January 11th
On January 11, with the support of the San Juan Ostancalco office of woman, children and human rights, we performed for two schools in a very poor hillside barrio of that town. At the first school, Communtaria Los Lopez, we had 450 kids and 50 adults absolutely in stitches. At the Escuela Comunitaria Los Romero, we had to walk in a few hundred meters because of a bridge that been washed out by the hurricane. There we played for about 300 children and 20 adults with great success.
On the walk back to the truck I talked to a man living nearby. He had spent two years working in Michigan (although he didn’t speak any English) and had earned money to construct a two story concrete house and buy a pickup truck in his hometown. In many towns like this all over Guatemala all the newer, nicer houses are built with money from immigrant labor in the United States. Current debate in the U.S. congress about the new immigration law and the attempts of Mexico and Central America to influence it are headline news here. Most rural Guatamalans live in one room concrete blocks or shacks.
Tommorow, January 12, we are off to distant communities on the Vulcan Tajamulco, the tallest volcano in Central America. These communities are reportedly very hard hit by the hurricane and require long walks to reach. It will only be Sayda Trujillo and I because Shea is already going back to start his university term.
David Lichtenstein
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
