Changes

During the past couple of weeks, I have been presented with a lot of new opportunities through my work here at the Parish.  I came to San Lucas with the plan to stay for about seven months, into the spring of this year.  However, I had no idea how invested I would become in not only the San Lucas community, but also the volunteer program run at the Parish.  I became aware that Chris and Madeline, the current volunteer coordinators, are both starting grad school in the fall, and will be leaving San Lucas this summer.  I developed an interest in staying on, but I was nervous about what would become of the program after the directors leave.

            Last week, Chris and Madeline met with me to talk about just these plans.  They found a new set of volunteer coordinators, but they cannot start for about two months after Chris and Madeline have to leave.  For the two-month interim, they have asked me to be the transitional leader, helping maintain the program while they are gone, and helping to transition the new coordinators.  I can’t be more excited about this opportunity, partially because I believe in the program, and partially because this is the first time I have felt confident enough to step into a position like this, and that really excites me. 

            The next exciting part of the story is that next week I will be heading to Minnesota with Chona, a woman who works for the Parish.  Chona worked to save a lot of children during the internal conflict, and this year she is getting a reward from the New Ulm diocese for this work.  She needs someone to travel with her and translate for her, so the Parish is sending me as well.  I will get to meet a lot of people involved with the Parish, and hopefully forge a really strong relationship with Chona, an important part of the community. 

The Women's Center Opens

The Women’s Center Opening

            The Parish Women’s Center has been in a work in progress here in San Lucas Tolimán for about ten years.  During these years, the construction of the building has plunged forward, slowed down, sped up again, paused, and restarted until the process, the product of the hard work of many, many hands, both Guatemalan and American, was complete.  What the Center will be, and what it stands for now, is an important, hopeful part of the San Lucas community, but the lack of immediacy in completing the project means that over the years, the building was put on hold many times. 

            The San Lucas Mission is an organization that is run almost entirely on donations.  Because of this, the Parish never takes out loans or spends beyond its means, meaning that when something more immediately urgent comes up—take for example Tropical Storm Agatha this past summer—funding will move from the slowly progressing Center to important projects such as emergency housing.

            The Center will fulfill some very important needs in the lives of women here in San Lucas and the surrounding communities.  Historically, Mayan women have a very complex role within indigenous Guatemalan culture.  They are highly respected members of the community, as well as the bearers of culture.  They have maintained indigenous dress, they raise the children, and they pass on the tasks have are so important—and often sacred—to Mayan culture, from making the daily tortillas to embroidering traditional huipiles, or traditional blouses.  Women are very respected in this way by their spouses and families, but they also live very restricted lives.  Women have the role of taking care of the home and the family, a role that often confines them to the home.  The rare occasion when a mother of a large family has time to leave the house is almost never a social or pleasure outing, but rather to run to the mill the grind the ixtamal for tortillas or to shop in the market.  Over the years, it has become not only difficult for women to find time to get out of the house, but also a social taboo.  While men have places to gather and socialize, there is nowhere appropriate in town for women to gather, outside of church.

            The goal of the Women’s Center is to empower these women, and to give them a forum to express themselves.  As it is associated with the Parish, a respected organization in the community, the Center will hopefully be a place that husbands will trust as an appropriate place for their wives to spend time.  The Center is also equipped with a full kitchen, plenty of open space, an herb garden, and is nearby a large, communal pila used for washing laundry.  With these resources, women will be able to accomplish their daily tasks in a communal setting, while their children can play in a green space nearby.  The social nature of the Center will also create a forum for women to share knowledge and learn.  On the first day that the Center was open, two women taught others how to make banana bread, a treat that could be brought home to their families.  There will also be talks organized on preventative health, use of the medicinal herbs in the garden, and other subjects.

So it makes sense that the opening, after so many years of anticipation, was a very big deal both in San Lucas and in the international community of volunteers and donors.  Below I have included some pictures of the joyous celebration, complete with a piñata.