Calhuitz: A Simple Life is not always Simple
The week and a half that I have spent so far here in
Calhuitz has been wonderful. The crew
here at the Casa Materna is extraordinary, especially the women. As one would imagine life is very simple in a
rural Mayan village almost 4,000 feet above sea level. For the most part everything is here for the
people to make it through day-to-day life. However, there is a definite lack in
the needed infrastructure that could have the potential to take them beyond
this village. Nevertheless, many of the locals here are not waiting for that
infrastructure to be brought to them through government programs or foreign aid
they are going to get it for themselves. In fact, many of the people in and around
the surrounding villages of Calhuitz have been to the United States or at the
very least have had family in the United States. It truly baffles me how in the world the
people of these rural Mayan communities have found their way to the United
States. However, they probably wonder the
same thing about me. As our paths cross
in the dusty, pebbled roads of Calhuitz the thought that comes to their mind is
most likely along the lines of this, “How the heck in the world, and why in the
world is this gringo in this part of Guatemala? How did he even find this
place?”
Life here is quite simple. Most everyone is in bed by 9-10 p.m.
and is up by 6 a.m. We have electricity, but there isn’t much to keep people
awake in the night hours such as clubs, television, computers, video games etc.
Thus, there is not much of a desire or incentive to stay up late. The general daily pattern of life here is:
get up, go to school, work the field or tienda, and go to bed. Dreams of the future are often only filled
with hope of a healthier life for the people and the community. However, this
life that sounds simple to us is indeed not very simple at all. Fields are worked by hand. Corn is farmed on steep embankments. Women work the fields, carry water, and accomplish various
other daily chores often with a child on her back and one or two others at her
side.
Despite all the hard work and
efforts the people here and their children often do not have enough
micronutrient rich food to eat. Many of the children are undernourished and are
below the average weight for his/her age which is not just a result of not
having enough to eat, but a result of consistent bouts with diarrhea and
parasites. Many mothers still give birth on dirt floors and either she or her
baby will die in birth. This is a glimpse of the “simple” life of villages of
San Sebastian Coatan.
Nevertheless, despite these daily struggles the people
still find it in them to put a smile on their face as we pass and say our
greetings in the street. The laughter of children is to be heard in the streets
and in backyards the village throughout. Children still make the trek to school
every day with the hopes that their one to three room schools will offer them
the education needed to weave dreams of health and hope into reality.
