Totonicapan, Guatemala - Christmas 2009

Fr. Jon Sobrino said of the suffering, “Human beings have reserves awakened by suffering, awareness of the human family…The quality comes out of seeing something good and humanizing in being close to the victims of this world, this giving and receiving the best of ourselves, this loving each other.”

His words remind me how I became involved in volunteer work in Latin America back in 2003, and what keeps bringing me back. My experience in Guatemala this Christmas was humbling, frustrating, and inspiring. Accompanying my friend in his 11th of 27 months as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I tried to instill in him the motivation and reinforcement I myself needed as I faced many similar challenges in my own Peace Corps service from 2005-2007. There are times the work becomes overwhelming, the problems facing communities seemingly endless, and the shortcomings of our own work constantly gnawing at us. So I encouraged him that we spend our time getting back in touch with why we chose to serve at all. We wandered up and down mountains where he lives, visiting the houses dotting the landscape. Many times we just sat and talked with families, and tried to learn about their lives. There were so many stories that broke my heart, so many images seared in my memory of a women so repressed by their society they feared speaking, hiding emotions behind downcast glances towards too many of their own children with swollen bellies, hungry eyes, and innocent smiles. I often found it very hard to leave the homes, after connecting deeply with many of the women, after seeing the whole family light up with joy and laughter from playing a simple game. Over the week we visited over 30 families, and had both rediscovered some of the meaning and wonder in the work we felt was important...building solidarity and supporting families in the struggle for survival that encompasses their lives. Sometimes our most basic necessities are the most overlooked. For the families and for ourselves, perhaps we needed to focus for a moment on being in touch, on appreciating each other. In Anything We Love Can Be Saved, Alice Walker sums up this concept so well:

"We are all substantially flawed, wounded, angry, hurt, here on Earth. But this human condition, so painful to us, and in some ways shameful-- because we feel we are weak when the reality of ourselves is exposed--is made much more bearable when it is shared, face-to-face, in words that have expressive human eyes behind them."

-Erin Stratta, MS2
Global Health Fund - Guatemala 2009-2010