A letter to our friends and family....

Dear family and friends,
As many of you already know, we will be heading down to Guatemala very soon. Our purpose for the next few months is to study Guatemalan culture and practice our Spanish while discerning whether two years in Guatemala is the right step for us at this time. On January 4th we will make the 5 hour fight to Guatemala City and from there travel 5 hours by bus to Xela (pop. 250,000) for a month or two of Spanish language school and cultural study. Although we studied Spanish during our time at Su Casa Catholic Worker Community in Chicago, we still have much to learn. Following language school we will be living and volunteering in San Lucas Tolimán a town of about 22,000 located on southern shore of Lake Atitlán. During our time in San Lucas we will visit the rural village of Unión Victoria, where BVS/Global Mission Partnerships sponsor an accompaniment project.

This project exists due to the many injustices that occured when Spanish speaking people decided native Guatemalans were dirty, uneducated and should be considered lesser than themselves. Once violence started, anyone who attempted to defend his or herself was considered a communist. Folks in the community of Unión Victoria have been forced to flee their native villages (and fertile farm land) for the safety of isolated villages in the highland. This is a place where for every person still living, at least one other person died during the civil war of either hunger or violence.

The Brethren Volunteer Service and Global Missions Partnerships send volunteers to Union Victoria, Guatemala for 2 years to live in solidarity with this simple farming community. The purpose of this project is to lend a hand and an ear to people who continues to face hardship, both racially motivated and simple because of the rough conditions of rural life.

Our hope is to live along side the people of Unión Victoria to learn from them and offer what we can, no matter how small, to their continued struggle for peace. We thank you, our family and friends for your support and prayers. We also ask that you keep in touch with us through email and this blog. Most importantly we ask that you continue to be vigilant on all fronts in regards to the struggles of the poor and oppressed in your communities and around the world.

Sincerely,
Aaron and Becky