An Interview on International No Violence Against Women Day

Yesterday I met with Norma at Oficina Municipal de la Mujer (OMM) to give her the pictures from the March last Thursday in honor of Dia de non Violencia contra la Mujer. We discussed how women were able to organize themselves into such a large turnout. The majority of women who participated in the March are also involved in various women's groups. She gave me the list of all the women's groups in Aguacatan.

There are 20 groups with anywhere from 20-100 people in each group and are clustered by aldea or community. Groups have specific interest. For example, one group Vivero Forestal focuses on forest/wood collection, DORCAS is organization of women who make bread, Caserio Calin 1 is a group of women who works with seeds and agriculture. All the groups meeting bi-monthly to learn, advocate and support women's rights. All these groups focus on two objectives: Political Formation, which is less about electing the next women president and more about teaching women their basics rights and reading the laws for Guatemalan women. Rights include right to work, right to health care, right to family planning, right to education, and right to nutrition/food. The second objective is Right to Reproductive and Sexual Education.They teach women that they have the right to decide how many children she wants to have. They also use skits to help women prepare for the conversation with her spouse about family planning.

At this point, I have about a week left to collect information on the effects of migration on this community. Here is general conversation I had with Norma, Director of OMM about women's rights. 

Me: I would think many women could have fear to talk to a spouse about family planning in fear he may hurt her?

Norma: Yes, remember the announcement for Dia for non Violencia de la Mujer? This is what it was about. More than anything a woman stays in a domestic violent relationship for economics. This is the main reason. She doesn’t have any other way to feed her 5 children.

Me: Do women also think it is normal here or what supposed to happen sometimes?

Norma: Yes, a lot grow up with dad’s who hit their mom. They think it is part of the culture or religion. Those are the other two things that influence.

Me: Do the police do anything about it?

Norma: Yes sometimes, but then the women will feel sorry for her husband and end up going and looking for money to pay her spouse’s fine to get out of jail! 3000Q!

Me: what!? Wow. I talked to someone recently about how having her father in the states for 12 years has affected her family. She said it is hard but in a way kind of good because he used to always beat my mom. Least now he can’t beat her.

Norma: Yeah, the kids are affected the most.

Me: Do men beat women or children more?

Norma: Women. They don’t hit the children so much but the kids are really affected by it. So we have the groups of women who educate and support each other to know their rights.

Me: (I explain my thesis and my reason for being here). Are there groups (pointing to sheet of paper with group names of women) that address women with a spouse in the states?

Norma: No there isn’t.

Me: Why? Because there are too many women in this situation?

Norma: Yes but because often times they are just waiting, waiting for him to come back and he doesn’t call, he doesn’t send any money, nothing. I try and tell these women to work, they need to work because they are just waiting for him to come back. They should have their oldest child watch the others so she can go get a job. She needs to do something otherwise they do not have food or maiz. Sometimes our office gives a little food to these women who are the most poor. One time I called the Oficina de las Mujeres in Huehuetenango. I asked her about what to do for these women who come in and say they don’t have food, my husband doesn’t call, he doesn’t send money. So sometimes we give bags of maiz to women really poor.

Me: So there is not a specific group to help these women but it seems that the main objectives of the Women’s Groups are to support women’s rights which include working and family planning. This is good because if a woman has fewer children there may be less of a need for men to leave….less children to feed and less doctor visits, medicine, etc.

Norma: yes, a lot of women say it is good for their spouse to go but it’s not. They give money but there is no love, no padre, no relationship. Many times these children have a lot of problems. There is no dad to enforce rules. Boys don’t respect their mom and kids 11 to 16 years old start drinking or smoke marijuana. And sometimes women come in here and don’t know what to do. They say, “My daughter is pregnant. I don’t know who with and my husband is in the States.” This happens a lot. Young girls like 14 or 15 get pregnant. They don’t have a dad here that they would be saying “no”.

Me: Yes, I’ve met some young girls who are pregnant here and have a father in the States.

Norma: Yes, and the family disintegrates. The man usually has a new woman up there and the woman has 5 kids here so she starts looking for a new spouse. This is what happens a lot. She gets a new man to take care of her and the family disintegrates. 

There is indeed a theme here of families disintegrating but a glimpse of hope as women continue to organize themselves into influential groups and learn their rights!

Powerful group of young women preparing an announcement for Dia de No Violencia Contra la Mujer for the radio.

In William Lopez's recording studio.

The March in Action! Women held photos of three women who were killed by their husbands.

Left poster: "All women have the same rights!" Middle poster: "This body is mine. Don't touch. Kill-respect." Right poster: "For the life of women, No more Violence! No more discrimination, No more impunity."

250 “Shout Outs”, 4 Weddings, 41 First Communions and 6 Baptisms

I woke up at 3:30 a.m. to the sound of bullets cracking off but then I remembered it’s just firecrackers which people find entertaining to shoot off at any hour for any occasion. Oh good. I had one more hour of sleep before my alarm would go off. One hour later I surprisingly was able to pull myself out of bed and prepare for the long, “cold” haul up the Cuchumatanes Mountains. It’s always easier to wake up early when you get to do something fun, opposed to work. Today I had the opportunity to go with William López and his crew who work for the Catholic Radio and Maraton radio program. Later that morning, 250 people would arrive to give their “shout outs” on live radio to loved ones listening ‘live’ in the United States.

The morning began with an incredible sunrise. Four brave souls sat in the bed of the truck wrapped in blankets. I was the fortunate one who got to sit in front of the truck with Victorino. Turns out that Victorina actually lived in Bellingham in 1987 with a job picking blueberries.

We drove till the road seemed to disappear. The vegetation changed gradually with each switch back up the mountains. Finally we reached the end of the road. People had told me it was going to be “very cold” in the Cuchumatanes. I took it for a grain of salt because people always think it is cold here and it is a shivering 60 degrees. That said, I have to give them credit and thank Cecy and Mack for the gloves and beanie, because the air was definitely chillier and thinner than I expected. We arrived at Pajuil Paiz, an aldea of the municipality of Aguacatán at dawn.  The gracious women speaking K’iche served us breakfast before the crowd showed up. Everyone in our group kept talking about how flavorful the tortillas were. Considering they have been eating 10-20 tortillas a day for their whole life, I think these people can be tortilla connoisseurs. Apparently, the maiz takes a year to grow in Pajuil Paiz opposed to three months in the valley of Aguacatán, giving the prior a richer flavor.

By early morning, the crowds started pouring into the Catholic Church. The women and children were dressed in beautiful and brightly colored traje. The “radio crew” introduced themselves to the packed out pews and even passed the microphone to me to explain in Spanish to the crowd why a gringa was in the house. Then one by one, women, men and children lined up to have a moment on the microphone to say hello to family in the United States. The messages were transmitted by radio and streamed live onto William’s blog that people then listen to in the United States. It was an emotional day for many as the power of radio brought families together.

I can’t end this blog without saying what happened after everyone had a chance to speak on the microphone. First the priest married four couples! Then 41 children had their first communion. This was concluded with the baptism of six infants. Apparently, if you have all the community and the priest in one place, why not check off the whole to do list? Actually the reason why all this occurred today was because of the radio. Today was a celebration for Pajuil Paiz. It was a time that loved ones in the States had the opportunity to listen to all the important events, voices, and music of their native home.

250 “Shout outs”, 4 weddings, 41 first communions, and 6 baptisms later, I’d say that was a productive day.

Volcano in background near Xela.

Represent with the American flag. Apparently lots of houses here have the American flag to remember family in the States or those who return put it up on house.

People lining up through the aisle to have a moment on the microphone.

Catholic Church in Pajuil Paiz. Turquoise building on right is the health post.

On our way back down the mountain. Aguacatan is in the valley below.

Where You From? (and the benefits of technology)

Where you from? My Greek grandma Vivian used to be notorious for asking this question to anyone she encountered. I remember as a kid visiting my Grandma in Spokane, Washington with my mom, sister, Aunt Angie and cousin Sarah. We’d go shopping at the mall and eventually leave my Grandma on a bench were she was content to rest while we shop-a-holics hit the stores. We’d always come back and my Grandma had met a new friend, usually be starting the conversation with, “Well…where you from?”. My aunt, my mom and now I have inherited this trait.

Our cultural roots tell so much about who we are. Since I was 18 and went to college this question has been increasingly harder to answer. Am I from Encinitas, San Luis Obispo or now Bellingham?

Although it is the reality, I felt bad leaving the last blog on such a downer. Thankfully, I met an amazing person yesterday who has an incredible vision and project in progress in Aguacatán. So here comes a blog of inspiration and hope.

William Lopez works for the radio station produced by the Catholic Church in Aguacatán. He also happens to be relatives with the family I know in Bellingham. He has a passion to connect Aguactecos with their loved ones in the United States through low powered radio programs. This project is separate from the Church’s radio program and is entirely voluntarily on his part. Fortunately, he uses Blogger, a free blog through Google to share his programs. Meeting William was incredibly exciting because we discussed the future possibilities for connecting more families through cost effective communication programs like Skype. He said migrants typically do not use Facebook because of more security risks for those without documentation. Also, this is not as good for children who may be too young to be on Facebook.

Each week William visits different aldeas, communities, surrounding Aguacatán and brings a video camera and recorder. People in the community join together to relay messages to loved ones in the United States. He then transmits the recordings onto his blog so migrants from Aguacatán living in the United States can listen to the recordings! He also records special holidays, ceremonies, and traditions that people in the U.S. then visit online to remember their culture and native home.

My favorite part on the site is on the bottom right hand corner called “clusters”. You can click on the map and see what states and countries have people listening to the radio. For example, I just went to the website and people from Bellingham, Ferndale and Maple Falls, WA are “active listener!” (For those of you in Bellingham, this is pretty crazy. Right?! Or maybe I’m just nerdy).

Part of my thesis was determining what type of technology people are using to communicate with migrants in the United States. For almost everyone, this is cell phones. However, a major barrier even with cell phones is the cost for families to make calls. The amount of communication women and children have with their spouse/father also seems to be directly correlated with children’s behavior. Therefore, one cost effective solution to connecting parents and children is using the benefits the internet has to offer. William’s radio program along with Skype both offer great ways for families to connect. William’s program is all voluntarily. I’m going with him to a remote area in the mountains this week to do some interviews for his radio. Another barrier is that Aguacatán just got internet two years ago. Similar to the United States, the older generation is just finally getting used to cell phone technology let alone internet and webcams. The internet is really slow in all the cafes and from what I’ve been told, teens go to internet cafes mostly to listen to music, watch videos, etc. that their parents probably don’t want them watching.

On my way out of William’s office yesterday, which is in the Catholic Church, we ran into a K’iche family who knew William from his radio program. They were asking about trying to use Skype to contact their son in Colorado. I had to get home so he text me afterwards and told me how it went.

Hi it is incredible, I found the people on Skype the people were looking for. There were tears  to see their family-They hadn’t seen their son in three years.

I recommend you check out these link! http://parroquiadeaguacatan.blogspot.com/. This is the future for connecting transnational families and an incredible way for migrants to remember their homeland.

So…where you from?

In hallway at Catholic Church

Single Use Cameras and Sending Photos to Family in States

For most of us, or all of us, single use cameras are a thing of the past. You might be asking, do they still make those? But right now, I am so grateful for my small grant to purchase single use cameras! I don’t know what I would have done without it. It has been a great way to help people here connect with family in the United States. Today I went with the health educators and doctor to a different aldea named Agua Blanca. It was an incredible morning. Literally, I could not catch a breath before another woman approached me saying her spouse and/or dad was also in the United States. I explained to them all that they could take photos of their family and then I could develop and snail mail the photos to their spouses in the United States. They were thrilled but made sure I knew that they wanted to take photos when they could dress children in traje (traditional dress and Mayan kids in traje melts your heart) and look their best.

Anyways, an older lady with quite a character approached me first and kind of got the ball rolling. Pretty soon I had five women talking with me about the negative effects on the community from male-out migration. They brought laughter to a conversation that was ultimately very sad. They said, “what do you think of men who have been gone for 10 or more years. Like what do you think he’s really doing?!”. I said, “Well I think he’s probably sleeping with other women because men always want their sexo”. They all laughed and nodded in acknowledgement as they said, “yeah it’s true though and it is very sad. The women just get left and have to raise the children alone.” They talked about how when kids get sick, men send money but that “money isn’t what children need. They need the love from the heart.” Another young woman who is 18 years old has a dad who left ten years ago.  She cried as she explained how he has a new mujer and a child with her in North Carolina. She said he promised to come back in two years, then four, then for her Quinceañera, then for her 18^th birthday, but he hasn’t come back.  The women said kids dread Father’s Day. “Because there are no dad’s here!” Few laughed at the absurdity of the situation but they said sometimes kids bring a grandpa or just try and avoid celebrating in the schools since so many kids don’t have a father in Aguacatan.

Anyways, that’s kind of a general stream of consciousness and there are so many other narratives. It’s been a pretty heavy few days but also very rewarding to have women open up about the reality of broken families and marriages. 

All women "work" in Aguacatan. In down time they are always knitting, weaving, or harvesting frijol.

The background is the skirt of Aguacatan. The woman is weaving a "cinta", the head wrap that women wear.

My friend here made this beautiful blouse and gave it to me! It is the original style of traje. There are always "newer styles" just like clothes have new styles and modern looks in the U.S.

AJO-garlic is the main crop and families all work hard on land to produce. A big buyer usually from city usually buys an entire cuadro from a family

Preparing the milpa. Maiz and Frijol (Corn and legumes) grow together.

Católico o Evangélico?

Católico o evangélico? The question I’ve been asked routinely since the day I got here. And it is a deep rooted division between the two churches. It used to be even more severe but Cecy told me that this is basically nothing compared to the past. Today Catholics even marry evangelicals! Cecy and her family attend an evangelical church called Miel. It is somewhere between a Presbyterian-type church and a Pentecostal church. I have now been to their church the last two Sundays. It is sometimes hard not to be an anthropologist at church because it is culturally so interesting! I kind of felt like I was at a Baptist church since people were so expressive. We even got up in the middle of the sermon and ran around in circles doing “the train”! There was definitely no opportunity to get bored and fall asleep here!

Last week the pastor had asked the congregation to bring fruit to share with the church the following Sunday. I have never seen so many different types of fruit in my life in one place. Women filled up baskets with bananas, papaya, avocados, zucchini, platanos, mandarins, grapes, etc! We all took pieces of fruit and lifted it in the air as we danced around in circles. Most women were dancing in sync with the trumpets but my non-Latin hips struggled a bit more. Finally, we greeted our hermanos and exchanged fruit until we had a basket full of different fruit to bring home.

It was the most unique church service I have ever attended but I also thought it was representative of the thing that is most important to the livelihood of people here-el campo, that is the agricultural land the people are dependent on for food and money. People gave thanks to the abundance of fruit despite the rains last month which destroyed much of this year’s harvest. 

I took this picture a couple weeks ago at the cemetery just because I thought the cross and lighting were nice that afternoon. Carlos, my host family’s son asked me while I was taking the photo, “Are you Catholic? (even though I already had told him I wasn’t)”. I had no idea that a cross like this represented Catholicism. Guess I’m still learning.

Separated

Fieldwork seemed harder today. I realized that I needed to start reframing my question when I introduced myself at the health clinics. Instead of saying “I’m interested in meeting women who have spouses in the U.S.”, I needed to say, “I’m interested in meeting women with children whose fathers are in the U.S”. This occurred to me after a few women asked me if it still “counted” if it wasn’t their spouse (anymore) but father of their children. Of course! I felt ignorant. That’s exactly the issue here-children growing up without a second parent and the responsibility of raising children becomes solely on the women left behind. The more I think about it, all I’m discovering is how migration breaks families apart and not just temporarily but indefinitely. Just a little depressing! Men don’t leave and say they'll be back next year. They don’t know when they’ll be back and most know that if they do cross that dangerous border that they’ll stay “upstairs” (as some call it here) until they get deported. On average, most women tell me that their “husbands” have been gone about 6 to 10 years. Are these women really waiting around? Don’t they know they their husband can’t go 10 years without a women to take care of them!? Come on, let’s face it, they must have other women and families up north. It’s just not realistic to be apart for 10+ years. And it’s not like me where I get to use Skype and see Danny and my family almost every day. I don't want to generalize or offend because there are definitely marriages that seem to be in tact despite geographic distance. But the reality is that far too often men do not return...ever. It almost feels frustrating, like it’s unfair to women and children to leave and not come back! But then again many faithfully send a paycheck every month to support their loved ones at home. Wow, I’m back and forth. This issue is way too complex and grey for a paragraph, or even a book for that matter.

Thankfully I’m not here to learn about transnational marriages and functional relationships, because that would be a little awkward to discuss in just my short time here! But it does seem to weave itself into an interview. I’m here to see the effects on children and no one here has denied that migration affects the children. Families are separated by borders, and children are separated from parents.

Transnationalism & Children without Fathers

I’m loving fieldwork but I would hardly call it work. I have been so fortunate here in Aguacatan. I arrived last Friday after a six hour chicken bus from Lake Atitlan to Aguacatan.  I was greeted at the home of Cecilia (Cecy) Solis, her husband Mack, and their eleven year old son, Carlos. They have been so hospitable to me and make a bucket shower amazing because they heat the water for me! Of course, that’s only a minor detail because the best part is that Cecy is personally interested in my research project. Migration and transnational families have become customary here. In fact, it is difficult to find someone without relatives in the States, usually Ohio, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, and some in Alabama and of course, Bellingham, Washington.

Everyday has been like unraveling a mystery as I look for women with husbands in the United States. On Saturday, Carlos gave me a grand tour of Aguacatan. I’m slowly learning some words in Awakatek, which always gives the older ladies a chuckle when I try and use their Mayan language. It’s been great having Carlos by my side and someone to hang out with. He asked me on Saturday afternoon, “What do you want to do now?”. I said, “I want to start talking to women with spouses in the U.S. (kind of a weird request but he didn't think so)”. He was like, “oh ok. Follow me. My friend’s dad is in los estados. I don’t think he’s met him because he left after he was born but you can talk to his mom.” And it’s been that easy to talk to women in this difficult situation because migration is a way of life for Aguacatecos.

Then today I started volunteering with the health educators with the Centre de Salud. The health educators are three women who each day travel to a different local village and weigh children, give vaccines and offer consults with a doctor. Today we went to the community of Cantón, which is made up of most families with last names of Lopez and Rodriguez. I was excited because I knew this community had a lot of migrant families, and it sure did. The doctor let me introduce myself to the 40 or more women and children. I explained in Spanish that I was visiting to meet women who have family in the United States. I then realized quickly I needed to specify a spouse in the United States because everyone had at least brothers, cousins, or uncles in the States. I sat in gratitude as these women shared how their fathers left 10 years ago. The daughters then helped translate my questions from Spanish to Awakateko so that their mothers could explain how the decision for her spouse to leave has affected their families. Part of my grant from my university has let me pay for disposable cameras for the women. I've given them cameras, they are taking pictures of their family and children and then I will develop the photos and mail the pictures to their spouse in the States.

The effects of migration on this town are massive. People tell me that this is a major issue which is hardly recognized or discussed because migration is so common.  And I know this is only the beginning of realizing the enormity of the connections between their community and the United States and Bellingham.

My grand tour of Aguacatan. First stop: Rio San Juan. This river just gushes out of the middle of the mountain. The river is then channeled into an irrigation system that waters the entire agricultural valley.

The farming community grows just about everything but is known for its garlic and onion.

Another stop at the cemetery to see how their Dia de los Muertos went over.

This area of the cemetery was all babies.

Center of Aguacatan

I met Karina last month when I was working at Casa Materna in Huehuetenango. She was pregnant and waiting to give birth to her ninth child. I became very close with her and her husband, Lorenzo. She had a girl last Sunday and named her Kati :) Pretty special.