CAMINOS Update - September 2006

   CAMINOS sponsored a successful exhibition and sale of traditional Mayan textiles July 14-16 . Approximately $1,300 was raised to fund our human rights accompaniment program, as well as PROMESA, the health care project in the rural Mayan community of Tesorito. David Hamilton of Indigena Imports, Austin , TX , brought his comprehensive collection of hundreds of pieces of antique, ceremonial and collectible hand woven Guatemalan textiles to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church for the three-day sale. Hamilton presented a slide show that described the characteristics of traditional Mayan weavings, the different types worn in some 70 communities, and commented on the long history of weaving as a “folk art” tradition.

    The CAMINOS accompaniment project celebrates its tenth year by sponsoring our tenth volunteer, Jordan Buckley , who arrived in Guatemala in July to begin his nine month assignment. Jordan is from Austin , Texas , and is a recent graduate of University of Texas with a strong environmental and human rights background. He will live with Ixil and K'iche Mayans in the western highland communities of Xix and Ilom. Accompaniers such as Jordan provide a measure of security and create space for Guatemalan communities and groups to organize to defend their rights.

    Accompaniers monitor local conditions and alert the international community to abuses. In the U.S. , Sponsoring Communities such as CAMINOS are committed to responding immediately to abuses and providing ongoing support to accompaniers. The families that Jordan will accompany are among a courageous group of war survivors who brought legal cases to a Guatemalan court in 2000 and 2001 against former military dictators Efraín Ríos Montt and Romeo Lucas García on charges of genocide against the indigenous population.               

    The witnesses in these cases formed the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) and requested international accompaniment. The presence of volunteers, like Jordan , contribute to ending government and military impunity and abuse of power common in Guatemala today.

PROMESA UPDATE

    PROMESA is a partnership between CAMINOS and St. Michael's Church in Tucson , AZ , aimed at improving health care in the rural Mayan community of Tesorito in Suchitepequez, on the south coast of Guatemala . Ila Abernathy of Tucson recently visited Tesorito and provided the following information: PROMESA's work is not without its challenges. The health promoters serve as community educators to people unfamiliar with western medical treatment. Their delivery of health services is complicated by compliance issues.

    On a more positive note, the health promoters have continued to show initiative in improving the clinic facility. More medicines have been made available, in part due to Hurricane Stan contributions, in part from grants from Spain . As a result, there have been fewer demands on PROMESA's funds. PROMESA is also supporting a dental promoter, which is very important to the community. Twenty-four live births were reported from June 2005-2006 with no maternal deaths. The promoters are requesting more training and certifications, such as nursing and pharmacy. Given the additional sources of support, this may become a very real possibility.