Corazon de Mujer

Yesterday we met a resilient group of women.  We shared a meal with them and then had the honor of hearing some of their stories about the violence they witnessed and experienced during the civil war (1960-1996). Together with Cedepca (www.cedepca.org) the women of Corazon de Mujer (Heart of Woman) are raising awareness of the issues facing Guatemalan women, and are proudly helping provide for their families and prepare a better future for their children. 

This is Bernada's story (bottom middle) as published in the "Threads" The 2011 Corazon de Mujer Calendar, which supplements income the women earn by selling woven scarves and other treasures.  For more information visit www.corazonscarves.com


I was born in a village near Chichicastinango.  Seventeen years ago we moved to Chimaltenango.  We came here because of the violence in our villages.  Lots of people hid in the woods.  For nine months I lived in the woods.  I hid with my six-week-old little girl.  We survived by stealing crops during the nighttime.  i lost my diapers; I lost everything.  In the day, we were hiding in the ravines so the helicopters and police wouldn't see us and during the night we could make a little fire.  We couldn't cry, couldn't yell.  We ran into the mountains because if we didn't they would have killed us and that is why we are alive right now.  If they saw us in the village they would say, "Oh look, they are helping the guerrillas!" and they would kill us. 


Because of the group (Corazon de Mujer) one of my daughters was able to go to school and now she is a teacher.  I don't want my children to have lives like I've had.  I've never studied.  Now, it's better here. 


I grew up weaving.  I  learned to weave when I was eight.  Now, I just ask my husband to buy thread and then I can make huipils (see beautiful blouses above) for my daughter.  That is the  way that my grandparents lived. 


I'll tell you about how I came to have this house.  At first we just had one roof and we just slept under it and then we made walls out of cornstalks.  We stayed for a while, just like that, but little by little my  husband bought the stuff for the walls and we built the house out of adobe and pieces of wood.  We have been here for about 12 years. This is how life has passed.  We can't afford to build a pretty house, but this is how life is. 

The simple life

Many of the YAVS in other placements around the world are practicing communal living.  While i'm very glad to be living with a family in Guatemala, there are some experiences that you just want to share with your friends.. if for no other reason than you know at least there is a chance that there will be someone looking more awkward than you, at whatever it is that you may be attempting.

And so it was with laundry day, Guatemalan style.

A pila is the equivalent of a sink, dishwasher, and washing machine in one.  In the middle there is clean water--do not contaminate the clean water!  On the left side, there is a basin with a beveled bottom, into which you scoop water from the center to wash and rinse your clothes.  Same goes for the right side, except it is for washing dishes...unless your host mom has graciously opened her pila to become the community washateria for the day, and then it magically converts into another clothes-washing side.

We discovered that pre-soaking is key.  Quick tip:  Smell the bucket into which you deposit your clothes BEFORE doing so. You could be choosing a bucket that has recently been used to clean fish.   I'm just sayin...

Feeling very accomplished.   And then it started to rain.  Ha!  

"Had a moment" as I was reflecting on my new 'life skill' read the back of our YAV shirts.

Pass the Umbrella

I have a photo, burned to the back of my eyeballs, recorded in my heart and in these words...

I came home from afternoon class and running errands in the fog to find my host mom making chile rellenos. Her sobrina (niece) was helping and the entire house was just alive with movement. I started to watch telenovelas (soap operas) with the sisters..

maybe i should pause here to say that the first night, as siblings kept popping up out of the blue, that my host mom tells me ¨we are 9... 10 with you¨. however, that doesn´t count sisters, grandmothers, etc, etc, that are there more often than not.

i should also take this time to tell you that i may or may not be capitalizing anymore, and will use my own form of punctuation, as it comes more naturally to me...and i can´t really figure out this keyboard. but i will be cured of overusing smiley faces by the time i leave, i believe... mostly because i can´t find the colon mark.

so, i´m watching telenovelas--and they are wonderful--but i decide that i probably should be learning to make chile rellenos. The common area of our house is open-air there is a small grill where the fire was going. As I emerge from the girls room, it´s getting dark and I see that abuela (grandmother) is holding a candle so that her daughter can keep working on the chiles. Then it starts to sprinkle, so now abuela is holding a candle and an umbrella. Sobrina brings the batter and stands on the other side of mom. At this point I´m kind of ´pink'panthering´about them and asking the occasional question to try to learn. This is also about where my urge to take a picture sneaks in...but i resisted. (whew!) It starts to rain more, so the platter to which they are depositing the delicious stuffed chiles gets moved under cover. (This is where I come in). The next time sobrina takes off to get the platter, I tell them I´ll get it. So now, I am running back and forth, waiting for the order from mom, serving as protector of the completed chiles. THEN (oh yes) 3 year old grand-daughter comes home and wants to help, but the oil is splattering occasionally. So her dad comes and picks her up so that she can safely see, takes the umbrella from grandmother...and i stand back, soaking it in thinking ´this is family´.

Lovely. and delicious.

We're not in Antigua anymore, Toto.

We´ve made our way up the base of the volcano a bit. We´re about 20 minutes from Anitgua and is where we are attending Spanish school for the next month. I only thought I knew Spanish! haha. Just kidding... but I am really grateful for this opportunity to clarify, refine and build some new Spanish vocabulary. I don´t know if it is a coincidence that my teacher, Felix (el gato), also teaches Christian Theology classes, but for four hours every morning, I am studying Spanish grammar from the Bible. Really. The Bible is my textbook. Love it!!

I´ve also learned that Guatemala has two seasons--rainy and not rainy. We happen to be in the midst of the rainiest rainy season that Guatemala has seen since the 50´s, and it is reaking havoc on roads and infrastructure here. Many around the country have lost their lives and homes to mudslides and flooding. We are safe, and the rain has actually subsided for a few days where we are and I once again find myself in a little bubble of comfort when there is need all around. At orientation we talked about the ¨ministry of presence¨. Being verses doing...The idea that we´re not always going to be constructing a building, or having any tangible product necesarily, but that by being here, living in solidarity with others is, in fact, important work. And also, that we have much to learn. After the first few days in quiet San Juan del Obispo we realized that we do, in fact, have a lot of ´being´to do, and much to learn.

What´s that rumbling, grumbling, awakening?
It´s
my
spirit.

Orientation 101

Orientation at Stony Point was, for me, a mountaintop experience. The worship was incredible--so full of life. We sang songs of praise from all over the word, we danced, we cried.

The YAV program did a great job of perparing us for the year to come. We heard touching (and troubling) from former YAVS, we analyzed our personalities, we talked about ¨the man¨ and how we are a part of 'him' ...whether we like to admit it or not. The message that reverberated with me most, however, was that of 'self-care'. In a nutshell, it´s the idea of putting on your oxygen mask first, and then aiding those around you. It is instinct to save the child next to you--to put their mask on first... That mentality manifests itself, in my life at least, by over-committing myself, rarely saying 'no', and putting my needs last. That is if, in fact, I have even taken the time to identify what it i that I need to nourish my spirit, so that in turn I can be of greatest service. Reflecting on it now, the song ¨Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me¨ comes to mind. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. We reflected on ways that we ¨fill our cup¨ mentally, physically, spiritually, and we tried to boil that down to three words. Mine were stretch, create, pray.

I am including pictures of Antigua in this orientation blurb, because our first three days in Guatemala were an extended orientation. It is simply beautiful here. Julia put it best--As we were walking down a cobblestone, colorful street the first afternoon she said, ¨My heart is literally exploding right now.¨ It is, however, pretty easy to forget that you´re in a developing country in Antigua--we even caught ourselves brushing our teeth with tapwater a time or two. But I do appreciate the ´transition time´that was built into the program, as i got to know my fellow YAVers better and Marcia, our coodinator and PCUSA mission co-worker. It was nice, I must admit, to be a tourist for a few days and try to capture some of the beauty that is surrounding me in photo-form.

This is "Agua" .. The volcano south of Antigua--dormant, but a very helpful compass