The
Quiché Times 
The
Quiché Times
Well, it really has been a long time but it is not all my fault. I started to write this edition and had a bit of success with it, in that I reached the fourth page and was thinking of leaving it at that - just a short newsletter. All was going well until the computer crashed and I lost everything. This is not the first time for this to happen to me. My luck with computers is not too good. Not only was the Quiché Times lost but my accounts etc. Yes I did have them on diskette but you don’t understand there was something wrong with all the diskettes even my budget for next year (of which I made two copies but none of them work! What can I say?
What a Year!!
This year has been an extraordinary one. I was able to hand over the project with the smaller children and just concentrate on the older ones. This has been one of the best things to happen to me. Although it is still a lot of work it is far better in the sense of having more mature people to talk with also being older they need less “taking care of”. But just the same my days were very full with meeting, interviews and general running around not forgetting shopping and food preparation.
But the biggest and most important change has been that we moved house. We now have our own space and it is
wonderful. You can read more about that later.
The year started with a teachers strike. This was not pleasant but it did give some of those in the project a ten week longer holiday. It really was not all that bad for me as they were able and willing to help with some of the chores in the house that I would have had to do. They also free to help the younger ones with their homework. When they went back to school how things changed for them. Again I will tell you more about that later.
With regards to health we were blessed. No body was very sick and we only had one serious accident. These stories later.
Well we finished the year and although it was a struggle at times it was a good one. We started the year with 29 in the project and ended with 27. Everyone bar one passed the year so this makes us very happy. Of the two that left one just could not make it and Mirna’s story follows.
We are still a bit short on numbers with regards to the girls. We are trying to better it but we only had one serious applicant to join us for next year.
Many of you have already heard the story and I know that many have been affected by it.
Mirna has been with us since the beginning. She reached fourteen years of age last December. Because of many reasons she was studying at home – which is between 6 and 8 hours from us in El Quiché.
School was a distance from her home and because of the lack of resources we could not pay for her to go to school by bus. Each day she would walk the mile or so from her house to the school. All was well until one day on her way home from school on a very lonely trail; a nineteen years lad (who is known to her) approached her and raped her.
Nothing was said for almost three months until she found herself very sick in the mornings. Her mother who noticed a change in her over the previous months approached the subject and all was revealed.
The mother was so distraught she did not know what to do, so she contacted me to tell me that she had decided to take Mirna out of school. She then revealed the reason why. I like the mother was very upset about the situation but felt that the best thing for Mirna was to quit school- at least for the moment. The mother felt a terrible shame and it seems as though she hid Mirna away. I received a visit from the mother at the assembly of the association in Oct. and she informed me that Mirna had given birth to a very health baby boy. The mother has a sense of great relief.
So what
about the father? Well, he ran to the
So right now she is trying to cope with being a mother and thinking a lot about what her options are for the future.
The older siblings of Mirna are also in the programme and are studying to be nurses. Their father was a doctor here in El Quiché, and because he was helping the poor by giving free treatment – he was taken out and shot. He was not in practice long enough to make any money and giving free treatments would not have added anything to the kitty.
I really cannot say what the future holds of Mirna but one thing is certain, it will not be easy!
Please keep her in your prayers.
As I mentioned earlier we were very lucky with our health. Nobody got very sick, just the usual colds, coughs, headaches, etc.
We did have a problem with one of the mechanics, in that while taking out an engine of a car it fell on his hand and badly cut it. He was taken to hospital and received a number of stitches. I knew nothing until he returned home. He was very upset and said that he did not want the school to contact me because he knows how I worry about them and he did not want to concern me.
I thought this
was very responsible of his but I still would have liked to have been with him
in the hospital but… He has totally recovered now and enjoys showing his scares
to all who want to see them.
At the beginning of the year just as everyone was getting ready to return to school and in some of our cases start their careers. The teachers decided to strike! Although their cause may well be a very justified one, it did go on for over two months. They were looking for more pay but more importantly to most of those I spoke with, were the conditions in which the children live in. So one of the greater requests was to have some sort of food for those children in rural areas. Most schools give a snack to the children as part of the government attempt to feed the children but the teachers want a lot more than a small packet of biscuits – cookies.
We had
four affected by the strike three studying (or about to start studying) to be
bilingual teachers and another to be a PE teacher. At first it was great for
them. Then after a few weeks it became a drag for them. They helped me a lot it
the house but were always anxious to start. When the strike was resolved, it
hit them with a force it left them speechless. They were hit with an unmerciful
amount of homework. For the first month, they were up until one or
THE NEW HOUSE
Well, we eventually moved into the new house. We were a little behind
schedule as you have to be with a new house – it is obligatory! When we moved in there were only two rooms
ready but not completed. All the lads slept in the big room, which in itself
was bigger than where we lived before. While the girls moved into what is to be
my room. We had to wait a number of weeks for work to finish on the rest of the
house. Then it was my turn to start work. I have been in charge of making the
doors and windows, something that only through the grace of God I could manage.
I really did not realize the amount of work involved in making a door. So my
problem has been that there are always interruptions. So if I am lucky I may
spend two hours a day working on things. Some days I just cannot get started at
all. In all we needed 8 doors and 18 windows. But making the doors was only
half the battle. Because the wood is not to the same standards as at home the
doors frames were not square. Nobody told me this would be the case!
BEING LIKE THE MASTER
I have to say I found it rewarding to follow in His footsteps. But I
never remember reading as to where He plugged in his electric saw??
I must say that I now have a little insight as to how we see Him as
being very tranquil. What I now think it is that working with wood helped. I
have found it extremely rewarding and relaxing.
For those of you who are carpenters or just pretend as I do. I would
like to know if any of you have experienced my dilemma. I am now the proud
owner of five measuring tapes. Let me explain, it is not that I am a great
lover of measuring tapes or trying to start a great collection of them. It is
just that I can never find one when I am looking or them. I leave it out of my
hand and the great measuring tape fairies come and hide it. Then after wasting
a long time searching for one and eventually find it all the rest jump out of
the woodwork (no pun intended). This is a phenomenon that I would like someone
to try to explain. The same sometimes happens with the hammer but I only have
two of them!
Because everyone was so occupied with their studies and the exams were
almost upon us we decided to employ someone to sow corn in part of the land. It
will not give us what we need for the year maybe a month or so but it is
something. We also sowed beans. We decided that next year each of the teenagers
will have a piece of land that they have to cultivate.
We also received a chicken project from the Peace Corp. This will give
us chicken instead of buying it. It should work out a lot more economical. –
Thanks Peace Corp.!
We also decided to start a turkey project to try to get some funds
together. We bought a dozen but because turkeys are so delicate we lost eight.
The reality is that as we bought them an outbreak of cholera passed through the
area. We lost even more chickens.
We too are doing our bit for the environment. Because of necessity we
have had to build dry latrines, which we will use as fertilizer. For those who
have never come across a dry latrine let me explain. It is a specially designed
toilet that allows us to use everything as fertilizer. We have had a very
healthy crop this year.
In Sept. we decide to have an open day to introduce ourselves to the
community. We invited all the religious sisters in the city as well as many
teachers and a representative of the Ministry of Mayan education.
We gave a brief introduction to the project and then we feed everyone.
The food was delicious – I prepared it!! It was some of the chickens from our
project.
After lunch the teenagers put on a dramatization of how they perceived
the project to have started with the emphases on the main service we give –
education for those of extremely limited resources.
I have never been so proud in my life.
They were absolutely wonderful. You should have been here to see it.
NOT
FOR THE WEAK OF HEART
I found what I am about to share with you a bit disturbing.
A number of months ago before we changed house, I was informed of a
woman who lived near who had given birth to a healthy baby boy. The woman, like
many was very poor and had had a number of children already. She was looking
for someone to take the baby from her. She was not selling it she just wanted
to give it away. She had no way of caring for it and felt it would be better to
have someone else care of it.
How my heart sank to hear this. How could a mother reach a decision like
this? How poor she really must be to be left with no other option. I think
people mentioned it to me deliberately maybe in hope that I could/would do
something. But what can I do? I am always trying to be open to what the needs are
and respond to them but babies!! It has been a struggle for me. Since this case
was made known to me I have heard of another, a baby girl.
I do need to make one thing very very clear. I am not in the business to
match babies with parents who want to adopt. Please do not ask.
°°°°°
I have felt called to help a family I know whose father is an alcoholic
and most days of the week there is no food for the children. The children
receive food from the extended family. But this is just not good enough as the extended
family is also very poor and just have enough to feed their own. I have sent
food a number of occasions and made it clear that this is for the mother and
the children and not under any circumstances to be sold. The father who is only
in his early twenties knows me well enough that he does not want to cross me.
So the children have been feed for at least a week or so. I want to take two of
the children into the project so as they will at least have food and a safe
environment. Although funds are very limited I feel that we could tighten our
belts and make it work for this family too. The beauty of life here is, if I
lay it before the group here i.e. the teenagers and the committee they will all
be in favour
because that is what you do here. We will eat less so as they can just eat. Why
do the poor never count the cost!!!
°°°°°
I have been very struck by a comment passed by a neighbour.
This lady has six children and is poor but makes ends meet. Her baby of 18 months was sick and she sent one of the others to ask me if I had anything to give to the baby. All of the medicine I have is for older children so I could not send anything accept a message to the mother to take the baby to the clinic. A few days later the mother came to visit us and I asked her how the baby was. She said, “she is still bad, I hope she does not die on me”. I was left in shock at the manor in which she said it, quite matter of fact - without emotion. I see this as a reality of life here – babies die all too often. It is a fact of life. That I know, but it still hits very hard when I am confronted with it.
The baby recovered, for now!
THINGS
OF A MORE POSITIVE NOTE
Some of the teenagers have talent in the area of drawing. One has gone to classes and has really improved – I mentioned him in the last edition.
Another
organisation here has given workshops in art and we were asked to attend. It
was fabulous. They went each Saturday morning and at the end of the year their
paintings were exhibited as part of an extensive exposition in
A trip was organised for the artists to attend the exhibition and they did so with great excitement. Let us hope that this will continue next year.
°°°°°
NO TV
Since we moved in the new house we have not had TV. The cable company said that they do not serve where we live. I love TV and really miss not having it to just sit in front of and unwind. In my off time I book into a hotel in the town that has cable and just flick from channel to channel with nobody else to take into consideration. It is great! But although hotels are quit inexpensive here I can only afford to do it about every 10 days to two weeks. To me it is a great treat.
When everyone heard that there was no cable TV I was expecting an onslaught of complaints. It never happened. This group are so used to doing without that it really did not matter to them. What happened is that it led us to have our community night more often. After homework had been put away the games were taken out. The buzz is dynamite. Laughter, shouting and screaming can at times be deafening but I would not have it any other way. Nobody misses the TV including myself.
We will erect an antenna but we are more interested in interaction than looking at the goggle box.
One thing that surprised me a great deal, was to find that they all love to play marbles even the older ones of 18 years and upwards.
I know that many in the first world have been so corrupted and depended by the TV that to think of teenagers playing games and having great fun seems so out of this world. Well, maybe you are right. We live in heaven and if you don’t believe it is possible come and see for yourself.
SEASONS GREETINGS
Well, it is that time of the year again. This will be my very first Christmas in Guatemala. I know my family and friends were concerned that I would be alone at this time. Well, all is taken care of. The president of the Association KANO’J and his family who over the years have been my support system are here with me and we will be passing the Holy season together. It will be my first experience of an indigenous Christmas. I am looking forward to it, as there will be very little commercialism. We may even put up a tree!
BLESSINGS
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very peaceful Christmas. I would also like to thank every one of you for your support, not just for the past year but for all the years you have been there for us. Making it possible for me to be here bringing your love and solidarity to those who are in need.
Weather. What
Weather!!!
Many people have asked me how hot is it in El Quiche at Christmas? Although this is my first Christmas here I have to admit it really is not hot at all, in fact it is cold. Just last night it dropped to 5° C / 40° F. not too cold you may say and you would be right but that is all very well when you have some sort of heating in your houses. We do not have that luxury. I had layers of clothes and was still cold. I went to bed with two hot-water bottles (my sister and nephews gave me) and could not get the heat into me. So don’t ask how the weather is here at Christmas!!
The end of the year came and to be honest it seems a bit of a blur. The exams came on us so quickly while we were trying to prepare for our assembly and I was still trying to get the doors and window made.
For the exams I organised the older one to help the younger ones (a job I was always landed with). Well, the result is that all but one passed well. The one who did not pass is our special case. I feel at fault. I am sure that if I had had the time (or changed my priorities) he would have passed. He will be seventeen in fourth class/grade.
I always remember a wise person once told me that there are those sent to us for us to help and there are those sent to us, to help us. I believe that later is the case here. I pray for the wisdom to know the difference.
Many people have asked me how can they send financial help to us. One secure way is to lodge directly to the Irish account (details below).
IRISH ACCOUNT DETAILS
Direct Debit can be made with the E.B.S.
Account number 336-423-77
Sorting code 93-90-21
Account name “Friends
of Kano’j”
A donation can be sent to my sister at the address below
BERNI GARRUCCIO
208 LARKHILL ROAD
WHITEHALL
DUBLIN 9
IRELAND
An alternative to overseas donations for those in the USA
FRIENDS OF KANO’J
INCARNATE WORD MISSIONARY
OFFICE
4503 BROADWAY
SAN ANTONIO
TEXAS 78209-6297
U.S.A.
For those in the United
States we welcome tax-deductible donations. We have 501C3 status (contact San
Antonio Office).