TODAY in Guatemala

2011-05-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

AT LAST!

I'm finally getting down to the business of reporting what I have been doing here in Guatemala.

First: A huge thank you to all the wonderful friends who answered the call for donations for the children who attend the hospital in Santiago. I was able to deliver a large duffel bag of baby blankets and clothes, lots of kid's vitamins, crayons, coloring books and other medications as well as yummy chocolate for the staff! The hospital was most appreciative of the thoughtfulness and generosity of all those who donated.

LtoR: Lyn Dickey and Karin Bergstresser

A momentous event happened this past week. Most of you will remember the devastation that occurred in Panabaj after the mudslides that Hurricane Stan caused.

Concepción and the remains of her home

Two of the surviving Panabaj families, Diego and Mercedes and Gregorio and Concepción were built houses in a cooperative venture between The Ayudamos Foundation and Cojolya. They were told then that we would hold title for five years and then the titles would be transferred to their names and they would own the property free and clear. Well, five years sped by and it was time for the property to be turned over to the families. This photo is of the families when the houses were being built, including some of our volunteers.

The houses near completion

This week, Atun (representative of Cojolya) and I spent many hours waiting outside the Muni office with the families, attempting to get the process completed. The first day we waited about five hours and were not able to even get the process started. It was a wonderful day anyway because it seems at some point in the day everyone in Santiago passes by the Muni offices and I was re-acquainted with many friends and had lots of great visits while we were waiting. By the time we actually did get into the office itself, their computers crashed and that was that. We were back the next day as well and the day after that....Finally, the new titles were issued and they were presented to the families.

Presenting titles to the families

The families gifted me with a local painting of Lake Atitlan as well as a beautiful rebosa that they had woven for me. I was also treated to a delightful lunch. Good times!

2011-02-19T12:41:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my other post, I am returning to Guatemala on March 29th. I have been following the progress of the Hospitalito Atitlan and Ayudamos would like to help them in some way upon our return.

They have a wish list of non-medical items that I am posting here in the hopes that our supporters will consider donating these items. I have had to edit the list as to what I am able to hand carry. Please contact me if you are interested in sending me away with a full bag of goodies for this hospital and the babies and children they serve:

Children’s Multi-vitamins
Socks for babies and children
Receiving blankets for babies
Baby clothes
Cloth diapers
Sponges
Plastic Ziplock bags, ESPECIALLY JUMBO and SNACK size
Crayons and coloring books
Chocolate (boosts staff morale)

Please Note: The vitamins must NOT be expired or even near the expiry date in order for the hospital to accept them.
The baby clothes can be new AND gently used. Preemie and newborn clothes are great because babies there tend to be smaller than here in Canada.

Please contact me as soon as possible so we can arrange for pickup.
Thank you all for considering to support this integral community service in Santiago Atitlan!
Check them out here: www.hospitalitoatitlan.org

Saludos, Sandra

2011-02-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

It is almost two years to the day of my last post. I was involved in a very traumatic incident in Guatemala and the past two years have basically been a time of grieving and working through some issues caused by the event.

I am happy to report that I am feeling better and now am planning to return to the country at the end of March. Ayudamos will continue to support educational projects and so it is my purpose to find a project that fits our mandate and goals.

I will post photos and continue to blog when I am back in Santiago to advise you of what Ayudamos will be doing in 2011.

2009-02-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

FEBRUARY 5, 2009

This past couple of weeks, things have slowed down a bit for me workwise and so I took the opportunity to act as a translator for a Canadian medical team, Médicos en Acción. The group is based in Kamloops, BC, but brought nurses, doctors and team helpers from all over British Columbia and Alberta. I went with them to Recantacaj, Nahuala, about an hour drive from Panajachel. There were two translators in each exam room, Quiché to Spanish and Spanish to English. The community was very welcoming and we had a great time getting to know many of the residents who came to seek medical attention. The community organizers Fe y Amor had a lovely going away party for us, with Folklorico Dancing, a Marimba band and gifts to thank the team for the work they did in the community. Check out the website for Médicos here: http://www.medicos-en-accion.com/ They are a wonderful group of new friends and deserve to be applauded and supported for the wonderful work they are doing here in Guatemala.

2009-01-29T09:24:00.000-08:00

January 29, 2009

Well, the new school year is off to a roaring start. We were very fortunate to receive another grant from THE WILD ROSE FOUNDATION of Alberta and so this year were able to take on new projects and children within our school. The past month I have been here has been spent taking applications from families, conducting home visits and reviewing the progress of last year's students. I am happy to report all of our 2008 students were promoted to the next grade. They have all been attending school faithfully and working hard at achieving passing grades. We have added 5 new students to last year's 16, bringing our total to 21!

Our new music classroom is now in use even though they have very few instruments at this point. We have just placed an order for many new instruments and they should be delivered in the next month or so.

As a result of receiving the matching grant, we were able to hire three more full time teachers; in music, physical education and English. We are the only primary school to offer three languages in the lake area. It will definitely give our students an advantage.

We have also ordered 20 new desks to be made locally for our new music classroom. It was lovely the other day when I heard the sounds coming out of the classroom; children singing and simple rhythm instruments keeping time. It really is rewarding to see the results of the work we are doing here.

Next week all our children will present me with their uniforms as many have grown out of their pantalones and will require bigger sizes. We will get them ordered right away as they take a lot of pride in their school clothes and the sense of belonging that comes with them. They wear sweat pants and t-shirts that identify them as students of La Escuela Bilingue Integral Santiaguito.

Also, in the next week, we will be working out a schedule for the volunteering that our children do in the community. More on that then!

2008-01-25T12:32:00.000-08:00

January 25, 2008

Yesterday was the final day of work in Santiago, at least for this trip. The kids are attending school every day now and are settling in to their new routines. Several of them surprised me by presenting me with cards, letters and drawings. They wrote them in Spanish and read them out loud to me. It was a very touching moment. One of our students, Elena, who is now 13 and in Grade 2, read her card to me which was carefully printed. It moved me to tears, because just last year she didn't speak a word of Spanish so to hear her read her card was very special.

The construction work is progressing on the new music classroom. I am always humbled by how hard the construction work is here. Two men (one really no more than a boy) mixing, lime, cement and gravel on the ground with a shovel, as though they were mixing a large mud pie. They have formed the foundation for the classroom and have worked many long days to get the base of the classroom made. When it is finished it will be a lovely addition to the school. It is in the garden area and I can envision many afternoons working in my office and listening to the sounds of students attempting to master their instruments.

I have a couple of days to get myself organized for my return to Canada. I will miss the beautiful hot weather we have been having this past couple of weeks.

2008-01-21T14:50:00.000-08:00

January 21, 2008

It is hard to imagine I have been here over three weeks and this is my first blog. It has been a very busy time so I will try and recap the highlights of our activities.

Vivian Pritchard of Calgary came with me for the first two weeks. El Norte was blowing fiercely (and coldly!) and for several days the lanchas did not run across the lake. We made good use of our "down" time by shopping for Ayudamos' upcoming sales. We have bought a lot of different and beautiful things and we look forward to sharing them with you during our new sales season.

Our second week was spent in Santiago, making home visits to the new applicants of our program. That was a very interesting event and it made us glad we took the time to see the homes. Also, that week Juanita, Vivian and I bought the school supplies for our kids. You don't really go inside a store per se, there is just a window and a counter and you tell the person what you want. Luckily they had big boxes, because we bought nearly all our supplies for the 16 students there.

A meeting was organized with our scholarship recipients and their parents, and Francisco Sojuel, the director of ADISA, which is a centre for children and adults with disabilities. We have made it a condition of the scholarship program that the children volunteer one day a month in community service. They will be working at ADISA to satisfy this requirement, in order to build awareness and compassion for persons with disabilities.

Vivian left at the end of the second week and another volunteer from Calgary, Becky Cardwell, came to see the projects of Ayudamos. Of course, I put her to work right away! We spent two days sorting the school supplies and getting them ready for the individual students and their grade requirements. We had beautiful new backpacks that were donated by the students of BISHOP PINKHAM JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL in Calgary. All our new students receive a backpack along with their school supplies. Our students from last year still had useable packs from last year so we were able to re-use them.

We are also evaluating the school uniforms from last year, to see which are still useable, before we purchase new ones.

Ayudamos is building Escuela Santiaguito a new music classroom. I will be taking some photos this week and uploading them to this site, so you can see the progress.

Thanks so much to our scholarship supporters for making this program possible. You are donating futures to our children.

Gracias y Maltioux

Sandra

2007-10-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

October 5, 2007

Well, after much planning and plotting, the Women's Centre of El Remate was officially opened on October 4! It was a great, hot day, with lots of smiles and great food, cooked by the Asociación Mujeres IxCanaan. The financing was provided by The Ayudamos Foundation, Friends of IxCanaan (a local Calgary group headed by Dr. Bob Dickson), and The Wild Rose Foundation of Alberta.

The hard work was done by Anne Lossing and the women themselves. Anne, our partner (and former Calgarian) acted as Project Manager and administered the funds, kept careful financial records and oversaw the construction from the planning stage to the handing over of the keys last September. Without her, the project would have been impossible. Muchas gracias, Ana! The women broke ground, literally, with pick axes, planted trees and plants, cleared rocks, built fences and did what ever needed doing.

There were approximately 100 people in attendance to celebrate with the women, including the heads of other's women's groups around Lake Peten Itza. The women got the local Coca-Cola group to donate some beverages, a small tent and tables and chairs. The Camino Real Tikal (a local hotel) donated a large cake. The women cooked a local specialty Pollo Guisado which was muy delicioso!

After a couple of short speeches by, The Mayor's representative, Juana, the President of AMUIXCANAAN and me, Juana and I jointly cut the ribbon.

This has been a very positive step forward for an already hardworking group of women. They are unstoppable!

There were too many photos to post, so please view the web album by clicking here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ayudamos/GrandOpening

2007-10-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

October 4, 2007

I have been remiss in keeping up this blog, for a variety of reasons, including power outages, too much rain, sickness and a bit of fatigue at the end of the day. But, enough excuses!

While in Santiago, I conducted interviews with parents of new applicants to our Scholarship Program, including meeting with the families of our existing scholarship students. I will do home visits with the families in early January before the start of the school year. I was disappointed to learn we had another drop out, a young girl, whose family needs her at home to work in order to help the family. We arranged meetings with the father, twice, but he didn't show up either time. That is the tragic reality here and a difficult problem to suitably address. I think if all goes as planned we will have 17 students in our scholarship program come January, the start of the new school year.

I have been fortunate to have the assistance of Juanita Tacaxoy. She was our first scholarship student and works in a variety of jobs in Santiago. When I am working in there I hire her to work full time with me, doing all the Tzu T'juil translation with our families. She is more than willing to do anything that is needed. She is invaluable in getting things organized and working with the families. We have a great friendship and a strong working relationship.

I moved my office from one space to another in the school, which worked out better for the school. We had a new permanent sign painted for the office, by Juan Sisay, a great grandson of the famous artist, who is an artist in his own right. I have included the pictures here.

As part of our infrastructure program, we have committed to building a music room for the budding music program in the school and will look to fundraising to purchase instruments that are needed.

I also met with Francisco Sojuel who has a community work program where children donate one day a month, during the school year in order to aid the community. It is a program that develops leadership in children, a sense of responsibility to the community and a co-operative spirit. He will accept all of our scholarship students into this program, so that they can 'pay it forward' to the community. All the families agreed to this condition.

2007-09-10T16:59:00.000-07:00

SEPTEMBER 10, 2007

There is never a dull moment in Guatemala! We dodged a bullet with Hurricane Felix, we prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. We have had a lot of heavy rainfall everyday since I've been here, which has been 8 days now. Today is the first day we haven't had a downfall by early afternoon. Hopefully, the climate is returning to normal for what is the rainy season.

Despite the heavy rainfall the Presidential elections went ahead as scheduled on September 9th. The press has referred to this election year as the "bloodiest" in modern memory with 50 murders associated to the candidates. By that, I mean, family, friends and campaign workers of the candidates, and in some cases, the candidates themselves. The election itself went more or less without incident and the skies over Atitlan were blue and sunny until mid afternoon.

Again, this election saw hundreds of patient voters waiting at the polls for their turn to cast their ballots. I was sorry that I hadn't volunteered with the Organization of American States to act as an International Observer as I had in the previous election, but had a very interesting opportunity anyway. I was invited to join the Canadian Ambassador to Guatemala, Kenneth Cook (l) and my friend Carlisle Johnson (r), local radio journalist as they went to various polling stations around Lake Atitlan. I have included some pictures of the day we spent observing the electoral process in the communities that are near and dear to me, including our project area, Santiago Atitlan.

2007-05-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

May 5, 2007

After many months of planning, the Women's Centre in El Remate has finally broke ground! It is very exciting to see the enthusiasm of the women of Grupo Femenino as they work just as hard as many of the labourers to see their dreams realized.

We hope that the centre will be completed within 4 to 5 months. Funding for this project came from another Calgary group, Friends of Ix-Canaan, us, The Ayudamos Foundation and the Wild Rose Foundation of Alberta.

We are now investigating some economic strategies for the women that will allow them to earn a living wage to support their families. I have included some of the pictures I took almost a week ago that show the beginnings of the construction project.

Our project partner, Anne Lossing of El Remate will continue to update us with pictures and so I will post the photos on our blog to keep you informed as to our progress.

2007-04-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

April 28, 2007

Well, all the children are doing well in the scholarship program . It was great to see them again and read their report cards. They are doing well with their studies and with their attendance too . While I was there the children received their new school uniforms. They will use these for sports activities and parades. They were very excited to try them on as you can see in this picture.

The bathrooms we finished for the school are now ready for use. The school did a great job in finishing the project. They have installed two showers and two new toilet areas as well as a deeply dug pozo for black water.

In February at the Calgary Teacher's Convention I met a Guatemalan teacher, Eric Noriega, who teaches Fourth grade at La Escuela Collingwood in NW Calgary. He had a great idea to exchange letters with the grade 4 class at Escuela Bilingue Santiaguito. His fourth grade class, wrote and then typed wonderful letters, including a head shot of each student. The letters were then laminated and I delivered them to the grade 4 class in Santiago. My suitcase is full of wonderful letters and pictures, on their way to Calgary to exchange with Mr. Noriega's class.

The children of the 4th grade in the Escuela Santiaguito and their teacher are pictured here.

2007-01-17T18:58:00.000-08:00

1/17/07 Ayudamos has opened its first office in Santiago Atitlan at the Santiaguito school. Vivian helped me find the beautiful furniture that is shown in this picture. Believe it or not, this hand made carved furniture costs less than metal office furniture! Already, I have had numerous moms and other people drop in to say hello and check out what Ayudamos is doing there. In fact we are already having new families apply for the next school year in 2008. It is very productive for us to have a permanent space to work in. We are hoping to have another intern working with the foundation this coming spring, so that person will also have a great space to work in; close to the kids and close to nature.

2007-01-17T18:41:00.000-08:00

1/17/07 And then there were eight. Shown here is our new scholarship student, Maria Quieju Petzey. She was a very happy little girl on her first day of school. You can see her excitement when she received her knapsack full of school supplies as well. She is in pre-primeria (kindergarten). Ayudamos has now fulfilled its committment to eight scholarship for this pilot project.

2007-01-14T14:17:00.000-08:00

1/14/07 Well, our long anticipated Scholarship program is off the ground! This week on January 8th, school officially began, but the formal classes don't begin until tomorrow, January 15th. It has been a very busy couple of weeks since I arrived with volunteer, Vivian Pritchard. Not much was happening until after New Year's Day. Some of you will remember that Ayudamos is opening its first in-country office in the Escuela Santiaguito and so Vivian and I spent one day buying furniture and having it driven from Los Encuentros to Santiago. Vivian's time here was just 10 days and so last Sunday, I said goodbye to her. She was a terrific help to me in that first week.

The days prior to the start of school, we visited the families whose children would be receiving scholarships. We were very disappointed to learn that 3 of our 8 children decided they didn't want to go to school. They were three of our older students, Carlos, Pedro and Dolores. They decided they were earning money and so didn't want to go. That is the sad reality here and not much can disuade families from the prospect of having money in their hands today.

The good news is that the young sister of Carlos and Pedro was very excited to go and is in fact in 3rd grade. Her mother asked if we would sponsor her instead, which we did. Word spread and we had another family apply for a scholarship for their granddaughter. After a home visit and interview, we added Deny to our group. Tomorrow I will be interviewing another family in their home and we will likely be up to our 8 students again.

Bishop Pinkham Jr. High School in Calgary is doing a fundraiser for Ayudamos and one of their projects was to provide knapsacks and school supplies for our scholarship students. On Friday, 7 of our 8 children received their packs and supplies. The kids were very excited and their parents even showed up for them to receive their knapsacks.

Also, Bishop Pinkham students, remember all the great pictures you drew and sent along with me? I showed them to the Director, Gaspar Reanda and his idea is to create an Art Gallery outside of my office in the large salon, so that the entire school can come and look at the pictures of life in Calgary and Canada. I am really proud to show these beautiful pictures off. I will never forget your enthusiasm for this project and these children who are beginning school. You all are true global citizens!

Keeping checking this blog spot, Bishop Pinkham, as I will be posting the pictures of the Art Gallery when we have it all in place.

2006-09-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

9/30/06 I was in El Remate, Peten this past week to meet with the women's group and with our partner Anne Lossing. Anne and I completed some financial work and met with the local contractor to discuss the building for the women's group. The women's group had to legalize themselves and so, Juana, the president, Anne and I went to one of the local lawyers to proceed with the legalization. The new formal name of the women's group is, "Asociación Coalición Femenina Ix-Canaan El Remate, Guardianes de la Selva". Quite a mouthful, but will likely commonly be known as Coalición Femenina. The process of legalization should take about three weeks, at which time, the land titles will be formally in the name of the coalition. Then, the work can officially begin on the site. Stay posted for our progress on our Women's Centre!

2006-09-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

9/19/06 We have a new partnership in Santiago Atiltan, with an innovative and systems thinking school, Escuela Bilingüe Integral Santiaguito. The school has accepted our eight scholarship students for our scholarship program which begins in the new school year of January 2007. Most of our students have never attended school and half of them are 13 years old. The reason it is so important for our students to attend this program is that only two of them speak Spanish and most schools are only teaching in that language. Santiaguito is teaching in both languages which gives an advantage to monolingual speakers who are already disadvantaged by a late start. The Administrative Director, Professor Gaspar Reanda Pablo is a warm and accepting man with a great vision for the future of the school. They teach the regular curriculum that the public schools do, but in addition, teach the children traditional Maya handicrafts, respect for the environment, and in particular a knowledge of the lake that keeps them alive. The school is lucky enough to have beautiful gardens reaching down to the lake. The children learn about the trees and flowers, plant gardens and use compost. It is a cooperative school and has a lot of involvement from the parents as well.

The short term goal of the school is to create a music department and the long term is to have Basico education as well. As of now, the school goes from K to 6, Basico would be our grades 7 to 9.

Ayudamos is fortunate to have a permanent office space in Santiago now as well, at the school. We will have a small office in order to have a location for families to contact us, for me to work when there, and hopefully to have another intern or volunteer help with this program.

2006-09-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

Well, after almost two months of hard work, the two houses will be ready for the families to move in next week. When we left Santiago, yesterday, Saturday, the doors, windows and glass were being installed. The families are very excited to be in their new homes and look forward to having a permanent roof over their heads. The houses are complete with pozo for black water and running water in the houses themselves. The families have been living in rental housing since last November when Ayudamos arrived with Emergency Funding to assist the 'damnificados' from Panabaj. As usual, when having to say goodbye to the families, there were a lot of heartfelt speeches and a few tears shed. It is always bittersweet when a project comes to an end, but as usual there are more right around the corner.

2006-09-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

We had a unique opportunity today to visit Maria, the goddess wife of Maximon, the local deity of the Maya Tzu T´juil. We were invited to the home of a friend of mine whose family is hosting, Maria, that is taking care of her for the year, feeding, clothing and guarding her. We bought flowers as a gift for her and were given warm beer to drink by the by now, drunken cofradia priest. We were all sitting in a small warm, smoky room, filled with incense and worshippers while next door the hired marimba band played its tinkly music. There were gourds and bananas hanging from the ceiling with paper streamers. The priest took Maria from where she was resting so we could see her better, the incense they were burning added a very mystical atmosphere to the party. It was a unique opportunity to participate in the culture and traditions of these hospitable people.

2006-09-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

Life has been a whirlwind this past summer. After spending five weeks here in July and August I returned home for only two weeks returning again to Guatemala at the end of August with two volunteers, Norm Smith and Linda Powell. We are finishing up the houses that are being built for two of the Panabaj families and Linda and Norm having been working hard to finish the houses before they leave on the 21 of September. I have included the pictures of how things looked when we arrived last week and the progress that has been made since then. It really is amazing once the pozo and water lines were dug, how quickly the block began to rise and the shape of the house began to show itself. The two families are related through the husbands, Diego and Gregorio who worked tirelessly and hauled approximately 500 pounds of cement, block, wood, lamina, rock and sand each day for approximately 2 months. This is likely where the term "sweat equity" came from.

2006-08-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I flew back to El Remate for an overnight with Guatemalan architect, Luis Mendoza, who has offered his services to our women's project in El Remate. We spent the day with the President and Vice-President of the Grupo Femenino and Anne Lossing, our local partner, to articulate the needs of the women's centre to Luis, while he did the things that architects do..... He will be providing plans for our centre on a volunteer basis, which something basically unheard of here in Guatemala. Of course I have promised to visit the women's prison, COF, this afternoon, with him as his project there is looking for help from a foreign NGO. Quid pro quo. There are about 500 residents in that particular facility. The government doesn't provide health or dental care and the food provided is mostly lacking in nutrition. It should be a very interesting experience.

I have read numerous articles on the state of the justice system here. Apparently, people can be put in prison for up to two years without charges or trial. The women's prison also accommodates children of the incarcerated women....they sleep in the cells with them. Another unique opportunity to see a part of life here in Guatemala. I have heard many different opinions on this type of work from friends, supporters and other NGOs here in Guatemala. It never fails to spur an opinion or judgement....

2006-08-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

Today is Indigenous Pueblos Day here in Guatemala and the Prensa Libre has printed a big article about racism and exclusion of Indigenous Peoples. They have also included several statistics that in some cases, seem hugely incorrect in which certain situations are either over or under estimated.

For example, the article states that 41% of the population of Guatemala is Indigenous, when according to many other sources, it is more accurately 60% of the population. The under reporting of this statistic is likely due to the denial that many Indigenous people have regarding their heritage. They have learned to hide their true identities as a result of overt racism between their group and the Ladinos here. As a result there is a gradual erosion of Indigenous culture, clothing, language and customs.

Prensa Libre reports that 74% of Indigenous people are poor, with 24% being extremely poor. They don't specify if the 74% includes the 24% extremely poor, because if it does, that leaves only 2% living above the poverty line, whatever that would be here. Whatever the case, it is an abysmal statistic.

Also, out of 10 Indigenous students only 3 will complete 6 years of education. The rest drop out well before that for a variety of reasons. Another 23% will never have any schooling at all! It isn't surprising then that only 0.3% will have access to University. They claim that 53% of Indigenous people between the ages of 15 and 64 years can read and write. This definitely seems like an optimistic statistic.

In health issues, only 5% of the Indigenous population have access to health care. Due to abject poverty 7 out of 10 children are under size for their ages.

But in true political fashion, the government forms committees to investigate the situation, the press dutifully reports the findings and the Indigenous remain poor and disenfranchised.

2006-08-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

These pictures are of our new housing site in Santiago Atitlan. As many of you know we are now building houses for two of the families from Panabaj who lost literally everything in the mudslides of last October.

The pile of rocks seen here, have been removed from the pozo that is halfway to being finished. The pozo will be the septic hole for the two families.

When I visited the site two weeks ago, the worker pictured inside the pozo was only about a metre into the ground. With only a shovel and a hammer to break the rocks, he has single handedly dug this huge pit. It is back breaking work, but he always has a smile for me!

The foundations of the pozo have begun as well, and within the next few weeks, the rocks that have been unearthed will have a new function, to line the walls of the pozo.

I return home on August 15 and return again to Guatemala on the 30th of August for another month of work here.

It is our hope that the families will be able to move into their homes by the end of September.

2006-07-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

Just a further note.... this blog is directly linked to the Ayudamos website. Unfortunately, because I am working on a Spanish keyboard, the punctuation does not translate properly from the blog site to the web site. When reading the blogs on the website, click the details button which will take you directly to the blog site and proper punctuation!

Chau
Sandra

2006-07-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

July 29, 2006

I have been here just shy of three weeks and am finally in a position to sit and write about what has been happening here over the past 18 days.

The first week was spent trying to get the title change for the land purchase in Santiago for our Panabaj houses. As I assumed, it wasn’t as simple as everyone seemed to think it would be. Atun and I went to the Muni offices, had a meeting with the Mayor, Diego Esquina Mendoza, who hand wrote some sort of permission to apply for the change to title. While I was there I asked him about the water situation in Santiago. He confirmed that a group had come to his pueblo after the mudslides and had chlorinated the water supply. He also indicated that 75% of the people did not like it. I have no idea how he arrived at that figure, but "word on the street" corresponds to that dislike. I have been in touch with a couple of Rotary Groups in the U.S. who are eager to do something with the water supply for Santiago Atitlan. I am hoping this week to conclude the business on the land title change, now that I have all my documents translated as per the latest request by the Muni.

I left the following week for my trip to El Remate in The Peten where our next project has been confirmed. The Ayudamos Foundation is partnering with Proyecto Ix-Canaan and Grupo Femenino to build a co-operative work centre, kitchen, bathrooms, storage room, daycare and playground. Our on the ground partner is Anne Lossing, former Calgarian (via New Brunswick) who, along with her husband, Dr. Enrique Chapetón and Eduardo Cofiño, High Commissioner to The Peten, have built an environmental and social vision for the area and community of El Remate. Out new project will be funded partially by a Calgary group of donors, led by Dr. Bob Dickson, grant funds and personal donations. Construction is scheduled to begin October 1, 2006.

I have also met with an accomplished Indigenous Author and Human Rights worker, Julio Cochoy. He is set to publish his second book in the Fall of this year. His first book chronicles the stories of the victims of his pueblo, Santa Lucia Utatlan. He is an economist by trade but now works for the Procuraduria de los Derechos Humanos, a human rights group in Guatemala City. His second book deals with the immigration issues of Guatemalan workers in the United States.

Speaking of Human Rights, many of you have probably noticed the new Suggested Reading List on our web page, and the book, "Disappeared: A Journalist Silenced" which is the story of murdered journalist, Irma Flaquer. Her story is still being told because at the time of her kidnapping (and assumed murder), in October 1980, she was the first, white, middle class, Guatemalan female journalist who was "disappeared". Her eldest son, Fernando, was murdered during her kidnapping, her youngest son; Sergio, was 23 at the time and working on a kibbutz in Israel. He had been sent there for his safety after an earlier attempt on Irma’s life.

The government essentially admitted responsibility for her disappearance, or in the vernacular of the legal documents, 'failing to protect her and her rights' as well as failing to properly investigate the incident. It is widely accepted that the government and the military were responsible for this action, even though propaganda at the time tried to implicate the guerillas in the disappearance. (For further information go to https://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cases/67-03.html to read the official legal documents.)

Through a series of happenstances I had the opportunity to meet with Sergio Valle Flaquer in Antigua, Irma’s surviving son, a broken but sweet-spirited man. The pain that surrounded his past 26 years was almost palpable. His life has been defined and swallowed by this tragedy. He was generous with his time and happy to talk with someone who knew his mother’s story. When I left our meeting I thought of the other estimated 260,000, families whose loved ones, either had disappeared or were found murdered and the exponential impact of a national catastrophe such as this.

Even though this country always moves me in many ways, through its beauty, its relaxed atmosphere and its sweet, gentle indigenous population, the pain is always nearby, just below the surface.

2006-05-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a real flurry of activity. I have just said goodbye to Jennifer St. John, Erin Young and Robin Bain, of Road Less Travelled Productions, Toronto, who were here for the second time filming their documentary film about The Ayudamos Foundation and the work we are doing here in Santiago Atitlan.

We visited and interviewed the families that we built the first two homes for, interviewed some of the families from Panabaj who lost their houses and toured the devastated area. We had many laughs with the families and a few tears were shed as painful stories were recounted. All in all, it was very rewarding to tour the finished houses and discover how the families now viewed their changed futures with secure places to live. They are all thankful to have a proper roof over their heads as they nervously anticipate another rainy season.

I am here for another week and then leave for El Remate May 4th to meet with the local women's group and Anne Lossing, formerly of Calgary, to determine our involvement with them in the future.

2006-01-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been here for the past three weeks easing the transition between intern Lesley Magee, leaving and our new intern, Marie Simpson arriving. For those of you who don't know, Lesley arrived in July from Halifax as our Project Manager for the housing project, Proyecto Too 'Ik. She did an amazing job of the work she was here to do and her abilities and heart really shone when our work was interupted by the devastation of the mudslides in the town of Panabaj where several of our weaving families lived. Lesley worked very hard from start to finish and really won the hearts of the community of Santiago Atitlan. I have had many people express to me in the past few weeks what an important part of the community Lesley was and how much they enjoyed her presence here.

I am sure that Marie will have the same impact. She is full of enthusiasm, optimism and energy and will be a tremendous asset to finishing our housing project by April. She will also be working on developing our scholarship program and so will have her hands full over the next three months. We have just begun our 8th housing start.

This past week Marie and I facilitated a mini Future Search planning session for our partners of the Cojolya Weaving Association. So we have been busy!

We have been busy visiting the families who have received the new safe stoves to ensure they are working properly and to a person they are very happy with them. The picture I have included is of Andrea Tacaxoy and her children inside the kitchen of their new home in front of their new Onil Stove.

2005-12-21T16:23:00.000-08:00

This is Concepcion, one of the weavers of the Cojolya Association. She is standing in front of what once was her home. She and her family narrowly escaped the mudslide, but have lost everything else. Ayudamos has arranged for temporary housing and have replaced the basics needs of everyday living to this family. This was all made possible by the emergency funds our donors provided in the wake of the devastation.

2005-11-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

What have we done with the emergency funds?

I am sure many of you who responded to our pleas for emergency funding are wondering how Ayudamos has responded to the tragedy of Panabaj. We were fortunate to have raised several thousands of dollars in our emergency fundraising efforts.

We came up with a plan that was executed almost immediately upon my arrival, by Lesley and me.

We (in conjunction with Cojolya) have located and provided rental housing for four weaving families who have have lost everything. We have agreed to share the rental cost with Cojolya for six months until a more permanent solution is available.

Ayudamos has purchased, beds, matresses, blankets, kitchen utensils and necessities, wardrobes, chairs, tables, traditional clothing for the women, men's and boys clothing, shoes, water jugs, comales (for cooking tortillas), weaving looms, patates (reed mats) for sitting, and more. In addition we are undertaking some improvements on the rental properties such as, digging latrines, creating a temporary kitchen cooking area, repairing a window, and building a divider in one of the houses for privacy. Too bad there isn't a Landlord Tenant Act in Guatemala!

For the long-term solution, we have applied for funding from the Government of Canada to purchase land and build more houses. We will keep our fingers crossed!

We have some of our emergency funds left and will use them as needed in the short term. If we are able to purchase the land and build more houses any funds remaining will go towards that.

2005-11-13T14:29:00.000-08:00

I have been in Santiago/Panabaj for two weeks now and haven't found the words to describe what has happened here. I know people have been anxious for information and so I am including the observations from my personal journal to give you some insight in to what has happened in this community and how it has effected me on a personal level.

Aftermath of a Disaster
Panabaja/Santiago Atitlan

To the unknowing eye, it doesn’t appear that anything adverse has happened here. That is until you arrive at the small village of Santa Lucia, about 60 km from Santiago Atitlan/Panabaj, where the road I am driving on, simply vanishes into a yawning, muddy depression 200 metres long in an otherwise normal two lane black top.

Further down the road families wielding pickaxes, desperately attempt to free their homes from the now dried, cement-like mud. Tangled tree roots and boulders crowd the houses and roadways near the bridges and creeks, as though the thunderous muddy waters heaved themselves onto the roadway and lay these huge rocks where it made its new bed.

Driving through the town of San Lucas Toliman, the main street suddenly ends and 500 metres of paving stone roadway, is, quite simply gone, leaving an abrupt stop to the otherwise normal roadway. There are no danger signs warning people away, simply the visual destruction.

I arrive in Santiago Atitlan and though the streets are very quiet the mood of the people appears, normal, but subdued. I notice the signs on the fronts of the schools and churches ¨30 families 150 people¨ or ¨120 families 600 people¨ in an effort to let aid workers know the requirements inside the hastily converted shelters.

The next morning I walk to Panabaj with Atun, Marta and Yousef, Indigenous friends of mine from the community of Santiago. For 2 1-2 hours we picked our way through the devastation that once was the bustling community of Panabaj. We stopped at four of our weaver´s houses, some only visible by two feet of wall protruding from the now hardened mud. We crawled through what appeared to be bushes, but what I later realized were the tops of trees, now made brush-like by the elevation of the mud around them.

We stop at the house of the weaver, Mercedes, the top bunk of their new bunk bed broken off, the only thing that would have been out of harm´s way in her home, broken off and salvaged, by the family. Behind the house a lavatorio, with only 1 foot of the building evident but still crowned with a ventilation pipe standing sentinel over a hardened sea of mud.

Notebooks, mattresses, clothing, and hair comb strewn in violent disarray either coated with mud or perversely pristine. I see the top of a door frame painted with the slogan jesu cristo vive aqui ¨Jesus Christ Lives Here¨, an ironic message given the scope of the tragedy.

There are very few people here, some villagers coming back to survey what is left of their homes, and to try to come to grips with what has happened. One brave man, lonely in his efforts, stands on a ladder attempting to shovel out the mud that his filled his home. He is the obvious exception as most people are still too traumatized or too afraid to return to the community. It has recently been declared a cemetery as there are as many as 1200 people entombed under 20 feet of mud.

We continue walking through the rubble and debris when we are struck by a horrible, pungent stench. Not having had experienced death of this magnitude before I assume it is the smell of death. We try and cover our mouths and noses as best we can and move on.

Coming upon the main area of destruction it appears a swath approximately 1.5 km wide has been completely covered with mud, earth and rocks. I see no evidence of habitation here, no protruding walls or trees, no lamina roofing, simply a shoe here, a CD there and man´s t-shirt, laying flat as if waiting to be folded. The community here has been erased.

We continue walking and I see a lone, green orange tree, its fruit, now hip height for easy picking. There is more activity in this area; small children are collecting wood and small rocks in sacks in the hopes of selling them in the market.

My eyes follow an enormous crater up the centre of this flow area to its origin, a nearby mountain. It stands innocently enough, its only evidence of wrong doing a large brown scar, marking where the earth broke free from its anchor, in stark contrast to the vivid greens surrounding it.

A small boy of about 10 years walks by, bent nearly double by the weight of the wood he has gathered, his scrawny yellow dog by his side. There are not many dogs here now due to the successful poisoning campaign of stray dogs by the municipality in the days following the disaster.

We now move back to the periphery areas of the slide and once again see signs of habitation. A hand woven huipil snagged in a tree, a t’shirt hanging from the limb of another and small child´s dress, half buried in mud. A lone dog is curled up, waiting on a pile of debris for his family to return.

It is 3 days after the La Dia De Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, and we find several makeshift memorials near the mouth of the slide. Tin lamina panels retrieved from the debris create little shelters strewn with grass, pails full of flowers, empty liquor bottles, crosses and candles, as is the tradition here, and now dot this now lifeless landscape.

Further away from the slide, the prison, largely intact but enveloped in mud, stands defiant, empty of its inhabitants. Its neighbor, the Hospitalito, only recently re-opened lies abandoned, half filled with mud.

The house of our weaver Delores, is abandoned also, no evidence of her desperate escape through chest high mud. Delores, was due to give birth and was miraculously plucked out of the mud by the local volunteer firefighters, delivering her healthy baby boy two days later. She is one of the very few good news stories to come out of this tragedy.

We walk past the local school and once again are hit by the stench of decay. Here the mud isn’t as deep, but many bodies had been moved along by the flow of mud and deposited here. I see numerous brown paper bags, once containing lime hydrate lying on top of the mud. There has been so much lime spread over the earth here that it for a moment makes me think of the snowfall in Calgary the morning I left, a world ago.

We continue making our way through white powdered streets and begin to see population again. Wide eyed children sit near a hand painted tin panel with a simple message ¨Prohibido No Pasa Contaminación¨.

I look down at my brown leather hiking boots, which are now white-grey and thickly coated with the dust of death. I weep for what must be the hundredth time this day.

The people here in Santiago Atitlan continue to linger in the shelters, but soon they will be forced to leave the churches and schools that have been their homes the past month.

Life goes on here and rebuilding is very slow. These people who had nothing have lost everything.

Nothing is simple about the simple life these people lead, and it will likely take years for these families to regain their footing.

2005-10-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

The Hospitalito in Santiago Atitlan

2005-10-17T02:34:00.000-07:00

I have been out of Canada during the devastation that has hit Santiago Atitlan, but have been kept informed by Lesley Magee our intern who is working as our Project Manager for our housing project, Proyecto Too 'Ik.

Lesley Magee has been amazing during all of this turmoil, checking on our weaving families, working as an emergency aid responder and cooking in the soup kitchen for the emergency teams who have been dispatched to Santiago Atitlan. Lesley continues to provide us with current information about what is happening in Santiago and the needs that are presenting themselves in the community.

Lesley has been attending the community meetings, where there is talk about the goverment providing land for the estimated 5700 refugees that are now homeless in the community. But as we all know, that would take a great deal of time and money and seems like a very distant possibility.

The new risks they are facing are the possibilities of epidemics as a result of the many decaying bodies under the mud, the lack of clean water and the fact that there is no where to put any garbage.

According to Dr. Leah Abraham, of the hospitalito of Santiago Atitlan, she writes:

The town is running short of potable water, food, gasoline,and propane; and there's only been running water and electricity intermittently. Fortunately, eventhough all the roads to town have been washed out and communications were down for the first few days, relief organizations have been able to get in via helicopter and we are now receiving aid. We're gearing up for the communicable disease epidemics (diarrhea, hepatitis, etc.) that always occur after these sorts of natural disasters.

The status of the hospital building is still pending. Relatively speaking, there wasn't all that much damage, and the building is probably salvageable. The problem is, the government may declare the whole area a contaminated cemetery, which means we will be barred from working there. Even if we're not, we'llhave to overcome the barriers to access created by the slide and the fear of the townspeople to return to that area. We're hoping to move back into our old building, but we're already considering other locations just in case. That decision should be made sometime this week. "

Please consider donating to the Ayudamos Foundation to help in the relief and on-going efforts, by connecting to our website at www.ayudamos.ca

For more news about Santiago Atitlan:

http://www.santiagoatitlan.com/disaster/disaster1e.html
http://www.puebloapueblo.org/

2005-10-11T06:04:00.000-07:00

This field used to be filled with houses

2005-10-11T05:28:00.000-07:00

As many of you know by now, a great tragedy has occurred in our beloved Guatemala, specifically around the Lago Atitlan area which was besieged by rain until the earth gave way and covered complete villages, wiping them forever off the map. Unfortunately, our community of Santiago Atitlan was also devasted and there has been much loss of life. The last I have heard from our intern, Lesley, who has been working tirelessly to feed the rescuers and to aid in any way she can, there has been at least 70 bodies recovered, with estimates as high as 450 people still buried there. Neighborhoods that used to stand have been covered over with mud and there are at least 3500 people homeless after this devastation.

Some areas have given up any hope of finding survivors and the decay of the bodies is under the earth is preventing any further identification of them. The government has declared some communitites cemetaries and the dead will remain unclaimed under the slides.

The Ayudamos Foundation has put out an appeal to all our supporters to help us raise funds to help our efforts to provide water, shelter and clothing to our friends in Santiago Atitlan.

As far as we know now, at least five of our weaving families have been effected by the mudslides.

I have heard that helicopters have been delivering aid in the area, landing in the area in front of the Church.

I will write more as soon as I hear more information. Please keep our friends in your hearts and prayers.

Sandra

2005-09-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

To Supporters of The Ayudamos Foundation:
The Ayudamos Foundation has always been very lucky in attracting wonderful volunteers to our organization, both in Calgary and to travel with us to Guatemala, and this trip to build houses, has been no exception.

Our team arrived on September 6th and we travelled to Santiago Atitlan on the 7th to visit the sites and the families that we would be building houses with. Norm Smith, Roshni Daya, her husband, Todd Peterson and their infant son, Keiran Peterson, John Davis and Linda Powell, tools in hand, arrived to begin building. We were also joined by Jennifer St. John and Robin Bain of The Road Less Travelled Productions, a film team developing a documentary film about The Ayudamos Foundation.

Because of the size constraints of the properties and the fact that we had local labour (including the families) working on the sites, we split the team in two. John, Roshni and Todd joined the local labour team at the Andrea Tacaxoy housing site, while Linda and Norm went to work on the home of the Andrea Mesia.

Our intern, Lesley Magee and our project partner, Fransisco Sojuel had worked hard ahead of the team to ensure that every thing was ready once the team arrived to start building.

The challenges of the building sites were only matched by the excessive heat and humidity during the prime building hours during the day. The groups were on site by 8:30 a.m. each morning and worked until almost 4:00 p.m. Initially, the volunteers were concerned by the lack of common language, as the majority of people in this community only speak Tz 'utujil, but found that within a short amount of time their common goals transcended the language barriers and they were working side by side with the local crews, and communicating in different ways.

We were all impressed at how effectively the local worker had fabricated the tools to bend rebar, cut and form iron collars and mix their cement on the ground with shovels. Most of our team commented on how much they learned from the local labourers and how much they enjoyed the resourcefullness they were shown.

We were amazed at how hard the families worked toward the building of their houses. Grandfathers, carrying heavy rocks and cement bags on their backs, all the way to small girls carrying small plastic bowls of sand on their heads to add to the cement, pitched in to the work to help in whatever way they were able. Andrea Tacaxoy peeled apples for the workers, while Jose Ixbalan, the father of Andrea Mesia, handed out bottled water and bananas for the workers when taking a break from the labour. Diego Pablo, the husband of Andrea Tacaxoy, worked full-time right alongside the work team every day. The families were obviously very happy with the changes that were happening to their property and expressed their gratitude in many ways to us while we were there. They were very gracious, despite the intrusion in their lives. They shared the little they had with us and were affectionate and kind and understood our need to take a lot of photos.

Along with all the construction work going on, the film crew was able to interview the families and filmed the progress of the construction. We were very fortunate to have the tri-lingual translation services of the uniquely capable, Cameron Krummel, a long-time member of the Santiago community. All of the volunteers were interviewed and asked to reflect on their experience with the building project. Interviews were also conducted with other people within the Cojolya Weaving Association. It was a lot of fun having Jennifer and Robin with us and they were very cautious and sensitive to the situations as well as the families around them.

The last day of building was a difficult one for all of us. There were a lot of tears shed by both the volunteers and the families. There were bridges built between all of us, none of which involved cement or mortar. The work won\'t end with our volunteer\'s departure, the project will continue until the ten families have their new homes. We are very fortunate that Lesley will stay on in Santiago Atitlan until January and will continue to oversee our building project.

I am thankful to our volunteers who at personal financial expense and time away from their families, wanted to help two families from another country, whom they had never met. Our construction team wanted to provide these families with an opportunity to achieve their dreams of having proper housing for their children.

Norm and John, who have great collective building experience and an amazing work ethic, Roshni, with her quiet strength in addition to Todd and Linda, really rolled up their sleeves and got at it...... Thank you doesn\'t seem to be enough. I hope your reward will be in remembering the joy you have brought to our weaving families and the experience of learning much from them in the process. It has been a great pleasure to be working and travelling with all of you.

Que la via bien
Sandra
The Ayudamos Foundation http://www.blogger.com/