Big smiles at El Mango

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We were greeted by Karina from ActionAid and Mario from Oxlaju, when they picked us up at our hotel in Flores. We had been corresponding with Karina to organise our visit to El Mango and the surrounding communities supported by ActionAid, so it was nice to finally meet her. Mario, who is an indigenous man from San Benito, helps the communities that we were to visit and besides being our driver for the day, he was also our translator (into Spanish), as the people at the communities only speak Q'echi.

It was a 3 hour drive, mostly on dirt road to get to El Mango, with one stop in La Libertad at the head office of Oxlaju to pick up Vilma, who also interacts with the communities. During the drive, we didn't pass much traffic because we were entering remote country. In total, we passed cattle being herded by 2 young lads on horses with their father leading the pack, 3 other vehicles, a guy on a motor bike and a man on a horse.

When we arrived at El Mango, school had finished and the children were playing in the yard. They all quickly gathered around us looking interested with big smiles on their faces. We gave them some footballs to play with and when the older kids came from the grounds across the road, we gave them a few balls to share as well. The children were extremely happy. We were introduced to Jose Victor, the child that we sponsor, along with his parents and siblings. It was lovely to meet them and see how much Victor has grown since the photo that we first received at the beginning of our contact with him. Together, with Karina, Mario, Vilma and everyone that had gathered, we crossed the dirt road to the main part of the school to visit the classrooms. The old buildings deteriated to the point where they were no longer suitable for use as they couldn't keep the rain out. With the assistance of Oxlaju, new buildings had been constructed from concrete blocks that were much better. Grades 1, 2 and 3 are taught in one classroom and grades 4, 5 and 6 are taught in the other. The school currently has 8 teachers that teach over 200 children.

I walked over to the new buildings, with Jose Victor holding my hand, and when I entered the new school room, a few boys were sweeping the floor. The walls are built half way, suffiently high enough to keep the rain out, and I found a few boys laying on top of the walls relaxing after their school day. There was a white board on the front wall, which Dan started to draw a picture of the world to demonstrate the location of Guatemala compared to Australia. I helped Dan finish the drawing for the children who were interested, as Dan isn't the best drawer in the world, not that I can do much better! I was glad that the children could speak some Spanish, so I could communicate directly with them instead of constantly needing a translater. Some children even said 'Thank you' in English, which was a big surprise. Dan said they even asked him something in English that he didn't understand. We had a look inside the old classroom and found vowels in coloured letters stuck onto the wall. I asked the huddled group of children if they knew a - e - i - o - u and they all replied "Si" ("Yes") in loud unison.

The adults of the community gathered specifically to meet with us and talk about their community, giving us an opportunity to ask them any questions. We were happy to have the chance to learn more about their community and about how ActionAid, through Oxlaju, were assisting the community. We were shown a large conch shell that is blown when calling a meeting. Jose Victor's dad blew the shell to let us hear what the call sounds like, before we started our discussion. We would ask Karina a question in English, who would translate it into Spanish for Mario, who would then translate it into Q'echi for the people to respond. It was a slow process, but necessary for us to communicate.

We received the following answers in regards to the different topics discussed:

Health

The closest hospital is in La Libertad, which is a few hours away by car. People either use their own transport to get to La Libertad or catch a once-a-day bus for 80 quetzales (return). Many of people in the village can not afford to pay for the bus and so others with their own transport have to help them out.

Women's education and skill training

We were told that the last mayor of the village didn't want the women to do anything in regards to forming a women's group. The new mayor, however, is happy for them to meet, and now it is up to the women to decide to form a group before anything goes ahead

Major earnings of the area

The farming of maize, beans and some other local food products are common. Some people own their own land, most rent theirs. Originally 102 families settled in the area and each had land, however as time passed, many sold and moved on and so there are some large farm owners that aren't local that rent out land to the majority of the residents.

Note: This area is not affectd by African palm farming for bio fuel.

Community advancement

Money pooled by the community was used for a maize crusher, that consists of a generator and a grinder. A baby bath tub is used to collect the maize that is crushed and a bucket that has a tap added to the side, is used to control the water added during the crushing process. The women of the community share the machine and take turns in using it 3 times a day (they eat fresh tortillas 3 times a day). A shop was also set up so that goods bought at store price are transported to the community for them to buy them at the same price. This is to help supplement their diets, as otherwise they only eat tortillas and beans. Malnutrition is known in the community.

They asked us how long it takes to get to Australia and if it was possible to travel overland. We said about 35 hours and by flying as Australia is an island. An elderly man, the mayor and one of the older women answered and asked the questions.

After the meeting, we walked up the street to see the maize crusher and we walked past the local store. People were already waiting in the back of the ute for a lift home. On the way to Jose Victor's house, people tapped on the roof to stop the vehicle so that they could hop off when required. Dan sat in the back with them all, so that Jose Victor's mum could sit in the Hilux with us.

At Jose Victor's house, there were 2 buildings, one for sleeping & dining and one for the separate kitchen. There was a small fenced vege patch with anorexic dogs running around the place. We gave the best soccor ball to the kids in Jose Victor's family: 3 boys and 2 girls. Dan kicked the ball around outside with the kids. The mother and her neighbour had lunch prepared for us. A table was brought into the living space with a plastic table cloth (similar to one that we would use at Christmas time) and plastic chairs were arranged for us to sit.

I went into the kitchen and talked to the women. The mother had prepared the soup and let her neighbour take over the tortilla making whilst she came to the school to meet us. Both of them were in the kitchen and I explained how I like to cook as well. They nodded with smiles, so I am guessing that they understood my Spanish (or not!).

A bucket of water was brought out for us to wash our hands. I didn't see anyone wash, so when offered I put my hands in the bowl just before realising that they pour the water into your hands so that you don't contaminate the rest of the water for later! Mario, Karina, Vilma, Dan and myself with Jose Victor and his father, Carlos, were seated with chicken broth soup served with fresh white corn tortillas. The tortillas were thick and 2 was plenty for me. The other kids were not invited to join us. Jose Victor was treated as special, because we had come out to see him. He was shy most of the time. We were offered a bucket of yellow water for lunch, which we worked out was pineapple cordial, but Karina mentioned that it might be safer to drink our own water. We were offered more lunch, but we all refused as the bowl with the tortillas was more than sufficient. After eating, we washed our hands again (properly this time). We said our thank you and farewells and were back on the road.

Far along the road, a woman waved us down and hopped onto the back of the truck. At this time of day there are no buses and she was walking the 2 hours to the next town, so we gave her a lift.

A nearby community

We were priviledged enough to be able to visit other communities nearby that Oxlaju was also helping. We were shown by one of the villagers the back yard of his property. The man and the mayor of the town who was also there during our visit, told us that the community were given barrels to collect rain water, concrete wash basins to wash their clothes and corrugated iron to use as building materials. They had used the iron for a pen for their pigs. Each family was supplied with these items to improve their life. Before they had to go to the town well and draw the water from there. But now they had rain water and could wash their clothes at home. They also pooled their money with a nearby community and bought a pump that could pump more water to each of the houses. So the community had made quite a few improvements with the help of organisations that provide assistance as well as the government. The gov't also helped supply the corrugated iron. We walked around the town and found that the residents had used the iron in different ways. Some used it for the roof of their house, some for the walls, some for the animal pens or just on the roof as an extension to the house that has the traditional thatched palm leaf roof.

We visited the community's well, and the house of a local women, who showed us the handycrafts that she teachs the local women to make for them to sell. It was quite similar to what we saw of the Mayan work in Chamula. This community seemed more capable of making progress than El Mango. One resident had a generator to run a tv, which they charged others a fee to watch and pay for the fuel to run the generator. Fruit trees were everywhere to provide a different type of nourishment.

We looked at their maize grinder, which was the same as the one at El Mango. The shop only sold junk food and single Bic razors.

Community with a different strategy for financial security

Next, we visited a community that were investing in cattle. They started with 7, 4 years ago and now have 36. They don't kill the cows to eat or even sell for short-term income. If there is an emergency in the community, then they will sell off a cow. It is like an emergency finance plan. We met the man that is in control of that farming project. He was riding a bicycle with his son on the back whilst wearing his gum boots.

By now, it was becoming late in the day and we drove back to La Libertad to drop Vilma back at the office. Vilma and Karina showed us some of the handycraft work completed by the women at the village that we visited and gave us a present each to remember our time. I selected a necklace and Dan selected a small colourful purse. We had a wonderfully interesting day and appreciated the time that ActionAid and Oxlaju provided us. It was great to meet Jose Victor and his family, and to see the work that the organisations have been performing in struggling communities in such a remote area of northern Guatemala.

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Photos

The children in the family
Jose Victor is in the middle.