East Chestnut Mennonite Church

In July, a group of youth from East Chestnut Mennonite Church in Lancaster, PA visited Guatemala for the first time, spending much of their time and energy working with students from Bezaleel in Altaverapaz on a new soccer field for the school.  The group also participated in an exchange with a group of youth from the community of Sacsi Chitana who have been interested in learning new skills with hopes of starting a few income generating initiatives in the community.  Thank you to the staff at Bezaleel for sending the pictures of the soccer field project, and to Carlos from Sacsi Chitana for sharing the pictures of the youth working on their second batch of shampoo and the incubator doing it's job!

 Exchange in community of Sacsi Chitana

 

 

 Bezaleel soccer field project

 

 

everyman's right

I was recently reading about a friend's trip to Sweden where she shared the following:

"We roamed fields we didn't own and our host told us about an unwritten Swedish law allowing people to walk freely on the land.  And not just walk, but explore, hike, camp, and drink water from the springs.  They believe the farmland and wild open spaces should be shared and enjoyed by locals and visitors alike, the forests, fields, and waterways treasured and enjoyed.  They call it
"Allemansrätt" or for those if us who don't speak Swedish: everyman's right."

What a refreshing concept: an unwritten, cultural understanding that the earth and all it gives us should be treasured, enjoyed, and shared - a cultural understanding that is ever present in the indigenous traditions found in Guatemala.  As fellow MCCer Tobias Roberts shares here, the highlands of Guatemala, where many of these indigenous groups live, and their traditional lifestyle, "offer a life full of riches:  forested mountains, plentiful rain, fertile soil, abundant rivers, peaceful communities, and a vivacious cultural legacy."  Unfortunately, there are "visitors" who have come from the outside to take advantage of these resources.  Rather than treasuring and enjoying the forest, fields, and waterways, they have used the concept of "everyman's right" to turn these natural resources into money they can deposit into their bank accounts.  

picture of the Palo Viejo hydroelectric dam in Cotzal, Quiche

see more images here 

 picture of the Marlin Mine in San Miguel, San Marcos

MCC Photo/Melissa Engle 

The story is heard again and again across Latin America and the world; poverty ridden and often indigenous communities fighting to protect their rights to their land and its natural resources.  As the MCC Latin American Advocacy blog suggests, there comes a point when we have to ask ourselves what is this really leading to?  (see "Generating prosperity or conflict?: Mining in Latin America")  Rather than punishing these communities for wanting to protect their environment, when will we return to the concept of "allemansrätt" that my friend found so welcoming in Sweden?  Just what is holding us back from this natural and humane way of living? What are we afraid of?  

Forgoing excessive and harmful consumption? 
Having to change your attitudes?

The power of the politicians?

The work involved in achieving great self-sufficiency?

The disappointing looks of your neighbors?

What are you afraid of?

I was hungry and you fed your animals with my food.

I was hungry and your transnationals planted your winter tomatoes on our best land.

I was hungry and you wouldn’t give up your steak from South America.

I was hungry but they grew tea for you where rice might grow for my daily meal.

I was hungry but you turned our sugarcane and manioc into fuel for your cars.

I was hungry but the waste from your factories is poisoning the fishing grounds of the earth.

I was hungry but with your money, you bought up my food.

I was hungry while my land grows exotic fruits for your table.
I was hungry but you gave me no food.

Earth Keepers

What are you afraid of?

 

Adding something

In recent months, the Connecting Peoples program has been focusing more and more on three major advocacy issues that MCC Guatemala/El Salvador has prioritized as being key parts of the work we do: international mega-projects, migration, and violence.  The more one reflects on these issues, the more interconnected they all become.  Issues of violence and lack of economic opportunities lead to migration either to larger city centers or the north.  These same issues make it easier for international mega-projects to gain footing in rural communities by offering employment and infrastructure opportunities, which often ends in creating more division and conflict in these same communities.  The issues are complex and intertwined as fellow MCCer Tobias Roberts eloquently explains in his recent writing "Dreams of Our Own: Revalidating Traditional Mayan Lifestyles."  In spite of the complexities of these issues in the region, MCC and the Connecting Peoples program continue to work at supporting small initiatives that offer youth and others the opportunity to dream differently, and as Tobias says, "add something better to a way of life that is filled with hidden riches."  By supporting youth bakeries, community trout cooperatives, eco-tourism initiatives, and many other local projects, we can encourage people to believe that there is a future in their own communities that does not require them to leave or seek violence as an alternative.  By supporting peace and justice initiatives in urban centers, we can work at changing the cultural psyche of violence to one that embraces freedom from fear.*  By making connections with local people through service and learning experiences, we are creating a large group of witnesses who can be a voice in other lands, advocating for the needs of those they meet here.  All of these and more, are ways in which we can all join in the work of creating a more just and sustainable world, one where something different is possible.   

*See here to learn more about the issue of urban violence in Latin America and the work of the American Friends Service Committee in at-risk areas of Guatemala City.  Or here to learn about the Caravan for Peace that is traveling across the U.S. calling for an end to the violence that is caused by the drug war in Mexico and Central America.  

 Thank you to Phil Lind for providing the pictures of his visit with the Avila University group in May.  Through a course focused on mass violence and genocide, the students learned about the past and present reality of violence that affects Guatemala.  They also supported the work of various women and youth projects in Nebaj, the area which Tobias reflects on in the article mentioned above. 

 Concrete examples of "adding something" to the work of MCC and their partners: teaching youth new recipes to use in their bakery project, working with a group of women to construct small cages to raise their own chickens, participating in a women's workshop focused on gender equality.*

 

 

 

 

* Learn more about indigenous women taking leadership and working against violence in other parts of Guatemala here

Mega-projects and Respect for Communities and the Environment

There is so much to say on this topic that it's hard to know where to start.  Many of you have learned first hand about the presence of Canadian gold mining companies in the San Marcos region, and the more recent issues surrounding Italian hydroelectric companies in the Quiche region.  These two examples are by far not the only ones to mention in Guatemala or in the entire region.  Conflict over land and who has rights to it and it's resources abound in all of Latin America (and the world).  Although we spend a lot of time focusing on the impact of these issues on Guatemala, El Salvador has similar stories to share that are closely connected to our North American friends.  The presence of mega-projects and the conflict that surrounds them is a current challenge that El Salvador is also facing.  El Salvador’s fight against gold mining companies has come to the forefront of recent international news due to a $77 million lawsuit that the Canadian company, Pacific Rim, filed against the country as a result of the government failing to give permission to the company to begin operations on environmental grounds.  Due to local opposition that spurred country wide protests against metal mining, all large-scale operations of this nature have been suspended since 2008.  However, the fight over the lawsuit continues and at a high cost to El Salvador.  The country has spent around $5 million dollars of public funds in legal fees; funds that could be better spent on important social and economic initiatives.  For a complete overview of the situation in El Salvador, read, "Mining Gold, Undermining Democracy." 

These are important issues that affect a country we work in and many of you have visited.  It is our hope that through these updates and our upcoming advocacy tool-kit, we will all continue to learn about the reality here and ways that we can work for change.  One such action is by checking out Voices on the Border, a small non-profit organization working for "just and equitable development in El Salvador."  Please check their website for more information on an Oxfam initiated petition that is asking the U.S. government to end their support of Pacific Rim and the case against El Salvador.

For more information on this issue and other similar struggles, visit the MCC Latin America Advocacy blog:
El Salvador fights to protect its environment 
Working for Peace in Panama

The Latin America advocacy program has also started a Facebook page - another great way to stay connected to these and many other important issues.  Also, thank you to the program for the many great resources that they share with us on a regular basis. 

 

photos by Melissa Engle

the other face

 

 

 

 

All photos by Melissa Engle

See more of Melissa's pictures and read the stories of those who represent the other face of immigration here 

Learn more about MCC U.S.'s work on this issue here

Migration and Stengthening Local Economies

The MCC Guatemala/El Salvador program is currently working on an advocacy tool-kit that focuses on the following key advocacy areas that we have identified as integral parts of the Connecting Peoples work here: 

Migration and Strengthening Local Economies

Violence and Protection for Vulnerable Populations
(see here for more on this topic)

Mega-Projects and Respect for Communities and the Environment

In the coming months, we plan to share the tool-kit with you and hope that it will provide you with information and ideas on how you can continue working on these issues in your home communities.

Back in March, we spent time with the Rockway group in the area of Cotzal, Quiche near Nebaj, an experience that impacted me for many reasons, especially considering it was the first time we had taken a group there.  Part of the time included connecting with a group of youth who are starting a small, community bakery; by youth, I mean young people - mostly 14 and 15 year old girls and by small, I mean building a brick-oven in a roughly 6 by 6 foot space.  Often with these new and small initiatives, one never really knows where they will end up - how much of a long-term impact they will have on these young peoples' lives, and whether or not they will actually become strong enough reasons for the youth to stay in their communities and avoid the temptation to migrate.  During Rockway's visit, we shared time with a young man (a boy really) Jacinto, from another community in Nebaj where a similar bakery was started last year and is still going strong.  Unfortunately, a few weeks after seeing Jacinto, I found out that he had decided to take the increasingly dangerous trip through Mexico in attempts of making a life for himself in the U.S., without official documents of any kind.  Hearing this news hit me like a strong punch in the stomach and I have since been anxious and worried to hear whether or not Jacinto is able to survive the trip (and of course, cannot even imagine the worry of his family).  Stories like this, ones in which you are personally connected to the people and places from where these immigrants come, certainly give a new face to the "immigration debate" that is so strong in the north.  (Read this reflection by MCC SALT participant, Kelly, for another look at this debate)  These kinds of stories also continue to reinforce the need for small initiatives, like these community bakeries, in Guatemala and other parts of Central America.  More and more young people will continue to leave their home communities and migrate if they do not have viable economic and educational opportunities that give them a reason to stay.  Even though there are young people like Jacinto, who decided to leave even though there is such a project in his community, there are more and more young people that haven't left because of these same projects.  In now three different communities in the Nebaj/Cotzal area, there are small, youth-led projects that are flourishing, projects that are giving youth hope in themselves and in the futures that are possible without migration.  

 up and running stove that Rockway helped build (Cotzal)

 

 

 bread-making workshop and new flyer advertising their products (Cotzal)

small store that will be part of the bakery in Jacinto's community (Nebaj)

MCC U.S.is planning a learning tour to Guatemala in early October that will focus on immigration and the importance of these types of projects; visit here to learn more about  the "Alternatives to Migration" Learning  Tour. 

Violence and Protection for Vulnerable Populations

Just last night while skimming through the newspaper, two major headlines screamed out to me:

• "One young person dies every day in Guatemala because of violence.  From January to April of this year, 125 youth, the majority between the ages of 15-17, have been assassinated."

• "At least 49 mutilated cadavers have been found  along a highway in northern Mexico, believed to be Central American migrants, victims of the drug cartel the Zetas."

taken from Prensa Libre; articles in Spanish here and here

This is the reality of violence here and in many parts of the world.  Violence; that word we hear and use so often without even really being able to humanize it.  Stark statements like these help us to start feeling more what this reality of violence means, but even more so, personal connections that many of you have had here with these same youth and these same Central American migrants.  Surely you have not forgotten your experiences in San Marcos working and sharing with a community where 70-80% of the male population has spent time migrating and working in either Mexico or the U.S.  Or your experiences of meeting the youth of La Linea in San Martin and the fact that they are forced in many ways to chose between participating in the local church or the gangs that thrive in their community, knowing that choosing the gang will lead them to either death or incarceration.  Because of these experiences and our new knowledge of these realities that people we have met and interacted with face EVERY DAY, I am convinced that issues like violence and the root causes of them are now our issues (and have been for a long time even if we were unaware of it before).  These types of revelations bring into the spotlight the great importance of educating ourselves more about these root causes and finding ways to combat them.  After last night's reading of the newspaper, it was more than appropriate that I would, today, find out about an International Arms Trade Treaty that is to be discussed at a UN conference that begins in 48 days; a treaty that is key to helping address this issue of violence that we are all connected to.  You can read more about this and MCC's support of the treaty at the Latin American Advocacy blog.  There you will also find out about an organization called "Control Arms" that is advocating for an "international legally-binding agreement that will stop transfers of arms and ammunitions that fuel conflict." Realizing that people (myself included) leave their experiences here feeling overwhelmed and useless in the face of so many complicated things, this is an exciting and active way that we can all really DO something that may help.  I firmly believe that once you are personally connected to an issue, like you are now connected to the families in San Marcos and the youth in La Linea, you are left with a responsibility to act; this is an opportunity to do just that.

   

Photo by Melissa Engle for MCC's  A Common Place; read about Gustavo's immigration story here

 Youth from the Iglesia Bautista Discipulos de Cristo in San Martin; click here to read and see more pictures on their blog