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Culture

Fíjese que…

Fíjese que…

When you live in Guatemala, this is a phrase you will hear all the time. Fijarse literally translated means: to take notice, to pay attention. This is the literal translation but there is so much more that comes along with the phrase. The way things happen in Guatemala is different from that of the United States of course. I had to learn to become accustomed to the fact that things will not always happen when you want them to, nor will they happen when people tell you they will happen. And that is where fíjese que comes in…

When I first started working in Guatemala I was frustrated when people would start their sentences with “fíjese que…” because I quickly came to learn that meant whatever we were working on was not going to come to fruition when scheduled or happen when I thought it would – at least not on the timeframe that my ‘deadline oriented American self’ thought it should. At first read more

Posted by maryrwi on March 25th, 2010

Culture

Guatemalan Civil War: A Brief Primer

I was going to write about an indigenous community outside of Guatemala, but I just finished Naomi Klein’s excellent book, The Shock Doctrine, and the systematic destruction indigenous people’s way of life is still fresh in my mind. While I don’t have the book in front of me, I do have this handy link from PBS that covers the same basic information. I recommend picking up a copy of Klein’s book, if you get the chance. Also, watch the excellent documentary, Voice of a Mountain. You can watch the entire thing, for free, here.

Guatemala wasn’t always a country in ruins, where indigenous Mayans lived in poverty and were denied basic rights such as affordable education. Guatemala was once an egalitarian society where, under the rule of read more

Posted by shadirwi on February 28th, 2010

Culture

A Language Dies in a Remote Island Chain

Language is an inseparable part of one’s culture. Why else would the French ban the word “email” from their government documents (they prefer to use the phrase “courier electronique)? To accept even a fraction of another culture’s language is to forever lose a part of your own. h

Colonization – and its newer brother, neocolonization – has done much to influence, and sometimes wipe out, a culture’s language. Spanish colonialists caused both the Incan and Mayan empires to pull a disappearing act, though descendants of the Mayan people remain in parts of Central read more

Posted by shadirwi on February 13th, 2010

Culture

My first post for RWI

In the recent past, my husband Oscar, my family of 3 children (at the time; there are now 4) and I moved to Honduras for a job opportunity. We went to live in Choluteca, a city in the southern part of Honduras, near the Pacific coast. This was a very interesting time for us, which allowed us to make new friends and experience new cultures. At the same time, our eyes were opened even further to the great necessity in Central America. Oscar and I had lived in Colombia (his native country) just after we got married, and of course also know that great need exists there and all over, even in the US. During our two years in Honduras, though, we had daily reminders that we were in one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere and even the world.

My perspective as an American surely shines through my observations, and also makes me mindful of all the benefits of having been born in this country. There are so many things that we take for granted that you cannot just assume read more

Posted by jeannerwi on December 12th, 2009

Culture