November 24, 2008

When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.
- Ps. 91:15

Dear Friends,

The holiday season always seems to be the time to recap the events of the past year. While I’d like to believe Guatemala is a better place now than it was at the beginning of the year, statistics do not bear that out. But we do know our lives and those of missioners have been made better because of involvement with the indigenous of Guatemala.

The rural indigenous with whom we work, the Kekchi—and all indigenous for that matter—still suffer alarmingly high indices of poverty, poor education, poor nutrition, poor job opportunities, poor health, and suffer from too many natural disasters often due to the lands to which they have been relegated. Although these numbers tend to cause us pain we still find the hand of God at work in positive ways, and for that we can be thankful.

We began the year by refining our course on simple record keeping and bookkeeping to four sessions with each session consisting of a two-day workshop. We conducted these classes in each of five different areas—from the municipality of Ixcán in the west to the departments of the Petén in the north to Izabál in the east. Some of our students could neither read nor write, and we found a high degree of frustration in them because of that (we may have felt some ourselves.) Some dropped out after the first workshop, but many stayed and completed the course and were energized by receiving a diploma of attendance Gloria and I created for the purpose. These diplomas, although having no official significance, were an effective tool to encourage participation and to add to a sense of accomplishment and pride, which for too many has been a rare occurrence. Women often had to bring their children with them, frequently breast-feeding their babies while trying to control the others. Their desire to learn and be part of a class offset any distractions. The noise level was typical of their daily lives where they live in community with as many as 10 or more sleeping in the same room in their mud-floor huts. A few students were exceptional, notably Raymundo Ba Choc, who began traveling with us. He ultimately became the teacher, instructing in the Kekchi language, which proved to be beneficial for all.

We worked with six different groups of missioners from the United States in a variety of trips. Some offered ministries of presence and others were project-oriented. We had one medical trip staffed by physicians and nurses. Others helped construct water systems that involve capturing the rainwater that falls on lamina roofs and directing it into gutters leading to large tanks. This will now help some villages during the dry season have water where previously water was only available in fetid ponds or by walking long distances to carry it back from contaminated sources.  One group combined the efforts of Presbyterians with members of a Rotary Club and is an excellent example of working together across not only cultural barriers but also organizational ones.

A sewing project, in the planning stages for two years, is soon to begin in Ixcán. Fifteen students have been selected and 15 sewing machines have been purchased and shipped to the rudimentary theological center in Ixcán. An independent company in Guatemala, Intecap, which trains people in many vocational tasks, has been hired at a reasonable cost to train these students to be tailors and seamstresses. The students all understand it is their responsibility to attend these classes, which will be held 24 hours per week for 15 weeks. At the conclusion they should be capable of making a variety of products. Some missioners will have to work with them to determine which products to make and how and where to market them, but the effort is now under way and the students’ enthusiasm is only slightly more than those who have funded this mutually agreed upon project.

Secular education is still a challenge, and many do not yet see or understand its value. But three more Kekchi have graduated from high school this year with assistance from supporters in the United States. One of them, Luisa Pec Pop of Ixcán, graduated at the age of 26 and is qualified to teach primary school. Ramiro Cac Coc of Izabál has a diploma in rural development, which he also achieved at the age of 26. Marco Rax has graduated with a diploma in bookkeeping and hopes to attend the state university of San Carlos. That proved to be difficult for our previous two graduates, who could not pass the entrance examination. They were not alone. Getting an education is a difficult chore and getting a university degree is extremely difficult. Only 8 percent of high school graduates who take the test pass, and only 1 percent of high school graduates manage to attain a college degree—even less for the indigenous.

Gloria and I are part of a bi-national commission of the Guatemalan church. It meets monthly in Guatemala City to develop a plan to reinitiate the sending of a special fund for secular and theological education. That plan has been elaborated and should be implemented beginning in January 2009. We are enthusiastic over the potential it offers to indigenous people.

Corn

Planting corn in Ixcan.

Many indigenous farmers have asked for assistance in learning more about agriculture. But this is a topic that frequently is outside the expertise of short-term mission groups, since it takes a level of skill and knowledge that cannot be applied in such a short time. We went to a remote village in Ixcán in November, since this is the corn-planting season, to get a better understanding of this ancient process. Twelve men gathered early and soon went to the milpa, the cornfield.  Taking a six-foot pole sharpened on one end by a few deft machete blows, the workers had their planting tool. Standing about a yard apart, they began to move steadily up and across the planting area, punching a hole three to four inches deep and then taking four corn kernels from a bag slung over their shoulders and, without bending, dropped them in the uncovered hole. They continued their forward movement together, each taking a step of about a yard before repeating the process. This method has not changed for 100s of years, but it cannot produce the results modern agriculture demands of businessmen/farmers. Still the camaraderie of the villagers and the dinners provided by the host added an air of pleasing conviviality to all who worked. Considering it took us seven hours by microbus over broken, rutted, and wet, dirt roads, plus another hour on the back of a pickup, followed by a three-hour slog up and down muddy paths before we ever reached the village, we even looked forward to sleeping on the wooden beds that had only a reed mat and a mosquito net to offer us comfort. Three days of such life is all I could handle.

Groups that visit Kekchi country have much in common, even though they come from various parts of the United States. An association of those groups (Amigos of the Kekchi, or AOK) was formed early in the year and had their initial meeting in Houston, which was followed six months later by one in Nashville. The next meeting, in April of 2009, will be in Spokane. Combining efforts and interests and maybe even having combined trips appears to be a promising way to take advantage of the abilities each group while enabling us to make new friends in the United States. Such work underscores the fact that we are a connectional church, and that we can do more and be more together than we can independently.

May God bless you richly during this season.

Peace,

Roger and Gloria

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 258