We received this news from Bruce Clarke, Chair of the Swindon Ocotal Link, a member of the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign. Their group went out to Santiago Atitlan in Guatemala following Hurricane Stan in October 2005 as part of a group trip to Central America.

"We are a small group of friends living in Swindon, England, that has built up a very personal and close relationship with Santiago Atitlan in Guatemala over the past 3 or 4 years.

Our intention originally, was to spend eight days relaxing and enjoying the wonderful lake Atitlan and its community, after a two week working tour of our twin town of Ocotal, Nicaragua. However, the news of the Guatemalan disaster arrived over our comfortable evening mealtime. Soon telephones were ringing and we shared what news we had about Hurricane Stan.

Then we had urgent e-mails to and from Juan Ajtzip Alvarado, my friend in the town. With just 6 weeks to go before we were due to arrive, we knew that there was little immediate help we could offer apart from sending out some immediate funds for materials. Our experience of raising support for Nicaragua following Hurricane Mitch helped us concentrate on the long-term, despite the pleas and terrible pictures that were then arriving in the UK.

In the end, we raised $5,000 in 4 weeks. When we arrived, we found Asociaciòn Tikal Atitlan had been active in supporting the bereaved families and providing counselling for the surviving children. Some 100 adults and over 80 children had been lost. Immediately, two amazing women stood out, Dolores and Juanita. They had organised the children and mothers and set up play groups, meetings, crafts and were selling their wares in the market to help the families get back on their feet economically.

We had no hesitation in agreeing to fund these two amazing women for the next year and a half. From their work, we are planning to bring UK and German youth together with Nicaraguan youth in Santiago Atitlan to share experiences, culture and work together with these remarkable people.

It was good to see Oxfam water tanks had been set up, drains were being dug and workers being paid to maintain the refugee camp. The real issue is helping the families to regain some degree of economic autonomy. We visited the site and were shocked at how a strip of mountain had fallen away and created such devastation. They told us the rain just didn't stop and many other mudslides had occurred around the lake.

We were told they had turned away help from the Guatemalan army which, given recent history, was not surprising. They are fiercely independent.

Now, life goes on, the coffee was a good crop, tourism was getting coming back and normality, such as it is, is returning. Yet, we all felt that the town is under just as much threat in the long term from such things as land being bought up for weekend retreats, and a culture of drugs amongst the youth, as it is from future mudslides. More distressing is the slow loss of identity and values of their proud indigenous community.

We are going back soon, we all have day jobs, but collectively we know we can make a difference and in so doing, make a difference to ourselves as well."

 

St Margaret's Church in Richmond, London, has decided to raise £15,000 for rebuilding a village called Panimache in the Quiche department.  The funds will go through CAFOD to Caritas Quiche.

 

If you have any goods you might want to donate for the Lenten Market which is held after every Mass during Lent.We want to feature goods and items from Guatemala for the Market on Sunday March 26th 2006.  If you have any textiles or anything else from Guatemala that you want to donate to help, we would be very grateful. Other stuff such as unwanted gifts, china, jewellery, toiletries, plants, etc. would be useful too.

If you'd like to make a donation, you can get more information by contacting the Guatemala Solidarity Network - gsn_mail [at] yahoo.com.