Art day

Sunday I went to San Jose Chiquilaja with Guadalupe, the artist I met, because she invited me to accompany her to her class. Turns out she was teaching there as part of the government program Escuelas Abiertas, or Open Schools, set up by Sandra Torres. It gives children, youth and adults the opportunity to take advantage of workshops and classes like painting, crafts, karate, computer, music, communication, k'iche (the indigenous language spoken here)..for free during the weekend. Its purpose is to reduce delinquency by giving kids something to do, a creative outlet, and a free meal.
We got there around 8:30 and set up the classroom, she put up some drawings on the wall for the kids to inspire themselves. Not alot of kids came that day, because it's sunday so there is church, and because it's the planting season, and many kids are out in the fields with their parents planting. So we basically talked until 4pm. She also teaches in the cultural center in Xela, and explained to me how one can really tell the difference between rural and urban kids. In Xela, they're alot less timid, alot more open, so alot more creative and imaginative. Here, kids are extremely shy and not used to let their creative artistic imagination roam free because of the campesino nature of their parents' work and the cultural norms of such a lifestyle. Therefore, the kids mostly just copy the drawings she hangs up on the board. When she started doing this work a year and a half ago, she felt really discouraged because she felt like she couldn't teach the kids properly, she felt like she had imparted nothing to them. But as time went on she got used to the character of the class. Each class is one hour, kids come and go as they please, and can take advantage of as many workshops as they want. Almost twenty kids came total in the morning and only three in the afternoon, and most copied one of the drawings. It could be a lost case, but I suggested to Lupe that she just show the drawings at the start of the session and then turn them around to have the kids think for themselves and begin training that imaginative process.
The program is government funded, but it doesn't have much of a budget, so the supplies are lacking or terrible quality. There are currently 217 Escuelas Abiertas in Guatemala, in 15 different departments. The idea comes from Brazil, and Guatemala is the second or third country in the Americas to have implemented it. Sandra Torres also created other programs like Bolsas Solidarias which give families free food items like corn, cooking oil, flour, beans; Comedores Solidarios which is basically a soup kitchen, and Mi Familia Progresa, which gives women 300Q per child. These programs have good intentions, but logical negative consequences. Besides people who aren't in need taking advantage of the system, these poverty-alleviation programs are making people get used to receiving all kinds of things for free and so expecting everything else to be free, and feeling entitled to receiving things for free, inducing a general "gimme" mentality. According to the other teachers, women and adults more generally have been demanding to take home supplies and asking why they weren't being given the supplies; what is being given in this program is knowledge, skill-building, teaching, but the recipients aren't trained to view that as a positive thing with a longer term perspective. Sustainability isn't being generated and long-term poverty alleviation will not come about unless that becomes a goal implemented government programs have.

Besides being an artist, Lupe is passionate about the Mayan religion, mayan teachings, and spiritual life. She practices reikki, a japanese energy-funneling practice, and is a healer. She works with energies to open people's shakras, the energy points in our bodies (there are 7, one at the top of our head (the lead shakra), one between our eyebrows called the third eye (wisdom and soul), one in our throat (communication), one on our heart (love), one below our rib cage (relation to the other), one below our belly button (reproduction), and finally one in our reproductive organs that is our connection to Mother Earth). She also explained the mayan days to me, namely what my nahual, or mayan sign, meant. Mine is Imox, and is the sign of water. Imox is the sign of eccentric personalities and the most artistic and creative one. In addition to your sign, you get a number from 1 to 13 when you are born. If the number is pair, then you are stable, and if the number is low than you don't have much characteristics of your sign's meaning. A low number can also represent instability. The number you have is supposed to be a secret and very important, if it becomes known you become more vulnerable. The mayan tradition is all really interesting - apparently they predicted the earthquake in Japan and the rumors about 2012 are wrong. According to Lupe, the Maya said that the Earth would enter a period of rebirth or regeneration in 2012 and would be finished with that process in 2014, but in no way does that mean an end-of-the-world tragedy.
I also spoke to this 12 year old girl that was guatemalan but had lived in Texas all her life and moved last year to Guate. She was really excited to speak english again. Her dad still lives there working as a mechanic and her mom is here working as a second-hand store vendor. Her brother was the music teacher, 20 years old and has a different father. I also spoke to this other guy that got deported from LA almost 2 years ago. He lived in the US for nearly 18 years, and likes it alot better than Guatemala. He moved when he was 19 and worked as a mechanic, in a car wash, and as a security guard. Now he works here as a security guard and is trying to remake his life and explore his homeland. He was there taking karate classes (the karate teacher was probably the funniest and goofiest man I've ever met in Guatemala) and spoke really well in english. He is learning French and hopes to go to France or Quebec someday. He was extremely cultured, had read the Koran and the Hindu sacred texts, talked to me about scientology and thought the fraternity shirt he was wearing, so greek letters, was russian. He was really interesting and talked to me about all these books he'd read. The most unexpected encounter...

This morning I went to the office and turns out Tita fired Eunice for the confusion and disorder that happened over the past couple weeks. It was pretty sad, we had the meeting with her too. And they wished me happy birthday and gave me lipstick. Eunice read us what the mayan day was today, and it was the day of courage and rebirth, perfect for my birthday! Thank you all for the wishes and cards :) Now I'm off to buying a chocolate cookie to celebrate. My family made pizza as a surprise for me yesterday night because they know it's one of my favorite foods, it was so sweet!