Newborn Neighbor, New Clothes, New School: Mothers Meet in Guatemala

HUEHUETENANGO, GUATEMALA

07.02.2019

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Tony Knouf

207th Public Affairs Detachment 

Site construction of the new Eucalypto school in Huehuetenango, Guatemala is well underway as of July 2, 2019, and Task For Rise will oversee it to completion as part of training exercise, Beyond the Horizon, an annual training exercise designed to build partnerships with Central America. When U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Genesis Pozdiaz, 424th Engineer Company (Rutland, VT), found out she would be building a school for annual training, she saw it as a great opportunity to give Guatemalans something else as well – baby clothes. The neighbor next door to the school site was pregnant and soldiers would periodically check on her throughout the mission. Recently she had given birth and Pozdiaz surprised her with the baby clothes. She handed the new mother item after item while the mother smiled, then accepted the opportunity to hold the baby for a few moments before returning to work on the new school. Pozdiaz said her mother and grandmother plan to come and make tamales for the Soldiers on the Exercise. Pozdiaz lives in Boston, Massachusetts