Neena Panjwani and Jerrell Jordan lay compost on a field where they will later plant carrots with community members from Chaquijya.

A Guatemalan midday sun is finally allowed to shine through the thick layer of clouds that has loomed all morning. Jerrell Jordan and I, Kenneth Butler, are sitting atop the CARE Bus watching as Hammad Ahmed and Wintta Woldemariam teach seven Guatemalan youths a little American culture.

David Rochkind, our photographer supreme, sits on a blanket enjoying the shade of the tree against his back and the stream trickling beside him. For once, he is not behind the lens of a camera, but appears to be in appreciation of the breeze. The remainder of the CARE Youth Corps (CYC) is sitting inside the van enjoying the breeze of the A/C.

Earlier today, we piled into the van and journeyed to Chaquijya village for our firsthand look at farming in Guatemala and the chance to speak the Kak'chikel that we'd learned the day before. Of course, we only listened to the Mayan dialect as we got translated instructions on how to plant carrots, the big activity of our morning. Senorita Rosa, the matriarch of our host family, was kindly risking her crop by allowing the CYC to cultivate the land for their yearly harvest.

Before beginning, Senora Rosa informed us that five men can complete the process of prepping the one-acre plot and planting the seeds in half a day. Fourteen members of the CYC couldn't finish it in a week. And we certainly didn't finish before the afternoon.

Kenneth Butler learns how to plant carrots using a seeder in Chaquijya as other CYC members look on.

Prepping the land included carrying eight 100-pound bags down a steep hill to the farming area, followed by spreading the fertilizer -- which included cow manure -- by hand and turning the land so the fertilizer mixes with the soil. And then you plant the seeds. But by noon, only half the land had been fertilized and turned, and nothing had been planted.

"Are they laughing at me?" inquires Clare Cameron of Chicago. Minutes later, the Guatemalan women had taken the hoe out of her hand and were doing the work themselves.

But learning the difficult farming process was only half the purpose of the trip. Our visit included meetings with CARE employees, local community leaders and participants in this agriculture project that helps farmers buy land and support their families. One interesting fact about the project in Chaquijya is that it was totally organized by the women of the community, not the men, as is much more common here.

Juan Pich, a Guatemala staffer and our Kak'chikel translator, offered some insight as to just how the women were taking charge.

A woman from Chaquijya rests while planting carrots with CYC members.

"Even though most of the agricultural work is done by men, when we came to this community, the women volunteered to work for the project. The men must work during the day, and although the women have to work as well, they have more spare time. We do not want to take from their time, but we want to take advantage of their skills."

Similar to the education projects of Panajachel and Las Canoas, the CARE agriculture projects allow women to take out loans to buy land or animals or equipment, increasing yields and income. To help make sure the benefits last, CARE is helping the Chaquijya group gain legal status to get their own loans and establish their own organizations. CARE also offers help in debt management, but as Juan said, "They are already very good about paying back their debt."

Needless to say, working in fields for a few hours was exhausting for the CYC, but the hard work of the day was scarcely over. After a quaint lunch eaten in the parked CARE van and some entertaining tricks taught to the seven Guatemalan boys by Wintta and Hammad, the CYC was off to the mountains to plant trees for a reforestation project aimed at maintaining natural resources for the Chaquijya village.

A 20-minute hike up the steepest of all sylvan mountains in Guatemala was made even more difficult with three crates full of baby pine saplings. Our mission: to help replace the trees that the community has been using for firewood. Yet another seemingly simple task was made more difficult by the necessity for equal spaces between the saplings. And after such a challenging hike, it took awhile for us to get back to work.

"What do you want to name our tree," Kathryn asks me regarding a sapling we'd planted. After a little deliberation we agree on Special K (Kenneth and Kathryn...get it?). About an hour and a half after our arrival on the hilltop, we begin our descent.

A waterfall on the road to Chaquijya from Panajachel.

At the end of the day, we made presentations to the CARE staff that accompanied us on the day's travels. To thank them, the CYC made snow globes that contained messages of gratitude in Spanish and pictures of us all. But the real gifts weren't in the globes. Renee Patal, a member of CARE's agriculture staff, parted ways with his own expression of thanks.

"We're living in worlds with different cultures, but I am really glad that people like you are here to help," he said. "It's going to make the world a better place."

His coworker, Marcelo Hernandez, also expressed his appreciation, thanking us for "caring about my people."

Hammad Ahmed spoke for us all when he told our departing guides, "The whole experience with the children and the natural beauty is mind boggling. It's amazing how we're so different in terms of our environment, but both work hard at what we do and there's not much difference between us."

Kenneth Butler and "Eileencita" Rivera plant a tree in Chaquijya in order to rejuvenate the soil and help prevent erosion.

Given the conditions of the fields after our departure from Senora Rosa's farm, I don't think they bought the "working hard at what we do" angle, but the connections we've sought since stepping on the plane in Atlanta have been made. And hopefully they will continue to grow.

Journal entries are written by Kenneth Butler, student-writer for the CARE Youth Corps.