simple,
his quarters are preserved and a small plaque commemorates a life of
service. As per request of the Mayan people with whom he worked, his
heart is buried beneath the church, because his heart was always in
Guatemala. After the Father Stan memorial, we divided up a bit. Diane,
Diana and I (Rose) headed back to the Elder Center to talk with Chonita
about future plans for the center. Meanwhile, the rest of the group met
up with three scholarship students (Sara, Juana and Juanita) to go to
the local market and buy some food for an afternoon cooking lesson.
Since I was not there for the cooking (although the food turned out
marvelously) I will turn this portion of the journal over to Shanna.
Hi,
Shanna here. Well, we met the three girls in town and after
introductions we headed to the market. I have to say our guides
were quite brave leading us through the crowded and bustling market as
we towered over the locals and quite obviously, were not from around
there. We set out to purchase ingredients to make “Patin” and
“Tomalitos,” both local “Santiago” style dishes. Our grocery list
to make patin included: beef, tomatoes, yerba blanca, and huge
leaves (from a banana tree). “The ingredients for the tomalitos
included: maiz, and smaller, skinnier leaves from the “Milpa”
tree. After we squeezed through the stands of vegetables, spices,
fruits and chopping blocks we made our way back to the center to
cook.
The girls, all of whom are “Sharing the Dream” scholarship
recipients, were very patient and sweet as they demonstrated how to
prepare the dishes. I think we all gained an appreciation of the
time it takes to prepare the food as it took hours to shop, prepare and
cook those delicious dishes. This was the first time a cooking
class was included in the agenda as well as the first time the girls
had ever taught cooking. Everyone chowed down on a fine meal and agreed
that this should remain on future itineraries. After a nice lunch, we
all rested while we waited for a group of parents from the nearby
Chacaya School to arrive to speak with us about building a retaining
wall for their new school building. They were very late and we were all
wondering if they were going to show up at all. They finally arrived
and had a very different cost estimate to build the wall than Diane had
expected. The original estimate was $6,200 but the estimate that the
group brought us was for $20,000, Quite a jump! (The wall is being
built by a great group called Peg Partners. They are working through
STDG.) So while Diane and Diana and the school board tried to
sort out the reason for such a jump in price, all of us sort of
marveled at Diane’s staying power. She would not budge and firmly
explained to them that we were not able to pay that amount. They kept
looking at her like she was going to magically come up with a check for
$20,000. By the end of the meeting, however, the board had agreed to
meet us tomorrow morning with a new estimate.
We were
running a bit late, so we hurriedly said good bye to the parents and
met up with Chonita, who had uncharacteristically requested to be our
tour guide to the Peace Park. She started our walk to the park by
narrating a series of events that had taken place in early 1990. She
told how one night, some drunken Guatemalan soldiers had gone into town
looking for girls (there was a large army base just outside of
Santiago). When they went into a house and the girl cried for help, a
man from the village tried to settle the situation and was shot twice.
Then, the villagers rang the alarm bell in front of the church and the
entire village gathered and began to march toward the army base to
confront the soldiers. She told us that the town people were all
unarmed. Once they arrived at the base, all of the soldiers were
waiting for them. The soldiers did not wait to hear what the villagers
had to say, rather they fired at random into the crowd of civilians.
Chonita then led us down a narrow path into the woods where we came
upon what used to be the captain of the army’s office. It was not much
to look at, just a small cinderblock structure, however Chonita told us
that during the war, there would have been soldiers throughout the
forest, and many others lying in wait at the commander’s office, rifles
ready. She then proceeded to explain to us the atrocities that were
committed on that very spot. How the soldiers would round up people
from villages around the lake, and throw them in a large pit that they
had dug as a sort of prison. Any one suspected of being “subversive” or
anyone with supposed ties to the guerillas was detained and often never
heard from again. She told us in graphic detail the things that the
Guatemalan army did to her husband, an innocent farmer whose
“subversive” action was to leave the town to check on his corn . He was
tortured, his body mutilated to the point where she could only
recognize half of his face. He suffered horribly. It was a very
emotional moment as Chonita explained to us how she would never be able
to forget what happened, nor would she ever be able to love someone
like she had loved her first love. She then told us how her desire to
help other widows who were unable to make ends meet after suffering
through the same atrocities. She explained that the elder center
allowed her to give some of the love that she had in her heart to
others. There was not a dry eye among our group after she finished her
story. She explained that although her life had been hard, it was much
harder for others who were not able to weave or to speak Spanish. We
all felt very honored to have heard the story from Chonita herself. We
then walked back to Peace Park, I think all of us silently reflecting
on what we consider to be the hardships in our lives, and paid our
respects to the innocents who lost their lives that day in what is now
the Peace Park.
We were all pretty drained, so it was the
perfect night to have our “fancy” dinner at the Posada, the posh
restaurant where the expats and gringos congregate. The food was
terrific and we all overdid it by splitting a chocolate brownie and ice
cream. That night, during our group reflection, Diane remarked that it
was very seldom that Chonita tells the group her story. It was very
difficult for her to speak about her past, but I think that we all felt
closer for having experienced it together.
Monday, June 23
This
morning after breakfast, we went to Chacaya to see the temporary school
that they are teaching out of, as well as to see the progress on the
construction of a brand new school building. We were all anxious to see
if the school board had come up with an alternate proposal for the
retaining wall. To give you an idea of how important the retaining wall
is to the school, the land that was purchased for the new school was at
a severe incline. The parents chose the land because it was the only
piece of land for sale that was nearby the old school and that was
within the budget (STGIG supplied the funding for the purchase of the
land). So, the parents were determined to make it work. Together with
their children, they used machetes and shovels and leveled the
land! They did have some tractor help at the end but it was primarily
the work of the parents and students that readied the land for
construction. That being said, the land will soon erode if a retaining
wall is not in place to prevent this. The parents seemed very concerned
that construction on the wall begins as soon as possible, as the rainy
season is already well underway. As Diane had predicted, they had come
up with a new estimate $7,400 for the construction of the wall, a price
that everyone could agree on. The parents seemed very happy. Diane
informed us that they had been very confused as to a good price and
were being taken advantage of by a greedy contractor who was looking to
make an extra profit. Diane met with the new contractor and he
explained what was going to happen. The parent group had worked
all night and talked to 3 different contractors and had gone and seen
some of the work that this man had done. (Note from Diane… I think
David and Carolyn from PEG Partners will be proud of the negotiations.)
While Diane talked business, we took a tour of the school. The
children were very charming and greeted us warmly. The liitle ones sang
for us and the first graders were particularly enamored with Katterina
who showed them the pictures that she was taking of them with her
digital camera. Sharing the Dream is paying one of the teachers
salaries. However, we learned that the other 5 teachers have been
working without pay for the last three months, as the Guatemalan
government has not written them any checks. The teachers were all very
dedicated to the children. They expressed gratitude for all of the
school supplies. (Calvary Lutheran in Rapid City has been donating
boxes of supplies for this school). In one classroom, the children held
up their pens to show us that they were using them. We then went to see
the new school that was being built. It is wonderful. There
were 6 classrooms, a room for a clinic, a kitchen and
bathrooms. A local Guatemalan company Anacafe is building
it for them. They won’t have any desks, books etc. but we have been
gathering donations and will probably be able to provide for a lot of
this.
Our adventure only continued when were about to
leave. The teachers informed us that they had spotted some notorious
robbers on the road (no doubt they had been alerted to our presence and
were waiting for us to pass by in our pickup). The teachers came up
with a plan to accompany us in the pickup. There was a bit of tension
as we all handed our cameras to the pickup driver (who promised to
drive quickly) and crouched down in the back of the pickup with coats
over us. Then all five members of the school board stood over us
in the pickup and we picked up several other locals on the way. All
this to try and maintain the illusion that this was just another bunch
of locals, heading into town. We were relieved to hear the “all clear”
from the driver about ten minutes down the road. So we were able to get
uncovered and stand up. Diane could have billed this as an adventure
tour! After our brush with danger, we went to watch the beaders and
purchase some jewelry. We then went to visit some houses
that STDG helped to build in a town just outside of Santiago. The
entire area had basically been swept away by hurricane Stan. The
remnants of the damage were evident, there were still boulders
scattered across the road and refuse littering the streets. There were
many houses, but just one family was home. It was a very sweet little
family and they were grateful for the help. STDG helped build 20 homes
after the hurricane. This was with the help of Trinity Lutheran
in Vermillion and many other people. However, they did not
have access to running water (they were buying it from a wealthy
neighbor) and they did not have latrines.
After that, we went to
see Diane’s friend, Hermberto, a local who is very skilled with
woodworking and has a little shop as well as a workshop in Santiago. We
first visited the shop, where there were all sorts of souvenirs and
wood carvings that were obviously made by very skilled hands. Then we
went back to the workshop where we were given a demonstration on how
they make these little wooded puzzle boxes. If any of you have been to
the STDG store, you probably know what I am talking about. We had
dinner at the Elder Center and then had an impromtu fashion show, with
all of us dressing up in Tzutuhil clothes. We had a great time
laughing with Chonita, Diana, Felipa and Bernevela. We all slept
quite well that night.
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