Ixil Trip (3): El Quetzalito Second Part

Today it's a special day at El Quetzalito's primary school. The teachers prepared a special event to celebrate the visit of Martin, Claudia and Rolf and thank them for the support that they've given to the community in the past years.

The celebration started with a "civic act" , where the national anthem of Guatemala was sung and the "ode to the national flag" was recited. This is a very old and common tradition in Guatemalan schools, all across the country and throughout different types of schools. Patriotism, honor and respect to the national symbols is taught in schools as a central value of Guatemalan citizenship.

After the civic act, the school pupils sang a couple of songs and presented traditional dances. Afterwards, the community's leaders, the school director and the teacher held speeches to thank APEI for its support. Their thankfulness was authentic. El Quetzalito is a small and relatively young community. As they are growing, their leaders are trying to increase quality of life for their community step by step. They've been pushing and making large efforts for their road. They've taken serious care of their primary school. And they want to achieve more.

Indeed, after the celebration, the Community's council of leaders and the representatives of the Community Development Council (COCODE) invite us into a classroom for a brief meeting in private. They want to present to APEI, Rolf and Claudia, a "letter of requests". They have identified as council the further needs of the community and prioritized them. They wrote these down in a formal document, the "letter of request", which has been signed by all council and committee members.

Martin explains us later that this is a usual procedure among communities. When the community identifies needs and wants to ask the government or private donors for (financial) support, that's the way to go. Thereby, the projects in search of funding are made concrete and the request is legitimized.

In these circumstances, APEI never gives an immediate answer to the requests. The letter is always officially received by APEI with the remark that it will be discussed and decided, whether and if, which projects to support, during the next General Assembly.

The requests that APEI receives from El Quetzalito's leaders are for water capture and purification and road maintenance. These are not directly related to education, and, thus, do not fall within APEI's regular scope of support. Yet this does not mean an immediate denial of the request and APEI's members will consider the individual situation of the community.

After this meeting and a short lunch break, we head back to Santa Cecilia, were we left our car. Our walk takes a taste of the "magic realism" that characterizes Miguel Ángel Asturias' novels (a prominent Guatemalan writer and Literature Nobel Prize). We are walking the muddy path up the mountain. This path that creates villagers in El Quetzalito so many headaches. The same path they are trying so hard to improve. Yet in the background there's music. A mix of "Banda-" and "Mariachi-style" melancholic balades. It feels surreal. But it's very real. Evey chord, every verse and every muddy step.もっと詳しく