Friday, May 29, 2009

Host Fam part 2: Matias

Matias: host dad, 40 some years old. Works hard everyday either with his construction job or on a house which the family is building for one of their children. Matias loves to joke around and is also very energetic. Every other Sunday he leads a sort of pre-service Sunday school. Often times he comes home from work and we shake hands while we talk about our day and how we are. I have gotten way better at shaking hands since I have been here in Guatemala (one usually shakes everybody´s hand in a room when he walks in, and handshakes can last a long time. He has a slight. Once I turned around in the bath house to see him in the chicken pen holding one limp rooster and using it to attack another rooster, I watched for about five minutes and I think it was as much for the fun of it as to make the one that was getting beaten to stop attacking the one that my host father was using to beat it up. He eats his food fast and then drinks his glass of tea in about five seconds flat, leans back and lets out a long “wwwoooooww” wipes his mouth and moves onto the next activity. He is always concerned for my well being. Sometimes he will grab his nephews, and hold them very clothes, cheek to cheek, for fairly long periods of time.

Jordan

ps. and I also had a very fun trip following Dave Janzen around the mountains surrounding Nebaj. Rachel and friends were also along for the fun.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Political Crisis in Guatemala:


The normal: Impunity, crime, corruption. The judicial system desperately needs to be fixed. On the one hand, way more police are needed, but on the other hand, law enforcement itself is quite corrupt. While in Mexico big name drug traffickers are lined up in front of huge arsenals of weapons after they are caught, in Guatemala you read about arms being stolen from the police. The absolute lack of police enforcement in some rural areas has brought the return of community justice (beatings, burnings, etc). The congress cannot pass a desperately needed fiscal reform bill.

The new: Recently a Harvard and Cambridge educated lawyer filmed a video message three days in anticipation of his assassination blaming his future assassination on high ranking bank officials in cahoots with drug traffickers and the president and the presidents wife himself. His client and client´s daughter were earlier assassinated. The lawyers claim is that Banrural, the biggest bank in Guatemala, takes money from drug traffickers and cleans it… the banks´ other biggest client, the government, stands idly by. Documents have been produced showing apparent anxiety by the Presidents personal secretary about the lawyers client. The president claims that this is the latest act of a long campaign by drug traffickers and others unsympathetic with the leftist government to destabilize his government. When I first got here the president was just finding out that he was being spied on. Now some hopefully impartial organizations such as an organization set up by the UN will be investigating the claims made by the deceased lawyer.

Anyways thousands have taken to streets to protest and call for the resignation of the president. Today the government organized a protest in support, but the paper here ran an article saying that the participation in this march wouldn´t be quite as voluntary as the other. On the other hand, the paper is a city paper, and I hear that the president did better in rural areas, and the support for the counter rally apparently came from people outside of the city.

Colom is moderately liberal and those of us here working on social justice have had hope that he could make changes that would force the government to serve those that it has never served: the huge rural population of Guatemala that constitutes the “other Guatemala.” But what good is a golden head on a broken body? What could Colom do anyway if the legislative and judicial bodies are so screwed up?

This is why education is so important. Good education not only creates a more adept workforce but creates a more self-conscious public that has the skills and the confidence to demand, no require, better governance. Schools like Bezaleel can and are creating competent individuals who dream of a better Guatemala, and who simply through their quality of character will make a more just Guatemala.

On a lighter note a few weeks ago the paper ran an article on a town that said it was being terrorized by the spirit of a dead person some kids and unwittingly dug up. The author also noted that members of the reporting team also experienced some kind of supernatural event.

Jordan

ps. speaking of education, I hear that CA is going to have to make cuts on education. That seems dumb...

My host family part 1

Selbil: Little brother of 17 years. Energetic and chistoso, he smiles and laughs rather easily. He is in an accounting program in Cobán, where he attends everyday wearing the obligatory nice pants, nice shoes, button up tucked in shirt, hair about as long as it is allowed. He calls me “cushO” (I am spelling it how it sounds) and sometimes attacks my shoulders like Rusty Moyer when he is giving someone a “massage.” He is a good soccer player. Besides playing soccer he likes to attack our little cousin, the lovable “pescadito” (little fish). Unlike many young people, Selbil does not dream of leaving for the states, but realizes that there are possibilities here in Guatemala and that his friends and the people of his community are truly important for him. He goes to church every Saturday and Sunday, prays before meals, and wonders aloud about theological problems such as homosexuality. Selbil is very easy to get along with and I am thankful for how he reached out to me from the very beginning.

Monday, May 18, 2009

My previous post

was entitled "evil spirits?"...

and it seems to have dissappeared

dun dun duuuuuuuunnn!!!

sorry,
Jordan

ps. I have fond memories of watching old episodes of "the twilight zone" my freshman year of college. The one with the miniature "aliens" totally fooled me. If I could remember the opening monologue, I´d write it, but I guess I am not that big of a nerd after all.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Reflections from Feb. 26

Reflections 2-26
The hardest part about being in Guatemala has been, without a question, dealing with missing what I left behind. I am happy to say that for the most part I haven´t let the conspicuous absence of all the people I ever cared about during the first 22 years of my life ever, really, bring me down. I am basically writing this because of some recent conversations by email or chat (for once I let myself use internet without rushing myself to finish everything in 30 minutes) with college friends about dealing with not being so physically close to so many of our friends. It seems to be something that all of us have trouble with upon graduating and going on to something else.

I deal with that too, but fortunately going to Guatemala has distracted me quite enough to not to feel too nostalgic about all that stuff. I defiantly do spend some time just being nostalgic, or thinking about seeing people when I get home, but I think for the most part that this has been healthy. As planned, being in such a different place has given me a lot of other things to think about besides what I am missing back home. I am generally content, usually happy… and every now and then, things are something approaching glorious- lets say I am walking the 6k home, there is a beautiful yellow glow on endless green hills, there is a only distant human made noise, and one can hear different bugs and birds calling, and a good song stuck in my head… !calidad! (quality).

I miss the people and the easy social life that I lived back home. The comfort of knowing exactly what my role was. Being confident that I said the right thing. All those things are just harder living in a different culture.

On the other hand, in the absence of these things I have been able to accept the biggest gift that I think Guatemala will give me. That is the gift of showing me a new ways to live. I have found that I can be pretty flexible. From new things to eat, to new ways to bathe, to new ways of greeting people, I have become accustomed to a new kind of lifestyle, and I hope that I will be able to apply some of these things to my life back home. I think of the song A New Way to be Human, by Switchfoot, though song is talking about less material ways of changing and deeper, more profound ways we can change. It is possible I have changed in more profound ways too, but I doubt I would have realized that yet.

Sometimes having as much free time without much to do as I do in the evenings is a little bit frustrating, but mostly I have been very happy to read a lot, get plenty of sleep, listen to whole albums straight without interruption, or just lie down and think. While the work I do is focused on helping others, I also have plenty of time to just be quiet, to listen… I think of how somewhere the Bible says ¨be still and know that I am Lord.¨ These are all luxuries that I did not really have in the hectic college life, and I am making sure to enjoy it. I think my life hear has been very healthy. Very healthy in some ways that college is, perhaps, a little unhealthy.

Jordan

Saturday, May 2, 2009

My work, as succinctly as possible. (for the actually succinct version, scroll to the postpostscript.)


WHAT IS BEZALEEL?

I work at a school, Bezaleel, that has about160 boarding students. The grade level is equivalent to middle school and highschool. We are located in a beautiful little valley just outside of a small town called Chamelco which most people describe as tranquilo. The school was started about 10 years ago because of a call from Mennonite Churches in Alta Verapaz for better education for their children. Eastern Mennonite Missions, which evangelized and has had a continued presence here in Guatemala provided and continues to provide lots of support with workers (long and short term), money, and materials was instrumental in creating Bezaleel. A successful Mennonite colony in Belize also provided lots of support. MCC, in collaboration with Fundameno (an organization like MCC for the Mennonite churches of Alta Verapaz) also provided support for the building of Bezaleel. Obviously all of the churches and Mennontites of Alta Verapaz were instrumental in the building of Bezaleel also.

BACKROUND: STUDENT´S SITUATION, WHY BEZALEEL IS IMPORTANT, AND CHALLENGES

Throughout Latin American indigenous peoples live on an unequal footing with the dominant Latino culture. Right now, Bolivia is becoming a possible exception with the leadership of the first indigenous president in Latin America, Evo Morales and an organized indigenous political movement. Guatemala, however, is not an exception to the rule. Small Q´eqchi´ communities simply do not get the education that they have a right to. Bezaleel, supported by funds from generous Mennonites represented by EMM, provides a relatively cheap (families pay about 1/8 of the cost to attend along with a donation of corn) option for students who want to continue their education.

Bezaleel faces many challenges in properly educating the students. Many students arrive at Bezaleel ill prepared by the primary classes they received. Many of their parents do not know how to read or right and so cannot educate their students themselves. Smaller communities often do not see the benefits of education. There is little access to reading material, Q´ekchi´ is most of the students mother tongue, making classes in Spanish difficult.

WHAT I DO (ON THE OCCASION THAT THINGS ARE NORMAL AT BEZALEEL)

I work in the library (7:30-4/5) and am available to help students with their work at any time. Students have become more and more comfortable with asking me for help, though often times, I think, they do not ask for help because the do not realize they need it, or do not care.

A typical conversation is this

What are you doing? “work” well, what are you working on “science” But what are you doing “copying” or “a project” well, what are you learning “saber profe” (who knows teacher).

And at that point I can usually get the kid to talk about the little bit that he understands and explain concepts or words that he or she does not know. Maybe that is not very different from a conversation with anyone of their age, but it can still be a bit frustrating. Tutoring in this manner is my normal work. I also do quite a bit of just chatting with students and try to mentor some of them a little bit and am always trying to turn conversations educational in someway. Sometimes kids are super interested in worldly things that I can explain that they had no idea about, and sometimes I don´t do a good job and a glazed look comes over the students eyes.

I also work with a few advanced students with English, though this happens with frustrating irregularity (though at the moment with more regularity). I also often bring the daily paper to school and through this have the opportunity to talk to the kids about current events and encourage critical thinking which is generally lacking. I work with a small group with which once a week (in theory) we read an advanced article on a theme that together we have decided on (we have read about Evo Morales, Fidel Castro, the current economic crisis, water issues on Latin Americaa, and sustainable development) the next will be about Rigoberta Menchua or mining in Guatemala. I am not trying to form students into a certain political ideology, I want them to be more aware of the world around them and to learn to understand and think critically about what they read. I am also just starting a program to read short stories with younger students who need the Spanish practice and work at understanding and looking a little bit more in depth in what they read (this actually may be about as dead as it is new). And finally, after urging a couple math teachers, they have told students that they need to seek my math help, and that has happened (yay!, large square root problems all over again!!) The problem with all of this has been, how frustratingly hard it is to find times that work for people. The school sometimes constantly seems to have special events which pulls kids out of class and has them working on less (traditionally speaking) educational projects. Probably the biggest difference I have made with students at the school is developing a bit more of curiousity in some of the students… I just hope that that continues to be cultivated at Bezaleel and afterwards. OH yeah, and I come in Saturdays, usually along with a helpful YES team member or two and open the computer lab for students to work on projects and continue learning to use computers. I just help when they can´t figure something out. These Saturday´s are fun and relaxing.

I have a few other ideas I have thought about trying, but we´ll see what happens.

On top of it all, I feel I am very much loved at the school and have developed good relationships with many students that I think will leave a lasting positive affect.

Ok, I said succinct, and this might be as good as it gets.

Jordan

Ps. Coming soon: a portrait of my wonderful host family.

Pps. This is a succinct version of what I do: if you have seen the movie I heart Huckabees I am like the fireman (Marky Mark) yelling at his daughter as he is being pulled away from her “never stop asking questions… never stop asking questions!!!” except that I am not THAT funny, or that crude, but I am constantly asking students to think just a little bit more about what they are doing. Maybe you could call me Marky Marcos. I go by Marcos here, or “cush” in kekchi. Or cusho o cushito.