Guatemala Partnership
My wife Joanne and I made our first trip to Guatemala in 1990 as part of a Habitat for Humanity Global Village and study trip that a friend and I organized for University Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. We spent less than two days in the city of Quetzaltenango, better known by its indigenous name Xela (pronounced Shayla), but I was immediately drawn to the city by its mild mountain climate and its vibrant culture, which incorporates both Mayan and ladino (Hispanic/"western") influences.
The U.S. government staged a military coup back in 1954 to overthrow a reformist government that was threatening powerful economic and political interests, most notably those of the United Fruit Company. This intervention brought to an end what has been termed the Ten Years of Spring following decades of brutal dictatorships, and led to a bloody 36-year-long civil war during which over 200,000 civilians were murdered, the vast majority of them indigenous, by military governments supported by the United States.
Because of our government's intervention and complicity in the massive human rights violations committed in Guatemala, I believe that United States citizens possess a moral obligation to help Guatemalans achieve social and economic justice instead of the inequity and exploitation that have been the norm since the time of the Spanish conquest.
The signing of peace accords between the government and rebel forces in December of 1996 opened political space and offered hope that a more just and inclusive Guatemalan society could be constructed. However, following the release of the Catholic Church's report on the civil conflict, Guatemala: Never Again, which in April of 1998 published the testimonies of over 5,000 victims of the civil war and attributed 89% of the casualties to the Guatemalan military and security forces, the report's principal author, Bishop Juan Gerardi, was savagely bludgeoned to death.Gerardi's tragic death was the catalyst for my decision to create a partnership with an organization that was working to promote development and social justice.
As the Congregational Peace Coordinator of the Stone Church of the Brethren, I proposed the formation of a Circle of Ministry which would partner with an institution or organization in Guatemala. We enlisted the assistance of Rights Action, a non-governmental organization that promotes human rights in Guatemala, Honduras, and several other parts of Latin America, and which provides economic support to a wide array of community based organizations in these countries. Rights Action also sponsors speaking tours in North America to educate people in the developed world about issues confronting underdeveloped countries, and it strives to forge north-south alliances of groups and organizations working together to remedy endemic impoverishment, repression, and racism.
One of the projects supported by Rights Action in Xela was Colegio Mixto Miguel Angel Asturias, an organization that attracted our group's interest because of our belief in the key role that education plays in promoting development and peace in a pluralistic society. We formalized our partnership with the Colegio in January of 1999, and over the past five years, we have developed deep friendships which have enriched all of our lives.
Colegio
Mixto Miguel Angel Asturias
The school was founded in 1994 by Jorge Chojolán, a remarkable
man with a dream to create an alternative educational model for Guatemala.
He has adapted for use with children the pedagogical principles that renowned
Brazilian educator Paulo Freire developed in the 1960s and 1970s for achieving
adult literacy. The approach is student centered and engages students'
experiences, challenging them to think critically about their social reality
and to problem solve in order to transfom their communities and their
country.For each month of the school year, there are temas generadores
(generating topics) that are integrated into all the subject areas, topics
such as human rights, ecology, and economic development. The results have
been spectacular; at the end of the 2000 school year, students nationwide
were evaluated on standardized tests by the Guatemalan Ministry of Education.
The students at Colegio Miguel Angel Asturias scored on average between
15 and 20 points higher than the students at both public and private schools
in the entire country.
These results were achieved despite the fact that the school's resources are extremely limited, and many of the students come from poor families. In the year 2002, for example, the entire school budget was only $25,000 (which included 9 staff salaries, facilities rental, utilities, school supplies, etc.), and 40 of the 140 students attended the school on full scholarship, while over half received at least a partial scholarship.
