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		Sue Ellen Kingsley Updated May 28, 2007

Hancock resident and retired nurse practitioner Sue Ellen Kingsley considers herself an activist for peace and social justice, although the activities often take the form of tending home and garden, skiing and biking woods trails and singing with the group Rhythm 203. Guatemala has had a special place in her heart ever since she worked there with the Red Cross after the massive earthquake in 1976.

Sue Ellen has traveled there annually since 1997 as part of her work with the Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project (CCGAP), which she established after serving as an accompanier herself in Fronterizo 10 de Mayo in 1997.* CCGAP financially supports accompaniers to live with people whose lives are at risk due to their taking a stand for human rights; most recently these people are survivors of massacres who have agreed to participate in trials bringing charges of genocide against former Guatemalan presidents. CCGAP is also committed to maintaining a long-term relationship with the Guatemalan village of Fronterizo 10 de Mayo, a community of returned refugees. CCGAP attempts to strengthen ties between Fronterizo and the Copper Country by developing individual relationships and giving financial support to small projects planned by the Guatemalan community. CCGAP offers educational talks on Guatemala to groups in the Copper Country and offers the opportunity for involvement in this community-to-community relationship with the Mayan indigenous people of Guatemala.

Sue Ellen’s involvement with activist work in Guatemala includes serving on the board of the national organization Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA).**

Sue Ellen says she is still trying to understand how one person could be as fortunate as she, with a husband whose only fault is persistent cheerfulness, a daughter with intelligence and a conscience to match, a large loving family and a circle of the smartest, kindest, funniest, most socially aware and environmentally correct friends one could ever wish for.

* Visit the CCGAP Web site and read their latest Newsletter.

** Learn more about NISGUA by visiting their Web site.

Viewpoints

Pilgrimage to Eagle Rock

By Sue Ellen Kingsley  Posted 05/27/2007

HANCOCK -- Eagle Rock, in the northwestern reaches of Marquette County, is the planned portal for Kennecott Minerals Corporation's proposed Eagle Project sulfide mine. The proposal calls for blasting through Eagle Rock and tunneling west under the Salmon Trout River into acid-generating sulfide ore, to extract nickel and copper. Inspired by an article, "Eagle Rock as U.P. Pilgrimage Site," by Jon Saari, Board president of the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition (UPEC), Keweenaw Now guest writer Sue Ellen Kingsley decided this was something she wanted to do. Kingsley describes and illustrates with photos her recent pilgrimage to Eagle Rock, where she and friend Kate Alvord joined their offerings to symbolic objects left by other pilgrims, including members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community who regard Eagle Rock as a sacred site. more 

Guatemala Update 

By Sue Ellen Kingsley  Posted 05/18/2005

HANCOCK -- Guest author Sue Ellen Kingsley, director of the Copper Country Guatemalan Accompaniment Project (CCGAP), and five other local residents recently returned from a visit to the Guatemalan village of Fronterizo, where they delivered medical and school supplies and $3500 raised here in the Copper Country by CCGAP and the Copper Country Reading Council for a new school. Kingsley describes the warm welcome they received and the people's enthusiasm about building the school. more

School of the Americas Protest: November 2003

Posted 12/16/2003

HANCOCK -- Guest author Sue Ellen Kingsley offers an eye-witness account of the November 2003 non-violent protest to close the School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Ga. The SOA, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), trains military leaders from Latin America. Kingsley, who was among the thousands of protesters at the event, notes these are the very leaders that ordered the massacres in the jungles of Guatemala -- military officers who continue to direct violent operations in Colombia and elsewhere. more

Happenings

Guatemala accompaniers to speak Nov. 16

Posted 11/12/2003 

HANCOCK --  The Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project (CCGAP) will sponsor a potluck at 5:30 p.m. and program at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16, at the First United Methodist Church in Hancock. Hale Sargent, CCGAP's most recent accompanier, will share his experiences in Fronterizo, Guatemala, where he recently completed a six-month term as a human rights observer. Also participating will be the group's next accompanier, Vernon Chow, who will be serving a year term in Guatemala as a protective presence for the families of witnesses in a landmark genocide trial. The public is invited. Read Hale Sargent's letter from Fronterizo, "Celebrating Connections." 

News

Water Pots come to Fronterizo

Posted 05/15/2003

HANCOCK -- The people of Fronterizo 10 de Mayo, the Copper Country's sister community in Guatemala, recently celebrated the arrival of 74 large covered pots for boiling water. Guest author Sue Ellen Kingsley, who was in Guatemala for the occasion, offers a lively account of the arrival of the pots in Fronterizo and offers her photos of this community event in an article reprinted from the April 2003 CCGAP (Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project) Newsletter. more