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.