During spring break, students in the short-term study abroad courses, ECG 200 "Faces of Guatemala and Justice" and ECG 300 "Working for Justice in Guatemala," travel to Guatemala to learn about and work alongside the people there. This is my account of the trip.
Day 4
Many of the students and alumni were up at 5 a.m. today to climb to the top of a mountain today to see the sunrise. Ang Miller ('19) took a video:
That was the warm-up for plenty of hard work helping some Mission employees construct a home for a family. Mike, Cece and others wielded a mean pick-axe, while the rest of us worked on concrete and landscaping.
We were divided between two sites but everyone worked up an appetite for lunch.
Then in the afternoon, we had to privilege to visit with Chona, whom we have visited in each one of our 10 trips. Chona met Father Gregory Schaffer when she was 12 in the early '60s, soon after Father's arrival here. At the time, San Lucas was typical of all Mayan villages, suffering from the process of poverty, with 1 out of 2 infants dying. As a young woman, Chona and her husband became Father's close assistants. In the early '80s, when the civil war and military persecution were most intense, Chona's husband disappeared, never to be seen again. He was killed by the military because he was assisting Fr. Greg in land reform, restoring purchased land to the Mayans. Chona continued to work with Fr. Greg right up to his death in 2012, adopting children, assisting war widows and orphans, tending to the needs of visitors like us as head of the kitchen. Chona reminded us of the causes of much of the suffering she witnessed: wealth inequality in which the bulk of the resources are in the hands of the few; intolerance between factions; and many weapons in the hands of too many, a problem the U.S. shares with Guatemala. You may hear Chona's remarkable life story here, as told to Professor Raquel Green a few years ago. This is the essence of the story the students heard today:
A big shout-out to Olenka Hladky, a sophomore, who is fluent in Spanish and translated/interpreted Chona’s entire 2.5 hour talk with us. Afterwards, Chona and her daughter prepared a served and plated dinner for the 17 of us in her home.
As we left, we reflected on the courageous and faith-filled life of this exceptional woman who now continues to assist widows and orphans in her retirement.