The story of stuff

Watch this, it's only 20 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM

and this, it's even shorter!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ-J91SwP8w&feature=related


Tuesday I went to Xecaracoj, and once again had to find my way there alone because of miscommunication with Elba. Beggars always come on buses, usually deaf people give out papers explaining their situation, wait a little and come around to collect the little papers and money. This time a guy whose entire body was permanently shaking came and asked for money for his operation because of his central nervous sytem's deficiency; another guy came on explaining he was honduran and he and his wife and one year old daughter had left their home to cross to the US illegally but the coyote had stolen all their money and they were stuck in Guatemala scavenging for money to survive. I've started to notice the beggars more and more, especially in markets where people who are handicapped or have a body malformation camp out in the middle of the walkway exposing their misery to get some money. It's all pretty depressing.

Anyways, unfortunately, I took the wrong bus, and ended up in the wrong stop. I called Elba and she sent ladies from the group to come get me. As I waited there in the center of Xecaracoj, I had a conversation with a friendly little old lady until two Olgas from the group came to get me. The whole group had a good laugh about my getting lost. They were cooking typical sweets - camote and chilacayote. Camote is a root kind of like the Yuca and Chilacayote is a squash-type of vegetable. Basically you boil them in water for x amount of minutes and douse them in sugar and wait till they caramelize. We played a dinamica with the group of 50 ladies: two relay races where we had to pass a balloon from person to person using our knees. The mayan ladies wear long heavy skirts so the game is wildly more entertaining for everyone. I really like this group, and they've started talking to me, asking me questions, joking around, poking fun at the tall gringa etc. The kitchen's door is the only way smoke can exit the room, and because the camotes and chilacayotes were cooking in large bins on top of big fire, the smoke was unbearable. I couldn't stay in there more than 2 seconds, to the great entertainment of the ladies. As time progresses, smoke filled the inner courtyard and lingered, even though it was a completely open space. Besides being uncomfortable and making my clothes smell, it's actually really unhealthy and over the long term generates pulmonary illnesses and eye infections. The OMM is sponsoring a stove project in that community, and I hope they'll explain the dangers of not having adequate smoke exits in a kitchen. In general, the pollution in Xela is ridiculous and awful, and definitely causes health problems and subsequent economic issues as health care isn't very affordable here. The pollution has started to get to me. I didn't suspect it would be this bad, and certainly didn't think I would be so bothered by it. Every time a bus or car passes me in the narrow streets, I get submerged in dark foul exhaust smoke and try not to breathe but ultimately end up inhaling an indefinite amount of poisonous gas. I dearly miss clean streets and proper motors. The vehicle traffic in Xela is relatively new, according to Hugo there were almost no cars in the city 20 years ago, and I wonder how many health problems will be the result of such intense contamination. I wonder how it came to this: we are slowly killing ourselves by using toxic chemicals to run our stuff and "develop" - what kind of development is that? Surely not one we should want...

Wednesday I went to Llanos, and this time the group was even smaller. Only one lady has actually made  her basket out of newspaper - she made two and they were really quite beautiful. Only 3 people showed up because they were handing out the Bolsas Solidarias in the village today - one of those programs created by Sandra Torres Ex de Colom (http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/03/22/guatemalan-1st-lady-divorce-presidential-bid/?test=latestnews). I just think it's a shame that the group is so small and their attendance so sporadic; the OMM is providing them with this free program and great opportunity, you'd think that people would want to take advantage of that. Most other communities have large groups attending those workshops, but Llanos is kind of depressing, and I don't really understand why there isn't stronger participation.

I've started to come to terms with the fact that the importance of my "volunteering" in the OMM is my presence. The communication there is quite limited, Eunice is super busy all the time and there just isn't much for me to do there considering I have no degree or experience in social/human rights work. So I take pictures for them sometimes and go to the communities, and although it's been kind of disappointing, my host mom Elvia explained that my presence is quite significant because it shows the ladies from the OMM and from the groups that there is support within the international community and gives them the opportunity to relate with people from different parts of the world, opening them to it and helping in the long-term therapy many Guatemalans, and especially women, need to overcome their trauma and fear.

I'm having a coffee date with Valeria, the editor of EntreMundos Magazine, next week. She suddenly decided to reappear so hopefully I'll get some feedback on my writing and figure things out.