Post Guatemala Reflection: By Olivia A. Deeken

Olivia: Photovoice

Thank you for your patience and for taking the time to follow our blog. I first wanted to let you know how Photovoice ended. Last Friday (June 21, 2017), we asked all three Photovoice families to come into town to participate in our final Photovoice discussion. The purpose of this discussion was to ask our participants to describe their photos, why they took them, and how they felt about the Photovoice process as a whole. Jasen also came up with the clever idea to ask, “If you could take a photo of something that would change your life – what would you take a photo of?”

While our Photovoice team tried to go into this entire process with open minds and without expectations, we hoped that this final discussion would provide us some enlightenment into the lives of some of the families we serve and show our participants that their stories are important and should be heard.

We were scheduled to start the discussion at 9:00 a.m. – well before the afternoon rain sets in. However, in Guatemala time, 9:00 a.m. usually ends up being 9:30 or 9:45 even. So “surprise” is an understatement when we (the team) arrived at the meeting space to find our first family not only on time – but early. I was shocked. Several of my Generación Magnificat and Project HELLO teammates shared with us Photovoice leaders that Photovoice must have meant a great deal to the families for them to be this eager to participate. All in all, all members of all three families arrived dressed in what seemed like their Sunday best with combed hair, nice chumpas (jackets), small heels and skirts, and were seated before 9:30 a.m. It was clear that the families knew the value of their stories and the power their photos held.

Each family was kept as its own group and was assigned one or more GM members to facilitate the discussion and to jot notes of what was said. I sat in on the interview of Don Emiliano and Doña Inilita’s family – our first Photovoice family. For some reason, I felt a special fondness for this family – perhaps because they were our first and showed a surprising amount of enthusiasm for this new project when, at the time, I still had many doubts.

The room quickly became loud as the families began sharing the stories and the motives behind their photos. As the family interviews wrapped up, the Photovoice team asked the families for at least one volunteer to bring up their photos and briefly share with the entire crowd of families, Project HELLO and GM team members. I was impressed by the courage of Zorayda, Angelina, (oldest girls of Don Basilio and Don Emiliano) and Don Sergio for volunteering their time to share before the whole group. After some more smiles, full bellies of coffee and sweet bread, and a big group photo – Photovoice came to a conclusion.

Later that evening, reviewing the Photovoice Discussion notes with Michelle and Jasen felt like opening gifts on Christmas morning. I was excited to read what the families had said! Common themes were family and the importance of having photos of one’s family and home to remember, beauty in nature found in flowers and the landscape, orderly and clean homes, and pride at school work and drawings. The following are a few excerpts from the final Photovoice discussion:

Notes from Don Emiliano: “Para poder observar la foto de su esposa. Porque significa una gran mujer en su vida.”  To be able to observe the photo of his wife. Because she means [is] a great woman in his life.

Notes from Zorayda: “Porque hay muchas flores en la casa. Porque dibujó muy bien y le tomó la foto a su dibujo. La foto sirve parar un recuerdo. Le gustan las flores.” Because there are many flowers in the house. Because she drew very well and took the photo of her drawing. She likes the flowers.

Notes from Doña Norma: “Norma le gusta la foto de su casa porque le tiene muy limpia y ordenada no está tan segura la cocina ella es muy feliz con su familia.” Norma likes the photo of her house because it is very clean and tidy. It is not safe in the kitchen. She is very happy with her family.

(Photo of Doña Norma’s kitchen with a large crack from an earthquake.)

While Photovoice was only a pilot program to see if families would even be receptive to photo taking, new technology, and the dialogue required of the project, I feel like Photovoice was a success. The smiles on the faces of the kids as they ran around taking pictures, the pride in the participants’ eyes at the coveted copies, the shy smile of parents that turned broader as they successfully took and reviewed the photos that were them – their homes, their families, their lives. With further development, I think there could be great potential in Photovoice in furthering our understanding of the families we serve in Sibinal.

Compassion

These last few days I’ve been reflecting on our time in Guatemala, and I keep going back to the concept of compassion. Gregory Boyle in his book Tattoos on the Heart describes compassion as, “not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a covenant between equals.” He goes on to say that “Compassion is always, at its most authentic, about a shift from the cramped world of self-preoccupation into a more expansive place of fellowship, of kinship.” This, is the kind of compassion I see from the families of Sibinal, from my Project HELLO and GM teammates, and from the donors, sponsors and supporters we have.

I see compassion in the kindness and hospitality of the families who welcome us into their homes and offer refreshments and food despite having so little. To me, welcoming strangers into your home, making them feel AT home, is one of the simplest and purest forms of compassion.

I see compassion in my GM teammates as they continually choose to see the extreme challenges their neighbors face, and to do something about it, when they could easily look away, in continually working to improve our humanitarian efforts, and for continually making room in their schedules, homes, hearts, and lives for us members of Project HELLO.

I see compassion in my Project HELLO teammates as they persistently open and stretch their minds and hearts to do more – to do the best – for more people. Sponsoring a child’s education, utilizing one’s business skills to forge new connections for future fundraising efforts, making plans to save extra in order to return in December, offering and taking members of families to the hospital for important medical care, sitting and speaking with the families with respect and dignity…are just a few of the ways I’ve seen compassion flow from my teammates.

And I see compassion in our donors, sponsors, supporters and followers who consciously decide to be openminded to the possibilities of our team, our work, and the families we serve. For being “sympathetically conscious of others’ distress” and having “a desire to alleviate it”.

This, is what excites me. The endless compassion of all of these people. The dissolving of boundaries and separateness to make room for others.