Funding Appeal Underway

The Illinois Maya Ministry is conducting its annual funding appeal at this time.  We have received about $2,800.00 in donations already.  Thank you to faithful friends of this ministry in Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala.

The main use of the funds received is to support our partners, particularly INESIN in Chiapas, and ACG in Guatemala.  We also use this to support a partnership of IMM and SiPaz!

If you wish to contribute make the check payable to: "Illinois Conference UCC."  Write "IMM" in the memo line.  Send the check to: Rev. Michelle Prentice-Leslie, 1221 Clearwater Drive, Yorkville, IL 60560.

Thank you.

Women's Micro-Credit Enterprize

 On January 14, 2012, our Guatemala delegation spent the morning visiting our partner ACG - Guatemalan Cultural Action.  We travelled by pickup truck to a nearby community and had a conversation with a women's micro-credit group.  Each of us in turn introduced ourselves and each of them in turn introduced themselves and told us about their particular project, and how they were using the loaned money.  It was inspiring.  Pictured above are the women of the cooperative.

We then went back to the center and visited with the staff.  It is a difficult period for their work.  The international economic downturn has affected gifts to international NGOs also.  They are trying to determine how to continue to do quality work with diminished resources.

Gloria Vicente

 Illinois Maya Ministry met today, Friday, May 18, 2012 in Warrenville, Illinois, at the home of Rev. Denise Griebler, to listen to a very pregnant Gloria Vicente share about her work in Guatemala as a missionary through Common Global Ministries.  Gloria was able to explain in depth about her experience at Guatemalan Christian Action (ACG).  She also talked a little about her plans for her future work in Guatemala.  Part of the work of IMM is to accompany our missionaries with Mayan people.  

Gloria Vicente at the Illinois Conference Meeting

by Rev. Michael Swartz

At the Illinois Conference Meeting at Springfield, Illinois, Gloria Vicente was the speaker at the Illinois Maya Ministries luncheon that took place on Saturday, June 6, in the Convention Center. Gloria, along with her husband, Santos, and their baby, Nicolas, were present with about twenty conference members, and we all had lunch together.

Gloria, as the speaker, shared some of her own journey with us. There is something remarkably engaging when persons give witness to their own experience. There is power when we construct the narrative of our life. Gloria began by talking about the experience of her family.

The village where she lived was totally destroyed by the military. It was quite near the village of the Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, and Gloria’s father knew Vicente Menchu, Rigoberta’s father. Gloria’s father met with Vicente Menchu the night before he was killed in the 1980 burning of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City. The Campasino Unity Group had entered the Spanish Embassy and the Guatemalan police burned down the building on January 31, 1980, killing 36 persons, including the Spanish Ambassador. This was a defining event in the Guatemalan Civil War, and in Gloria’s life.

Gloria’s family fled to Mexico, and later to Texas. In Texas they were sheltered by a Presbyterian Church, and later they came to Chicago and were offered sanctuary by the University Church in Hyde Park. This was all part of the Sanctuary movement, and she came to Chicago in 1985, when she was ten years old.

Gloria remembers interpreting into English for her father as he spoke to groups in the Chicago Metropolitan Sanctuary Alliance and in the Chicago Religious Leadership Network.

Later, accompanied by a delegation of Disciples and members of the United Church of Christ, she travelled with her father and saw for the first time the village of Sac Ja in Guatemala. She saw the place where he grandparents were killed. She saw their names listed among those killed on the pillars in front of the National Cathedral in Guatemala City. She walked the land that they had worked as campasino farmers. This was a profound experience for Gloria, having grown up in the United States. This required quite a lot of emotional processing.

“As I learned to process the pain it made me want to go (back to the homeland of my ancestors) and serve as a missionary,” says Gloria. “I feel called to serve and to be a bridge builder.” Gloria is aware that on the one hand she has a lot in common with the people in Guatemala, and on the other hand her differences are significant as well – growing up in Chicago. “I want to return and accompany others as we were accompanied in our time of need.”

Gloria is now assigned by Global Ministries – a joint ministry of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), http://www.globalministries.org/, and she is working in Santa Cruz, in the highlands of Guatemala with ACG – Guatemalan Cultural Action. This is in the K’iche’ region and Gloria is impressed with her co-workers.

Gloria has been living and learning in Guatemala. She was married to Santos Par, whom she met in Guatemala. Her husband is K’iche’, and she has been learning the language. Her husband is from Huehuetenango. Among her responsibilities with ACG is to receive international delegations. She said she hoped to see some of us who were at the luncheon in Guatemala!

She and Santos are in the United States right now. Her son, Nicolas was born in the US. He will soon have a surgery and then they will be able to return to Guatemala.

In the last few years Gloria has become ever more aware that her life has purpose. The very unusual experiences she has had, being born of Mayan people in Guatemala, travelling through Mexico to arrive in Chicago. Having been sheltered by the church and given sanctuary, then to return as a missionary and bridge-builder to Guatemala – give her an ability understand and to act in this moment.

Gloria’s talk was an inspiration to us all.

Guatemalan Cultural Action (ACG), Healthy Stove Project

On May 2002 a group of doctors from the United States spent one week making house visits in ACG's communities. A total of 250 community members were examined. At week's end, the doctors informed ACG that their findings included eye infections, respiratory problems, constant headaches, burns, chronic fatigue, etcetera. Such findings were the result of smoke inside the families' homes on a daily basis, created by floor or raised cooking fires without chimneys. While men tended to the agricultural sphere of labor outdoors, it was apparent that women, girls, and small children were the most effected. ACG evaluated the doctors' findings and were determined to begin a healthy stove initiative.

ACG also found that the new stoves burn a third less firewood. So there is a reduction in the amount of trees cut needed to burn for fires in the home. Ecologists have determined that a group of 500 people need a total of one square kilometer of forest in order to meet their annual usage of firewood. The average annual consumption of firewood for one family is between 600-900 kilograms. A healthy stove reduces this amount by two thirds. (The Sphere Project, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response, Oxfam, p. 208)

Here's what you can do! Help ACG build stoves for over 1500 families still on a waiting list. Support the work of Illinois Maya Ministries. Make a difference today on your own, with your family, with your church, and help a family breathe easier. You can do this by: Making a special gift of $300 to cover the cost of a healthy stove. Write a check to the Illinois Conference UCC with an important memo indicating: Illinois Maya Ministry, Healthy Stoves.

Please send to: Illinois Maya Ministry; Illinois Conference UCC; 1840 Westchester Blvd, #200; Westchester, IL 60154.

Illinois Conference Meeting Workshops

Friday Workshop: Immigration and the Midwest: The Destruction of a Small Town
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid of a rural Iowa community has brought two Iowa communities to the breaking point. Learn more about the Illinois Maya Ministry delegation to those communities, the local United Church of Christ response, and how you can protect your community. Illinois Maya Ministy is working to develop a more humane immigration policy. Browse educational materials available to educate your congregation. Begin discussion with Illinois Maya Ministry about how your congregation might become part of a future delegation.

Friday Workshop: Gloria Vicente: Global Ministry Missionary and Illinois Conference Member
Gloria Vicente will be returning to Guatemala soon to continue her work as a Global Ministry Missionary in partnership with Guatemalan Cultural Action. Her workshop will focus on the programs & mission of ACG, including information and stories and pictures of the microcredit program, scholarships, and “healthy stove” project.

Report from one of our Partners--Guatemalan Cultural Action (ACG)

Asociación Acción Cultural Guatemalteca, ACG

February 9, 2009

Guatemalan Cultural Action

2008 Report

Guatemalan Cultural Action (ACG) was established in 1989 as groupings of Mayan Guatemalans affected by the civil war in that country were able to return to their rural lands and rebuild their lives. Prior to 1989, they had lived as refugees in Mexico or had been internally displaced during the conflict. Global Ministries has partnered with ACG since its beginnings. ACG has four main objectives: 1) to promote community projects in the area of education, culture, economics, and ecology; 2) to promote Mayan and Christian spirituality as inspiring and encouraging sources of meaning for community work; 3) to promote ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue in promotion of a climate of harmony, peace, and solidarity within rural, indigenous communities; and 4) to provide training for the communities on their human rights and how to defend them.

In 2008, ACG created a three year plan for 2008 to 2010. The Strategic Plan 2008-2018 also was elaborated through several workshops that included representatives from various communities and members of the ACG Board of Directors. Through two ACG General Assemblies it was possible to elect a new Board, create the Strategic Plan 2008-2018, and review what has been accomplished during year 2008 in order to plan for the work in 2009. The monitoring commission of ACG had two meetings to ensure all operations were going as projected and to make suggestions for the work ahead. The ACG administration worked on revision and authorization of documents, meetings, and proceedings with the help of ACG's Executive Director.

Additional achievements included:

* Repairs and maintenance at San Carolos Borromeus Farm and marketing of their products.
* The creation and distribution of the Association News Bulletin to inform the communities in Guatemala and in other countries.
* The "Bees" Project for credit and savings, utilized by 710 women between January and November 2008.
* Distribution of 42 irons and other materials to build firewood-efficient "Thrifty" stoves in the Santa Elena and Nueva Libertad communities.
* 31 students helped through ACG's scholarship program.

Limited economic resources forced a reduction in personnel but ACG continued to push through the work in 2008.

The Strategic Plan 2008-2018 will serve as a guide in achieving all priority projects and programs. ACG is most proud of the success of the Women’s Program. ACG’s goal for 2009 is to reach 1,000 beneficiaries and to continue to lay the groundwork for self-sufficient programs. As in the past, the participating families will benefit from the moral, spiritual, and financial support of ACG through projects, education, community participation, and personal rights.

From Guatemalan Cultural Action

FOR OUR CHRISTMAS:

The environmental problems that affect the countries of the world are a clear sign that humanity has lost its values as well as [forgotten] the importance of considering ourselves part of the planet, and not owners of it. It has not been assumed that each one of us plays a very important role in preserving and conserving our world, beginning with concrete actions and not waiting for others to do something for us. We forget that we have to do something for ourselves, especially those that have the responsibility of governing. Global warming preoccupies governments right now, but there are no concrete actions that demonstrate that they have the will to diminish the factors that favor its worsening in the short term. The criminalization of social struggles, in the moment that we get on the train of development, is another way of negating the citizen’s right to make demands that lead to harmonious coexistence. The anchorage of the process of development is the consequence of the interest the few rich have of increasing the number of hungry mouths for the expansion of their sources of wealth. The parallel government, or the parallel governments, of our countries [I think he’s referring to corporations, and the power they have over actual governments] have kidnapped the law, tying the hands of state leaders to apply these laws. They have bought the will [translation?] so that it is them that have the greatest ability to act with freedom.

Individual interests are above the collective interest, where those that have benefited by the vote of the people act in such a manner that they besmirch the dignity of the people, proposing laws that benefit them [the rich], ignoring the initiatives that ought to help give life to laws that benefit the majority, like what happened with the initiative to compensate Congressional representatives and what the magistrates of the Supreme Court have done in order to maintain themselves in their posts, consenting to the aims of future authorities of occupying their posts without complying with legal requirements. The increase of violence is bleeding out the already very injured Guatemala.

The most troublesome is that they are blinding the life of young citizens and women. It seems that the effects of the post war are prolonging themselves and Guatemala is becoming in a very bad position in terms of human rights violations. The actions undertaken by the Latin American people to preserve their dignity and their free will have bothered imperialism, led by the World Trade Organization, the IMF, and the World Bank. One very concrete case is the efforts of the countries for the creation of MERCOSUR, ALBA, and the more recent Banco del Sur. Nevertheless, the most interesting is the tireless struggle of the people to be counted. The vicious circle of power in creating political demagogues has significant effects on the conscience of humanity. The United States’ fear of Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia and other countries is because they are gaining ground in carrying out concrete action to stand up to health problems, education, and trying to create mechanisms to reduce social inequalities. The Latin American School is challenging the School of the Americas, producing professionals disposed to lend their services in the most marginalized communities, as is the case with Cuban doctors in Guatemala; young Guatemalans are also graduating, while the {School of the] Americas continue[s] producing professionals of torture and antiterrorism. Pacification by warlike means has allowed the interests of the powerful to openly control the wealth of other countries with their interventionist politics; such is the case in Iraq, Palestine, and very possibly, Iran. I hope that actions favor peace and development that fills us with hope. When the streams and brook come together they form grand rivers. I hope that our God, creator of all that exists, pours out his blessings upon each one of you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

From Mary Naftziger, University Church Guatemala Partnership Group, Sharing a Message from Juan Carlos (ACG) who tells of Gloria Vicente's Arrival

Dear fellow Guate Partnership group members,

I imagine some of you have heard from Virgilio that Gloria got to Guatemala Monday. We've exchanged occasional e-mails with Juan Carlos and his latest one this week included the following message about Gloria's arrival. Anyone who wants to help me improve my Spanish is please to send me a private e-mail with corrections. Mary

From: Juan Carlos DeLeon Ventura:

Hola Mary y Bob,

Felicidades por el amor tan grande que sienten por ser abuelos, es otra etapa que nos presenta la vida.

Congratulations for the great love you are experiencing in being grandparents, another stage that life gives to us.

Gloria ya llego en ACG, lo fuimos encontrar en el aeropuerto de Guatemala, ahora ya esta en el Quiche, iniciando una planificacion en los multiples trabajos que lo espera en ACG.

Gloria has arrrived en ACG, and we went to meet her at the Guatemala City airport; now she is in Quiche, beginning to plan/organize for the many tasks that await her at ACG.

Todo bien sin novedad.

All is fine as usual.

Por favor de avisar a los resto de Grupo de Chicago que ACG esta pasando en momentos historicos de tener otra voluntaria mas, con en unico fin de mejorar la relacion, el trabajo y conjunto buscar una paz para el pueblo guatemalteco (indigena).

Please let the rest of the Chicago group know that ACG is experiencing an historic moment in having another volunteer, with the purpose or end result being improving our relationships and the work, so that together we search for peace for the indigenous people of Guatemala.

Hasta luego

Juan Carlos