Youth Helping Youth

Blog End

2009-09-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I'm back in Vancouver now and my blog is now closed.

Christina

vacation

2009-02-20T05:41:00.000-08:00

i am on vacation in northern guatemala right now. just about to take a bus to san ignacio, belize. waiting for the bus forever here... but i will be getting out of guatemala for the first time in two months. next week i go back to vancouver, its tough to believe. before then, i have to get rid of all my furniture, which we are donating to the conavigua office, where people live and stay while they are in the capital. lots of work travelling.

this past week there was enough activity to fill my year. i went to antigua for two days where i hiked the volcano, pacaya, it was about a six hour hike including going up and down the volcano. there was hot flowing magma on the side near the top that was rolling down the hill. it was incredible. we did not go to the to that day because it was misty, rainy, and unsafe. there was grey sut covering my hair and body, a glimpse of things to come. i also got to roast a marshmellow and hot dog on a piece of hot magma.

after antigua, we went to el retiro lodge near semuc champey, in a small community called lanquin. the lodge was beautiful, had delicious food, and was next to a beautiful river in the subtropic rainforest. i was really blown away by the experience of semuc champey. while at semuc we went swimming and exploring in a cave, tubing down a river, jumped off a bridge into the water, climbed down a waterfall, hiked up to a beautiful look-out point to see the rivers, and swam across a river. it was the best experience of my life.

yesterday, we went to tikal near flores in northern guatemala. tikal is one of the oldest, largest, and most grandiose ruins in all of guatemala. every gring@ that comes here goes to tikal. we woke at 430 to get the bus out to tikal to see the sun rise but it was not possible because the mist followed us there. we sat on top of temple two and watched the sun peak out from out of the mist on top of the canopy and watched birds fly by us. the wildlife in tikal is overabundant because of its park status. there were toucans, howler and spider monkies, tarantulas, and tons of ants.

now i am off to san ignacio, still waiting for the bus, which is in a perpetual state of tardyness. i cannot wait to get out of guatemala and go to belize where everyone speaks my first language and go caving, tubing, swimming, and perhaps ziplining. who knows. i hope this week is a safe, fun, expanding, and i make some good connections with people and the place.

seeya soon friends,

christina

Workshop

2009-02-11T06:19:00.000-08:00

Wow. Our last act of duty is done with the Mojomayas. As of yesterday we gave our workshop about Indigenous History and Struggle in Canada. We got to the office at 11am and we waited for a few of the Mojos who were out and about. We decided to go to the nearby Typicos Mercado to buy gifts for our secret Valentine. I bought three fresh coconuts on the street for Me, Letty, and Enma and we drank and ate them in our workshop. I love buying fresh coconut on the street, they cut and stick straws in them, and it tastes delicious and sweet. All for under a buck.

Back to our workshop, we were not able to use a projector as initially discussed because the Board of Directors (Junta Directiva) was using it upstairs. We gave our presentation sin projector and in the office of the Mojomayas. It was incredibly difficult to fit everything we had prepared into our shortened timeframe and to explain complicated ideas with a new and unfamiliar vocabulary in another language but a great learning experience. I learned about working with other people to deliver workshops in another language, gaging interest level, and working with little to no resources.

On March 17th to 20th we will be giving a workshop about Learning from Mayan Cultural Continuity during our internship for the provincial Aboriginal youth conference, Gathering Our Voices, in Kelowna.

it's Come Down to the Last WEEK.

2009-02-08T17:02:00.001-08:00

It is the last week of our internship program! We began in the middle of August and now it’s February. Much has changed for the three of us during the course of this internship; we’ve shared many unforgettable memories and made a lot of connections with each other, our co-workers, and the landscape in Guatemala. For nearly the past five months we have lived in this apartment without an oven, fridge, and more recently hot water in the shower. From the first night at the radio station in Guatemala City and taking a cold shower my limits were tested and I had to say to myself, “You’re in Guatemala now, that’s why you came here”. The cold shower was a wake-up call for me, and something I had never had to endure before coming here, and a regular occurrence in many people’s lives here.

I feel fortunate for my jaunt in Guatemala and look forward to finishing off this internship and traveling for the next two weeks around Guatemala and Belize. This week will be short but packed with a lot of activity. Tomorrow we travel to Chichichastenango (ChiChi for short) for our last Mayan ceremony with the Mojomayas at 5am, returning by the afternoon. Tuesday we are going to deliver our workshop to the Mojomayas about Indigenous Struggle in Canada with a broad overview. Wednesday we travel to Champerrico with the Mojos, about a five hour drive from the city, we leave at 5am! Wednesday we are having a despedida lunch with the Mojos. Then on Thursday Heather is coming in to Guatemala to travel around with me.

My travel plans are as follows: hike Pacaya Volcano in Antigua, go to Semuc Champey, go to the Mayan ruins of Tikal, San Ignacio in Belize, Placencia in Belize, and then come back to the city to sort house stuff out. We have decided to donate all our furniture including: beds, table and chairs, and kitchen stuff to the Mojomayas and Conavigua for their use.

Honestly, I cannot believe that I am in my final week of my internship placement. In less than three weeks I will be back in Canada. I’m going to enjoy the last few weeks in Guatemala and take a much-deserved break. I went to school for a year straight to finish my degree and handed-in my last essay via e-mail while in my first week of training in Victoria. It’s time for a vacation lady!

2009-02-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

Rabinal

2009-02-03T18:31:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I went to Rabinal in the state of Baja Verapaz, about four hours outside the city and 1000m in elevation. On my way to meet my travel-buddies I was greeted by some passing goats on the street of Guatemala City, I've seen these goats in the past on the streets near my office and finally this time I had my camera. Apparently, the goat's milk is sold to people on the street. I soon met-up with the Breaking the Silence Network delegation, which is a group of students and professionals who are involved with the Tatamagoush Centre and want to experientally learn more about the situation in Guatemala.

The delegation arrived the night before and they set-off with me on their first bus trip of their two week stay here. We arrived to meet our friends and two other interns that live and work in Rabinal, Colin and Erin, who had made us lunch and then I set off to the market at the Parque Central where I bought some cool painted wooden bowls.

Sunday afternoon, the delegation, interns, and coordinators met-up with Jesús Tecu Osorio, a Maya-Achí speaking survivor of the Río Negro Massacre of 1982, who shared with us some of Rabinal and neighboring community’s history as represented in the monuments dedicated to those murdered in the massacres, these monuments allow the community and foreigners to remember the lives of those that passed and speak out against the government's desire for everyone to forget. Jesus is the director of the Rabinal Legal Aid Clinic, where Colin is interning for six months, and is working to bring cases of genocide concerning the massacres forward to an Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

There were many monuments in a poorer of the community’s two graveyards. In many of the graves there were no markers but raised beds of land with rocks on top of them in order to burn candles. I felt privileged to have Don Jesús share with us his knowledge and history but also bewildered because I do not understand why the Guatemalan government would want to murder people within their country. I definitely want to read more about the history of Rabinal.

Afterwards I went to dinner with the delegates and two international human rights accompaniers who are working in the area accompanying campasinos (farmers). We ate the most delicious comidas.

Later we went back to Colin’s house and had a great time. He has a cool place with a patio over looking the surrounding mountains and streets. At the top of one of the mountains are a Maya- Atchi ruins of Cawinal. The next morning I actually saw two oxen pulling a barrel or plow or something, I don't know about these things I grew-up in the city! Colin is a farm boy though and even his family uses antique tractors.

The next morning the delegate and interns hiked to the top at 6:30am. I enjoyed eating home made pepusas and laying in the hammock though before heading back to the city. It’s finally mango season and on the way back I got a bag of mango and chopped coconut because there are always venders coming on the bus selling fruit, nuts, and surprise herbal concoctions that cure everything. I loved going to Rabinal and hopefully I can go back again to visit my friends and see more of it.

Last Week of January

2009-01-30T09:05:00.000-08:00

This past week was a test of endurance. Last Friday we went up to Huehuetenango on a two-day trip. The bus ride was eight hours and we stayed over night in Huehuetenango (the city). We paid our respects to our friends while we were there and came back quickly to meet our boss, Carl, at the airport that evening. Carl stayed for four days and left on Wednesday. It is comforting to have the full support of the BCAAFC and Carl here in Guatemala. The girls and I get on pretty-well on our own here but there’s a warmth in knowing that there are others out there that support the struggle that we are going through here how little or big it may be.

On Monday and Tuesday we had a team meeting with the Mojos & Carl. They chose a new Mojomaya regional leader for Huehue, Fabiana, who joined us on the second day of the IBIS workshop yesterday.

Wednesday the IBIS workshops carried on as scheduled and there were about 12 youth in total that came from the far reaches of the country with a majority from Alta Verapaz, Quiche, and Ixil region.

The first day we started with a Mayan ceremony where we lit candles that were aligned for the four directions and flowers all around in the shape of a medicine wheel. For most of the day they discussed the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention169, which reinforces the rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. These rights are the most basic human rights that continue to be dismissed by corporations and governments. These youth were keen to learn about the convention but shy because it was their first day in this workshop and being exposed to new ideas that reinforce some of their beliefs. At the end of the first day I led the closing prayer, or reflection of the day.

The second day of workshops was incredibly fun and engaging. We started the day with an opening prayer led by youth. Then we went into a workshop about youth engagement in workshops where she showed the youth a few innovative ways to draw youth into activities with little resources. A few examples she used was: making animals or objects with paper, using flower and juice dye to make plastacine and then flowers that were put onto paper, making balls out of paper, and also a string game where everyone received a strand and then it was cut to open a path for discussion.

Later that night we had a Mayan ceremony because it was Efrain and Rosa Amanda’s Mayan birthday according to the Mayan calendar. The ceremony was very strong and everyone was connecting with their ancestors, this strong connection coincided with a very bright flame, which is a way of communicating with ancestors. We remembered our friends, family, and those with illnesses during this time. This may be one of the last ceremonies I take part in here.

After dinner we had a cultural night where the youth were put in charge of planning and leading it. They did an excellent job at leading the night. The Mojomayas, Alana, some youth, and myself shared a dance, song, drama, and dynamicas. The dynamicas were hilarious there was one where we had to change dance partners and the one left without a partner danced with a broom. Alana had put together a presentation with many images of and by plains Indigenous people from Canada with pow wow songs. It was beautiful and the youth learned something new about Indigenous peoples. I shared two songs from the Tsimshian and when I was singing and drumming the songs I felt the same strength that I used to feel when I performed with the La Kaen dancers. I have not participated in my dance group in a few years but have been listening to our songs but I want to practice and get involved with the La Kaen dancers again when I get back. I feel this incredible sense of strength from my family and people that is enhanced here because we are around other strong Indigenous-Maya people that continue to speak their language, participate in ceremony, and have a strong sense of family and community belonging; although, these help them to be resilient against adversities they are the most disadvantaged against outside negative forces from government, corporations, and drug cartels. Fighting these issues is integral to the structure of the Mayan Youth Movement (Mojomayas) and Conavigua and why these leaders continue the struggle. There is no other way but forward.

January's Almost Over!

2009-01-22T07:44:00.000-08:00

Hi,

January is almost over in just over one week, and our internship is coming to a close in a few days over three weeks! I've been working hard at completing a presentation about the Indigenous Struggle in Canada with specific interest in the Indian Act, Self-Determination, International statuettes like the International Declaration of Indigenous Rights, Health, Culture, Education, and Business. We are going to be giving this presentation to the Mojomayas on the last Friday of January. We were supposed to do it this Friday but Rosa Amanda is at a workshop in Mixco, on the outskirts of the city, so the date was post-poned.

This past weekend I went to Lago de Atitlanon to participate in the Reflection Weekend with the other interns from the Break the Silence Network at Panajachel. It was really great to reconnect with the other interns and see where they are at in their internship and building a network in their community. We stayed together in this chalet with a backyard and useable kitchen where we made coffee on our percolators. We had some really good conversations about conjectural analysis, naming the issues and moment, current issues and struggles, and assessing the forces of the struggle of Indigenous people in Guatemala. I learned a lot from C.... (one of Coordinator for International Accompaniment program in Guate and J..... (the Coordinator for the Break the Silence Network in Guatemala) about the current political and past situation that Guatemalan communities continue to endure.

We certainly did a lot of reflecting in such a beautiful, yet touristy place. It's a different reality being in tourist destinations where it caters to North Americans and Europeans. There are a lot of venders in the streets. Definately the lake is the most beautiful and majestic place I've had the opportunity to visit yet.

Yesterday, on January 21st, Alana, Tasa and I and a few of the Mojomayas that were in the city like Alfonso, Letty, and Enma, to go to the inaugeration of a new Indigenous women's organization, Moloj Kino'Jib'Al Mayib'Ixoqib' Political Association of Mayan Women in Zone 2. The association's house was donated by the government of Norway, similarly to Conavigua's office in Zone 1, and the Ambassador to Norway was present with the Vice-Minister of International Development. There were many presentations by strong Mayan women who shared with us the struggle of Indigenous women like being the victims of assaults. Dr. Rigoberta Menchu and Lieda. Otilia Lux de Coti who honoured us with sharing their sincere feelings about Mayan women's struggle in Guatemala and their experience with oppression. These spaces seem to provide a place for discussing alternative realities for those that are most oppressed and I can only hope that in the years to come the situation for Indigenous women in this country may change for the better.

It's tough sometimes because of the way the government continues to treat those that have the least political power but strongest will for positive change because they are in the most need for it. Last Wednesday there was a protest in the Central Park in Zone 1 against the promises for positive change, especially for Mayan peoples, that were not upheld since President Colom became president a year ago. I did not attend this protest but became aware that evening that the Guatemalan government had tear gassed many women, children, and men that were protesting in the Central Park. These are the type of tactics that the people are enduring for exercising their human right to voice their opinion and opposition; although, President Colom is a democratic president, as opposed to past-military presidents, there continues to be other forces being played out in this country but I am far-removed from these situations.

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English Lessons at La Casa de Las Canadienses

2009-01-14T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had our second english lesson with the Mojomayas. All were in attendance with the acception of Juana. We had a whole day of english lessons, they came to our house around 9 in the morning and left at 4pm. In the morning we hung-out and waited for Santiago to join us and then we got started in teams of 2 Mojo's with 1 Canadian maestra. I had Efrain and Letty as my students and we went over a lot of different important verbs, pronouns, nouns, and parts of speech. Their language skill set improved since we last had our lesson in November. Letty's been studying with her kids and Efrain is just a smart dude that catches on quickly. It was a good lesson for them to understand the difficulty of learning a new language. By the end of the day Letty was ready to fall asleep because it's a tiring process.

Myself, Tasa, and Alana all pitched in to make a delicious lunch. In the morning Tasa and I chopped the vegetables to make a delicious and harty vegetable and fava bean soup for lunch. I let it stew all morning and thicken-up and then we ate it with avacado, queso fresco, hot sauce on a tamale. They certainly love the tamales here, and a meal doesn't go by where it's not on their table. It's the staple of the nation.

Overall, it was a really good team building experience to come together to share a meal, share some knowledge about our languages, backgrounds, people, and learn more about eachother.

a few events of the week

2009-01-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

On Friday we had our team meeting with the Mojomayas where we discussed our plan for the last month of our internship. In 2 days it will be our very last day of work in Guatemala. Here are a few the events included in our workplan: on the 13th we will be giving English lessons at our house; on the 22nd we will have a Inter-personal workshop with Conavigua; on the 23rd we will be giving a workshop for the Mojomayas about Indigenous history and struggle in Canada; on the 28th and 29th we will participate in an IBIS work project to increase the youth capacity of the Mojomayas; on the 3rd of February we will be participating in the Team Meeting of the Mojomayas; and finally, hopefully in the first week of February we will be partaking in our last community visit with one of the Mojomaya's community to give a workshop about Indigenous history and struggle in Canada.

After our team meeting we went to the 50th Birthday Celebration for Rigoberta Menchu Tum. It was interesting to see such a small women who is an international symbol for peace and Indigeous struggle for her autobiographical book, I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Au tobiography of an Indigenous W omen in Guatemala. I took a few photos of the event...

On Saturday, Tass and I went to the Typical Market in Zone 1 to buy some vegetables to make a delicious lentil soup and afterwards we went to the Central Park, which is one block away. We hung out for about an hour because the Catholic Church there was setting-up a religious event. Nothing transpired after an hour so we left and on our way home we were met by at least a thousand people wearing white t-shirts and floats with clowns on them who were marching for Peace in Guatemala. There are always different marches, events, and happenings at the Central Park in the Historic Centre (Zone 1) in Guatemala. It was cool to see something happening there by chance in our first weekend back in Guatemala after our vacation.

parque central

2009-01-07T21:48:00.001-08:00

Here are a few snaps of the Central Park in the Historic District, 1, in Guatemala City on a typically blue skied day.

breakdance

2009-01-07T18:25:00.000-08:00

HELLO 2009

2009-01-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hey, All of the interns are back in Guatemala City beginning work after the holiday vacation. We all did different things for the holidays. Christina went to Vancouver. Tasa went to Minnesota, and Alana went to El Salvador and Belize. It was refreshing for me to reconnect with loved ones and I feel refreshed to start my internship, speak Spanish, and get to work on the last leg of our journey here. In five short weeks we will be done our internship in Guatemala. Everyone at the CONAVIGUA and MOJOMAYAS office is still trickling in from the holidays and the city is a lot more empty and tranquil. We live near a busy street where there it is constantly cars honking and the smell of pollution; however, it’s nice to be back in the city. It’s a hot 25 degrees Celsius out which is very different from the cold negative 2 snowy weather of Vancouver. It will certainly be good to be back on the Westcoast when all the flowers are starting to bloom on the cherry trees.

view from the window in my apt.

This week I went to the office to say hello to the Mojomayas who are starting to come back into the city. We saw Efrain and Letty on the first day and Alfonso and Juana on the second day. Juana came back for CONAVIGUA’s Junta Directiva meeting, which began today and ends tomorrow. On Friday the MOJOMAYAS have their team meeting where we will be discussing the events and issues of the month. We want to discuss our work plan including: giving the Mojomayas a workshop about Aboriginal History and Relationships with the Canadian Government, a community visit with one of the Mojomayas, and an English lesson. We have five weeks left in our internship and we want to make the last five count! We also plan to do some good traveling on the weekends before we leave because we have only traveled to Monterrico, Puerto Barrios, and Antigua on our own. It’ll be good to see the beautiful landscape that Guatemala has to offer. I want to go to: Semuc Champey, Tikal, Lago de Atitlan, Lago de Izabal, Rabinal, Rio Dulce, and Coban. Probably won’t be able to see all those places but a girl can dream… and try!

december post

2008-12-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

we're still alive and well. in good health. etc etc.

this past weekend we participated in our first "reflection weekend" with the break the silence network interns with jackie and caren facilitating. we talked a lot about how our internship was going, set some more goals for the future, and a tentative date for the last reflection weekend that we would be taking part in in january because we will be gone by the middle of february. our reflection weekend took part in a beautiful house in antigua with five cats, a garden, television, hot showers, and the most gorgeous kitchen i've seen in guatemala. antigua is a city full of dust, older historical architecture, petty crime, and tourism. it was the first time that many of the interns visited antigua but it was a good glimpse of the point of reference that many people see guatemala as being as a reality. we rarely get to take part in tourist activities because are busy with work but i enjoyed the time away from reality in antigua. we also got to see what the break the silence interns are doing around guatemala: a brief coles notes version is that one is into permiculture working in the lago de atitlan, another dude is working for the international human rights court of the americas in rabinal, another woman is working to set-up a nurses-assistance program in rabinal, and the last is working to develop healthy communities using programming like teaching hair-cutting courses as a way to increase self-esteem.

on monday morning we came together with all of the CIDA interns albeit one intern. all together there are about 15 of us working around the country. we were served breakfast and listened to a workshop about gender. afterwards there was some time to meet with the other interns over coffee to learn more about their programs. the areas that they are working on are: education, human rights working in conjunction with the united nations, and the above mentioned.

yesterday on december 2nd we participated in the second day of the "evaluacion semestral de conavigua" (year end evaluation) where all of the programs came together to give a powerpoint presentation. it would have been great to participate in both days but we were unable to because of time constraints. one really interesting presentation that i liked was about the "dignificacion y atencion psicosocial a victimas" where they discussed the 4 cases that are being brought forward to the supreme court in spain resulting from the massacres and mass-graves of bodies, workshops, and 126 processes of exhumations, and 1204 exhumations in total that they are working on and or have worked on, as well as the 20 cases pending with them. i have often wondered what exactly is going on with the exhumations and I would still like to know more about the involvement of CONAVIGUA in this process.

the year end evaluation was also a great way to come together with the MOJOs and CONAVIGUA workers and to network and meet new people. we ended the day with a ceremony discussing the energy of the day and a marimba dance where rosalina tuyux took the lead in shaking it. good way to end a long day for sure.

photos

2008-11-05T16:18:00.000-08:00

We recently went to Upstanpan in the Quiche region for the celebration of the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on November 1st. We were invited by Magdalana (who is part of Conavigua and the former ED of the Mojomayas) to celebrate her father's life, as it is the 22nd aniversary of her father's murder. It was an honour to be invited to her community and to stay with her for the few days that we visited Ustanpan. We saw another side of life in Guatemala that warms my heart to see: like seeing inter-generational relatives interact witheachother, coming together to make and share food, and participating in activities together. The coolest part of the trip for me was listening to the young women talk to eachother in Quiche before going to bed like I used to when I had sleep overs at 10. All of the children were kind and made us feel welcomed into their home.

As for the trip: It took over 5 hours to travel there by bus and mini-bus because it's in the very north and remote region but we got there and home in one piece, even though, I wondered if we would. Here are some photos from this experience, sorry that there isn't more, but flickr would only allow 32mb to be uploaded.

Click here for photos.

November Update

2008-11-03T16:11:00.000-08:00

Hey,

We've been really busy over the past month, honestly, time is passing by quickly because of all of the activities that we have participated in. I am sharing with you a part of my reflection report from the past month to update you guys on what we have been up to. ~Christina Gray

The Encuentro de Juventud Indigina de Abya Yala was held from October 3^rd to 6^th with over one hundred youth from Honduras, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Canada came together to discuss issues concerning Indigenous youth’s health, alternative modes of communication, the importance of maintaining culture, economic systems, employment, defense of our land and territory, education, repression, Indigenous governance, space of expression and recreation, Indigenous cosmovisions, power of female youth, and globalization. Resulting from the Encuentro was The Agreements of the Committee following the First Indigenous Youth and Children Encounter of Abya Yala 2008. The declarations were read at a press conference held at Conavigua on the last day of the Youth Encounter. Alana spoke at the initial press conference as well as at the final press conference where the Prensa Libre, the main national newspaper, interviewed her.

The following day participated in the Third Social Forum of the Americas in Guatemala City, which was from October 7^th to 12th. The forum began with a Mayan ceremony at the University of San Carlos and afterwards there were many different bands including the descendents of Africans that live in Guatemala, the Garifunas, a children’s marimba band, and rock bands. I participated in a lot of different workshops for the Foro Social including: local agricultural development, international human rights court (criminal court), children of the street (Movimiento de Jovones de la Calle), and an Ecuadorian led workshop for children.

It's been awesome working alongside other youth that have similar visions of healthy communities; although, the youth that come from South and Central America struggle with different issues and are profoundly affected by international trade agreements (Central American Free Trade Agreement). Similar to Indigenous people in Canada they are struggling in their communities to retain their languages, culture, and foundations for economy because they are being forced to struggle against corporations, racism, and their government.

More recently I participated in Conavigua’s Taller “Incidencia Politica de las Mujeres” for regional women leaders on October 20^th and 21^st. During the workshop we focused our attention on contemporary issues like the effects of poverty, machismo, mining, multinational corporations, safety, and security. This workshop was interesting to take part in because they used dynamic ways of sharing experiences through drawing our communities on pieces of paper and cutting out newspaper clippings to paste on to a paper about Guatemala’s negative contemporary situation, which we later shared with the group and discussed. The facilitator tried to discuss solutions that these women could implement in their communities but not many solutions were given because it was at the end of the day.

The following day after Conavigua's workshop we went with Santiago Domingo Perez, the representative for the Maam speaking region, to Huehuetenango, where we participated in three workshops in three different communities, Ixta, San Sebastian, and Acal, about Globalization. Alana, Tasa, and I gave presentations about our own background, the partnership with the BCAAFC and the Mojomayas, Indigenous peoples history, culture, and contemporary situation. I shared with the youth in Ixta some cultural dances of the Tsimshian of Lax Kw’alaams and their significance. In the future, I want to bring my drum and share some songs that belong to my community with permission of my dance group leader.

For the month of November the activities that we plan to participate in are: take part in a workshop given by Conavigua in Ustampan, travel with Efrain to Ustanpan, workshops with the Board of Directors of Conavigua, Clausura del Diplomodo del Fando Centroamericano de Mujeres, Enma return from Canada with Paul Lacerte, and Rosa Amanda’s return from Japan (she returned on Saturday), Workshop with Young Men, and the reflection weekend in Antigua the last weekend of November.

we're in guatemala city!

2008-10-07T08:55:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Guatemeala City nearly three weeks ago after spending two weeks in Quetzeltenango for two weeks and one week at the Mountain School. A lot has happened here since coming to Guatemala. In Quetzeltenango we celebrated the independence day, where there was a lot of celebrations in the streets, including marching bands, musical bands, dancing, and a lot of good food.

This past weekend we participated in an Encuentro de Juventud for four days of intensive workshops, where we discussed issues that are important to youth here and that effect us. The various issues that were discussed were about: health, repression, communication, globalization, Indigenous cosmovision (worldview), preservation of culture, language, and customs. Resulting from the discussions were a Declaration of the Encuentro de Juventud, which was discussed at a press conference this past Monday.

Today we participated in an Encuentro Pre Cumbre to discuss issues that were important to Indigenous women that came to participate in the Social Forum. After the Cumbre we went to the University of San Andres where there were a lot of bands playing, speeches, and dancing. The best part of the night was meeting-up with our friends that we met at the Encuentro de Juventud and seeing a Garifuna band and dancers on stage.

We are having a lot of fun in the city right now with all of the excitement of the Social Forum and Encuentros.

arrival in guatemala

2008-09-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

hi,

we arrived in guatemala city on friday night, the mojomayas youth picked us up and brought us to our accomodations. we spent two days there and now we are at the quetzeltenango (xela) school. their website is http://www.plqe.org/ if you are interested in reading more about them.

at plqe we are studying spanish in the afternoon and we have the mornings free. so far we have gone on two activities-trips to fuentas georginas, a hot spring in the mountains, and san andreas, a small town near xela.

so far, studying in xela has been a positive experience and there many different types of people from all over the world but mostly north america.

we´ll post pics soon.

Hey

2008-08-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

The first week of training is completed. Just created this blog as a way to communicate for the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres who will be doing an internship in Guatemala from September until February 2009. We look forward to letting you know what we're up to when working in partnership with the Conavigua's Mojomayas group in Guatemalan City. Check back in late September...