Leadership and Initiative Workshop: Chirijox November 3rd

Last Wednesday, November 3^rd,  I traveled with Dora, the director Maya Traditions Education Program, Esti, another volunteer, and Professor Tereso Joj, to the community of Chirijox to participate in the first of the replications of the workshop Leadership and Iniciative, given by Maya Traditions' scholarship students in their home communities.  Chirijox is located in the department of Solola where 94% of the population is indigenous and approximately 76% of the population lives below poverty line.  A major problem in Chirijox is unemployment, as the majority of the people who study, pursue a career in education, and there are not nearly enough schools or teaching positions to employ the abundance of teachers.

We left Panajachel at 7 am on a bus headed for Quetzaltenango, and arrived in Chirijox at 8:30 am.  We got off the bus on the side of the highway and walked up a short dirt path to the home of one of the women artisans with whom Maya Traditions works, where the workshop was to be held.  The workshop was led by Lorenzo Coj Tambriz one of Maya Traditions' scholarship students and included the women artisans of Chirijox and five Lorenzo’s fellow students.  Lorenzo began the workshop by asking the group to think about and discuss the major problems of their particular community.  One women commented that the biggest problem in the community is garbage, and that everyday she sends her kids to pick up  garbage and everyday there is more and more.  

The women and students then divided into four smaller groups to make lists of these problems.  The problems identified ranged from alcoholism to the drying up of rivers to illness.  Professor Tereso Joj commented as he circled amongst the groups, that it was interesting that many of the problems were presented in a positive light; in the statement of the problem a solution was already alluded to.  The groups then reunited and the four lists were combined into one and then redivided into lists of social issues versus environmental issues.  The women and students then voted on one social issue and one environmental issue that they view as the most problematic in their community.  The results were the mistreatment/abuse of women and deforestation.  Although I could not understand the exact words,   I was impressed by the expressiveness women artisans while elaborating on the problems in their communities.  Lorenzo’s peers were a little more hesitant in expressing their ideas, but he encouraged them by saying, “Don’t be afraid friends, its time to leave behind this fear or how else will we move ahead and create change?”

We then took a break to have a lunch of caldo de rez after which we had to to leave to catch the bus back to Panajachel.  The agenda after lunch was to discuss the causes and effects of the two selected issues, and enumerate possible solutions, from which a project will be developed as a group and implemented in the community.

 

I left Chirijox feeling both discouraged and encouraged.  Discouraged by the amount and severity of the problems that affect the daily lives of so many people living in the rural communities of Guatemala, as well as the interconnectedness of the causes and effects of these issues.  I am encouraged though, by the overall eagerness in which the women and students of Chirijox openly discussed the problems that affect their lives and  that Maya Traditions  provides a platform and resources for communication and discussion of these problems.  Communication is the first step in creating change.