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2011 Newsletter

Listening to the Community

This past summer, Voces y Manos partnered with the USF School of Nursing and ASECSA (Asociación de Servicios Comunitarios de Salud) in Guatemala to organize community health members in Rabinal, Guatemala, illuminating the health needs of the community. The result was a framework for transforming findings into action.

Citizens of Rabinal are in a more dire need of health care than ever before. Over the last few years, a non-governmental organization called Funcafé provided health care on a rotating basis to the various communities in the surrounding area. With this service, people in Rabinal got a medical visit once a month. Unfortunately, this program was recently eliminated due to lack of funding.

Additionally, Centro de Salud, the community clinic in the center of town, is largely unaffordable for most patients and medical supplies are very low. Given that these services have been affected so greatly by a lack of funding, Voces y Manos team wanted to see how our team could have the biggest positive impact on health for those living in Rabinal.

Recognizing this pressing need for health care, we combined forces with Linda V. Walsh, a professor from the University of San Francisco School of Nursing, to hold community-wide health assemblies in Rabinal. The purpose of these assemblies was to identify critical gaps in the health system and to determine how Voces y Manos can partner with local organizations to fill these gaps.

“The goal that Michael, Josh, Jessica, Amy and I had was to really listen to what the community members identified as health needs that Voces y Manos could possibly address in a partnership with them,” said Professor Walsh.

Furthermore, Voces y Manos wanted to ensure that a health partnership with the people of Rabinal would be culturally relevant and appropriate, benefiting all those involved.

“All too often, well-meaning people go into the developing world and do their own assessments, then tell the communities what interventions the visitors think are needed,” Walsh said.  “ Who knows better about perceived needs than those who live and work in a community?”

With this in mind, Voces y Manos welcomed a wide variety of perspectives, including both lay health workers as well as public health professionals. To this end, Voces y Manos enlisted the help of ASECSA to recruit health promoters, traditional midwives, doctors, nurses, and nutrition specialists from throughout the region.  While perspectives differed in many regards, a common theme identified was the dramatic impact of budget cuts on community health.  Given the severity of these cuts, all assembly participants recognized the increased the need for traditional medicine.

“What came across very strongly in both the community members’ group and the agency participants’ group was that the current economical forces prevent individuals from having access to even the most commonly used pharmaceutical agents,” Walsh said. “A return to traditional Mayan medicine reflects respect for the non-Western medicine approach to health and healing, and also provides a cost effective way to prevent and treat disease.”

Now that the assembly findings have been compiled, Voces y Manos turns its attention to developing projects that will address the identified needs. In December, the Voces y Manos team will return to Rabinal to resume dialogue with assembly participants. First, the assembly participants will reconvene to review key findings from the assemblies. Next, they will brainstorm viable solutions. Finally, a small subgroup of the participants will form a local community advisory board that will chart a 4-year plan for creating long-term community health care solutions that will be culturally relevant to Rabinal.

“I am a believer that community members are the experts in identifying needs and potential interventions that would be in concert with the beliefs and rituals of the culture,” Walsh said.

Voces y Manos also hopes that by involving the community in creating this new program, we have created a sustainable option for health care in Rabinal.

“Another factor in including the community from the beginning is that the community response is essential for sustainability of initiatives,” Walsh said. “There is a history of numerous initiatives that end up being short-terms fixes without any follow through due to lack of acceptability in the community and/or lack of economic sustainability.  This approach is also necessary in the developed world.  Particularly in communities representing vulnerable populations, community involvement is essential for bringing about necessary change.”

Although the eventual outcome of these meetings is yet to be determined, Voces y Manos is confident that by involving the community at each step of the way, the end result will truly meet the needs of the local community and set the foundation for sustainability.

-Allison Van Vooren

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global Health Interest Night at UCSD

On October 17th, Voces y Manos partnered with the International Affairs Group, Student Sustainability Committee, and the UCSD School of Medicine’s Global Health Initiative to coordinate the Global Health Interest Night.

The event is part of Voces y Manos’ commitment to create learning opportunities with a people-centered approach to Global Health for students in higher education. We first developed the idea as a way to help create greater collaboration between student groups, and to show students the growing academic and service opportunities available at UCSD.

Various global health-related student organizations, professors, the Global Health minor, and the UCSD School of Medicine’s Global Health Initiative were excited to participate. The International Affairs Group provided the facility and logistical coordinating.

It was a huge success! Students packed out the venue, nine student organizations participated, and there were presentations by the Global Health Minor program, Dr. Maria Zuniga from the Global Health Initiative, Dr. Yarris (a visiting professor from UCLA), and the nurse from the travel clinic at Student Health Services. Fair Trade coffee and tea, and catering were provided through the Food Co-Op. It was inspiring to see so much passion for Global Health from such a diverse group of people and organizations.

This was a great way to start the year for our organization. Not only was it a great event, it gave us a chance to build key relationships with other groups. Our interns are now re-starting the student organization at UCSD, and it is exciting to see all the ideas and opportunities available for the coming year.

Scholarship Students at USAID

The group getting ready to go in

This summer, Voces y Manoshad the opportunity to meet privately with USAID at their office in Guatemala City. The purpose of the meeting was to present our Scholarship Program to the Health & Education Department, and to discuss opportunities for future support. Rather than simply explaining our work, we decided to bring three scholarship recipients to demonstrate how our Scholarship Program has impacted students directly.

Although it was their first time formally presenting to a national organization, our students did an excellent job relaying their personal stories in a professional setting. Julia Gomez Gonzales explained how she has managed to continue her education and service to her community alongside supporting her own family as a single mother. Marcario Vasquez Reyes displayed his fervor to become a leader in his own community while currently pursuing a teaching career through his scholarship. Edelman Ramirez, a medical student in Cuba, expressed how his participation with Voces y Manos inspired him to pursue medicine in order to improve health for those most marginalized. We are extremely honored that our students presented on our behalf, and hope that this meeting will open the door for a potential partnership with USAID.

Intro to the Museum

Jesus Tecu Osorio, with son Benjamin

“Él es mi Abuelo.” He is my grandfather. 

Benjamin, 16, speaks these words softly as he gestures to a neatly framed black and white photograph hanging from the wall of Rabinal’s Cultural Museum. Benjamin’s smile and good-humored demeanor belie the poignancy of the moment, but what he says next pierces the heart: “It is important that we remember our grandparents who died in the massacres, so that we never lose our culture, and make sure that the violence they experienced never happens again.”

Benjamin Tecu Osorio’s grandfather and grandmother raised their family along the banks of Rio Negro, enjoying a peaceful life. But when the Guatemalan government decided to dam the Rio Negro to build a hydroelectric plant, they demanded that the Tecú Osorios and their neighbors leave their land. The community refused, and the government responded by labeling them “subversive”, and then carried out a campaign of mass violence against them.

In one of these massacres, Benjamin’s grandmother and grandfather were both killed, leaving his father, Jesus Tecu Osorio, an orphan at age 11. After the death of his parents, Jesus was kidnapped and forced to work as the personal slave of a paramilitary officer for over two years.

I will never forget when I heard Jesus’ life story for the first time when I traveled to Rabinal with the American Jewish World Service.  One afternoon midway through our trip, our group of volunteers watched a documentary video on Tecu Osorio’s life. We felt shock and outrage as we learned about the senseless, inhumane violence that had been inflicted on his family. We were inspired by the courage he demonstrated by breaking the silence surrounding the Rabinal massacres, and creating Fundación Nueva Esperanza, the New Hope Foundation. Yet somehow, a closing scene that pictured Jesus with his two young children playing around him, pulling on his pants legs has stuck with me most. As the film concludes Jesus remarks: “My children are what bring me most joy in life, and my greatest desire is that my children will not have to suffer as I did  I want my children to be able to grow up in a world where there is justice, where there is new hope.”

After the film ended, our group walked to the cultural museum, where we saw the many faces, and learned the many stories of those who had lost their lives during the Rabinal massacres. As a Jewish group, the parallels to the holocaust were haunting and inescapable. In the faces of the men and women in the photographs, many in our group saw the stark reflections of great-grandparents and relatives who had lost their lives in concentration camps.  Knowing that a holocaust had recurred so recently, when so many in the international community had declared, “Never Again!” shook my faith in humanity. I wondered how people like Jesus could talk about hope, when their lives had been blighted by such tremendous despair.

As I have come to see with increasing clarity, the pain and suffering of the1980s has not gone away for the indigenous community in Rabinal. After the construction of the dam, the community of Rio Negro was forced to relocate to Pacux, a crowded settlement with arid land not suitable for farming. They were told that in Pacux they would have new houses with electricity. Yet 20 years later, the community that was displaced to accommodate a power plant was still without power. And up until 10 years ago, civil patrol units closely tied to the groups responsible for the massacres continued to menace Pacux’s residents.

Again, I found myself wondering: in such a context, how is it possible to maintain hope?

This summer, I had the great privilege of working with two incredible students who helped me begin to answer that question.

Glenda, 17, was truly one of our group leaders. She is fiercely intelligent, asking and answering questions with a scholarly thoughtfulness that often made me think she was much older than her actual age. Yet while I celebrated Glenda’s maturity and competence, I could not overlook the fact that her precociousness was at least in part a product of the harsh realities of her life.  Glenda’s mother died was Glenda was still in elementary school, leaving Glenda an orphan. And so, along with her older sisters, Glenda learned to survive on her own. She never did hear the official medical diagnosis, (the community where she lives has health services that are sporadic at best) yet Glenda understands well the cause of her mother’s death.  Surviving a massacre, forced relocation, and decades of poverty took an irreversible toll on her health, wearing down her vital body systems until they finally gave out.

Glenda’s days begin early in the morning making tortillas, tending to chickens, washing clothes, and taking care of her 1-year old child.  But remarkably, these many responsibilities have not limited Glenda’s academic excellence or her leadership. At Fundación Nueva Esperanza, Glenda has distinguished herself in both these ways.

Benjamin, in contrast, was the jokester of our group.  Constantly making other students laugh, we appreciated his light-hearted attitude, but sometimes wondered: “Is the kid ever serious?”

Seeing and listening to Benjamin speak in the cultural museum removed any doubt about his seriousness.  The sensitivity with which Benjamin discussed the tragic events leading to his grandparents’ death showed me the depth of his awareness of the Rio Negro massacre, and the impact it has had on his life.  Furthermore, Benjamin articulated a commitment to keep alive his indigenous culture by continuing to speak his first language, Achí, and educating himself on Mayan history.

Many years ago, when Benjamin was just a little child pulling on his father’s pants leg, his father Jesus talked to a cameraman about wanting to see his son to grow up in a just world.  It dawned on me then that this very moment–Benjamin and his classmates sharing their community’s history with caring friends from another part of the world—embodied in a some small way the spirit of new hope that Jesus had described.

This summer, Glenda, Benjamin and Juan de Jesus (another caring intelligent young leader from Pacux), took action to improve their community.  The three students noted that in the absence of trash collection services, litter was accumulating in Pacux’s streets, and contaminating its river.  So, Glenda, Benjamin and Juan de Jesus set up a meeting with Rabinal’s mayor.  They explained to him their community’s trash problem, and requested that he send a truck to collect garbage. The mayor agreed. In the meantime, the trio organized local elementary students to pick up as much trash as possible prior to the arrival of the garbage truck.

What does new hope mean in Rabinal? That question is best left to be answered by the people in Rabinal who are actively struggle for justice and a better future. For me at least, new hope begins by embracing the possibility of social transformation. This summer I learned that the youth within a society have the greatest potential for making that transformation happen.

Thank you to Juan de Jesus, Glenda, Benjamin, and all our students for teaching me this valuable lesson.

 

~Michael Bakal

Meet our interns!

We are excited to introduce our Voces y Manos intern team!

Our Voces y Manos Global Health Internship program has just started. This is a unique opportunity for students in the San Diego area to learn about global health issues, while gaining practical experience working with a nonprofit. Interns play an integral role in solidifying our organization’s core programs and building its future. Meet our amazing interns:

Isela Martinez

Isela Martinez is a senior at UCSD pursuing a B.A. in International Studies and a minor in International Migration. Her focus on Latin America stems from her roots and her experience as an immigrant to the United States with her family as a child. Her need to understand why her own and so many other families migrate around the world have made her eager to learn more about Latin America. She is especially interested in development and indigenous issues. Her wish is to put to practice what she has learned at UCSD, but more importantly to make a difference. Being part of Voces y Manos is a perfect opportunity to help; to have a real-life, close look at the issues that matter the most to people and that make it possible for the social, cultural and economic development of an entire country.

Nicolette Kalic

Nicolette Kalic is a senior at University of California, San Diego with a major in Communications while also taking on a minor in Global Health.  She has always been passionate about the human body and grew up thinking she would one day become a surgeon. However, over the course of the years, she has found her true calling lies within the realm of global public health and all that it encompasses. After returning from her summer at the Yale School of Public Health interning for a NIDA funded HIV study, she has been itching to continue her role in the public health community. She is thrilled to be part of the Voces Y Manos team as a student intern, and looks forward to learning more about the culture and history of the populations we are aiming to help!

Allison Van Vooren

Allison Van Vooren is a third year Human Biology major and Global Health minor at UCSD. As a bilingual San Diegan, she is very passionate about the Latino populations around the globe. She loves learning about indigenous medical traditions and their impact on the local communities. Particularly, she is interested in the social and structural elements of health, especially involving infectious diseases like tuberculosis, cholera, and dengue fever. One day she hopes to work with disenfranchised populations as a pediatrician, creating trust and building relationships to improve the health of the community. She is thrilled to be a part of the Voces y Manos team and can’t wait for the opportunities ahead for Rabinal!

Board of Directors

One of the requirements of becoming an official 501c3 non-profit is to have a Board of Directors to guide us toward our vision, as well as help with the practical operating and funding of the organization. We have a group of dedicated volunteers from a variety of backgrounds that have generously volunteered their time to be a part of our Board of Directors.

Meet our BOD here!

On Monday, September 19th, we held our first official BOD meeting. During the meeting, members were voted in, the bylaws were adopted,  our financial decision-making policy was solidified, and the committees were able to give updates. This is an exciting update- it means we are one step closer to getting our 501c3 status from the IRS! We are currently an incorporated California nonprofit, but need the 501c3 status so supporters can make tax-deductible donations directly to us. All of the proper paperwork is now in so it’s just a matter of waiting for waiting for approval from the IRS.

Yo Soy

As the final week of work with the youth approached, I felt I needed more time to learn more about my students.  However, we only had two more days of classes and the despedida left to share with the youth.  It was at the beginning of this week that I experienced one of the most powerful moments as a teacher.  One of the final assignments planned for the students was to write an “I am” poem in efforts to create a connection between the students and those who support the scholarship program.   With this in mind, Sunthree and I prepared sample poems to model the assignment for the students.  

It was through these poems, that after five weeks of work with the youth of Rabinal, I knew I had formed a deep and genuine connection with my students.  As I read my poem out loud, I sensed that they could identify with the meaning of, “piez descalzos y trenzas apretadas” with “Yo soy de ojos profundos y de piel morena.”  In the 20 years I’ve lived in the United States I have rarely been able to share my experience of growing up in a rural pueblo in Guerrero, Mexico and felt anyone truly related to my story until I shared this poem with them. In a minute my students learned more about me than they had in five weeks, as I myself learned much more about my students in that afternoon than I did throughout the duration of the program.   The poems reflect the culture, traditions, his-tory and hers too, the profound respect for mother earth, the fight and struggle that the students inherited from their parents and their Mayan ancestors.   

What follows is a collection of our voices, which for a moment became one:

“Yo soy del fogón de la mañana y de la noche

Del maíz y el arado”  -Cynthia

“Y del dulce olor del café

 despertando con la luz del amanecer que alumbra por la ventana cada mañana” -Sunthree

“Soy de mi hogar humilde y acogedor

Y lleno de amor y cariño” -Selvin

“Yo soy del ruido del rio

Quien con su fuerza levanta mi esperanza” -Horacio

“Yo soy de ropas remendadas y de sangre puro

De los Panganes y de los Cuxum” -Maynor

“Yo soy de piel morena y de dientes picados

Y De sentimiento tierno” -Estefany

“De enojos infernales

Yo soy de mariposita de mil colores”  -Glenda

“Yo soy de panima’

Ri luwar ke taq ri Itzel chikop” -Juan de Jesus

“De sufrimiento del conflicto armado interno

Y de esfuerzo del trabajo en el campo.” -Griselda

“Yo soy de cipres

Quien bailan la marimba pura.” -Mardoqueo

“De ojos café y de tristeza y de soledad

Yo soy del quetzal y el coman” -Benjamin

“Soy de mente desplegada y vista autentica

Yo soy de esos momentos gratos y grandiosos que nadie

Olvida” -Dinora

Yo soy Cynthia, Sunthree, Selvin

Yo soy Horacio, Maynor, Estefany

Yo soy Glenda, Juan de Jesus, Griselda,

Yo soy  Mardoqueo, Benjamin y  Dinora

-Dedicated to the students of the Instituto Nueva Esperanza, who shared so much with us all, Maltyoox.

La Vida Dura

This past week, I had the honor of working on community projects with the students of Pacux, a relocation site for the indigenous people who survived theRio Negro’s massacre.   When I visited the small community with the students, I immediately noticed the difference between this site and the surrounding aldeas.  Whereas other communities are relatively uncontaminated and tranquil, my pupils expressed that Pacux struggles with constant littering, drug abuse among children, various health issues, and deadly violence.  Residents are undoubtedly still haunted by the barbaric events that took place in Rabinal during the Civil War in the 1980s.  A surviving witness of the genocide explained that the older individuals of this location helplessly observed how the federal police as well as soldiers savagely murdered and tortured entire groups of people.  Although I had read about these events in Jesus Tecu Osorio ´s autobiography  and seen the pictures of victims in the museum, interviewing the survivors in Pacux actually brought the reality of these historical events to life.  I cannot convey in words the strong clashing emotions that I felt during the interviews and dialogues with people who still struggle the consequences of these inhumane events.  I am forever grateful with the people in Pacux for opening their homes and hearts, as these actions enable me to learn so much regarding the indigenous struggle for social justice.

Sunthree Acosta is dressed in traditional Rabinal attire

As a South Central educator, I immediately linked what I observed in Pacux with my experiences in Watts, given that these topics are major concerns for my own community.   Like many South Central teenagers, teenagers in Pacux understood the fear of walking down the street alone and terror of witnessing murders.  The people from both communities are segregated in an environment surrounded by air and trash pollution; thus, residents in Pacux and Watts suffer similar illness.   Both communities face the consequences of systemic oppression because they are forced to live within a segregated environment that limits people from proper health care, educational opportunities, and socioeconomic independence.   Often times, individuals think that our society must invest its strength in “fixing” the poor health care, economic, and educational systems; yet, we must open our mind in order to understand that true change can only happen if we eliminate the systemic oppression.   It is the worldwide systematic oppression that maintains humble people at a socio-economic, educational, and health disadvantage.    Until then, our society will perpetually be divided into those who are the privileged wealthy and people who are inhumanely deprived of proper wellbeing.

Sunthree Acosta helps student Benjamin with his community project

Initially, I eagerly took the opportunity to travel with Voces y Manos toGuatemalain effort to gain a better understanding regarding the indigenous roots of my people and Latino students.   Although I arrived in a different country than the land that gave birth to my ancestors, mi queridoMexico, my adventure in Rabinal has expanded my knowledge about my people’s suffering, deculturalization, customs, beliefs, and resistance.  I now have a better understanding regarding my grandmother’s Otomi views towards life, nature, and tradition.  By being in touch with the new becados, I strongly feel the need for survival and hunger for success that feeds many of the Latin-American immigrants’ dreams.   Although I have conversed about these topics with students, teachers, professors, friends, and family members, till now, I can personalize their life experiences and humanize their ordeal for existence.  While I am well read about social injustice and constant oppression in Latin-America, I never experience such an intense feeling towards these topics because I had the privilege of living away from the forever exploited land.   I can now comprehend what my wise father and many undocumented students referred as, La vida dura de la tierra que nos vio nacer.

Cynthia Garcia and Sunthree Acosta learning how to cook tamales

 

Volunteers helping students prepare for their Voces y Manos midterm

Meet the summer 2011 volunteers!

Meet the volunteers for the 2011 summer Guatemala trip!

Sunthree Acosta

Sunthree Acosta is a Chicana educator who teaches Intensive Literacy and Reading Enrichment in South Central Los Angeles, the land saw her grow into a passionate woman.  As a Chicana who grew in Watts, Sunthree overcame many boundaries to earn a Bachelors Degree of Arts in English and Master’s Degree in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles.  From her small classroom, she advocates for social justice and educational equity for people of color. She eagerly took the opportunity to travel with Voces y Manos to Guatemala in an effort to gain a personal understanding regarding the indigenous roots of her people.   Although Sunthree arrived in a different country than the land that gave birth to her ancestors, Mexico Querido, this adventure has expanded her knowledge about the indigenous suffering, deculturalization, customs, beliefs, and resistance.  Sunthree expresses that she is forever grateful with the people in Rabinal for opening their homes and hearts, as these actions enable her to learn so much regarding the indigenous struggle for social justice.

Amy Yam

Amy Yam’s history with Voces y Manos began in 2008 as an undergraduate student at the University of California, San Diego.  Her previous volunteer work in Honduras, combined with her interest in health, drew her to classmates Michael Bakal and Jessica Nicholas to form the organization.  Amy’s first experience working in Rabinal with Voces y Manos not only affirmed her desires to stay actively involved in the organization, but also to pursue a career in medicine.  Now as a medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin, she has remained an active member of the Voces y Manos Executive Committee as well as an active participant of the summer volunteer program in Rabinal.  This is Amy’s third time in Rabinal, and she is ecstatic to return to the communities that Voces y Manos serves.

 

Cynthia Garcia

Cynthia first heard about Voces y Manos two years ago and was immediately interested in volunteering with the project’s youth component.   However, it was not till this summer that she was able to travel to Rabinal, Guatemala with the rest of the Voces y Manos team.  Cynthia is an Indigenous Chicana educator from California, where she grew up in a socio-economically disadvantaged community.   She is not foreign to the rural life and its hardships, she  grew up in a small pueblo in Guerrero, Mexico and has been able to relate and identify with the youth’s experiences in Rabinal.   Cynthia is thrilled and feels blessed to have had the opportunity to  travel to Guatemala  and learn about the history, culture, struggles and the people’s continued resistance against oppressive conditions.  Cynthia has found a home and a family here and is greatful to her host family.    She is inspired by the people of Rabinal to continue her work as an indigenous educator in California.

 

Josh Hoeger

Josh is a 23 year old, once-and-future student with a penchant for the finer things in life (a bowl of atol de helote and a stick of sugar cane). He joined Voces y Manos in the summer of 2009, and has spent the last two years learning about health in the underserved and marginalized communities of Rabinal. During this time, Josh has been deeply inspired by the Guatemalan health care workers and students with whom Voces y Manos collaborates, and he is dedicated to continuing efforts to improve the quality of life in Rabinal.

Josh is currently applying to medical school and is becoming accustomed to working on applications by candlelight, during Rabinal’s frequent power outages. Despite this being his second Voces y Manos bio (and second summer working in Rabinal), he is still unused to writing in the third person.

Michael Bakal

Michael Bakal first travelled to Rabinal in 2007 as a volunteer with the American Jewish World Service.  The opportunity to work with and learn from the students, teachers, and staff of Fundación Nueva Esperanza was a transformational experience for him, so much so that inspired him to co-found Voces y Manos with Amy Yam and Jessica Nicholas in 2008 during their senior year at UC San Diego.

Since 2008, Michael has acted as the lead instructor for Voces y Manos’ youth leadership program, and overseen the growth and development of Voces y Manos’ scholarship program.  In 4 years of close collaboration with Fundación Nueva Esperanza, Michael has seen the scholarship grow from a 5-student pilot initiative to a comprehensive scholarship program reaching 33 students.

Outside of his work with Voces y Manos, Michael spent the past two years working as a high school biology teacher at Animo Locke #3 Charter High in Watts, California.  At Locke #3, Michael worked with an inspiring team of social justice educators, and amazing students.  Although it was a difficult personal decision to leave the Locke #3 community, Michael resigned from Locke in 2011 in order to be able to work full time for Voces y Manos.

Michael holds a Master’s Degree in Education and Bilingual teaching certificate from UCLA.  In his free time, Michael enjoys playing basketball and the conga drums.