The mystery charity revealed - See the posting in the left hand column regarding CasaSito and please watch the videos ......... Thank you.
Still from the CasaSito Video
(Click picture to View Video)
This weeks musings...............
Birmingham: 52° 25' N / 1° 55' W Antigua Guatemala: 14° 33' N / 90° 44' W
So by my reckoning that means I am moving as good as 90 degrees, a quarter of the way round the planet and a whole heap nearer the equator, more sun, no snow!
But before you get carried away thinking tropical sunshine, white sandy beaches, Antigua is in the hills at 1510m (5030 feet) [Birmingham 138m (453 feet)] I will notice the difference ~ a temperate climate and as to the white sandy beaches the nearest are the lovely black sands of the volcanic Pacific coast, 2-3 hours drive away. Just don’t want you running away with the idea of me as a beach bum ~ occasional beach comber maybe ~ turtle (tortuga) watcher definitely!
The volcanic sands of the Pacific coastline
(click pic to enlarge)
So, airline tickets booked and paid for, out October 31st back in UK August 15th (get the date in the diary!) accommodation sorted at the Volunteers House, Spanish lessons commence on November 2nd at 8am! I am going to be doing 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for the whole of November and December about 160 hours of 1-2-1 tuition. Thereafter I think I will try to do 4 hours a week, to get to grips with some of the finer points of the quite complicated grammar surrounding the subjunctive!
A tortuga!
(click pic to enlarge)
I am still getting my head around the fact that until 1996 Guatemala had been involved in civil war since 1960, with over 100,000 killed and probably around a million people becoming refugees. On September 18th Guatemaltecos went to the polls to elect officials and only their 4th president in this period of democratic calm. As there was no outright winner they will be going to poll again on November 6th. So, it is only 15 years since the end of the war and the repercussions of that are still very much in the news with convictions of army veterans for war crimes still taking place.
Guatemalan Women - seeking answers.
(click pic to enlarge)
I was just researching the ethnic mix in Guatemala and even in this information age the level of political amnesia that seems to exist around quite solid facts and figures is (un)surprising. The CIA “factbook” is surely an ironic misnomer!
Well the population of Guatemala is just short of 14 million with Amerindians forming 40.5% of the population and Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and Spanish - locally called Ladino) and White European 59.4%.
In terms of language 60% speak Spanish and then there are a further 23 officially recognised languages of which 21 are Mayan language types including K'ichi’ which is the second-most widely spoken language in the country after Spanish. Most speakers of K'ichi' also have at least a working knowledge of Spanish except in some isolated rural villages. I hope to be working with people who fall into the category of having Spanish as their second language and a Mayan language as their first.
Nationally the literacy rate is around 76% but with huge variations depending on region and community. In rural areas children are often required to work on the family farm rather than attend school beyond the age of 11 or 12.
One of the latest scandals to fully emerge of course has been the USA sponsored syphilis experiments in Guatemala from 1946 to 1948. Doctors infected soldiers, prostitutes, prisoners and mental patients with syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases, without the informed consent of the subjects, and treated most subjects with antibiotics. This resulted in at least 83 deaths.
It was only in October 2010, that President Barack Obama apologized to President Álvaro Colom, who had called these experiments "a crime against humanity". Compensation has yet to be agreed!
Unfortunately, the USA does not come out of its involvement in Guatemala and Central America well in the last 70 years. Although the CIA "factbook" is a bit thin on this period of history.
Needless to say on occasion in Guatemala it has been important to impress on people that I am a British rather than an American "Gringo" ~ although "Gringo" simply means foreigner ~ it can be used in a very disparaging fashion especially when "tourists" forget their "cultural sensibilities."
From global to local ....
Unfortunately, the USA does not come out of its involvement in Guatemala and Central America well in the last 70 years. Although the CIA "factbook" is a bit thin on this period of history.
Needless to say on occasion in Guatemala it has been important to impress on people that I am a British rather than an American "Gringo" ~ although "Gringo" simply means foreigner ~ it can be used in a very disparaging fashion especially when "tourists" forget their "cultural sensibilities."
From global to local ....
CasaSito!
(click pic to enlarge)
One of the reasons I want to work with CasaSito is because of the sensitive way in which it works with indigenous communities both local to Antigua and in some very remote locations in the mountains. I am sure I am going to learn so much and really get to see life from an Amerindian perspective.
A project I hope to be associated with is the Entrepreneurship programme, see the video below!
That's it for this week - next Sunday and I am into the counting of days not weeks!
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