On Tuesday, September 29 we went into the capital to visit Cedepca, the organization Marcia works for. They bring in groups (from North America mainly) for short term trips. The trips aren't "work" trips, though. They are for learning more about Guatemala--the religions, the culture, the problems, the people, etc. Many of these groups visit the organization where I"ll be working in Xela, La Fraternidad, so I think I will have some contact with US and Canadian groups throughout the year.
When we visited we sat in on their weekly devotional, which was about Joshua, and which I understood very little of. It was a little frustrating. I start to think that my Spanish is so good, and then, bam. I go to church or to a devotional and all my confidence is stricken down. Oh well. The people were very welcoming, though, and explained to us (some in English!) about other projects that Cedepca does, one of which my friend Whitney will be working with. It seems like a very well-run, well-organized organization with the right perspective on inter-cultural experiences.
After Cedepca we visited a school called Francisco Collegio. It is built right near the dump where all the trash from Guatemala City and a few surrounding towns comes. The school was started 15 years ago, mainly for the kids who live and work in the dump. We first went and visited a few of the classrooms, and were greeted with unison "hola, buenos dias, bienvenidos" as well as a song and some drawings. We then took a tour of the area, which was one of the most impactful experiences I have had so far in this country.
The woman who gave us the "tour" had worked at the school since it's beginning and had lived in the dump for 10 years before that. There is some land that has not yet been used as a dump, but is owned by the government for that purpose. But often, people who have nowhere else to live will come and squat on this land. They usually come in a big group so that it's harder for the government to throw them off, and there is a law that if someone has lived on a piece of land for 3 years it is theirs. So they squat for 3 years until the land becomes theirs and then they construct cement houses to live in. I don't think there is running water, though. We walked through one of these neighborhoods with actual houses, and we also saw another whole area that is kinda like a camp, where people had just moved 2 or 3 days before to begin squatting on that land.
Many of these families also "work" in the dump. There isn't any kind of "curbside recycling" so people just throw away their recyclables in the trash and then people who need the money go and search through the dump, picking out the recycling. They are paid a couple quetzales per pound of recycling. So this school is for the kids who have to live and work in the dump, who otherwise would probably not get an education.
Even though there are public schools here, many families cannot afford to send their kids because you still have to pay for the uniform and for supplies and often there are other fees associated with it. There also are simply not enough schools, so many children cannot go because there is not enough room or teachers. Plus, once a child is 2 years older than the average age for a grade (i.e. a 9 year old who needs to be in first grade), the government says they can't go to school.
While we were walking around the dump neighborhood I was in shock almost. I have never seen such poverty. The people who live there get the things for their houses from the dump, their clothes, and even their food, which often has gone bad and so they are often sick. Of course, the whole place smells terrible as well because it's right near a dump and you can feel the pollution from the trash trucks and camionetas when you breathe. I really just cannot imagine living like that... I have been thinking about it for about 24 hours now and just cannot fathom it. I felt so guilty thinking this when we were walking around, but I just wanted to leave. Not that I didn't feel compassion for the people we saw living there, but it was so awful and felt like such an overwhelming problem, and I felt so small, and I just wanted to leave.
On the pollution note... Whitney read that spending a day in Guatemala City is like smoking 3 packs of cigarrettes. :O I believe it. Every time we visit my throat hurts for about a day after we leave.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Washing my clothes in the Pila
So my big adventure this past Monday (September 28), was that I was trying to be very Guatemalan (and save some money!) by washing my clothes the way they do... in the pila and hanging them to dry. Most houses now have a pila in them, but there are also communal pilas in most of the towns. A pila is a sink with essentially 3 basins. In the middle, there is a water faucet and the basin is very deep. You fill up this middle one with clean water. Then the basins on the sides are much shallower. The one on the right has ridges, so it acts as a washboard for doing laundry. The one on the right may or may not have ridges, but it can be used to wash dishes.
So I went and bought some laundry detergent, put it in a bucket, added some water to it, and plopped in some (very) dirty clothes. Then you take each item of clothing out of the soapy water and rub it in the pila and against itself to get it clean. Finally, you take a bowl (each pila usually ahs 2 or 3) and dip water out of the middle basin to rinse the soap out of your clothes... or at least that's the general idea.
However, I apparently did not scrub enough or use enough soap, because my clothes still smelled foul after they dried on the line, and many of them were slightly crunchy, because I couldn't get all the soap out. My host mom took them down off the line for me, because I was at school while they were drying and it was about to rain, and I'm sure she was just laughing to herself at how much soap was still in my clothes :)
Also, it took me FOREVER and my arms were sore the next day, but I always see my mom and oldest sister washing clothes and it never looks that hard. They do it so fast, and I'm sure they always get the soap out. So I ended up having to take most of my "clean" clothes to a laundromat, which is really just this woman's house that has a washing machine and she washes, dries, and irons your clothes for 6 quetzales a pound. So I have a lot to learn about a lot of things, but I'm determined to be able to wash my clothes myself by the end of the year... I just may be a little soapy in the mean time :)
So I went and bought some laundry detergent, put it in a bucket, added some water to it, and plopped in some (very) dirty clothes. Then you take each item of clothing out of the soapy water and rub it in the pila and against itself to get it clean. Finally, you take a bowl (each pila usually ahs 2 or 3) and dip water out of the middle basin to rinse the soap out of your clothes... or at least that's the general idea.
However, I apparently did not scrub enough or use enough soap, because my clothes still smelled foul after they dried on the line, and many of them were slightly crunchy, because I couldn't get all the soap out. My host mom took them down off the line for me, because I was at school while they were drying and it was about to rain, and I'm sure she was just laughing to herself at how much soap was still in my clothes :)
Also, it took me FOREVER and my arms were sore the next day, but I always see my mom and oldest sister washing clothes and it never looks that hard. They do it so fast, and I'm sure they always get the soap out. So I ended up having to take most of my "clean" clothes to a laundromat, which is really just this woman's house that has a washing machine and she washes, dries, and irons your clothes for 6 quetzales a pound. So I have a lot to learn about a lot of things, but I'm determined to be able to wash my clothes myself by the end of the year... I just may be a little soapy in the mean time :)
A different Perspective on La Violencia...
After we went to Corazon de la Mujer, Willem was telling his mom about what we had done that day over dinner.
I need to explain first that Willem's host father is in the military, a colonel I think. And he has been in the military since he was a young man, so he was in the military during La Violencia.
So anyway, Willem was telling his host mother, whom he loves, about what we had heard that day from the women at Corazon de la Mujer and how sad it was, and his mother responded "Yes, it's sad, but it was necessary." It's really hard to talk about things like this at all, and the language barrier makes it even more difficult. Many times we have to talk very bluntly, because we don't have the language to speak with eloquence and/or delicacy. It was a shocking sentiment, though. But one that makes sense to hear... I mean, there are still so many problems, and the peace treaty was only signed about 13 years ago, so of course there are still people living who were on both sides of the conflict, many of whom will probably never change their views.
Willem also found out later that his host father, as he put it, "went to school in the United States"... at SOA, it turns out.
I felt the same way when I studied in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the spring of 08... that there is so much going on just below the surface that, as a foriegner, I am completely unaware of. Here, the language barrier makes it even more difficult to pick up on the subtlties of language that I might otherwise be able to tune in to. I have so much to learn....
I need to explain first that Willem's host father is in the military, a colonel I think. And he has been in the military since he was a young man, so he was in the military during La Violencia.
So anyway, Willem was telling his host mother, whom he loves, about what we had heard that day from the women at Corazon de la Mujer and how sad it was, and his mother responded "Yes, it's sad, but it was necessary." It's really hard to talk about things like this at all, and the language barrier makes it even more difficult. Many times we have to talk very bluntly, because we don't have the language to speak with eloquence and/or delicacy. It was a shocking sentiment, though. But one that makes sense to hear... I mean, there are still so many problems, and the peace treaty was only signed about 13 years ago, so of course there are still people living who were on both sides of the conflict, many of whom will probably never change their views.
Willem also found out later that his host father, as he put it, "went to school in the United States"... at SOA, it turns out.
I felt the same way when I studied in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the spring of 08... that there is so much going on just below the surface that, as a foriegner, I am completely unaware of. Here, the language barrier makes it even more difficult to pick up on the subtlties of language that I might otherwise be able to tune in to. I have so much to learn....
Quincenera
On Saturday, September 19 we got up early to go into the market in Antigua. We had to buy a gift for a 15 year old girl, whose birthday part we were going to that afternoon. She is a neighbor of Marcia's and we were invited to come with Marcia to the party.
In Guatemala, if you're a girl, your 15th birthday is a huge deal, kind of like a coming-of-age thing. This girl was wearing this purple prom/princess dress with a tiara.
First we went to a mass (which I understood about 15% of) and then we drove out to thsi park where there was a huge party. First she danced with her dad, then with her grandfather and uncle. Then, before the food was served, we made a toast to her-for her hears so far and for many more to come. The meal was delicious (as most of the food here is!), but they wait until the end of the party (about 5 p.m.) to serve the cake so people won't leave :)
The boys also have a big party at 18, but it's nothing like the quincenera for the girls. Many families go virtually broke putting on this party for their daughters. The mother, grandmothers, aunts, etc. all have to cook for several days beforehand and all the food and cakes are expensive. At this one, there was one 3-tiered cake and two other cakes besides!
PS- I have no idea if I spelled quincenera right, but I think I did and it has a tilde over the second "n"
In Guatemala, if you're a girl, your 15th birthday is a huge deal, kind of like a coming-of-age thing. This girl was wearing this purple prom/princess dress with a tiara.
First we went to a mass (which I understood about 15% of) and then we drove out to thsi park where there was a huge party. First she danced with her dad, then with her grandfather and uncle. Then, before the food was served, we made a toast to her-for her hears so far and for many more to come. The meal was delicious (as most of the food here is!), but they wait until the end of the party (about 5 p.m.) to serve the cake so people won't leave :)
The boys also have a big party at 18, but it's nothing like the quincenera for the girls. Many families go virtually broke putting on this party for their daughters. The mother, grandmothers, aunts, etc. all have to cook for several days beforehand and all the food and cakes are expensive. At this one, there was one 3-tiered cake and two other cakes besides!
PS- I have no idea if I spelled quincenera right, but I think I did and it has a tilde over the second "n"
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Corazon de la Mujer (Heart of the Woman)
Friday the 18th after language school we took a shuttle to Chimaltenango, where there is an organization called Heart of the Woman. It's a weaving co-op of women who survived La Violencia and are now trying to provide an education for all their children-boys and girls, because when many of them were growing up their families thought only boys needed to know how to read and write (if any of the children had the opportunity). They also said that they hope the US will stop sending weapons and instead send things to help Guatemala develop (like sr. Lopez at the Immigration organization). Here is what I remember of some of their stories:
Maria was a young gril when most of the really bad violence started (late 70's early 80's). She wasn't married at the time, but her mother-in-law was killed and buried in a shallow grave like an animal, she said. Now, though, there is some project or commission or something to exhume some of the bodies and next week Maria's family will receive what is left of her mother's-in-law remains. She began to cry when wshe told us this and said that it's very hard to talk about, but she knows it's important. She also said that for them, it feels like all this happened only the day before yesterday.
Maria Adelaida is the neice of Maria. She was born during the conflict, actually during a raid, but somehow the soldiers didn't find her family. Whe she was one year old her father was "disappeared" (that's the term they use here for people who went missing and never showed up again) and her mother had to take her and her 3 other children into the mountains to hide. One of the children got lost. They didn't have much to eat and the mom gave most of the food to the kids, but then she couldn't really nurse Adelaida because she (the mother) wasn't eating enough.
Once the soldiers came into the mountains and her mother hid with the children in a stream and miraculously the soldiers didn't find them.l Eventually they moved (I think to Guatemala City) after her mother remarried. Her mother had to work and Adelaida went to school, but she said she started 1st grade 4times because they kept moving.
By the time she was in 4gh grade she was much bigger than the other kids. She began to cry remembering how the teacher would ask them to bring in supplies or food for the classroom and she was very embarrassed because she couldn't. She also said that on holidays like Sep 15 and All Saints Day the other kids' parents would buy them new clothes and come to school but her mother never could do either because she had to work... "they [the other students] were so happy, but I was not happy."
She never went past 4th grade, and she fell in love at 15 and thought that if she got married things would be better, so she married at 17 and had her first child at 18. And things didn't get better. But a few years later, her husband was killed and she was left to live on the street with a 5 year old and a 3 year old. She said it was teh hardest her life has ever been. She was only a year older than I am now.
She then joined Corazon de la Mujer and is trying to make enough money for her two daughters to go to school, and this October she is going to go to Queens Univeristy of Charlotte (where I went freshman year) to speak. So if anyone is in the area you should call the school and get details, because it would definitely be worth it to hear what she has to say!
The last woman who spoke was older and her name was Bernarda. Her story was interrupted by a phone call from her son who is in Canada right now and hadn't called in 3 weeks. But when she came back she told us that when the violence first reached her village everyone fled to the mountains. Nobody in her family was killed during the raid, but they couldn't plant anything in their fields after the raid, because the soldiers would come and chop or burn it down when it began to grow.
Once they tried to flee from another raid, but the soldiers caught her sister, who was pregnant and cut open her stomach and then cut out the tongues of the sister and her husband before killing them. They were buried right where they died and are still there as far as Bernarda knows.
For us YAVs it was a very emotional day, but it was a good feeling to see these women sharing their lives together, supporting and loving one another.
During school on this same morning, we took a field trip to La Fabrica de Bombas (a fireworks factory) in our town. I found out that mi padre of my host family works there! I think I have already written about this, but Guatemalans are crazy about fireworks... at least 4 days a week we hear bombas somewhere in the town for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. And there are lots of them whenever there is some kind of religious celebration like a Saint's Day or a confirmation.
Maria was a young gril when most of the really bad violence started (late 70's early 80's). She wasn't married at the time, but her mother-in-law was killed and buried in a shallow grave like an animal, she said. Now, though, there is some project or commission or something to exhume some of the bodies and next week Maria's family will receive what is left of her mother's-in-law remains. She began to cry when wshe told us this and said that it's very hard to talk about, but she knows it's important. She also said that for them, it feels like all this happened only the day before yesterday.
Maria Adelaida is the neice of Maria. She was born during the conflict, actually during a raid, but somehow the soldiers didn't find her family. Whe she was one year old her father was "disappeared" (that's the term they use here for people who went missing and never showed up again) and her mother had to take her and her 3 other children into the mountains to hide. One of the children got lost. They didn't have much to eat and the mom gave most of the food to the kids, but then she couldn't really nurse Adelaida because she (the mother) wasn't eating enough.
Once the soldiers came into the mountains and her mother hid with the children in a stream and miraculously the soldiers didn't find them.l Eventually they moved (I think to Guatemala City) after her mother remarried. Her mother had to work and Adelaida went to school, but she said she started 1st grade 4times because they kept moving.
By the time she was in 4gh grade she was much bigger than the other kids. She began to cry remembering how the teacher would ask them to bring in supplies or food for the classroom and she was very embarrassed because she couldn't. She also said that on holidays like Sep 15 and All Saints Day the other kids' parents would buy them new clothes and come to school but her mother never could do either because she had to work... "they [the other students] were so happy, but I was not happy."
She never went past 4th grade, and she fell in love at 15 and thought that if she got married things would be better, so she married at 17 and had her first child at 18. And things didn't get better. But a few years later, her husband was killed and she was left to live on the street with a 5 year old and a 3 year old. She said it was teh hardest her life has ever been. She was only a year older than I am now.
She then joined Corazon de la Mujer and is trying to make enough money for her two daughters to go to school, and this October she is going to go to Queens Univeristy of Charlotte (where I went freshman year) to speak. So if anyone is in the area you should call the school and get details, because it would definitely be worth it to hear what she has to say!
The last woman who spoke was older and her name was Bernarda. Her story was interrupted by a phone call from her son who is in Canada right now and hadn't called in 3 weeks. But when she came back she told us that when the violence first reached her village everyone fled to the mountains. Nobody in her family was killed during the raid, but they couldn't plant anything in their fields after the raid, because the soldiers would come and chop or burn it down when it began to grow.
Once they tried to flee from another raid, but the soldiers caught her sister, who was pregnant and cut open her stomach and then cut out the tongues of the sister and her husband before killing them. They were buried right where they died and are still there as far as Bernarda knows.
For us YAVs it was a very emotional day, but it was a good feeling to see these women sharing their lives together, supporting and loving one another.
During school on this same morning, we took a field trip to La Fabrica de Bombas (a fireworks factory) in our town. I found out that mi padre of my host family works there! I think I have already written about this, but Guatemalans are crazy about fireworks... at least 4 days a week we hear bombas somewhere in the town for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. And there are lots of them whenever there is some kind of religious celebration like a Saint's Day or a confirmation.
Casa de Migrantes
On Thursday, September 17 we went to Guatemala City again to an organization called Centro Pastoral De Atencion al Migrante. I think it's also called Casa de Migrantes. It's a place where people who are immigrating somewhere (usually North) and are stopping through Guatemala can stay for a few nights. They get a place to sleep, 3 meals a day, laundry, etc. They can also get help with their legal documents if they need it. Usually people only stay about 3 nights, but there was a group of Chinese there who had been there for 2 months because they were having trouble getting their papers in order, because the Chinese embassy here was not being very helpful. The only bad thing is that men and women sleep seperately so often families have to split up while they're there.
We talked a lot about the reasons why people immigrate/emmigrate and sr. Lopez, who was giving the presentation and was one of 2 paid staff people there, said that e/immigration has increased greatly over the past 27 years world-wide. Some of the reasons were social marginalization, natural disasters, to escape organized crime or other threats and to escape violence, like the armed conflict in Guatemala that only "ended" in 1996.
During the conflicta armada here many Guatemalans emigrated, especially to Mexico and the US. Right now there are still about 200,000 Guatemalans living in Mexico who moved during the violence. He said the numbers aren't certain about how many are in the US, but right now the US government says they are searching for 150,000 Guatemalans for deportation who had refugee status during the armed conflict but have to return to Guatemala now that the violence is offically over. However, many of those people have made lives in the US, have kids and families and communities...
Sr. Lopez travels to the US sometimes to give presentations and once when he was at the Univeristy of Arizona a student asked him, "What do Guatemalans want most from the US?" Sr. Lopez said first, to close the School of the Americas (SOA). He also said the US should quit sending weapons to Guatemala and instead send them programs for development, especially improved agriculture techniques.
Every day I discover new ways that the US has and continues to exploit Latin America. I think I feel ashamed.
We talked a lot about the reasons why people immigrate/emmigrate and sr. Lopez, who was giving the presentation and was one of 2 paid staff people there, said that e/immigration has increased greatly over the past 27 years world-wide. Some of the reasons were social marginalization, natural disasters, to escape organized crime or other threats and to escape violence, like the armed conflict in Guatemala that only "ended" in 1996.
During the conflicta armada here many Guatemalans emigrated, especially to Mexico and the US. Right now there are still about 200,000 Guatemalans living in Mexico who moved during the violence. He said the numbers aren't certain about how many are in the US, but right now the US government says they are searching for 150,000 Guatemalans for deportation who had refugee status during the armed conflict but have to return to Guatemala now that the violence is offically over. However, many of those people have made lives in the US, have kids and families and communities...
Sr. Lopez travels to the US sometimes to give presentations and once when he was at the Univeristy of Arizona a student asked him, "What do Guatemalans want most from the US?" Sr. Lopez said first, to close the School of the Americas (SOA). He also said the US should quit sending weapons to Guatemala and instead send them programs for development, especially improved agriculture techniques.
Every day I discover new ways that the US has and continues to exploit Latin America. I think I feel ashamed.
15 de Septiembre
On Independence Day my group of YAVs went into Antigua together to see the desfile (parade). There were lots of bands and lots and lots of kids and people walking around. I was still feeling a little sick, so I didn't stay very long, but it was fun to get to see all those people filling the streets.
That night I ate una comida tipica (traiditional food) with my family... it was called a panche (I think that's how you spell it). They're kinda like tamales but they're made out of potatoes and have some chicken and chili pepper in them and they're wrapped in these big leaves and cooked in the leaf. So to eat it you just unwrap and dig in. They were really good. Mi madre was making them for something going on in the town square for Independence Day and so she had made 50 of them that day!
That night I ate una comida tipica (traiditional food) with my family... it was called a panche (I think that's how you spell it). They're kinda like tamales but they're made out of potatoes and have some chicken and chili pepper in them and they're wrapped in these big leaves and cooked in the leaf. So to eat it you just unwrap and dig in. They were really good. Mi madre was making them for something going on in the town square for Independence Day and so she had made 50 of them that day!
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