Monday morning we all drug ourselves out of bed and skipped the regular coffee rush in favor of a sleepy day of flights. We loaded up the vans and went for one last long drive through Guatemala City. Our mood was not reflected in the cloths we wore. Each of us wore our fluorescent green ORI t-shirts so we could easily find each other in the airport—no more losing someone at the train stop.
Our layover was in Dallas and it as there that we had to go through customs. On our team there was one other girl my age and she kept getting asked her age by Guatemalans in the market place and now by customs. What questions did I get asked at customs? I got asked if I spoke English and if I was an orphan. No questions about what I had been doing Guatemala and what I had brought back; of course not, that would be to normal.
Those of us that had made it through customs first gathered in a swarm half way between customs and the security check. As we were standing there an airport employee who was pushing a lady in a wheelchair slowed down, apparently reading our shirts. She then stopped and asked us who we were. We told her that we were with Orphan Resources International and had been helping out at orphanages in Guatemala. Through teary eyes, she asked us where we had been several years ago when she had needed us. She then proceeded to thank us for what we were doing repeatedly as she walked away. One of the women on our team commented that that alone had made this all worth it, and she was right. It was a good ending to an amazing trip I will not soon forget.
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