Home    News    May 2003 News

		News Sue Ellen Kingsley May 15, 2003 Text and photos © 2003 Sue Ellen Kingsley.  Reprinted with permission from the Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project (CCGAP) Newsletter, April 2003.*

Water Pots come to Fronterizo

By Sue Ellen Kingsley

HANCOCK -- "Susana Elena! Hurry! The pots are here!" Lorena and Francisca had been cavorting like seals in the rapids of the river but now they were on the other side and hollering at the top of their lungs. I looked up from where I'd been reading on the rocks in the shadow of the high river bank, the only place to be during the hottest hours of the afternoon. Sure enough, there was a truck on the opposite shore way off downstream!

I gathered my soap and laundry, pulled on clean clothes, and disobeying my usual after-bath rule of climbing the steep bank s-l-o-w-l-y so as not to break out in a sweat, I rushed to the top and across the soccer field checking my camera to make sure I had plenty of film. Well, yeah, I had plenty of film but by the time I made it back down to the river shore at the crossing point, the pots had all been ferried across, four trips in the cayuca, Pedro told me proudly. 

The 74 cartons of pots have just been ferried across the river in the cayuca, at right.

"Would you consider taking them back so I could get a picture?" I asked.

The men laughed raucously at my joke. They were disobeying some rules of their own; instead of sobering their faces the minute I pointed the camera, several of them just couldn't stifle their excited smiles. It was over a year ago that the health promoters had sent a request to CCGAP (Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project) for a pot for every family in Fronterizo to boil their water. Not that they don't already boil the drinking water that they haul daily from shallow wells in town, but there are days when a limited number of pots in a household means that there may not be enough boiled water to satisfy everyone's thirst. Drinking "agua crudo" (raw water) often results in diarrhea, especially in the children.

Fronterizo teacher conducts class in the community's elementary school.

By now word had gotten up to the upper level of town and Geraldo was blaring on the loudspeaker, "Every family must send someone to the river to carry the pots up to the village." 

Tumbling down the steep incline came the half of the community that wasn't already down here. One by one, the 74 boxes were carried on heads in a line scrambling across the rocks, up the bank again and through the entire town to be stacked in one of the school rooms.

Carried by men, women and children, 74 pots make the journey up the steep river bank.

Two days later was the big day. A community meeting took place in the morning. At noon, the alcalde (mayor) told everyone to go home, eat dinner and come back for the distribution of the pots at 2 p.m. He invited our accompanier Hale and me to his house for a special meal of chicken and rice caldo with the other elected authorities.

When we got back to the schoolhouse, women and children were milling about. At last, as the name of each family was called, someone came to accept the pot. The pots were something, all right: 40 litres, heavy, shiny aluminum, with a lid that fit perfectly. The cardboard cartons were special too; they were guarded closely.

The women of Fronterizo are especially appreciative of the pots. Now all they need is piped water ...

After I got a picture of the women with their pots, it was time for the entertainment prepared by the teachers and schoolchildren. There were funny skits and songs and poems. The women even persuaded me to join them in a traditional dance, although they had to raid every woman's wardrobe till they found a corte (the bottom of the outfit) that was long enough for me.

Sue Ellen Kingsley, author of this article, joins women of Fronterizo in a dance during celebration of the gift of pots for boiling water.

All in all it was an exciting day for everyone and the people of Fronterizo were unanimous in expressing their appreciation of CCGAP's efforts in solidarity. They wrote the following letter which I present here, both the original and my translation:

Caserio Fronterizo 10 de Mayo, Barillas, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, Centro America
Para: Comité de solidaridad de Copper Country CCGAP y Susana Elena

Nosotros organizados y miembros del caserio Fronterizo 10 de mayo, enviamos nuestros calurosos saludos a cada uno de ustedes los miembros del comité de solidaridad, deseamos buena salud y exitos en sus labores diarias para el bien de donde se llega a ejecutar.

Nosotros las autoridades y los miembros de la comunidad nos sentimos muy orgullos y muy contento por el apoyo y ayuda que ustedes nos han brindado por la compra de nuestras ollas, les agradecemos mucho pero mucho a ustedes ya que son los unicos que nos han ayudado mucho a nosotros. Talvez ustedes saben que nuestra comunidad está abandonado por instituciones y por elgobierno de nuestra paiz.

Nos sentimos muy alegres y contentos cuando cada madre de familia recibio su olla. Talvez no somos capaz de expreciar nuestro sentir hacia ustedes pero le decimos muchas gracias y muchas gracias por la ayuda que ustedes contribuyen con nosotros para el bien social de nuestra comunidad.

No habiendo mas que manifestar, deseamos lo mejor en el presente, queda en cada uno de ustedes.

Firmado por alcalde y alcaldes auxiliar.

From the settlement of Fronterizo 10 de mayo, Barillas, Huehuetenango,
Guatemala, Central America

To CCGAP by way of Susana Elena

We, members of the community of Fronterizo 10 de Mayo, send our warmest greetings to you, the members of the solidarity committee (CCGAP) wishing you good health and success in your daily labors wherever they may take you.

We, the authorities and members of the community, feel very proud and happy with the support and assistance that you have offered in the purchase of the pots for boiling water. We are very grateful especially as you are the only ones who have helped us. Maybe you know how our community has been abandoned by institutions and by the government of our country.

We felt very joyful and happy when every mother of a family received her pot. Maybe we aren't very good at expressing what we feel but we say many thanks and thank you also for the many ways you have contributed to the well-being of our community.

Not having more to say at present, we wish the very best for each of you.

Signed by the mayor and deputy mayors

CCGAP's current accompanier, Hale Sargent, spent two years with the Peace Corps in Armenia. He reports in the April 2003 CCGAP Newsletter that Fronterizo still has not been able to secure ownership of the land the residents settled after returning from exile in Mexico. He reports the good news that the new mayor-elect "says he wants to reunite the community and revive several languishing projects, including maintenance of the town's central field."

Hale adds that his front porch in Fronterizo is host to a stream of visitors, especially children.

Accompanier Hale Sargent poses for a photo with an admirer in Fronterizo. (Photos © 2003 Sue Ellen Kingsley. Reprinted with permission.)

*To receive the CCGAP Newsletter and read more about Fronterizo and the Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project, email Sue Ellen Kingsley at sekingsley@pasty.com. 

Editor's Note: Guest author and Hancock resident Sue Ellen Kingsley established the Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project (CCGAP) after serving as an accompanier herself in Fronterizo in 1997. CCGAP is committed to maintaining a long-term relationship with the Guatemalan village of Fronterizo 10 de Mayo, a community established May 10, 1995, by a group of refugees who returned to Guatemala after 12-15 years in refugee camps in Mexico. CCGAP recruits and financially supports accompaniers to live in Fronterizo as human rights observers in accordance with the agreements signed by the Guatemalan government in 1992. CCGAP attempts to strengthen ties between Fronterizo and the Copper Country by developing individual relationships and giving financial support to small projects, such as the pots described here, 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. In November 2001, a family from Fronterizo visited the Copper Country. See "Guatemalan visitors offer Copper Country cultural exchange."

Visit the Keweenaw Now discussion forums to comment on this article.

Note: Views expressed by our guest columnists are not necessarily the views of Keweenaw Now.