Roots & Wings International

As I was thinking about what to write for my first posting with RWI, my thoughts went all over the map.  Having lived in Guatemala for close to three years, I am not at a lack for words…so much so that I found it hard to disentangle myself from Guatemala.  How there is now, and always will be, a part of my heart that is Guatemala.  It would be impossible to live or visit Guatemala and not be touched by the culture, the people, the landscape, the challenges and frustrations… and the beauty. 

For the majority of the time that I resided in Guatemala, I lived in a rural and indigenous town in the Western Highlands of the country.  From where the office of Roots and Wings International (Raíces y Alas) is located, you would need to travel approximately 80 – 100 kilometers further, following the direction of the Inter-American highway (north and west).  If you travel the way that locals travel (and the way I traveled) you would find yourself in a school bus – read more

That’s right. In 1992, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a Guatemalan — Rigoberta Menchu.

Born in 1959, Menchu is an indigenous Guatemalan of the K’iche’ ethnic group. Currently an UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Menchu won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting indigenous rights in the country as well as publicizing the plight of indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War, which lasted from 1960-1996. In 1998 she was also awarded the Prince of Asturias Award.

Unlike many Guatemalan children today, Menchu was lucky enough to receive her primary school education at several Catholic boarding schools. After leaving school she began her activist work, campaigning against the human rights violations committed by the Guatemalan army during the country’s decades-long civil war.

Since the war ended, Menchu has worked to have members of the Guatemalan military and political establishments tried in Spanish courts; read more

October 1st was a special day in Guatemala — the celebration of Children’s Day! Although most countries celebrate this special day designed to promote the rights of children in November, Guatemala is one of a few countries that celebrates a month early. The traditional date, November 20th, is the anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of a Child.

There are celebrations in parks and community centers all over the country, with pinatas and games, sweets and cakes, and just about every other festivity you can think of. Beauty queens are crowned, mayors come out with all the pomp of their office to bask in the celebration. There is music and face painting — and most of all, a day of pure fun, where children have a chance to shed their concerns, forget their fears, and enjoy just being children.

You see, the children of Guatemala don’t often get this chance. They are, by and large, born into poverty, read more

Like many countries, Guatemala has a long, sad history of human right violations, including the disappearance of 6 indigenous Mayan villagers in the mid-80s. Mario Minera, a civil rights lawyer in Guatemala, says that these 6 disappearances are just the beginning — that there were actually more than 600 incidents, all of which are currently unresolved. Most killings took place between 1982 and 1996, under the rule of Jose Efrain Rios Montt and Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores. This was period of military rule for Guatemala, and many many secrets were kept from the public eye during this time of civil war.

The span of the country’s civil war was 36 years, and more than 40,000 cases of disappeared individuals has been recorded.

Relief came earlier this year, when a Guatemalan court ruled that these cases were not subject to a statute of limitations — which means that these men, who had been living and working in government with impunity, could read more