Xopic... water, in the correct amounts, is the source of life

The gorgeous mountains they call home

This past week, the other volunteers, workers at CEDEPCA, and I went to Xopic, a town 2 hours on a windy dirt road in the mountains.  The past two years have been really hard for Xopic, 2 years ago they had a huge drought that took away all their sources for food and water.  This year, there was too much rain that killed a lot of their crops. Being so isolated (most people don't have trucks and the bus only comes once a week), they are definitely reliant on their crops so when rain doesn't come when scheduled, it's really, really bad.

When we got out of our (very full) microbus (full microbusses is a theme of this past week...), our translator (Spanish to Aguacaton) said, "Welcome to the country of Xopic".  What a true statement it was.  The aldea has 84 families living in it with incredibly low population density.  All the women are in the traditional clothing, and many of the older men are as well - something that is becoming increasingly more uncommon. Many of the people only spoke Aguacaton, not Spanish.

CEDEPCA has been working there helping people with ecological and agricultural solutions, as well as psychological recovery from living without the basic necessities and watching friends and family suffer. We went for CEDEPCA's last visit - a workshop and then a celebration culminating the work they have done there. Monica led us in a workshop of how to relieve stress so people could reduce body tension, how to actively listen, and the importance of knowing the names of your neighbors.  It was incredible to watch these people who have wisdom and skills of survival that I will never have learn that by squeezing your hands and releasing them or simply having a face to face conversation with your neighbor, you can really benefit your health and happiness.  In a world where work = survival, there is little time for relationships outside of immediate family... something I've seen in my host families as well.  At the end, Monica encouraged everyone to give each other hugs.  It was incredibly awkward in a culture that doesn't value physical touch.   One beautiful moment was when a younger woman began leading everyone in singing and marching around the room.  We sung two hymns in standard Guatemalan style and it was great.   

During our active listening time, my partner talked about the drought and the floods.  He said that both events resulted in not enough food and a great amount of fear.  Before CEDEPCA came, he said, people were really ugly.  Talking to him, I realized how strong survival instincts are.  They lead you to put yourself and your family first, sometimes to the detriment of a community as a whole.  Our conversation really taught me about the importance of psychological care, and made me really grateful for the lessons in conversations and communication I received as a kid.  There are so many aspects of culture that you just take for granted.

During the celebration, we brought out the ball to play some futbol.  It was incredible to watch the kids just let down their tough emotional walls and just kick around the ball.  After lunch, I got roped into playing a strange game in front of the school where we kicked the ball and laughed our heads off when it flew off the road or when a girl's sandal would fly off with a powerful kick. It was so fun!

Going to things like this make me really grateful for all I've had in my life...

And I'm grateful for Laura who understood EVEN MORE... read her blog about Xopic here... it's really good