Day 5: Sonrisas

Emily: As each day passes, the liquid energy bottle goes down a little. Assessing the families and the evaluation process is a lot more draining than doing the physical work in December. I have no problem with this because I can pass out easily at night, but I know that once we leave, it'll only get harder. I hate making decisions that affect the livelihood of the family. However, we want to make sure the donation money goes to the right place. I'm glad that both teams have expanded because we have a bigger opinion box.

I'm not physically nor emotionally drained but I’m finding it hard to speak. It's hard to formulate sentences because of all the information gained from this trip. I've never had this happen before but I’m forgetting words and my sentences are out of order. I'm working twice as hard to get out what I want to say. I don't know if it's from my brain being tired, or because I’m meant to be a Guatemalan and speak solo español! : )

If you recall from last year, we had sick children who we took to the clinic last year. We were able to visit them again and it was a good remembrance. We brought fruits and cookies and they immediately went for the fruits. Now, I don't know any children who go straight to fruit. It was almost like seeing feral children eat. We discussed this and Amy made a good point that it is a little hard to watch because their behaviour of eating the way they did was because of starvation. Similar to children eating candy on Halloween, but instead of candy it is basic foods necessary for survival.

This blog will be short as I have a lot of footage to go through and tomorrow is Mercado (market day), which is the busiest day of the week. So going places will take longer and that will be the only time we can shop for materials. Until then, nos vemos.

Olivia: Sonrisa!!

Sonrisa in Spanish is "smile." And boy have we seen some smiles from the families participating in Photovoice! As Franco mentioned in yesterday's post, Photovoice is a creative way to engage people and learn more about their everyday lives through photography. Photovoice is an opportunity for those who don't ordinarily have a voice, like the extremely poor and marginalized, the indigenous, women in a machismo-infused cultures, and children, to share their stories and exert their power as they decide what to capture in their photos. Photovoice is an empowering method of participatory research/assessment that acknowledges the expertise and the insight of our families that we, as outsiders from the U.S. can never fully understand. It's important to note that we ask for the families consent to participate as well as their permission to share their stories and photos with other people, particularly our supporters in the U.S.

 As of today, two out of the three selected Photovoice families have taken their pictures. The level of engagement we've seen between the members of the family, between the families and our teams, and between the Project HELLO and Generación Magnificat teams has been more astounding than I could have possibly imagined.

Our first family was Doña Inilita, her husband and four daughters. At first the girls were hesitant to take photos. They cradled the tablets to their chests, and I was concerned that they were going to be too shy or that they didn't quite understand the question we posed "What makes you happy?" But with some more smiles and a little more encouragement, the girls took off, running back and forth from the kitchen to the bedrooms, through the milpa (corn fields), and to their nearby auntie's house taking pictures.

I was a little concerned that Doña Inilita's husband, and elderly man in his late sixties or early seventies, would be reluctant to participate. However, when asked if he would like to try, without hesitation he said "yes". One of my favorite memories working with this family is when a member of Generación Magnificat noticed that all of Don Emiliano's photos were of the ground, despite his best efforts to take pictures of his milpa. The GM team member kindly gave Don Emiliano a few quick suggestions about how to capture things both near and far away. Don Emiliano listened attentively and when the brief lesson was over he promptly took the tablet back into his hands and started taking pictures again using the newly taught techniques.

After each of the family members finishes taking their pictures, each participant is asked to pick two of their favorite photos to be printed and discussed as group this Friday. As I helped the families’ swipe through their photos, I felt a greater sense of wonder and accomplishment at both the subjects and the quality of many of the families' photos! I was fascinated by which photos the participants selected, particularly one of Doña Inilita's selected photos. The first photo she chose wasn't a picture she took, but a picture of herself holding a piece of paper with her name on it that our team had taken for organizational and record-keeping purposes. As a caring mother who gives of herself to her children and family in a male-dominated culture, I felt such power in Doña Inilita choosing a picture of herself out of all the others. I am very curious to learn more about the reasons she, and the other participants, have for taking and selecting the pictures that they did during our group gathering on Friday.

Today's Photovoice, with Don Basilio, his wife, and two daughters, was yet another success. Radically different from Doña Inilita's family, Don Basilio's family also cracked big smiles as they snapped pictures of their home and family. This family seemed to take their photos in a slower, more methodically way, yet the themes of family, land, beautiful scenery, school books, and homes seemed to be commonalities between both families.

It was extremely neat to see Don Basilio and his wife take and compare pictures with each other, to see his children flip through their school books and snap pictures of their drawings and writings, and for Don Basilio to make is own version of a panoramic shot as he slowly snapped pictures while rotating in order to capture the entire view from his front door. Each participants' photos are so unique and I can't wait to see what other treasures we find with our final family tomorrow.

I'd like to end on a big THANK YOU, to my Photovoice teammates Michelle and Jasen. Without Michelle's support throughout the development stages of Photovoice and her willingness and ability to explain the purpose of Photovoice to the families, this project would never have gotten off the ground. Without Jasen and his budding photography skills, we wouldn't have the incredible documentation of the Photovoice process. Jasen's ability to observe and provide thoughtful feedback and suggestions has also greatly enhanced this experience. And of course, without the support of the rest of our Project HELLO teammates, who have supported the idea of Photovoice since it was first casually mentioned, and our Generación Magnificat teammates who tirelessly travel with us to the homes, enhance our explanations, and encourage and comfort our families, we wouldn't have the gift of these incredible photographs. Gracias a todos!!!

Amy: I am frequently awed by the power of human connection. We met with Don Jose today because we were told his home was falling down as a result of the latest earthquake. His home is, in fact, falling down; he and his wife sleep in a "room" made of wood and wrapped in tarps. They don't sleep in their home because it could fall and crush them during the next earthquake. Their grown children have married and moved out of Sibinal to find work to support their own new families. Their teen daughter wants to become an engineer, but they are unable to afford high school, so her education will stop at the sixth grade.

Yet, what I found most moving about this family was their connection to three small children. Initially we believed the children were their grandchildren. They were present when we arrived, went into the field to get Don Jose for us to speak to, and then stayed with us and the family through our entire visit. When asked who the parents of the children were, we found out they were neighbor children.

These three children were clearly connected to Don Jose and his wife. Their teen daughter held one of the children for a while during our visit and the youngest child stayed at Don Jose's side the entire time we all sat and spoke. They played with the family dog and moved about the home and yard as if they had spent significant time there.

As we wrapped up our meeting and headed to the next family the children came with us. They asked if we had gum and we gave them some. They walked three across, hand in hand, with us up a steep hill and down into a collection of homes.

Once at the home we were assessing we found that the children actually belonged there. We met with their mother and talked about the needs of the family. Their father is away much of the time working in coffee fields. They also lived with their grandmother, and their aunt and cousins lived next door. 

We discovered the two oldest had not been in school because their grandfather had been blind and they helped care for him and act as his guide. The mother expressed much sadness when telling us that he had died the month prior.

This was so much more moving as I thought back to their interactions with Don Jose. He had willingly and effortlessly filled a void left in the children's lives. He couldn't remember exactly how old his own grown children were, but I have no doubt he could have quickly recited the ages of his three young surrogate grandchildren.  His open and warm nature provided a place the grieving children could find solace. His wife and daughter included them in the family without pause.

The idea that it "takes a village" is lived here in Sibinal. To steal a quote from one of my teammates, "if you're going to believe in something, live it."