On Elections and Relocations

Sorry it's been a couple of weeks, but Ginger's last entry was good enough that there probably wasn't much to say for a while anyway.  If Blog frequency is proportional to Blog quality, you can expect another entry in a few hours.  Actually, you probably can regardless because we have some great pictures to dump out of the camera.  We have been in the Ulpan Valley for a week now, and it's a little bit of a stretch to say that we are getting settled in, but home is where family is, and home is most certainly where a well-functioning latrine is.

We wrapped up Qeqchi school in Antigua, and toward the end of our time there, we really began to feel like we didn't belong there, and that's probably accurate.  However, after a few more weeks in the Valley, spending some time back in Antigua with friends and family will be a welcome change-up.  It has taken some time to get our internet up and running at our house in the Valley, but we think we're getting close to having things figured out.  It's still strange to me that we live in a place that is an hour from the nearest electric lines but has cell phone and internet service.  Our little solar power system gives us ample light to run a few light bulbs and recharge a few phones and computers, and apart from that, we really don't need anything else.

Last week was tense here in Guatemala, as it was election time.  Historically, elections haven't been very peaceful here, as many times people opt to select leaders by bullets rather than by ballots.  This time, however, it really seemed pretty calm.  Without exception, the millions of candidates' signs all made hollow-sounding promises to the Guatemalan people: "You deserve better!" "Security and employment" "I am a patriot" "Total change" and so on.  And in a country where half of the children suffer from malnutition, all of this seems pretty empty.  Come to think of it, they all sound like promises we've heard in the US, and those all sound pretty empty too.  It's just reinforcement that the mechanism for improving things in Guatemala and in this world will not be a political one.

That being said, politics is important.  Not the "love me and elect me" type of politics, but the true Greek sense of the term that goes something like "the process by which decisions get made."  Understanding how decisions get made in the various communities in the Ulpan Valley is very important and very difficult.  Some interesting studies in other areas similar to ours reflect the fact that often the persons trusted the most in the community are not necessarily the "leaders" of that community.  Sometimes it's an elder.  Sometimes it's a mother of 5.  And sometimes it's just a guy who works hard and looks out for the needs of others.  Jesus referred to these people as "person of peace", and we know we have found some of those people, and pray we find more of them.  And in our more reflective moments we wonder if we're that type of person in our hometown.

The kids are making friends in the neighborhood already, and although the two cultures couldn't be more different, King of the Mountain is the same in every language.  As is making forts and putting mud in people's boots and constructing bows and arrows and all things kids do everywhere.  Yesterday, we were invited to a community-wide fiesta.  It was sort of a celebration of Guatemalan independence day, which was the previous day, but more an excuse to get together.  Independence day isn't really a big deal for the people up in this part of Guatemala, where they don't see themselves as Guatemalans much more than we see ourselves as Western Hemispherians.  They aren't militantly opposed to government here, and in fact there are a few signs (schools, roads, etc.) that some efforts are being made to improve their lives here, but election campaign signs of any sort are noticeably absent here.  The fiesta included music and dancing (my kind of dancing, where you pretty much just stand still) but it was interesting that the "treat" of the day was getting a soup with meat in it.  Meat is something that they rarely enjoy. 

Oh, and a little more Qeqchi sunk in than I thought.  They really seem surprised when they hear their language spoken by obvious foreigners - possibly as surprised as I seem on those rare occasions that they understand what's trying to be said.