Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Hey, Gringo!

I recently wrote this to be featured in a local publication assembled by Peace Corps volunteers here in Guatemala. I don't know if they will publish it but it sure makes for a good blog entry. One thing you should know to understand this in its entirety. "Chapin or Chapina" is the local word for Guatemalan. Oh, and "miercoles" is Wednesday but it's a nice way of saying shit. Enjoy!

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Hey, Gringo!

Ah the infamous, gringo. Maybe it’s whispered from the lips of an indigenous woman and followed by a few giggles from her and her friends, or you’re greeted in the office with a hand shake and an exuberant “¿Qué dice, pinche gringo?” How do you normally react? Many times I’ve heard friends respond with a “hola, chapin(a),” as if this were the equivalent. Well, today it is but the word has evolved from an entirely different meaning.

We feel and respond to things based on previous experiences. If the majority of your experiences with gringo have been instances in which it was being used as a pejorative directed to U.S. Americans, mainly Anglos, then you’ll probably really get tired of this word by month six. Even though I believe the vast majority of times its use is innocuous and simply acts as a colloquial demonym, it can effectively separates us from the rest of the group and causes an invisible divide that leaves us feeling alienated from our new peers. And when inclusiveness and integration is our goal, these adverse effects can certainly cause frustration. For these and many other reasons, I decided to research the etymology of gringo.

I think we’ve all heard the tired answer (the importance of research having been disregarded by whoever mentions it and then foolishly passed off as truth) that the Mexicans would yell to the soldiers fighting in the Texas frontier “Green, go!” meaning “Hey you in the green uniform, leave our country.” Although that would have been no defense against manifest destiny, I’m sure that’s exactly how the Mexicans felt. And eventually "Green, go!" evolved into the word in question. Simply not true.

Something a little more intriguing dates back to a similar period during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Hundreds of Irish-Americans were sent by the U.S. government to fight against Mexico. Tired of maltreatment from their Anglo-Protestant officers and doubting why they were fighting against a Catholic country in the first place, many of the Irish and others dissented and joined ranks with the Mexican forces. They called themselves San Patricios (San Patrick’s Battalion). Green being the color of the Irish, they sang “Green Grow the Rushes O!” (based on a Robert Burns poem) or a version of a Scottish song “Green Grows the Laurel” which the Irish called “Green Grow the Lilacs.” The songs eventually became popular with American cowboys and those listening from the other side of the border couldn’t hear the words clearly and “Green grow…” became gringo and later evolved to mean people from the United States. (Wikipedia) I rather wish this story were true but, alas, it’s a crock of miercoles and not supported by any real evidence. And these explanations have chronology working against them.

In his diccionario, compiled prior to 1750, Terreros y Pando, a Spanish historian notes that gringo was a nickname given to foreigners in Malaga and Madrid who spoke Spanish with an unintelligible accent. In this same region of Spain it was a word applied to the Irish. Maybe it sounded like they were speaking gibberish. Have you met any Irish? Moving right along…

Jumping into the 1830’s the German Johan Jakob von Tschudi and the Frenchman Arseve Isabelle, both mention the use of the word. In his travels in Peru during the years 1838-1842, Tschudi recounts how Peruvian women "prefer marrying a gringo to a paisanito." (Van Ostrand, Maggie: Where Did the Word Gringo Come From Anyway? 2003)

¿Qué es eso? ¿Contais en gringo? (What is this? / Are you using gringo language?) These lines from the play “Elena” by Manuel Breton de los Herreros in 1834 is yet further evidence of its Spanish roots. It eventually became incorporated into the Diccionario de la Real Academia in 1869.

Clearly the word was in use long before any conflict along the Mexican-American border and does not have its roots in this region of the world. According to many opinions, gringo is a corrected form of griego as used in the old Spanish expression – hablar en griego. We have the same expression in English – It’s all Greek to me. In Shakespear’s Julius Caesar (1599), Casca, a conspirator against Caesar proclaims:

Nay, an I tell you that, I’ll ne’er look you i’ the face again; but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me.

Nowadays gringo certainly refers to a U.S. citizen because being called an “Americano” doesn’t make sense since it refers to anyone from Canada all the way down to Argentina. And “estadounidense” is quite a mouthful.

So, all my friends from Gingolandia, when you hear gringo thoughtlessly escape the mouth of a friend or stranger, I hope you find it an opportunity to discuss the origins of this etymological legend.

Ungowa!!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Alternative Recycling

One project that I think would interest you working in the area of alternative recycling in order to manage trash. Countries like Guatemala don't have the infrastructure in order to offer recycling collection programs. Furthermore, recycling materials requires a lot of energy to convert these materials into materials which can be used in the production process. Also, it requires a lot of energy to collect and transport these materials.

Here in Guatemala we're faced with basically no recycling programs outside the larger cities, very few sanitary land fills, a whole mess of illegal dumps, a custom of throwing trash on the ground and/or burning it, and little to no education regarding the evils of poor trash management. Poor trash management causes malaria and dengue fever outbreaks, respiratory and intestinal infections, parasites, cholera, y un largo etcétera. Mixed with extreme malnutrition, these complications stemming from poor trash management can end in the death of children. This has created a need for inventive ways to manage trash and one thing I would like to highlight in this blog is the use of eco-bricks for use in construction. An eco-brick, or eco-ladrillo, is a plastic bottle stuffed with inorganic trash like plastic bags and Styrofoam. While these things would otherwise end up in the local water supply, an illegal dump, or burnt inside the kitchen poisoning the land, water, air and lungs of young children and their mothers, some communities are using these things to build schools, bathrooms, benches, houses and walls.

I've become connected with an NGO, Pura Vida, out of San Marcos La Laguna which is a beautiful community located on the shores of Lake Atitlan. They were the first ones to develop the use of eco-ladrillos here in Guatemala. The Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs) who served here in my site before me build a two room schoolhouse out of eco-ladrillos and I had the pleasure of helping construct another one in a village about 45 minutes northeast of me. My congratulations to a fellow PCV who put that project together. Now I'm working with Pura Vida to update their construction manual and highlight other projects realized by PCVs around Guatemala.

All of this has really opened my eyes to alternative forms of recycling and reusing trash. Huge need for more schools + a load of trash in the streets = more use of eco-ladrillos. I've presented to schools and hospital staff on the use of eco-ladrillos and I feel as if things are starting to catch on. I'll be giving another presentation in a town about 5 hours away from me where a PCV is working with a group of women who want to build a kitchen to serve schoolchildren in this village.

Regardless of the outcome of any of these projects or ideas, trash management is something we all have to think about. I just read a NYTimes article today on the state of our tap water in the U.S. and how many water sources are polluted and not meeting EPA standards. What we personally choose to put in our bodies or what we breath, air poisoned by thoughtless companies and fellow citizens and ourselves, is the business of all of us no matter where we call home. I have to refer to the wonderful essay "Tragedy of the Commons." There is no technological solution to these problems. We're headed for disaster if we think we can simply solve any problem with the latest gadget or chemical solution. We simply have to stop doing what we know is wrong and what we know is damaging ourselves, our children and future generations by altering our actions and educating young people.

I'm not saying eco-ladrillos are a sustainable part of the solution. It's just an immediate solution to a long-term problem and I hope that one day there are not heaps upon heaps of trash in the streets which we can turn into construction material. I just think it's a creative way to use our waste to avoid a big problem we're currently faced with here in my site and many other pueblos all over Guatemala.

One thing I would like you all to remember is .... UNGOWA!!

Thanks for reading and I welcome your comments and questions.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Rabbits, Worms and a Photojournalist

Wow! it’s been quite a while since my last blog entry. Looking at it realizing the last thing I wrote about was the mysterious murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg makes me feel like a year has passed since I updated this. By the way, no information of any worth has been discovered regarding the Rosenberg case.

Let’s see… what of interest has happened lately. I have 5 rabbits and thousands of worms. Both came from fellow Peace Corps volunteers (PCV) living in a neighboring town who recently closed their service and moved back to the U.S. The rabbits are eating and shitting machines. It’s incredible. I then gather the rabbit poop and feed it to the California earth worms which reside in both a large wooden box and a tire I flipped inside which transformed it into a large holding container. The worms devour the rabbit poop and then poop themselves. But worm poop is considered some of the best organic fertilizer known to man. I use the fertilizer for our flowers and soon will be planting a big vegetable garden on the property where I live. Worms also eat kitchen scraps. For those of you who are interested in vermicomposting, I recommend looking into it. I believe this process is starting to catch on in the U.S.

At some point in time I’ll start eating the rabbits. A female can give birth to up to 50 bunnies a year. And considering that I have two breeding couples, that equals a whole lot of bunnies. A chef in Antigua is interested in adding hasenpfeffer to his four-dish menu (fancy restaurant) so we’re going to slaughter and cook a few up serving as a test run. I’ll let you know how it turns out. My rabbits are New Zealanders by the way. Big white fluffy things with blood red eyes.

In other news, a photojournalist and former PCV spent a week with me documenting my life before he moved on to other volunteers in other countries in Central and South America. Peace Corps is turning 50 in 2011 and he’s collecting photos and conducting interviews with hopes it will be valuable material for the Peace Corps as it prepares to tell its story after half a century of service. I’ve posted just a few of his amazing pictures on my blog. Thanks, Rich! It was great to have you here and good luck with your future projects.

In just about one week’s time I will have completed my first year in Guatemala. I arrived on August 13th of last year. It’s a bit surreal to imagine that the new Municipal Development training group is about to arrive and our mentors are about to close their service. Now our group is the senior one and we have to work even harder on our quest to constantly improve this program and carry the torch. I’m mentoring one of the new trainees and look forward to meeting and discussing issues with them all. Ours is a difficult program. We are representatives of the U.S. government yet we work in Guatemalan government offices at the municipal level. We have to constantly be thinking of the fine line we walk as we do our best to remain neutral and apolitical which castrates our voice in many ways. This is the first time I’ve ever had to self-filter out of concern that what I have to say could offend a politician (ours and theirs). I’ve learned to deal with it but that doesn’t mean it feels good.

I’m going to Antigua again soon to attend a workshop on project design and management with a technician from the planning office where I work. I’ve struck up a friendship with a woman in there and looking forward to seeing her again. She works at a hotel where I normally stay when I’m there. Stay tuned for more information on the romantic front.

I hope you enjoy some of these new photos and the short update. I will try harder to keep the blog more current.

In vino veritas, my friends. Raise a glass for me and think about how I can’t get any good vino down here!

Oh, I’ll be in Los Angeles for a few days and then up to Coos Bay, Oregon to where my sister and her family is moving around Thanksgiving time. Maybe I’ll see some of you then.

And please don’t ever forgot – Ungowa!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

National Crisis

As some of you may have heard, Guatemala is experiencing one of its worst political crisis in history. A few weeks ago a well-known businessman, Khalil Mula, and his daughter Marjorie were murdered. Their lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenberg, was investigating their deaths and on Sunday, May 10, he was shot to death while riding his bicycle. A few days after Rodrigo Rosenberg was assassinated, a video hit the media that Mr. Rosenberg recorded. In the video he accusses the president of Guatemala of orchestrating his assassination. I have been asked not to get into the details due to my position as a Peace Corps volunteer and writing about this controversial political issue can be interpreted as wanting to influence the political climate here which is not the purpose of an apolitical itentity such as the Peace Corps. If you would like to learn more about what is happening here regarding this cris, please search the internet for English language articles. If you are a Spanish speaker, you can read articles on www.prensalibre.com.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Semana Santa, Rambo and The Quilters

Semana Santa

Holy week, Semana Santa, is the largest religious holiday in Guatemala which leads up to Easter Sunday. From the famed religious processions in Antigua, to the beautiful alfombra ( rugs) people make in the street with dyed sawdust, it’s a week of relaxation and celebration with family and friends; not to mention a bunch of religulousness but most of you know how I feel about that anyway so I’ll spare you the soapbox speech just this once.

I remained in my site as the office was closed and I felt it important to spend the holiday in my community as a way to further integrate. I was in Antigua the week before the holiday and participated in a pre-Semana Santa procession where hundreds were present. Truth be told I was on the way to a pub and I could only get there by marching in the procession with hundreds of others. I can only imagine how crowded it gets during holy week.

On holy Friday the team in the planning office and I made an alfombra in front of the municipal building. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the 5 hours together before the procession came and trampled our creation on their way to the church; as is the tradition. It’s similar to a Tibetan mandala only the alfombras are much less complicated and don’t require nearly as much time to make. But making something only to quickly destroy it is the shared commonality.

Rambo and the Quilters

A good buddy from Colorado, Steve, is the co-owner of a travel company and he recently brought a group of quilting enthusiasts from the U.S. to Guatemala where they experienced one of the country’s finest attributes – its textile history. There are literally thousands of different traditional outfits worn by both Mayan women and men and the group spent a week here visiting textile museums, meeting with famous quilting experts (or should I say artists?) and of course they did some sightseeing. I took the week off and traveled around with them.

Some of the highlights include staying three nights in Casa Santo Domingo, Guatemala’s most remarkable hotel. It’s an old convent which was converted into a 5-star hotel in the 80’s. I’ve never seen anything like it. They did an amazing job preserving the ancient structure and surrounding colonial ruins and blending it with modern amenities. I certainly enjoyed a few swims in the pool and delicious cuisine. I have to admit that I missed the usual fare of beans and eggs and tortillas but I certainly didn’t complain eating filet mignon for dinner or cream cheese, lox and capers for breakfast. I also made friends with the massage therapist, Milton, who offered to sneak me in to the pool area anytime I’m in Antigua. His family used to host Peace Corps volunteers and he appreciates what we do and have to go through during our 2 years here.

We also went to Chichicastenango, Central America’s largest indigenous arts market, and then headed up to Petén to visit the Tikal Ruins. Tikal was inexplicably magical. From spider and howler monkeys to leaf cutter ants to some of the most impressive Mayan temples and ruins in this part of Central America, I saw and learned a lot and fell in love with this country all over again.

So a week with 15 quilters, mainly older grandma types (very endearing though), who do you think the tour company should have provided as the guide? A Guatemalan quilting enthusiast who could connect with their clients? No, not quite. The guide knew a lot about Guatemalan textile history, no doubt about it. He just happened to be a former Kaibil commander during the internal conflict. The Kaibilis, referred to as killing machines, are known as the most elite special-forces unit in Guatemala. Specialists in jungle warfare and survival, these guys are unstoppable killers. The only foreign special-forces unit currently operating in the Congo is a Kaibil team. Vinicio, our fearless guide, and his unit were responsible for countless raids in the Ixil Triangle over many years (where the worst of the worst went down), 915 total confirmed kills, and who knows what else. There are reports that the Kaibiles did some things to the villagers not worth repeating on this blog.

He would tell stories about the war to all the quilters over the on-board microphone on the bus. Nobody had a frame of reference and I think I might have been the only one who had some insight as to what he was saying. For example, he was part of three military coups; one of which put Rios Montt in charge of the country. If you know anything about what happened during this period in Guatemala’s history, you’ll know what a brutal leader Montt turned out to be. Vinicio was a wealth of knowledge about quilting, the history of the war, and the jungles of Petén. Everywhere we went people recognized him and addressed him by his nickname, Rambo.

So that’s a little taste of my week with Rambo and the quilters. Thanks, Steve, for giving me the opportunity to spend the week with you guys. And if you don’t come back to Guatemala sometime soon, Rambo and I are going to track you down and put you in the machete corner. Rambo taught me a lot of new phrases.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Scam, a Familiar Face and Some Important Lessons

La Estafa

About a month ago a man, Benicio, from Coban (city up north), arrived in this small pueblo where I live and rented a room in the Hotel Casa Blanca where I am a permanent resident. He told me he was the director of a Guatemalan nonprofit which provides poor families monthly with 100lbs of corn, 25lbs of beans, 25lbs of sugar, amongst other provisions. The families pay 11 Quetzales (less than $2) a month. Malnutrition is a huge problem here but I wish there were more NGOs showing people how to start family gardens. There are many ways to fight hunger and the neediest require immediate relief so I didn’t argue the seemingly paternalistic aspects of this program.

He proceeded to hire a few locals to help with secretarial duties and work with community leaders promoting the program throughout villages surrounding our pueblo. In about two weeks time he had thousands signed up for the program and collected the first month’s payment, cash money that is. During this process I saw many COCODE presidents whom I’ve worked with bring hundreds of people from their communities to take advantage of this program. COCODES stand for Consejo Comunitario de Desarrollo which is a community development council. They are the legal development body at the aldea (village) level. It began to appear that Benicio should be working with the municipal planning office where I work. I asked him in passing if he would like me to introduce him to the staff and the mayor and encouraged him to coordinate his efforts with our office. He responded by saying that he didn’t want to work with the muni due to political reasons. I wasn’t sure what he meant by his comment and I decided not to dig any further not really knowing the guy and understanding how sticky politics can be here.

I was washing my dishes at the outdoor pila (large water container for washing dishes, clothes, etc.) one sunny afternoon when Guillermo approached me and said he had problemas. Guillermo lives up on the third floor at the Casa Blanca and had borrowed a pickup from a friend to drive Benicio into the villages. All in all Benicio owed him 4,000 Quetzales for his time and truck rental. Guillermo started explaining how Benicio left town a few days prior with about Q35,000 in cash ($4,375), a large sum here in Guatemala. Benicio robbed more than Q11 from these families, he vanished with their hope of receiving food to feed their hungry families.

La estafa means scam in Spanish and this country is full of them. It’s sad to see los estafadores (scammers, swindlers) preying on the poor and I learned a valuable lesson. From this point on I will make it a point to research organizations trying to fly under the radar of the local authorities. Nobody should be forced to work with the authorities, but avoiding the authorities is a sign and I missed it.

Paisana


The first familiar face from the U.S. arrived a little more than a week ago. I know Carrie from my days at the Orbis International House. She valiantly quick her job and decided to stuff her pack with the essentials and travel around the world. Her first stop was Guatemala where she is taking Spanish classes and preparing to volunteer for various NGOs as she makes her way down to South America. I applaud her efforts knowing it takes an exceptional person to do this.

I picked her up from the airport in the capital, Guatemala City, and we spent a few days in Antigua before heading to Xelajú, or just Xela, where there are some of the best Spanish language schools in the world. You can live with a host family and get one on one lessons 5 hours a day, food included, for as low as $150/week. Good deal. Look into it if you ever wanted to learn this remarkable and useful language.

Epifanías

During my Peace Corps training I was selected by my training group to give a speech during our swearing in at the ambassador’s house. It’s like being the valedictorian and I was honored to be chosen. In two weeks we will all be back at the Peace Corps country office/training center for a week-long conference and additional Spanish training called Reconnect. I will be giving another speech as part of my duties as group spokesperson if you will. I’d like to share some of the contents of my speech with my “followers” (all 8 of you). Much of this comes from people I’ve listened to or passages I’ve read. Many props to the great ethno botanist Wade Davis. Enjoy.

• People in the developing countries are not failed attempts at being us.
• There is no such thing as development. There are simply thousands of ways of experiencing humanity.
• Who knows what of England who only England knows?
• The measure of a society is not only what it does but the quality of its aspirations
• Western religion has and currently is destroying indigenous cultures.
• Fewer than half of the 6,000 languages spoken when we were born are not being taught to children. In our lifetime more than half of the human legacy will be lost forever if we don't do something to stop this.
• We are not so different from other people in the world. The things that make us xenophobic and ignorant are basically the same everywhere.
• Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
-- Robert F. Kennedy, University of Cape Town, South Africa, N.U.S.A.S. "Day of Affirmation" Speech June 6, 1966

Friday, February 20, 2009

Mangos, The Zona Reyna, and mining in San Marcos

I just returned from a trip to the northern most extremes of the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. It’s called the Zona Reyna. The climate is mainly tropical. There are monkeys and all sorts of wonderful biodiversity living in the densely covered hills of this section of the Guatemalan highlands. I spent about 3 days there working with the staff of the planning office where I work. We went to 4 different communities to conduct a socioeconomic study which will ultimately be sent to the “Cohesión Social” office headed up by the first lady of Guatemala. She recently visited the area and promised a 40 million Quetzales investment for infrastructure, health and education projects in addition to building homes, donating water retention tanks and fuel efficient wood-burning stoves. This will keep us very busy all year and will provide me a chance to get deeply involved with project planning. Now that my Spanish has reached a higher level of fluency I am becoming a more integral part of the planning office which is what I’ve been working hard to attain for the last 3 months.

Anyway, the Zona Reyna trip was eye-opening. The central government has focused development projects on the 45 poorest communities of Guatemala; the Zona Reyna being one of them. So this was the first time I spent any significant amount of time surrounded by extreme poverty Guatemalan style. I’ll write more about what this looks and feels like in coming blogs. I’ll include photos and deeper thoughts. But for now I still need some time to digest it.

We’re now entering la cosecha de mango, mango season. Or literally, “mango harvest.” The large ones cost 1 Quetzal ($ .12) and the smaller ones Q .50. Both are delicious and I eat at least 2 a day. We also have a wonderful variety of fruit here from granadias to anonas to tomates silvestres which are wild tomatoes and taste like the cross between a tomato and a ??? I can’t figure it out. Some people have said guava but I disagree. Anyway, they’re delicious. And it’s my prediction that someone is going to become a millionaire exporting anonas to the U.S. From what I’ve been told there are no anona orchards and the anona fruit you find in the market is from the random tree people come across out in the hills. It’s worth looking into.

And now to the third part of this blog entry: Mining in San Marcos. I had the following article emailed to me from a Peace Corps colleague. It’s about a gold mining operation in the department of San Marcos. It’s owned by a Canadian gold mining company called GoldCorp and the article brings up many interesting points. I’ve even considered going on the next trip to meet with people in the community to discuss the effects mining is having on communities located around the Marlin mine as it is called. I may even take a water sample from one of the local rivers. There is a water testing laboratory where I live and it would be an interesting experiment.

I think you would enjoy reading this article so here is the link:

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1711/1/

Thanks for staying in touch and reading my blog entries. I am now going to watch a TED Talk that I recently downloaded. And if you don’t know what that is exactly, I highly encourage you to visit www.Ted.com to find out.

And remember… UNGOWA!!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Lucky to be here

I wanted to quickly update my blog since some time has passed between now and the previous entry. I find myself very busy these days and I’ve worked hard to be this busy so gracias de antemano por ignorar the large time gaps between blog entries.

I just returned to the office after working in the field for a week as a translator between a group of Canadian volunteers and people in the communities surrounding my site. It was my first time working as a translator and I learned an indescribable amount about the importance of being more of a cultural guide than a translator. The volunteers and I spent a week in rural communities building fuel-efficient wood-burning stoves (estufas mejoradas). These stoves reduce the amount of wood needed to cook for large families and also pipes the smoke out of the kitchen which prevents lung illnesses and blindness. Many families here are cooking on an open fire. With these stoves women spend less time overall cooking and communities as a whole can focus on reforestation projects.

The most important thing that I realized during the previous week is that I am in love with this community and my Peace Corps service. I realize now how lucky I was to have received this area as my site. Sorry I can’t post the name of my town on my blog for security reasons but you can email me personally if you’d like to know.

One project that I am just starting to work on with my site mate is a recycling collection center where recyclable material is dropped off and then used to make eco-bricks. Eco-bricks are plastic soda, water, juice, etc., bottles filled with plastic trash and when compacted correctly replace bricks or concrete blocks when building just about anything and they clean the community at the same time. I recently visited the NGO located near Lago Atitlan called Pura Vida which is the definitive NGO working to churn out eco-bricks. It was my first time at the lake and I must echo the words of Alduous Huxley and say it is the most beautiful lake in the world. Please visit it before you die.

Some of you have asked for an update on the landslide. The leaders of this community effort which I had the pleasure helping raised about 12,000 Quetzales ($1,540), a mountain of clothes and enough nonperishable food to feed certain families affected by the landslide. We actually didn’t bring any of the provisions to the shelters where evacuees are living. With the help of the national relief agency and Red Cross Guatemala we were able to identify families who lost a family member but live in communities not affected by the landslide directly. The vast majority of these families, if not all of them, had the father of the house or a working-age male son working in the fields where it occurred. These families, based on what I was told, are not receiving government aide so these families received everything we collected in my site. More provisions keep coming to us and when we have another significant load we will bring it to the families. What would really be nice are school supplies since school just started and it is expensive for a family to equip their children with what they need for the classroom.

I hope you all are doing very well and I look forward to seeing you down here in Guatemala some day. Thanks for reading and remember… UNGOWA!

Monday, January 12, 2009

La visita al derrumbe y los albergues

The dense fog from the night before has yet to burn off. As I sit here looking out my window on this opaque Sunday morning, the low hissing of water heating on my miniature stove, a live version of After the Gold Rush gently radiating from my computer speakers, it’s a near perfect morning to update the blog.

A lot has happened this last week and that is a nice thing to be able to type because during my first two months I’ve mainly had a lot of time to study Spanish and read. As 2008 wrapped up so did much of the work and since I arrived here in my site in November it was difficult to identify where I could lend any assistance. Coupled with the fact I was new to office and we all needed time to build confianza, it lead to much free time and playfulness. But now things are picking up and there are many areas where I can dedicate my time and energy.

El derrumbe

My sites mates and I recently had a chance to visit the site of the giant landslide that occurred about twenty miles away last week – my first time in a disaster area. A person in our community put the visit together and contacted the national disaster prevention/relief agency, CONRED, and the Red Cross of Guatemala (RCG) and they agreed to show us around the shelters. Three volunteers from Pamplona, Spain, our pueblo’s publicity officer, and a few other committed community members were along for the journey. I luckily secured a spot in the back of the pickup.

The representatives from CONRED and RCG greeted us with open arms as we pulled up after an hour-long dusty yet scenic ride. The static, red record light on the camera came on and after a few words from CONRED and RCG everyone broke for lunch. I ducked into the market just before we had left for this area and luckily had a few bananas and an orange in my bag. As I was getting my intake of fruit and sitting in the sun I noticed that across the street was a house were people were receiving food supplies. The line extended out the door and every few minutes a Mayan would walk out with a bright orange bag full of food and other things delicately balanced on their head. And behind me was an ad hoc thatched-roof shelter where a group of Mayan women and children were resting. Three or four dogs were laying in the shade and there was a heap of bottled fruit juice and soda in the center. If there was water there wasn’t much of it amongst the bottled high fructose corn syrup.

After about 30 minutes CONRED and RCG lowered the rope barrier and we drove into the area where we were to be brought to visit the shelters (el albergue). Most people were staying in churches, normally the largest structure in these remote and rural areas villages tucked away in the highlands of Guatemala. I asked the CONRED official about the latest figures and he told me that there were 38 dead, more than 20 missing (I’ve heard as high as 60), and 1,300 without a home. He also said that the numbers were conservative and I’m sure we can expect them to rise in the coming weeks.

We got to the first shelter, an Evangelical church. The children were playing, the women were making corn tortillas or breast feeding babies and the men were standing in a circle talking with the leaders in our group; a glance at the omnipresent social structure here. There were volunteers from many different national and local agencies roaming around; some were involved in serious conversation, others were snapping photos. The children LOVED seeing their digital images after a photo was taken and I even showed one of them how to take a picture. Some asked if I could give them their photo and the explanations of how the photos first needed to be printed were followed by looks of confusion and curiosity. In an area this secluded from the modern, high-tech, flashy western world, I can understand why they were left wondering why I wouldn’t just give them their photo.
After visiting another shelter similar to the first, we headed to a place located alongside the dirt road where there were two large trucks which were turned into shelters. Up to four families were living in each one and one of the displaced living there was very candid in what they needed. Soap for washing clothes and dishes and bathing were in dire need as was chlorine to sanitize the water and children’s shoes.

We returned to our pueblo and the publicity people got the videos on the local TV channel that very night. And on Saturday night they had an event in the park and collected food and clothing and almost 400 Quetzales (Guatemalan currency). My site mates and I are working with other volunteers in the country to collect more items as there will be need in this area for some time to come.

El pan

I made my first loaf of bread yesterday. I followed a whole wheat bread recipe but improvised by adding a little oatmeal and flax seed. I think it turned out pretty damn well and will be making a few more loaves today with one of my site mates. I intend to never have to buy mass-produced bread while serving as a PC volunteer. The big manufacturer of bread here is called Bimbo. The name alone creates a desire to be proficient at making one’s own bread. If any of you come for a visit, you’ll get fresh, home-made bread and by that time I’ll surely be an artisan.

Thanks for reading.

¡Que siga la lucha!

Monday, January 5, 2009

El gigantesco derrumbe

Recently we have experienced a "derrumbe" of gigantic proportions close to where I live. A "derrumbe" is a landslide and this one let loose some 10,000 tons of rock and earth and buried an "aldea" which is the word for a small community. As of right now the media has reported 33 deaths and many people were brought to the hospital here. I'm safe as are my site mates and our thoughts are with the victims and their families.

If you would like to read more information in Spanish here is a link:

http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/enero/05/286819.html

And here is an English report on CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/01/05/guatemala.landslide/index.html