Good News & Bad News

Greetings and all the best of the New Year to you and yours!

I’m chagrined to have written that on the 23rd of January, but as you know, vacations are a curious necessity that are often a two-edged sword!

When we genuinely disconnect from the intensity of our lives, there’s a delicious slo-mo that expands to fill the empty spaces. The problem is that in our absence the tasks pile up, and we reenter the more-than-usual work arena in Rip Van Winkle mode!

I'm happy to report that the team and our partners enjoyed the holidays and we want you to know we're all working to catch up from a much-deserved break! We wish the same for you.

Change the channel.

You know that we usually focus on positive stories, but right now it’s important that you know that Mara gang members in Guatemala organized an intended jail break for their comrades during the weekend of January 17-18.

After some skirmishes and victims, the government settled the prison situation and on Monday the 19th, President César Bernardo Arévalo de León declared a national, month-long State of Emergency.

The violence in the city of Guatemala and in several key locations throughout the country are reporting a continuation of violence.

Fortunately, (so far), the violence has not escalated in the rural and remote locations like Lake Atitlán where our Santiago partners live and work.

The grandparents of our partner leadership lived through 30 years of a brutal Civil War, so there’s an innate awareness of how power and violence can (and often are) woven into the cultural fabric of normal existence.

Our partners understand that poverty and illiteracy are the among the tangled, messy consequences of social upheaval. Therefore, their thoughtful continuation of daily activities that target poverty and illiteracy—during a national state of emergency—goes beyond the benefits of the programs themselves and contributes to a local sense of calm normalcy.

Thanks for being part of that story.

Saludos,

Anita Smart

Executive Director