Otoxha

I arrived to my new home Otoxha(pronunciation Autosha) on my birthday, May 5th. The village is inhabited by all Kekchi maya. At first it was a bit awkward but that is what we expected. And of course the children were the most interested in what a couple of whiteys were doing in their village. Often they would just and still do stand outside the door and stare, but by this point we are playing games with them and they constantly are yelling our names in the morning as they go to school.

The next day we got settled in, and Panteleon(Humana Toledo Project Leader) , Lola(IICD team leader) and Marcos(Humana Toledo Area Leader) helped us make it feel like more of a home by creating some shelves and wall barriers for privacy. Our home is a thatched house and the walls are wood which has cracks so anyone can see through (the children do all the time), it is beautiful and already I am very attached to it. The house has no electricity or water, just as we wanted it!

About 50 meters to the north is a windy river also called Otoxha which in Kekchi means Oto(windy) xha(river). It is a clear and beautiful river, it is where the locals and us come to do laundry and bathe. For me it has always been hard to bathe everyday I never liked it and thought it unnecessary to waste so much water, even if people are not dirty they still do, but here I do everyday, for me it feels like true freedom to bathe in this fashion, free, naked and in a river haha.

On the 7th of May we held our first community meeting. Wow it was awkward, all the families showed up and it was all the women with some of their children. After we explained who we were we awkwardly tried to push them to ask questions but not one did, eventually the Principal Mr. Ac helped us out and some expressed some feelings. This was a bit discouraging but it also motivated us to to conduct the interviews.

We started that Saturday with the interviews and ended yesterday Monday with them. This was a good experience and it really helped us build rapport with the families. Most importantly it gave us a better idea of what they need and what we can try to do. Overall the main needs were a garden, latrine, wood stove and literacy. Surprisingly few expressed concern about needing money even though probably less then 10% of families had anyone with a job.

Also what we found is that nearly all the women make beautiful art crafts. It reminded me of all the Maya in Chiapas trying to sell us their products, they all said it was made by them, I didn't fully believe them but now I realize how wrong I was. Because of this begenning a women's collective will be a priority while we live here and many women have expressed their excitement for this idea. The problem is that many of the women can't read or write and also that their math skills are minimal which will be essential for book keeping. The plus side is they have us to assist them with all that and also with getting connected to businesses so their not begging uninterested tourists on the streets. I think this is more then a possibility and to develop a community you must have orgaized empowered women to do so. Of course we will approach this carefully and thoughtfully.