Well, so much for my plan to update this every week. My excuse last week was that I was at the Escuela de la Montaña about 2 hours from Xela, where the nearest Internet access is 10 km away by winding road in back of pick-up truck. Yup that is the main form of transportation in these parts.
Escuela de la Montaña is a project of my school in Xela to allow students to study in a rural part of Guatemala and learn about life in small villages or pueblos, which is where the vast majority of the population live. It is located on a small coffee and banana finca in a lush green valley surrounded by beautiful mountains.
The school houses about 12 students at a time who live at the school and eat meals with the families in three neighbouring
communities: Fatima, Nuevo San Jose and Santa Domingo. The school also provides a much needed economic jolt to this area, where the unemployment rate is extremely high, through the employment it provides to local teachers, to the women who provide the meals and to others like local guides who lead tours into the mountains. Profits generated from the students and from donations provide scholarships to about 50 local students to continue their education. This is very important here since school is quite expensive and most students in the area do not complete primary school. The school also provides music (marimba and guitar) and art lessons to students. The families are very appreciative of the School which has been operating for about 10 years.
These areas suffered the worst brutality of the military during the civil war and horrendous treatment at the hands of unscrupulous finca owners. Some 420 villages were completely destroyed and many of the people tortured and murdered. During my week at the school we had a fascinating session with a woman from the area who served as a guerilla for 5 years during the war. Her father had been tortured and killed as had her two brothers. Part of the peace accords in 1996 was that the guerillas would disarm and reintegrate into civil society, which they have done. She talked about how women were equal with men in the armed struggle but once the war was over the machismo reappeared in many quarters and many women returned to traditional roles.
The classes were held in nifty thatched cottages called "ranchitas" and were 4 hour long one-on- one sessions. My teacher was "Tito" who is a former semi-professional football player in Guatemala and lives in a neighbouring community.
The families were very friendly and prepared simple but generally tasty meals, often with rice, beans, eggs or some variation. My family had 8 children (6 of which were still at home) and lived in a 2 room cinder block house. In addition, assorted dogs, chickens and a rabbit also shared the space.
Food was cooked on a wood stove which seemed to regularly fill the house with smoke. We talked a fair bit but the conversation was often interrupted by kids running in and out or the television tuned into the hottest telenovella (soap opera). 
The big event the week I was there was the opening of the new 2 room primary school which 2 of the kids from my house attended. I dropped in one morning and met the teacher and took some pictures of the first day of school. They were quite excited by that since none of them have cameras. I will send them copies since it seems as if my pictures are the only ones that exist of Day 1 of the Escuela Primeria de Fatima.
Escuela de la Montaña is a project of my school in Xela to allow students to study in a rural part of Guatemala and learn about life in small villages or pueblos, which is where the vast majority of the population live. It is located on a small coffee and banana finca in a lush green valley surrounded by beautiful mountains.The school houses about 12 students at a time who live at the school and eat meals with the families in three neighbouring
communities: Fatima, Nuevo San Jose and Santa Domingo. The school also provides a much needed economic jolt to this area, where the unemployment rate is extremely high, through the employment it provides to local teachers, to the women who provide the meals and to others like local guides who lead tours into the mountains. Profits generated from the students and from donations provide scholarships to about 50 local students to continue their education. This is very important here since school is quite expensive and most students in the area do not complete primary school. The school also provides music (marimba and guitar) and art lessons to students. The families are very appreciative of the School which has been operating for about 10 years.These areas suffered the worst brutality of the military during the civil war and horrendous treatment at the hands of unscrupulous finca owners. Some 420 villages were completely destroyed and many of the people tortured and murdered. During my week at the school we had a fascinating session with a woman from the area who served as a guerilla for 5 years during the war. Her father had been tortured and killed as had her two brothers. Part of the peace accords in 1996 was that the guerillas would disarm and reintegrate into civil society, which they have done. She talked about how women were equal with men in the armed struggle but once the war was over the machismo reappeared in many quarters and many women returned to traditional roles.
The classes were held in nifty thatched cottages called "ranchitas" and were 4 hour long one-on- one sessions. My teacher was "Tito" who is a former semi-professional football player in Guatemala and lives in a neighbouring community.The families were very friendly and prepared simple but generally tasty meals, often with rice, beans, eggs or some variation. My family had 8 children (6 of which were still at home) and lived in a 2 room cinder block house. In addition, assorted dogs, chickens and a rabbit also shared the space.
Food was cooked on a wood stove which seemed to regularly fill the house with smoke. We talked a fair bit but the conversation was often interrupted by kids running in and out or the television tuned into the hottest telenovella (soap opera). 
The big event the week I was there was the opening of the new 2 room primary school which 2 of the kids from my house attended. I dropped in one morning and met the teacher and took some pictures of the first day of school. They were quite excited by that since none of them have cameras. I will send them copies since it seems as if my pictures are the only ones that exist of Day 1 of the Escuela Primeria de Fatima.Our group was a fun and diverse bunch including a retired veterinarian and her husband from Alaska, an architecture student from Brazil, a Canadian from Nova Scotia (on self-funded leave from teaching high school) preparing to do volunteer work with an NGO, a PHD student researching returned refugees in Guatemala, a Swedish student and several other Americans of varying ages and backgrounds.
Given that walking around outside the grounds of the school after dark was not a good idea, evenings were spent in the kitchen doing homework and kibitzing in Spanish, English and French, which several of us could speak. One evening we had a cooking class with a local woman where we learned to make paupausas, which are fried corn dough with cheese, covered with a spicy salsa and a cabbage concoction. Muy bueno!
One of the excursions during the week was to a community of returned refugees from the civil war who had fled to Mexico called Nuevo Amanacer. It consists of about 35 families and is run as a kind of collective community with community owned businesses, stores, a school and a Church. Our guide for the day was Pedro who fled to Mexico with his family after having survived captivity and 15 days of torture at the hands of the military. His quick smile and keen intelligence belied the horrors to which he had been subjected. One of the projects Pedro and fellow community members had underway was a memorial for the thousands of dead and 
disappeared during the war. The community has benefited from considerable development assistance from Spain, other parts of Europe and Japan and, while they were facing lots of challenges, was a good example of the positive efforts to rebuild after the war.
Given that walking around outside the grounds of the school after dark was not a good idea, evenings were spent in the kitchen doing homework and kibitzing in Spanish, English and French, which several of us could speak. One evening we had a cooking class with a local woman where we learned to make paupausas, which are fried corn dough with cheese, covered with a spicy salsa and a cabbage concoction. Muy bueno!
One of the excursions during the week was to a community of returned refugees from the civil war who had fled to Mexico called Nuevo Amanacer. It consists of about 35 families and is run as a kind of collective community with community owned businesses, stores, a school and a Church. Our guide for the day was Pedro who fled to Mexico with his family after having survived captivity and 15 days of torture at the hands of the military. His quick smile and keen intelligence belied the horrors to which he had been subjected. One of the projects Pedro and fellow community members had underway was a memorial for the thousands of dead and disappeared during the war. The community has benefited from considerable development assistance from Spain, other parts of Europe and Japan and, while they were facing lots of challenges, was a good example of the positive efforts to rebuild after the war.
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