Somos Luchadores

I decided to name my blog Concientizacion y Otros Pensamientos mostly because these are  my favorite Spanish words, and also because I feel like it explains my time here.  Concientizacion is a word meaning "consciousness raising" or "awareness." And otros pensamientos means "other thoughts."

Before coming here, I was a ball of chaos and stress.  Jumping between 3 jobs, never quite sure where I would sleep or how I would make my money. And I was so craving mental stimulation!  My change-the-world bones were aching to do something more, be part of something bigger than the routines I was caught in.

As I'm sitting on my windy roof-top home, and thinking about this last week, I feel like my tornado of chaos has landed me in the right spot. I am working for an organization called UPAVIM – Unidos Para Vivir Mejor (United to live better). This is a co-op started by women in the community.The community I live in, La Esperanza (hope!), was created by people escaping the Guatemalan genocide. Originally they just squatted on the land, and eventually gained ownership and began building. Living here, the women were still victims of domestic violence, poverty, and their husbands were active gang members perpetuating the violence they had tried to escape.

The women wanted a better life for themselves and their children, and began by working together on crafts.  Tourists fell in love with their art, and slowly they made money to sustain themselves. It has grown over the last 31 years to become a school for kids 2 months -6^th grade, a community bakery, library, soy factory (complete with soy cookies, milk and ice cream!  Its like they knew me and my lactose intolerance were coming) medical clinic. . . there are scholarship funds they give out to the community for kids to continue their education, and so much more!  This organization is a power house in the community, and these women amaze me.  Some of them still go home to husbands who beat them, one woman’s son was just murdered two weeks ago by a gang member. . .. and they still experience intense tragedies and hardships like these.  But they come every day to fight for a better life.  To make it better for their children.  When the organization started, the women said their husbands beat them more and made fun of them, saying a group of women all getting together were just lesbians.  But once the women could put rice and beans on the table, the men's perspectives started changing.  Angela, whose husband and daughter have both been killed by gangs, said, "It's still a battle we fight, but slowly we are making a difference."  

Before I came, Cris and his cousin Rey got me a book called “Paradise in Ashes.”  It is a book about the Guatemalan Genocide from the 70s and 80s – of which I was completely ignorant to until a week before my trek down here.  This week, I got to hear the women talk about that time of war, and I got goosebumps hearing them speak about the same tragedies and stories of courage I am reading about. It was also very powerful for me to realize that I am working in a place that has been such a light of hope for a community recovering from devastating tragedy. 

When the women speak about their experience, and when I can see how much passion they have to build a better life here (fighting against so much!!) I get incredibly emotional.  A board member from the states is here, and asked the Vice President of UPAVIM what she would like the new board to know.  This woman stood up tall and said,  “Tell them we are women, and we are fighters.”  I feel pretty proud to be part of this community of luchadores.

Here's a video that shows you more of where I am.

Here's part of the town, view from our 4th or 5th story rooftop (we're not sure what floor we live on, there are so many mysterious staircases)

The sunset is beautiful every night behind this volcano

Here's another part of our rooftop.  Our clotheslines, to the right is our herb garden, and then the mountains in the back