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We visited the school and were very surprised at the standard of work both teachers were doing. Enrique was teaching complicated maths to his 15. Rossi was teaching science and Spanish. The children arrive at school speaking only Q’equchi , their native language. They are taught Spanish, maths, science and social studies, 6 days a week from 7.00am until 12.00pm. At 9.00am they are given a meal. This is a bowl of soup which one of the mothers prepares each day, the teacher gives out a vitamin tablet and a small packet of crackers.
Enrique and Rossi came for dinner on our boat and we had a pleasant evening until Enrique told us of the first `serpent in paradise’. He asked us if there were any churches or societies in England or Spain that could be able to offer help to their village. He explained that the authorities in Livingston did not pay the teacher’s salaries, for teaching materials or for the food that the children received each day. This money had been paid until recently by a missionary group from the USA. This year money arrived to pay for only one teacher, so one is working for nothing. The village had e-mailed the missionaries but got no reply. Two missionaries who normally appear in January had still not arrived when we left on April 21st, nor had the doctors arrived who also normally arrive about this time. Both teachers live in Livingstone, about 12 miles away, it takes about 3 hours, on a good day, more if the river is in flood and cost 300 Quetzalas for petrol for the launch . So the teachers stay in the village for the whole term which is normally 22 days and each night they spend with a different family who take it turns to feed and look after them in their homes. At Q15 to the £1.00 that is £5,364.00 FOR THE WHOLE YEARAs previously stated money for only one teacher has arrived .As the days went by I delved into the politics of the village. They have a committee with a chairman, vice chairman, secretary etc. They meet regularly and are an elected body like a town council in England. There is also an Association which appears to be an appointed group and this is in charge of fund raising. I have obtained copies of the committee’s make-up and prospectus for 2008 and for the Protocol of the Association set up in 2004. Over the following weeks I became more and more involved with the Chairman of the Association, Luis, who is the hotel manager, and his brother in law, Alvero, who is 27, a carpenter and speaks good Spanish and a little English. It appears that up till about 15 years ago the government of Guatemala was actively engaged in Genocide, attempting to wipe out the Maya people. At least 400 villages have been wiped out and 200,000 people murdered. (These figures came from The Lonely Planet Travel Guide ). Alvero’s parents were shot in front of him when he was 12 years old, only he and his sister survived. He brought them both up and somehow got an education and learned a trade, his sister married Louis and they came to Lagunita. The whole village is new, made up from people who have escaped the ravages of the government extermination. It’s a new village about 15 years old and needs all the help it can get. |
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