In conversation with Guillermo Chen, Director of Fundación Nueva Esperanza (Foundation New Hope). [Translated by Jorge Sanchez-Chiara]
Guillermo Chen: Fundación Nueva Esperanza initially developed with the objective of supporting young Maya Achà people and their families that were the victims of the armed conflict. We work with young people from the age of 12. The reason why the logo depicts a young man and woman is because we see gender equality as a fundamental part of our work. The logo also reflects the opportunities and hope given by Rio Negro, represented by the two green strips. The previous generation in the community was decimated by the Chixoy dam, and there's hope represented by the seed. This represents the bilingual and intercultural education provided for all young people in Rabinal.
GSN: What work is most commonly available in Rabinal?
Guillermo Chen: Sources of labour in Rabinal are all about the nature of survival. Many in Rabinal are rural labourers. Work is often informal, with many only finding paid labour for two or three days a week, earning on average 25 quetzals per day (approx £2).
Often families are surviving on 75 quetzales a week. There are other sources such as crafts and the production of woven mats and hats from palm. In Rabinal many crafts use the morro fruit. It's used to create all sorts of everyday objects such as cups, little basins or guacales to wash with and shakers or chinchines. It's also typical in Rabinal to work harvesting local produce such as hibiscus tea.
This leads me onto the huge problem of Rabinal's large migrating labour force. Many sources of labour do not generate much income, so many young people and adults are obliged to migrate as seasonal workers to the big cotton, coffee and banana plantations. Other look for work in huge factories dotted around the country. Here the pay is still low. It doesn't really allow workers to even pay for much needed medicines or medical treatment.
GSN: Where do people have to go to sell their produce?
Guillermo Chen: People from our communities are forced to walk many hours, sometimes two hours every day, and in extreme cases (in the most remote settlements in Rio Negro) for as long as seven hours to reach cities where they can sell their produce. Often buyers are able to negotiate low prices from labourers who depend on a quick sale to survive. This means that the huge effort to achieve a yield for these labourers is rarely reflected in the price they can sell their produce at.
GSN: What do you do to help people with their nutritional intake?
Guillermo Chen: The basic foodstuff of the Maya people living in Guatemala has been maize for centuries. It's used to make our staple food tortillas that we eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even though maize is not particularly rich in vitamins, it has allowed us to survive all the hard work, against all odds, and to have hope in the future.
Fundación Nueva Esperanza provides people with information on basic nutrition, explaining the benefits of various foods and the vitamins and minerals that they contain, focusing especially on vegetables.
We also have talks about the use of food staples and preparation of meals, and the importance of eating fruits that should be part of the basic diet of young people in Rabinal.
Fundación Nueva Esperanza seeks comprehensive solutions for local issues such as community access to food and work. Fundación Nueva Esperanza created its own intercultural and bilingual education centre that looks at spiritual issues and community work. Our aim is to provide culturally pertinent education that, instead of equipping local youth just as receivers of knowledge, equips them for life with their families and in their communities.
Studying seated in the round is a traditional way of transmiting knowledge in Maya Achi culture. Its significance lies in the fact that does not make anyone feel superior or inferior, an approach to learning that students can then replicate in their communities. Students break conventional forms of schooling based on individualism, which, far from encouraging students to support one another, reinforce each student's isolation or sense of hierarchy by placing them in rows.
GSN: How do you teach Maya Achi culture?
Guillermo Chen: We explain the Maya calendar to the students. We also explore other important concepts in Maya Achi culture such as nahuales, which have a great influence on the students lives. They also help to explain the way we all act according to the Maya universe. This is one reason why Fundación Nueva Esperanza has made the teaching of Maya spirituality a formal part of the curriculum. Young students learn the key points of the cosmovision of Maya thought, they learn about the relationship of the human being with his/her environment: as human beings we must hold nature in the utmost respect. Nature is key in Maya thought, as the relationship with it is a way of keeping a balance between positive and negative energies.
GSN: What is a nahual? Is it a spirit?
Guillermo Chen: The nahual is a way of finding out your date of birth and the fact that part of nature goes with you all your life. The nahual is an animal that protects each person from negative energies, orientating everyone and indicating the state of your character in a wider social context.
In Fundación Nueva Esperanza's curriculum there is also space for celebration. Students take part in exchange trips, especially with other young people from bilingual and intercultural education centres in and beyond Guatemala. It is not only Guatemala that has indigenous people, there are many other people across the world who have a similar cultural identity.
GSN: What about practical work?
Guillermo Chen: Fundación Nueva Esperanza is trying, as much as possible, not to depend on funds provided by international organisations. All too often those funds come to an end as donors change their priorities. As an organisation we have decided to start running projects with young people that in small ways help to generate income in their own right. For example, we're working on planting vegetables and cultivating hibiscus tea (rosa de jamaica). We're also implementing other projects, including raising cattle which allows us to sell milk to the community in Rabinal. In the future, we are thinking about planting fruit trees, which in Guatemala is typical, and other projects that grow produce that fall within our strategic plan.
GSN: How did Fundación Nueva Esperanza come to own this land?
Guillermo Chen: The land that Fundación Nueva Esperanza has come to own has a very special history behind it. It was purchased from twelve families from the Rio Negro community, who lived next to the Chixoy dam until it displaced them and many other inhabitants of Rio Negro. The construction of the dam in the 1980's dates back to the time of the massacres that occurred during the civil war. After a long struggle, some of the people who were displaced by the dam's construction received land in compensation by the state. The families sold the land to Fundación Nueva Esperanza knowing it would be used to build an education centre for the community. Now their children and grandchildren benefit from this resource. Unfortunately the land is muddy and is not incredibly fertile, so we have to work very hard to enrich it with organic fertiliser to make it productive.
GSN: It's very interesting to look at how rapidly Fundación Nueva Esperanza has grown…
Guillermo Chen: Fundación Nueva Esperanza started in 2003 with 30 students, and now after four years we have grown to 55 students. This represents a very strong rate of growth. This is due, in no small way, to the fact that we offer scholarships. But even more important is the fact that the community of Rabinal really believe passionately in this project. There's a strong bond of trust that grown between the families and Fundación Nueva Esperanza. Our initiatives have demonstrated very positive tangible changes to the families.
GSN: Could you talk about your approach to gender equality?
Guillermo Chen: Women in the whole of Latin America have had to face a prevailing 'macho' culture that starts from the assumption that women should look after their families, cook and devote their lives to bringing children into the world. In Fundación Nueva Esperanza we have a differente view. We have a gender equality programme with parents, teachers and students in order to maximise the girls' educational prospects.
It is a key policy of ours to encourage access to scholarships for girls. For example, if we promote 40 scholarships, we ensure an equal number go to girls and boys. This is a very practical way of tackling the exclusion of women from education in Guatemala. We believe that exclusion in education can lead to other problems, such as early marriage of girls aged as young as 13 or 14. This phenomenon is not a matter of Maya tradition, as it is all too often understood. It is actually the result of poverty of many large Maya families. The sooner girls in the family are married, the less strain is placed on often stretched family resources.
For Fundación Nueva Esperanza working with parents is essential. Mothers in particular tell us that they do not want their daughters to go through the same difficulties they suffered. Guatemalan mothers are very proactive in supporting their daughters to access education. They often know firsthand the suffering that's involved in being an illiterate mother. Typically life is full working hard in the fields, and also having to cook and look after their families. Once you speak to parents, it's clear they're more and more reluctant to allow their daughters to work without an education.
GSN: What vision does Fundación Nueva Esperanza have for the future?
Guillermo Chen: Our vision is ambitious. We are currently working with children from secondary school level (12-15 years old). However, we aim to extend our education service provision service in Rabinal. We are planning, probably this year or next, to teach health professionals which would allow young people to graduate with a professional qualification at the age of 18. But our vision goes further.
We are also exploring the possibility of establishing a Maya Achà University, which would be able to offer an education grounded in Maya Achi principles for young people from the age of 12 until graduation. We are thinking of undergraduate courses in subjects such as maya spirituality, natural, traditional and modern medicine. Our plan is to open the university by 2010. This is our hope but we believe it really is realistic. We have put a lot of work in developing our educational resources and there is an awful lot of support in the local community to bring this about.
If you would like to support
Fundación Nueva Esperanza either by donating money or your own time contact GSN via gsn_mail [at] yahoo.com
Background
You can find out more information about Fundación Nueva Esperanza from their website
We also blogged about Guillermo Chen's visit to the UK back in December 2006 here
You can find more information and articles about Rabinal here…
