A little bit o' history

So now that I am home for a few weeks - I finally have the chance to take a deep breath. . . and write more blog posts!  I've had a stock pile of things I've wanted to talk about, but between all the curriculum that needed writing and the women with stories to tell and the kids to be played with and the tortillas to be eaten, I just didn't have time.

First on the list. . . . the very uplifting topic of genocide.  Did you know that there was a genocide in Guatemala in the 80s and 90s?  I didn't until a friend handed me a book that I read on my way down, and was surprised and horrified by the things the country I was about to call home had been through.

I have been known, a time or two, to blindly jump into things.  This has driven everyone in my life crazy.  I hear a good idea, and I'm in.  Once in the Dominican Republic, a bus driver told me I should come stay at his house for 3 nights.  I thought approximately 5 seconds and decided it was a good idea - clearly. That turned out to be my favorite travel memory ever!  Rocking chair mornings on the porch with his wife, swimming hole afternoons with his daughter, and late evening strolls through pig farms to chomp on sugar cane and hack down coconuts with my "body guard" - the 75 year old neighbor.

When I found the job in Guatemala, I saw "Women's Co-op" and "Teacher" and said "Si!"  Sign me up.  On my way to Guatemala, I realized I didn't actually know much about where I was going.  I had blind faith that it was the organization I hoped it was, but told some friends it might be possible that I was headed straight into the sex trade.  They were on the lookout for SOS messages from me.  But, my disregard for common sense safety measures aside, learning the history about a place is actually super important.  I tend to do it upon arrival.  Had I learned more about Guatemala before arriving, I would have been a little quicker in understanding the power and significance of the community I live in.

On my flight home last week, I sat next to a pleasantly chatty guy who filled up 4 hours of flying with conversation.  At one point he asked me what the reasoning was for the genocide in Guatemala.  I responded, "What is ever the driving force behind genocide? Hate."  He told me that was the easy response, and proceeded to tell me the history of genocide in the bible, and we together relived the holocaust.  So, while I still believe that hate and fear are the underlying reasons for any killing, I will opt for the more winded task of telling you a bit more.

Civil war in Guatemala had been present since the 60s, with people protesting the usual political, social and economic injustices.  In the 70s, indigenous Mayan groups became louder with their protests, wanting equality and language and cultural inclusion in educational and governmental institutions.  As guerilla groups banded and fought the fights that guerillas tend to do, the government feared a communist coup.  Because guerilla groups were generally made up of the indigenous Mayan people fighting for their rights, the government began going after any and all indigenous Mayans.  The repression and killings began first in the highlands of Guatemala, in the beautiful, green-rich highlands that are prime for guerilla base camps.  The killing spree led people to flee to other parts of the country, and up into Mexico. A 1999 UN report of the civil war said, 'The Army's perception of Mayan communities as natural allies of the guerrillas contributed to increasing and aggravating the human rights violations perpetrated against them, demonstrating an aggressive racist component of extreme cruelty that led to extermination en masse of defenceless Mayan communities, including children, women and the elderly, through methods whose cruelty has outraged the moral conscience of the civilised world.'

Over the course of the many years the government was enacting these fear based atrocities, some horrible statistics racked up.

-626 villages were attacked
-Over 200,000 people were killed or disappeared
-150,000 people sought refuge in Mexico
-1.5 million people were displaced

My community of La Esperanza is a community that grew out of those displaced souls.  It started as a squatter community where people came to hide, survive, and wait.  Esperanza is one of my favorite words, and I love that this community is named "Hope."  Every women has amazing and heartbreaking stories about their journey to live in hope.  Cristi's parents were both murdered after neighbors ratted on them for potentially corresponding with the guerillas.  Angela's family lived out of a box for their first few months in the community.  Genocide is a horrible, hateful, fearful tragedy.  But an important history to know about the lives of the people I am living with.  Note to self: be a little less ignorant, and a little more researchy before jumping headfirst somewhere in the world.

My family and friends in La Esperanza never cease to amaze me.  Their fight, their grit, their ability to stand after the waves of heartache that have knocked them down.  Their love and hope inspire and humble me on the daily.