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		Points of View Sue Ellen Kingsley May 18, 2005 Text, small photo and blanket photo © 2005 Sue Ellen Kingsley. Photos of Fronterizo © 2005 Karen Endres. Published with Permission

Guatemala Update

By Sue Ellen Kingsley, director
Copper Country Guatemalan Accompaniment Project (CCGAP)

HANCOCK -- We have just returned from our visit to Guatemala and our friends in Fronterizo. In conjunction with the Copper Country Reading Council we had taken on the project of providing the funds for the new school requested by the people of Fronterizo.

Linda Rulison, president of the CCGAP board and member of the CC Reading Council, had the pleasure of handing over to the Fronterizo school board president the $3500 that had been raised here in the Copper Country. They made a nice ceremony of it and that evening staged a party for the benefit of the Copper Country delegation who were leaving the next day. Along with Linda, the delegation included her son Adam Rulison; Beverly Maynard and her daughter Ellen; and Karen Endres, water engineer. All went to Fronterizo and were there for four days.

This is a recent photo of children of Fronterizo inside one of the newer classrooms of their public school. (Photo © 2005 Karen Endres.)

Linda had this to say about the ceremony: "The Copper Country delegation to Fronterizo was met by a very welcoming community of people who did their to best to make us feel comfortable and appreciated. We attended their community meeting where we presented them with the medical and school supplies plus that money to erect a middle school building. After much discussion, decisions were made about when to start construction and who would be responsible for various phases of the project. Preparation for the building site had already begun prior to our arrival and continued during and after our stay. We visited all five classrooms and were treated to songs and presentations. It was a joy! Continued support by the Copper Country Guatemala Project is welcomed and needed."

The men had already started leveling the school site, but now they really went into action. I accompanied two representatives to the regional center of Cantabal to buy the cement and cement block and rebar. We returned to the river across from Fronterizo in the truck that delivered at least part of the cargo, arriving at dusk. The call went out on the loudspeaker in Fronterizo, "All men to the river! The cargo has arrived!" 

Then started the tedious job of ferrying it across the river in cayucas and hauling it up the steep river bank on the backs of both horses and people, and more climbing all the way to the school site at the top. It was dark by the time the last bag of cement was safely stowed under a tarp.

The Community kitchen, built with funds from CCGAP, is now used daily for making snacks for the schoolchildren. You can even see Sue Ellen in this picture (background, left). (Photo © 2005 Karen Endres.)

We are looking forward to the completion of this project, and we realize they might need an infusion of additional funds since the low exchange rate of dollar to quetzal gave them a smaller sum than they had planned for.

An encouraging development is that the teachers have also asked for funds to start up an afternoon middle school as more and more youth and adults are wanting to continue their education past sixth grade. They are asking for around $500 per student per year and estimate that they will have at least 20 students wishing to enroll. If we and/or the Copper Country Reading Council were to take on this project, it would mean committing to it for at least several years as the need would be ongoing.

Schoolchildren of Fronterizo. (Photo © 2005 Karen Endres.)

Another member of the Copper Country delegation, Karen Endres, commented on her impressions of Fronterizo.

"The people of Fronterizo are some of the most friendly and helpful that I have encountered," Karen said. "They shared what little they had with such pleasure. (We) 'gringos' were also a source of fascination to the children and adults that would watch us. Even mundane tasks of grooming were found to be comical."

Karen, who is an engineer, found the water situation in Fronterizo difficult. 

"There are three hundred people drinking from wells that are in reality man-made mud puddles that the animals and children play in," Karen observed. "The agricultural practices in the area are beginning to affect the availability of ground water to supplies. The protection of the watershed and development of community wells will become essential for the longevity of the community. The governing body of the community recognizes this but does not have the resources to respond."

At this point I would like to remind us all of the primary purpose of CCGAP which is to sponsor accompaniment of those whose lives may be at risk. The cost of supporting an accompanier for one year is approximately $8000. CCGAP currently does not have an accompanier in the field, but we are expecting to have one after the semi-annual NISGUA training in June.* This person will be taking on the accompaniment of trial witnesses in another community of returned refugees in the Ixcan region and much closer to Fronterizo than our last accompanier's assignment in Rabinal. Our last accompanier, Vernon Chow, plans to visit the Copper Country next fall.

Anyone doing the math can see that this would require raising between $15,000 and $20,000 annually, which is a huge sum for CCGAP to commit to. And this doesn't even include the other annual expense of taking medicine for the clinic in Fronterizo. But we also thought we could never raise enough for the school project and were delighted that our donors came through once again.

So we are moving forward. 

CCGAP will hold its Annual Spring Fundraiser from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, at the Motherlode Coffee House in Houghton. You are invited to dance to live music provided by Finn Street. Raffle tickets are $5 at the door for a chance to win Guatemalan crafts or the Grand Prize, a lovely, handwoven Guatemalan blanket. As usual, you need not be present to win.

Sue Ellen models the new, handmade Guatemalan blanket that is the Grand Prize for the May 21 drawing during CCGAP's annual fundraising dance. (Photo © 2005 Sue Ellen Kingsley.)

The proceeds are used by CCGAP to support human rights accompaniment in Guatemala and to build this public school in Fronterizo.

We need your financial help for all these endeavors, especially for the primary purpose of standing in solidarity with the people of Guatemala who have suffered because of violence. We continue to lend the protective presence of accompaniment to assure security as they take a stand for justice.

Thanks for your interest and solidarity with the people of Guatemala.

If you can afford a additional donation beyond the purchase of raffle tickets, CCGAP will be grateful indeed. CCGAP is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. You may also send donations to CCGAP, 53044 Hwy M-203, Hancock, MI 49930.

Editor's Notes: Read more about Keweenaw Now contributor, Sue Ellen Kingsley, the author of this article, who is also the founder of the Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project (CCGAP), which recruits and financially supports accompaniers to live in the village of 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 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. *NISGUA is the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala. Visit their Web site to learn about their work.

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