| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| Updates from Guatemala The following are updates send by Incarnation's delegation while in Guatemala. Friday: February 6, 2009 Incarnation´s delegation just returned from Chántala. The community is about 3 hours northwest of Guatemala City. We drove there on Saturday, January 31 and after a trek down the mountain, we were met by all of the women of the Ruth and Naomi Cooperative and served a fantastic fried chicken dinner that would put Colonel Sanders to shame. By the end of the first meeting, Mike had re-established his relationship with the group and we were all laughing at our crazy attempts to speak Qúiche´, the Mayan language that is full of lots of pops and clicks. Sunday we went to the market in Chichicastenango, which is the town closest to Chontala. The entire town square was filled with vendors selling fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, and of course the obligatory trinkets and trash. One very interesting thing is the way that the Roman Catholic Church and the Mayan religion exist together. There were Mayan priests burning incense on the steps of the Cathedral in the center of town. At supper, we asked the son of our host, Micaela, who practices the Mayan religion to explain some of the practices to us. He is a Roman Catholic, so he was able to draw many parallels between his religion and the religion of his mother. It was a fascinating conversation. In the afternoon, we did our best to get some relay races going in the community and although a few people participated, they seemed to have more fun watching us make fools of ourselves. Monday afternoon, we did a presentation about Incarnation, Minnesota and ourselves for the whole community. We put up a sheet on the side of the school and found a plug for the projector and computer and away we went. The faces of the people were fun to watch as we talked about ice fishing, our attempts to make tortillas with the Sunday School kids, and the fact that Mike has a dog that´s part of the family and actually has a name! Tuesday, we went to the most beautiful lake in the world, Lake Atitlan. It was like a vacation for the busload of people from the community who went with us. The most fun thing was that a group of the people decided to take a boat ride. A couple of the dads, Juan and Sebastian explained that none of them had ever even been on a boat before. The looks on their faces as they backed away from the dock was priceless! Wednesday we went to Santa Cruz del Quiche to speak with the Roman Catholic group Caritas about the violence during the civil war and their efforts to help the poorest of the poor indigenous people get health care, grow healthy crops, and live dignified lives. It was such an interesting meeting. Thursday we went to the Ruth and Naomi Coop and met with Pastor Diego before we headed back to Guatemala City. Maria Tomasa, the leader of the coop and her son, Tomas and his wife and five kids, including 7 week old baby Flora, drove us back to the capital and are staying overnight with us in the Sister Parish Center tonight before returning to Chontala tomorrow morning. Throughout our five days in Chontala, we stayed with 5 different families and had lunch at the homes of two more of the members of the coop. We met with members of the Methodist church and worshiped at Maria Tomasa´s church, Prince of Peace. Julie and I tried to make tortillas and had more on the floor than on the stove. We tried our hands at taking the kernels off corn and got blisters! The one thing that we could do was shell beans! It was a great week, with wonderful and generous people. We thank each of you for letting us represent you in this way. Friday: January 30, 2009 The four intrepid travelers left Minneapolis at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 29 and arrived in Guatemala City about six hours later. We were met at the airport by Ellen Moore, our liaison with Sister Parish. We were immediately struck by the busyness of the city, which appears to be in the midst of a building boom. It’s surrounded by mountains and best of all it’s so much warmer here than it is in Minnesota and the sun is shining brightly. We are staying at the Sister Parish Center until Saturday when we head to Chontala. Already we have learned many things about this country. This morning we walked about six blocks to Central Park, a huge square at the center of Guatemala City, which is surrounded by government buildings and by the Cathedral Santiago de Guatemala. We heard about a huge peace demonstration, which took the form of a mass, and filled the entire square with people. The Cathedral is surrounded by pillars that bear the names of those who were disappeared, executed, and tortured during the violence which rocked this country during the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Each pillar represents a region of the country and is filled with the names of the victims. During the time of the violence, the Catholic Church was also targeted for being in solidarity with the indigenous people who were the targets of the violence. We walked to another park, San Sebastian, where we learned about the circumstances of the murder of Archbishop Gerardi in 1998. Our teacher was the Executive Director of Sister Parish, who worked in his office at the time of his murder. The complex problems of land reform and its contribution to the poverty of a large percentage of the Guatemalan population are apparent as we learn more about the country and the community to which we will travel tomorrow. On Friday afternoon, we visited with Maria Cunin Gurerra of CONAVIGUA, an organization that works for the rights of women. She is a delightful and passionate activist, who is from Quiche, the region where Chontala is located. This organization currently works tirelessly to investigate the disappearances of the husbands and fathers of indigenous women. They also promote literacy training and educate women in subsistence farming techniques. Guatemala is a complex and fascinating country and we’re just beginning to learn about issues that have shaped the life of the community of Chontala. Early Saturday morning we will leave for Chontala where we will live in community with families. On Sunday, we will go to the market in Chichicastenango, the largest open air market in Central America. On Monday, the entire community will gather to hear greetings from the people of Incarnation and to send greetings through us back to Incarnation. Thank you for letting us represent Incarnation in this way. For more on Incarnation's partnership with Chontala, Guatemala, click here. |
