A boy named Juan and an Ocean that knows kindness

From the beginning Juan stood out. If students were sitting in a circle, he would be on the other side of the room fidgeting with a stick. If Juan was asked to start a task he would ask to go to the bathroom or simply say, “No.” At every opportunity he was testing limits and pressing boundaries… and ultimately seeking attention. Because Juan was a bit of a favorite around the camp, he often got away with it. As I found out, he has been struggling with family dynamics and mourning the loss of his older brother who was away in prison. Yet both Pedro and I held him to the same standards as the rest of our students. When he pushed hard we pushed hard back. On our second day I pulled him aside before class started and explained that he needed to rise to the standard or he would have to leave class until he could. He still needed reminding, but showed significant improvement. On the third day I gave him the heaviest bucket to carry down to the beach where we were working… giving him leadership and a very tactile task that didn’t allow room for diversion. Not only did he handle it beautifully he also worked quietly and independently the duration of the class... almost. When I began to explain the process of our boat launching/releasing ceremony to be held later that night he announced that he was keeping his boat and wouldn’t launch it with the rest of the group. I said that wasn’t an option… We were all doing this together… We had to give up control and release our boats out to the ocean and let it decide what it would do with them. We would send any sadness we had out with the boat and keep the happy memories of our time together.

Juan seemed to accept my explanation, but as it turned out he left the class and cried. Some of the other teachers intervened by re-explaining the purpose of the boats and as I was lighting candles on the beach in preparation Juan came down with a translator. He said, “I’m sorry. I will release my boat.” I thanked him and said how proud I was.

Juan launched his boat with the same excitement as the group… he let it go knowing he might never see it again.

The next morning about 6:30am I headed down to the beach and began scanning the water’s edge to see if any boats had been returned. I did see a few boats (about 8 out of 25) and as I walked closer the first boat I recognized was Juan’s!

I left the boat there for Juan to find and smiled… the Ocean knew… knew who needed to let their boat go and who needed to have it returned. Juan needed to let go in order to find faith and trust.

Later that morning as I finished packing up our art supplies Juan ran up to me beaming and brandishing his boat. He held onto it the entire morning… several sticks of bamboo, twine, and a piece of palm bark, but to him in that moment it was better than any expensive gift.

After we returned to Guatemala City for our final celebration, I asked Jaun to share his story for our presentation, he said that he couldn't which I accepted but he then revealed that he now planned on giving his boat his brother!