Building Appropriate Technologies...

Last week the Long Way Home crew completed two appropriate technology projects; a solar shower for ourselves and a wood-burning stove for our neighbors. With the help of our resident AT Peace Core member, Ben, we were able to construct our shower over a two and a half week period, while the stove took us just five days to finish.
The solar shower is a very simple peice of equipment requiring some lengths of hard PVC piping, 50 to 100 meters of black tubing, a couple of valves, a shower head, roof space and a few hours of direct sunlight per day. We fit all the peices together by putting the black tubing (mangera) under a flame, leaving it malleable and then fitting it over its PVC counterpart. We used a strong adhesive (pegamiento) and wire to stick and securely fasten all joints together. The 100 meter coil of mangera is located on top of our shower and bath rooms, on a flat surface, which recieves at least six hours of direct sunlight a day. We may place a piece of sheet metal underneath the mangera in the future in order to amplify the heat the coil recieves from the sun and thus heat the water in the tube faster and with less sunlight. Considering that our water supply flows at least 200-300 feet down hill from its source before reaching the mangera coil, we now have a very strong, hot flow from the shower, which is quite a luxury.
While the solar shower has certainly added to the gringos comfortability at Parque Chimiya, this is not what we came here for. That is why building the stove for our neighbor David and his family was so much more rewarding, and became the central project for us last week.
The stove was built in 6 stages, more or less. First you dig out a small, rectangular fitting which becomes the base for the whole cooking station. After digging and leveling, we mixed-up a batch of cement and began placing the cinder-block foundation. Three levels of cinder-blocks later we packed the center of the cinder-block rectangle with garbage, rock and dirt until it was filled to the top, forming a single, solid platform. Upon this platform we then layed clay tiles, on top of which the wood is burned. After that structure sat for a day and settled and hardened, we came back and built the enclosed stove area itself. Using a mixture of fine sand, clay and molassas we coated the tiled floor of the stove and built-up a three-sided brick casing for the metal stove-top (plancha o pollo). The molassas mixture is used around the stove area instead of cement because it bakes and hardens like brick after just a few firings. Finally, we placed the plancha in its brick casing and attached and sealed the stove-pipe and ran it up through the roof.
It is interesting to note that this final step of placing a proper smoke exhaust system is really the most important aspect of building stoves like these in the developing world. For most Guatemalan women their day is filled with two activities; washing clothes by hand and cooking over an open fire. Many women experience complications in pregnancy and birth defects in their children because of the years of smoke inhalation. In addition, firewood (leña) is a big expense or a very time consuming effort for most Guatemalan families, as they almost always have a fire going in order to cook or make tortillas (tortillar). The efficient stove we built for David and his family will hopefully allow his mother, the perpetual cook, to breath in less smoke, while saving them time and money.

Teaching II...

For those of you have wondered, including myself, how exactly I could put to use my History degree, rest assured The Long Way Home and Comalapa have provided me with a wonderful opportunity to do just that.
Myself and fellow History major and volunteer, Rosie, have begun teaching a history series at the Tecnico Maya school I have previously mentioned. I have been assigned to the sixth grade class, which allows me to cover some fairly serious and complex historical events and issues, although in quite a simplified manner. The sixth grade teacher at Tecnico Maya, a bright, dedicated and distressingly under-paid and under-trained young man named Carlos, has asked me to teach the students something about the history of the rest of Latin America, as the students have already been required to study a bit of Guatemala´s.
I therefore started with a lesson in the historical relationship between Latin America and the United States, as it is a sordid, yet extremely important relationship for both parties. I chose to begin with what Americans call the Spanish-American War of 1898, in which the United States, acting upon the principles of the Monroe Doctrine, for the first time in its history broke out of its isolationist shell and participated in a war outside of its continental boundaries. However, south of the Mexico border this war, along with what we call the Mexican-American War are respectively known as La Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense(The Spanish-United States War) and La Intervencion Norteamericana(The Northamerican Intervention), as most Latin Americans take offense to the fact that those of us from the U.S. reserve the right to call ourselves "Americans" instead of using an equivalent english phrase for estadounidense(person from United States).
As for the class itself, I believe it was something interesting and new for both the sixth graders and their teacher, yet I think I tried to accomplish too much with it. I used the well-known song "Guantanamera", written by the famous cuban poet, writer and war of independence martyr, Jose Marti, in order to illustrate through pop-culture how the historical events of the Spanish-American War still have implications for the present day relationship between Cuba and the United States. For the result of the Spanish-American War was independence for Cuba, as Jose Marti had envisioned and fought for, but not on their own terms, as the 1901 Platt Amendment ceded Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. indefinitely.
As I said, I believe I overreached on my first history "lecture" to the sixth graders, but it certainly made an impact on Carlos, and the directora of the Tecnico Maya school. Both of them observed with fascination during my presentation, and asked many questions during and after. I will no doubt get better and more efficient in my history teaching method, but if nothing else hopefully the teachers will learn something from them that they can pass to class after class once I am gone. In development work, as in life, if you teach a man to fish or to teach a new subject more properly, that effort will always have a greater impact on a community than just feeding them fish or information could ever have over the long-term.
I was immediately reminded of this at the end of my class, when Carlos and the directora of the school came up to me to discuss my lesson further. The older woman at one point asked whether or not the manner in which Cuba gained its independence had any affect on the building of the canal by the U.S. later on in the 20th Century, obviously confusing Cuba with Panama. Without hesitation Carlos went back to the board and clarified for the directora the difference between Cuba and Panama, and again explained the historical implications of the U.S. possession of Guantanamo Bay, loosely likening it to the history of the Panama Canal.
This geographic and historical ignorance demonstrated by this directora of a developing nation´s school, like the similar histories of many Latin American nations in relation to the U.S., was not and is not unusual, and I think it is an interesting yet not surprising anecdote.

Teaching...

My fellow volunteers and I have been busy teaching and educating the Comalapan children about their environment and how to protect it. While the indigenous population here is certainly more connected to their land than I may ever be to the tierra of the Northwest, they lack an understanding of how modern, Western technologies detrimentally affect their milpa, water supply and health. Clear-cutting and a subsequent lack of biodiversity, litter and vehicle pollution are the basic problems facing Comalapa and its surrrounding aldeas.
Therefore, El Proyecto Chimiya brings children and teachers to our park for an environmental education program which explains the interconnections between humans, plants, animals, insects, waterways and the air we breath. Simple excercises demonstrating the ¨web of life¨ show how human health and prosperity are dependent upon the natural resources that we often take for granted. We identify local species of plants, animals and insects and directly associate them with the local food and water supply. We also encourage the children to think of nature not only as a vulnerable and valuable commodity, but also as a place where they can maintain their indigenous traditions and values; something that has an intrinsic value as a healthy, communal space.
As a reward for our session with the Tecnico Maya school, a few of the children demonstrated a traditional Maya rain dance ceremony. The Tecnico Maya school here in Comalapa is one of the only schools not directly funded by the Catholic Church. This is the case because the Church considers the school a teacher of the pagaen traditions of the Maya. While the school teaches reading, writing and arithmetic just like all others, it also teaches Kakchiquel, the local indigenous dialect and many of the dieing Maya traditions. If you scroll down to the bottom of the blog site you can watch a video of their demonstration, in which the children dance, sing and play music with their chinchines.

A quick update

I have found out that Rigoberta Menchu is polling at about 2 to 3 percent of the vote right now. However, that is not as bad as it sounds because there are nearly a dozen candidates running, and the three major establishment parties and their respective candidates are expected to garner the majority of the votes in September. It therefore seems likely that this election is simply an initial entry into politics for Rigoberta Menchu, establishing herself as a serious Guatemalan politician and activist for the long term.
As for me, I have spent the last few days organizing and preparing for a series of projects that are going on next week at the Long Way Home and in Comalapa. Next Wednesday, the Long Way Home is going to host a free Dia de Diversion, where girls and boys will come to the Home and get organized into age-grouped leagues which will compete throughout the summer and may become permanent.
In addition, my fellow volunteers and I have been going around to the local schools and asking if they need any assistance or support with education curriculums. We have more interest from the schools than we can handle right now. For example, Rosie and I are going to teach a little history, english and basic environmental education for two hours a day, every day next week in the main school in Comalapa.
Most of the free schools here are funded by the Catholic Church, and nearly all are underfunded and overcrowded. It is an interesting and telling commentary on the state of rural schools here that there is so much interest in having foreign gringos come and teach whatever we would like for however long we would like in their schools.

First day on the job...

Ok, so not surprisingly I have a lot to write about now that I have arrived in Comalapa and have settled in a bit at El Proyecto Chimiya. I´ll be breif and allow you to use your imagination to understand the excitement and genuine pleasure I have been experiencing in the last twenty-four hours.
First of all, my fellow intern, Rosie, and I found our way to this small rural town on a series of short but eventful ¨chicken bus¨ rides. The roads are never straight and you are constantly surrounded by imposing ravine drops, sheer cliffs and far away hill-top maize farms terraced on seemingly impossible angles. All of the farm work is done by hand here because of this geographic exigency.
The grounds of the project include a new basketball court, a soccer field, an ecological park with a nature trail and new schoolhouse, two housing cabanas, a solar shower and facilities. The mission of the Long Way Home is essentially to fill any type of educational or recreational void that exists in Comalapa. Children in Comalapa only spend a half-day in school, so for most, the rest of the day is spent either helping or watching their parents work their corn or strawberry fields. In addition, nearly all of the people here are wholly ignorant of basic environmental concepts, which is common in most developing nations. There is not recycling, trash is thrown wherever, rivers are the the dumps, forested property is cut down for firewood to cook with and environmental protection is a luxury most think they can ill afford. The Long Way Home is attempting to change this with education on local tree varieties and by slowly communicating to the community its role and its future benefits from sustainably using its natural environment.
But we are not just about lecturing, we wouldn´t get very far if we were. Instead we have to get people involved in a fun and exciting way, which is why participating and encouraging athletic activities is key. So, for instance, today I woke up early and went with my fellow intern, Ben, a former peace corps volunteer, and spent two hours coaching an 11 and 12 year old girls basketball team! They are the champions of the Chimaltenango department(i.e. state) and are going on Wednesday to Antigua to compete in the national championship tournament for their age group.
Their local coach asked us gringos to help him coach because both Ben and I have extensive playing histories and I have a coached a little. I lack a knowledge of specific basketball terms in spanish, but somehow through demonstration and persistence we were able to drill them on proper chest-passing technique, general movement on the court, layups and defense. They had recieved very little formal training like this before and it was great to see them improve right there in those two hours. I think we all had a great time and learned something.
Afterwards, Ben took me around town to meet the locals that the Project works with and is supported by. A local communtiy development group called Chuwi Tinimit owns the property where the Project is located and the head of the board of that group is running for mayor of Comalapa in the upcoming elections. We are officially supporting him. I met him, along with the crew of workers that are building the new schoolhouse and the local weavers whose indigenous crafts we sell in the US for funding. All are very committed to the Project and strongly believe that we are filling an educational and environmental awareness need here.
However, the best was yet to come. As we left a pizza parlor and were heading to the Internet cafe that I am writing from now, a politcal rally of some sort started filtering past us playing loud music, waving signs and attracting a large number of people to it. The rally was for the political party and campaign of Rigoberta Menchu, the indigenous Gautemalan Nobel Peace Prize winner. If you have not heard of her and are interested in learning more about Guatemala I strongly recommend that you read I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. It is the testimony of her life during the civil war period here, and it is for that which she won the Nobel Peace Prize.
In any case, she was the one drawing the large crowds, shaking hands, talking with the locals and looking very much the politician. And in fact, she recently announced her candidacy for president, no small thing in a primarily indigenous country that has been run by white, male Ladinos for centuries. I shook hands with her and took her picture as she was embraced by the people who obviously love her. There is for the first time in many decades an excitement about the political process that is taking place in this election cycle, there is more participation, and more recognition of indigenous rights, as is evident in other Latin American countries recently as well. This movement is attempting to change the long-standing political and economic status quo, which is not without its inherent divisiveness. In fact, one of the opposing parties to Menchu´s uses the symbol of el mano blanco in its political campaign, the name and symbol of the former campaign of state terror that was directed towards the rural indigenous populations during their years of civil war.
After all of this, believe it or not, we are headed back to the Project site to hook up another, better solar shower for us interns. I am hoping it lives up to the hype because I could certainly use a hot shower.
Just remember, this was my first day on the job...

My First Days...

Well, after sitting in Seatac for 5 and a half hours, I am finally here in Guatemala. On the flight from L.A. to Guatemala City I sat next to a Guatemalan couple who allowed me to practice my feo spanish with them in a pleasant, yet stunted conversation. The couple was wonderful, they both worked in a hotel in Santa Barbara and traveled to Guatemala to visit their family, once a year. During the take-off and landing the woman crossed herself multiple times, along with her husband and me. Without knowing much about me and in a custom unknown to North Americans, they invited me to breakfast, to their granddaughters quinceañera, and offered me a ride to Antigua. I of course accepted all of their incredible gestures of hopitality. Unfortunately, I cannot attend the ceremonial birthday celebration. However, I arrived in Antigua sooner than I would have thanks to them and gained a quick appreciation for the people here.
Today, I walked through a public coffee plantation and got a free lesson on coffee cultivation and the classes of the local jade from one of the neighboring locals named Juan Fransisco Garcia. He took me to his sons jewlery workshop, where he made beautiful jade and silver earings, necklaces and pendants. Juan told me how Guatemalans grew their coffee in the shade of the Grabilea tree, so as to protect the coffee plants from being burned by the hot tropical sun(I have also heard that this is a much more sustainable way to grow coffee for both the health of the land and the pickers of the beans). It was a gorgeous place, muy tranquilo, with no tourists, which is always a unique experience in a tourist trap like Antigua.
Juan also told me about his job in a local fabrica or factory, which is owned by Nestle Corp. He packed 90 packages of dried soop a minute, for eight hours a day, five days a week. He said it was a good job in Guatemala, very steady, with good pay and not in the exposed coffee or sugar fields. It appears that Juan, along with the family I met in Guatemala City, are part of the Guatemalan middle class or maybe upper class, although neither was visibly wealthy by any North American standards. They were also non-indigenous as far as I could tell, Ladino is what they are called here. Therefore, I have yet to see or experience the poverty that I saw in South America. It is quite a different economic state here in Guatemala, because the disparities are not quite as dramatic or as visibly dichotomous as they are in Buenos Aires, for example. However, I have not been to the rural, indigenous areas of Guatemala and therefore cannot speak with any certainty on this subject. But I am eager to get a sense of the differences between the conditions of the poor in Argentina's villas and Guatemala's rural, indigenous communities. Hopefully, the Long Way Home will immerse me in that exploited and forgotten world. I´ll let you know....

First post...

Well, this may be the beginning of an interesting story and adventure, at least thats what I hope. On June 21, 2007 I leave for my internship with the Long Way Home in Comalapa, Guatemala, a rural town in the Highlands comprised mostly of indigenous Mayans. The history of the indigenous peoples of Guatemala is long and impressive, while the recent history is fresh and still very ugly, as the the Peace Accords of 1996 signaled the first real ceasation in violence since the early 1950's. Yet, despite its current poverty, racism and inequalities Guatemala offers a unique Latin American history and learning experience, particularly as U.S. citizen. With a prevalent and culturally rich indigenous population experiencing a revitalization both socially and politically the natural landscape and history of Guatemala is beginning to shine once again, in a "New Dawn" as they say.
The Long Way Home is a kind of community center as I understand it; with community buildings, soccer fields, basketball courts, an organic garden, indigenous arts center and tree farm. I will be doing physical work for this aid and development organization, building and maintaining infrastructure, gardening, hauling, digging, etc. I hope to be integrated into the community a bit as well, hopefully practicing my Spanish and picking up some Kiche(an indigenous Mayan dialect). But certainly I will be doing my fair share of physical labor; digging, hoeing, hammering and the like.
While I'm in the community I am interested in learning about the their experiences during the early 1980's, when many say the government exacted a genocide against its own indigenous population. But I would really like to learn what, if any, political and social solidarity among indigenous and Ladino populations came about as a result of the state terror. Or what kind of activist and development groups or social and political movements have been involved with the community since.
I plan to see some beautiful sites as well like Lago Atitlan, the Mayan ruins at Tikal, and possibly all 32 volcanoes in the country. And hopefully there will be a hurricane that I'll have to avoid. Talk to you next from Guatemala...