the past week.

Wednesday morning, I worked in the office making this twisted streamer things that they use for house/church dedications.  In the afternoon, I went up to the orphanage to help paint a mural with a group from Lynchburg.  We painted hills and a big tree with handprints of the children.  It's not completely done yet but once it is, I'll get a picture.  While working, I had a wonderful talk with Scott, the father of one of the young girls in the group.  He made me realize that heaven and eternal live is a gift from God and Jesus paid for it.  There is nothing we can do other than be faithful to Him.

The wall before we painted it

At 5, there was a dedication for Causelife, the worship center in Las Casitas.  It was finally finished painting and had chairs and everything.  Vernon Brewer, the CEO of World Help, Charles Billingsley, a Christian singer, and Kevin Foster, a director of the board at World Help, were there because they funded the entire project.  The kids from the orphanage did their song and dance and Jill sang the Hope of Life Song that she wrote.  A lot of it was for show, like cutting the streamer, firecrackers, and handing over the key but it was still cool to be able to be a part of it and seeing the people in the village be inside the church for the first time.

The inside of Causelife

Thursday I worked with Nina and Erika all day.  In the morning, I helped feed and bathe the children at Kelly's house and in the afternoon, we went up to the hospital and worked with the children there.  This picture is of Nina and Mirza, the girl they rescued two weeks ago who is 15 years old and 20 pounds.  She is the sweetest girl and has such a big smile!  It doesn't look like it in the picture, but I promise she is smiling.

Friday was another TOMs distribution.  It was at Los Limones.  Rachel and I went with the group from Lynchburg who had been working there all week building a church.  The interesting thing about this village was how we got there.  After a 10 minute truck ride, we arrived at a river and unloaded the truck.  There was a long canoe-like boat that we loaded everything into and then were paddled across by two men.  We unloaded everything on the other side and almost lost a bag of shoes in the process because it fell into the water. After waiting for the group to arrive, we sat in the back of a truck with all the tables, chairs, and boxes and bags of shoes for another 40 minute drive through the mountains and through smaller streams on a dirt road.  It was rather bumpy to say the least.

When we got there, we had a service in the new church with worship led by the locals and a short sermon by Scott.  We washed feet, gave out shoes and made some PBJ sandwiches for lunch.  Then it was back into the trucks for a bumpy ride back to the river.

We got back sort of early so a few of the volunteers decided that we wanted churrascos.  There's a little stand that sells them in Llano Verde so we went there.  They are my new favorite food.  We had milkshakes too.  All of it cost Q25, which is about $3.50.  You could never get a meal that cheap and that good in the U.S.  They ended up having churrascos for dinner at the Rancho too so I had another there. 

This weekend was incredibly warm so none of us had much energy or motivation do anything other than veg out so sorry, nothing to report there.  I did get a choco banana for 1Q. On Sunday morning, the volunteers went to the mall in Chiquimula.  It was a beautiful mall.  It was basically like an American mall.  There were smaller, boutiquey stores, stands in the middle, and a food court.  They also had this massive store called Megapaca, which is sort of like TJ Maxx or Marshall's and Plato's Closet combined.  Tanner found a pair of Vans for $7.  There was so much everywhere that I didn't even know where to start.  They have a grocery store too so we made a stop there before getting back on the bus to head home.  Sunday night we wanted to watch a movie so we started the Hunger Games but about 15 minutes into it, it started pouring sheets of water.  It was so loud that we couldn't continue.  You couldn't even hear someone else speaking right next to you.  It lightened up a tad so we fell asleep to the sound of pounding rain on the ceiling.  It was great.

The mall

Megapaca

 Today I got to do construction!  Remember all the cinderblocks we moved my first week? They were made into a new dorm for the older girls of the orphanage.  Now it was time to put the roof on so we spent all morning lifting cinderblocks up and setting them into place.  Rachel and I worked with a new group that is here from Nashville, TN.  They have a little five year old named Iona Ruth who wants to play cello!  She is the cutest.  I think I'm going to be helping them with construction for the rest of the week so I'm excited to get to know her more.

In the afternoon, we all went to the dump to serve food.  This is when I was taken hostage.  Amanda, the new volunteer, Rachel and I started playing tag with the kids.  After 15 minutes of running around, their moms wanted to take them home.  Three of the kids tagged me and then starting pulling me down the roads to where their moms were.  I said goodbye to them and then turned around to walk back to the group and then five of them ran up to me and grabbed my arms.  They wanted to take me home with them.  I tried to say No puerdo ir contigo (I can't go with you) but my Spanish is so bad that they just laughed.  They were just playing though so they did let me go.  It was probably the funnest afternoon I've had here with kids. 

Life in Guatemala Part I

The culture here in Guatemala is very different from the US obviously so I figured I'd dedicate a post to some of the things that I've noticed and seen in the past three weeks.

1. The driving is reckless but not at the same time.  The main road out here is two lanes, sometimes with a dotted yellow line and sometimes a solid or double line.  However, that doesn't really mean anything. They pass in the opposite lane whenever they want. While we were driving to and from the baby rescue two weeks ago, our driver was weaving in and out like you wouldn't believe.  There were a few times where I thought we were going to crash but he got back in our lane just in time. Even though we would be going at least 80 to pass them, he always used his blinker. I'm writing this in the bus and we were just passed by an 18 wheeler. It's crazy.

2. Related to that is the choice of vehicle.  There are so many motorbikes which are ideal if you think about it. They're good for getting around the mountains and the curves but are also cheaper than a car and get good gas mileage. I've seen 3 people riding on the same bike.  It is legal to sit in the bed of a pickup truck too. Ive seen some with more than ten people.

3. Everyone is very hospitable. There was a group from Liberty University that was at HOL for a month and is now staying with host families for another month. One girl I talked to said that her family essentially told her mi casa es tu casa. The mother said that they don't have much but there is a lot of love and that's what matters. They are so willing to share what they have even though it's not a lot.  Everyone that we've visited while evangelizing has always welcomed us in and given everyone someplace to sit. Related to that, everyone always says hello to each other.  If you pass them while walking, it's usually hola or buenas and a wave and if they'll honk to say hello in a car.

4. We've been eating a lot of rice, beans, some sort of meat, and corn tortillas. This is the standard meal for everyone.

5. On the way back from the baby rescue, Hugo asked Connor if he was married and had any children. He doesn't of course but that prompted a discussion at dinner about marriage.  Most girls in the villages get "married" soon after they are able to have children. However, they don't really get married in the sense that we think of with the big wedding.  It can take years for them to get their papers that say they are officially married so many don't even bother. It's more of an agreement per se. Many times the father/husband is not in the picture.  They don't really understand the idea of being able to provide for their family and not having children until they are able to do that. They also don't really understand how they get pregnant.  Health education is really lacking here.

6. They cut the grass and weeds at the side of the roads with machetes. It's actually rather effective.

Baby crocodile on a leash

7. The villages are a lot safer than the cities because everyone knows each other and many times are related.  The houses are all colorful.

8. The women carry baskets of things on their head. It's a rather impressive feat.

The cattle coming home through the village

9. To use less water and to prevent problems with the plumbing, you have to throw your toilet paper in the trash. I have finally gotten used to it.  It only took three weeks.

10. Guatemalans are short. I tower above everyone in the village.

The river by Los Limones

Also, a somewhat related side note. I am going to come home with a southern accent.  There are a lot of groups from the South here.  Last week, we had Louisina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina.  Jill, the other girl in our room, and Tanner are from North Carolina and they have some of the most southern accents that I've ever heard. I'm already saying y'all again.

I found a German!

The world just keeps getting smaller and smaller.  I keep meeting people with mutual friends or something else in common.  Last week there were two guys here that are good friends with one of my counselors from Csehy.  There's a group from Liberty here and we have quite a few mutual friends through Csehy. Yesterday, I met a guy from another group that lived in Germany for 12 years and went to Black Forest Academy, where I know some people.  I had been joking last week that I wish there was someone that spoke German or French so that someone could understand me since my Spanish is not getting me anywhere.  Unfortunately they left today so we won't get to talk anymore.  It's crazy how I've been running into people this far away from home. 

Sunday was a relaxing day for all of us.  After church where we sang and danced to worship the Lord, we had lunch and I took a nap in a hammock for three hours.

On Monday, our supervisor asked us to organize the back part of the office which has a bunch of filing cabinets and boxes and bags and is just a mess.  We spent all day going through the cabinets and pulling out donations, art supplies, office supplies, old electronics, and hardware to put in boxes.  Although when we put everything back, it looks just as messy as when we started, you can actually find things now.  One cabinet is dedicated to labels and shipping envelopes and another is solely for office supplies.  After dinner, we had a devotion and worship with the volunteers.  It finally stormed for real.  You couldn't hear anything.

The area we organized

Tuesday morning we finished organizing and then in the afternoon we went to a village to pass out TOMs.  After the kids get a ticket, they get in line for the feet to be measured with this foot template thing.  Then they go receive their shoes and they get their feet washed too.  It was a lot of chaos since people were everywhere and the line was more of a clump.  The village was pretty well established.  It had fields and greenhouses and although the houses were mud huts, they were clean.  They even had a stereo and sound system.  It was still cool to be able to provide these kids with another pair of shoes.  When we gave out all the shoes, the kids sang two songs for us.  One little girl grabbed the microphone when they were done and said "Gracias por mis zapatos!" She was precious.      

Making a foot template

      

On Evangelizing and Religion

The other day, my dad sent me an email asking what the people here believe.  It really depends.  Some are already Christians and many villages have churches.  The church I went to down the road last week was small.  There were probably 20 adult attendees not in our group.  However, they were well established.  They took the children out for Sunday School during the sermon.  In the village where we planted trees the first week, they had a church but not everyone that we talked to attended it.  I wasn't part of the evangelizing team since I was digging holes but from what I overheard, those that didn't know Jesus were open to it.  I'm not aware that they followed another religion; they just didn't believe in anything.  We introduced them to the idea of a relationship with God, gave them a Bible, and encouraged them to go to church and talk to their pastor.  Our mission is not to shove the Gospel down their throats and tell them that if they don't have a personal relationship with God, then bad things will happen; rather we want to show them God's love through service and go from there.  We can't fulfill their spiritual needs before addressing their material needs.

Because every post needs pictures.... I found Kinderschokolade here!

The kids that we've led VBS for are very excited about Jesus.  El Mitch already has an Awana-type program in place.  I was told that a church from somewhere in Pennsylvania has adopted the village and started the program there.  They even raised funds to send a staff worker down and provide them with these textbooklets.  When we went there for VBS, we led some songs and then they sang ones that they had learned for us.  On Saturday, we went to Pueblo del Rio to do another VBS and they had a blast.  They did skits, played games, and colored.  I was at the craft station where they decorated a paper plate that had Psalm 139:14 on it (I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul know right well.) A lot of parents were at that one too.  Eventually there was a braiding station because Nina started braiding a girl's hair and then everyone else wanted theirs done too.  

 

This morning we went to church in Llano Verde, the village adjacent to the Hope of Life campus.  They were bigger than last week's church.  They bring the children down from the orphanage and a few elderly and special needs kids as well. They had a band playing the songs and we all had lots of fun even though us Americans didn't know any of them.  The natives got really into it and you could see that they were excited for Jesus.  I got the impression that it was contemporary nondenominational rather than a specific denomination.  During lunch, a few of the Liberty students were talking about their host families and they were saying that there is a Catholic church and a Jehovah's Witness church in the area as well. 

Playing Pharmacist

Much frustration with this post. I had it all typed out with pictures and then turns out it never saved. Mer. This week there were two teams here doing medical and dental clincs.  On Wednesday morning I helped with dental, basically just organizing the papers, checking which kids were and weren't there and playing with the kids while their parents were getting their teeth checked.  After lunch I went with the other group to a village where we held the medical clinic.  I manned the "pharmacy," which was two tables of medicine and wound care materials.  They had two doctors and a nursing student and translators for each of them.  The nursing student was in charge of triage and then sent the patients to one of the two doctor stations.  A lot of the patients were older women that had pain in their joints which mostly came from wear and tear so we gave them some vitamins and ibuprofen.  We handed out a lot of child's tylenol as well.  By the end I got pretty good at guessing what medicine the doctor's needed based on their symptoms.  The other half of the team cleaned feet and passed out TOMs to the kids.

The pharmacy

Patients seeing the doctors

Picture by Rachel Yowell while she was passing out TOMs

When we got back, we had the second half of the soccer tournament that was started last week.  Nina, Emily, and I got there a little early but once the kids from the orphanage came down, we were bombarded and were surrounded by them.  During the second to last game it started pouring so we decided to embrace it and get soaked.  It was Emily and Steve's last night so before heading back we went to the bakery and bought at least Q120 worth of goodies.  We polished off a good bit of it with some coffee after having a late dinner at the rancho. 

Om nom nom

On Thursday we went to El Oasis, a village along railroad tracks.  It is probably one of the most unique things I've seen while here.  Instead of being in a gridlike pattern like most of the villages I've been to so far, the houses/huts in this one run in two lines parallel to the tracks.  They have built these carts to use the tracks to their advantage.  To carry big jugs of water from the well to their respective homes, they put the jugs on the carts and push them down.  When we arrived, a bunch of kids put all of our boxes and equipment on the carts and pushed them to where we were having the clinic.

This clinic wasn't as organized as the other one.  We were in an area with a dirt floor and a table that the doctors used to see their patients.  Our pharmacy was the boxes laid out on a 2x4 on cinderblocks.  We were still able to see plenty of patients though.  The most common problems were joint pain and a cough, which comes from the smoke that they breath in while coughing.

Add caption

The "pharmacy"

After lunch, we were supposed to set up a bunch of chairs in the new church but they hadn't arrived yet so we walked down the tracks and talked to and prayed with the families there.  A few of them hadn't gotten a chance to go to the clinic so eventually we put all of the boxes on a cart and turned it into a mobile clinic.  The chairs got there so we set them up and prayed over the church.  I also met the cutest little girl ever, Jacqueline.  She was absolutely precious.

Our little mobile pharmacy

Jacqueline

Friday saw more medical clinics, though a different one this time.  Rachel and I went with two doctors from Hope of Life, a few office people, and another team of doctors from the city to El Mitch, the village I was at for VBS on Tuesday.  In my room, we took heights and weights of the kids and then sent them to one of two clinics where they saw a doctor.  If they needed medicine, they could go to the pharmacy which was set up in another room.

Our room

For lunch we went to the house of one of the office guys.  They served us chow mein, so Guatemalan Chinese food.  It was probably the best thing I've eaten here.  We had frozen chocolate covered bananas.  We measured more kids in the afternoon and then headed back to HOL.  There was another cena tipica so lots of good food.

More noms

Please let me know if you have any questions about what I'm doing or Hope of Life or Guatemala or anything!  If there's anything else you want me to include, let me know that too!

Dental Clinic and VBS

This is week is already turning out to be different from last week.  On Monday I worked by myself sorting bags of clothes, shoes, art supplies, and toys that people had donated.  Then Eunice sent me into the Hope of Life Village to clean a building so another group could use it for a dental clinic.  A bunch of kids from the village just appeared and helped me.  There were so many of them that I didn't have anything to do so I just tried to talk to them but failed.  They laughed at me.  After lunch, I went back to the building with the dental team to assist them.  We swept and wiped everything down again since I had only gone over it quickly in the morning.  We were about to start setting everything up when the person in charge decided that it would be better to do the clinic up at the Rancho Taiwan because they would be too hot down there.  So off to the Rancho to clean tables for them.  They were waiting for bigger equipment to be brought in from another dentist so my work was done pretty early.  I had time just to relax and journal before dinner.  Afterwards we had worship and devotion with all the volunteers.

Connor and Hugo on a scooter

Tuesday was an exhausting day.  In the morning Connor and I went with Pastor Doug's group to El Mitch, a village about 25 minutes away.  To get there, we took this road that a mini van shouldn't take and we took it in a bus.  We got so many leaves inside.  The road we were supposed to take was closed because of construction so we had to take that little detour.  When we got there, we lead a VBS type of thing for about 70 kids.  Julio translated while they talked about Jesus and did a few crafts.  Afterwards the boys played soccer and I played pato, pato, ganzo (duck, duck, goose) with the little ones.  We stopped on the way back to get drinks at a stand on the side of the road owned by a lady who lives in HOL village.  I don't like coke so I decided to get something purple in a bag.  Drinks often come in bags; you bite off the corner and then drink out of it.  It tasted like any purple drink.  It also cost me Q2 which is about 26 cents. Yes it's that cheap.  Connor's coke was Q2.50 so 35 cents ish. That was in a little plastic bottle though.

The kids praying

Purple in a bag

In the afternoon, we joined a team from South Carolina and painted Causelife, the worship center in La Casitas.  We painted it a nice bright white.  I'm not the cleanest painter so I ended up with paint everywhere, even in my hair.  I accidentally backed against a wet wall.  Oops.  My favorite part of the afternoon was seeing Claudio again.  He remembered me after all the picture taking at the medical clinic last week and ran up to me to give me a big hug.  After a well earned shower, we had my favorite churrascos for dinner.  They are flour tortillas with rice, pork, cole slaw, and salsa. So good.     

Weekend Recap

This weekend was rather uneventful.  We barely did anything.  After sleeping in on Saturday, I cleaned and organized my little section of my room.  We headed down to lunch at around 11:30.  There were only five of us so the kitchen ladies just had chicken sandwiches and pasta salad.  After that, I got to work learning some Spanish.  I'm picking up on some words but I don't know how to put them together so I wanted to look up the different conjugations and grammar things.  I found a website (studyspanish.com) that has a bunch of units on beginner Spanish.  I read through a few of them and realized that I actually know most of the concepts because they are very similar in French, I just didn't know how it corresponded in Spanish.  In the afternoon we went to the baby center again and played with more babies.

Herninio!

That night the orphans had a pizza party so we went up and helped with that.  They had a few pinatas for the kids too.  They divided it up into big girls and big boys and the younger boys and younger girls.  The younger ones could barely swing the stick.  They were precious.  After serving pizza to the kids, we played with them.  I still could barely understand them and I didn't catch any of their names but we still had fun.  They just grab your hand and pull you somewhere or point if you're holding them.  It gets dark here super early, at about 7, so we headed back to the Mission House.  Julio got us cucos so we had that while we watched another movie.

The kids and their candy

Sunday we had breakfast and then went to church a few minutes down the road.  It was such a small church that we doubled the size of the congregation.  It was an interesting experience.  They started the service with a lady who prayed and sang some songs.  We didn't know any of the words so we just clapped along.  Their regular pastor was at a different church so Brother Benjamin preached.  Nina and Julio translated for us.  He talked about how we have to pray with faith and perseverance.  When we got back, we had lunch and then went swimming. 

The front of the church

For the rest of the afternoon, we just hung around and relaxed.  After dinner, we got a ride back up to the Mission House and had a bonfire and worshipped with the volunteers and translators.  We made s'mores with Chiky's, which are sort of like shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate.  They're delicious.  It was a great way to end the weekend and prepare for the new week with a renewed focus.