We received this heartwarming post from a guest, and we’re thrilled that the blog sparked her idea to make donations to locals in Guatemala.

My family and I just returned from an excellent cruise on the Veendam! I would like to share a little about one of the highlights:

In February, I read a blog post about Veendam crew members donating items in Guatemala. I thought this was really neat and wondered if we could somehow help out during our March sailing. So, we packed school supplies and toys in our luggage and the Veendam took care of the rest.

When we arrived in Santo Tomas De Castilla on March 5, we met Chief Housekeeper Nelly, Housekeeper Nur Dian, Housekeeper Mulyance, a Guatemalan social worker and a driver. We and boxes of donations from crew and past guests were piled into a pick-up truck and off we went!

Housekeeper Nur Dian, Becky and Housekeeper Mulyance with all the boxes of donations.

Our first stop was a three-room school. We passed out items including pencils, candy, crayons and clothing.

You wouldn’t believe how excited the kids were to get simple things like glue sticks and markers! Even though they didn’t speak English, the smiles on their faces said it all. Some even gave me hugs!

Becky with the kids.

Also, they absolutely loved when I took their pictures and showed them on the digital camera screen!

Our next stop was a hospital. This was not as happy of a place as the school because there were many sick kids; but we handed out stuffed animals and brought out some smiles.

For our final stop, we went to Las Escobas Tropical Rainforest Trail. Here, we met a guide who immediately gave all of us a hug. Her family received boxes of food and we took the trail to the gorgeous waterfalls.

I would not have traded this experience for anything! Thanks to the Veendam crew for letting us share in it!

Becky Holtrop