didn't do them justice

ok, so the ladies in those pictures need more written about them.

I like their group a lot. We laugh a lot. I work with a couple of neighboring villages, and they know this. They've asked me, "do those ladies over there joke around like us?" We get off track a lot, much of this has to do with me. I let it happen. As exciting as compost piles, radishes, and chickens are, it's ok to let things get off topic into something we can all laugh at. I've told the other groups that we hardly work here because of all the jokes everyone makes.

one day the debate was, when, or at what point, is a man a "don" or mr. One of them called me Don Jacobo, then another woman said, "he's not don jacobo, todavia es joven", he's still young. Joven is "youth" or "young". So i posed the questions, when does one become "don". this discussion went on for some 5 minutes, never reaching a conclusion. That day, i said "back to the subject at hand" quite a few times, but didn't mind.

a lot of the jokes are made about me. it's a good thing. normally when people can make jokes about you down here, it means they like you. they say that i'm going to take one them back to the states with me. i play along. i've told them that there will be a series of tests and interviews for the final choice.

remember that these are all women above the age of 40, some of them with children numbering into the double digits. ha.

The president of the group is in one of the pics, she's got a big smile and is holding a purse. She was "trying" to get out of the picture when i took it. looks like a pose to me. she was taking me around to see the different gardens. We walked around for 2 hours or so. good times. good conversation.

We talk about the U.S. sometimes. Some of them have children or cousins, or brothers, or sisters, or what have you, that have gone to the states. i tell them how much people that go from Guatemala have to work really really really hard in America and that there is a lot of risk. "but there's money there" they say. i can't deny this. one of the old lady's that looks 80, but is only 60, said her daughter wants to visit me MN. I told her it's really cold.

like i said in the seed buying entry, i don't give these women anything, all i do is teach them how to do things, what to use, etc. there's a lot of development in guatemala that is extremely paternalistic. ngo's will come in and give, not fish, but other food away. they give them all this stuff (seeds, chemical fertilizer, water tanks). many of the people here are hard to work with, because at this point, they expect to be given things, and anything else is not worth their time. i can't really blame them.

not these ladies though. they've done their work. many of them had to carry the soil from other places to be able to plant at their house. those fences made of corn stalks take A LOT OF TIME to make. scary thing- they're doing it on my word.

there are days that aren't easy down here. I question myself sometimes. then there are days like last friday when i took these pictures. These are the days that count. Friday was NOT a shipwreck.