gaia x Guatemala: San Pedro Yepocapa
At 9:30 AM, October 18, we leave Antigua for a 1.5 hour drive in a pick up truck for a visit to San Pedro Yepocapa. We stumble upon its market in the centre of the town, where we realize that we are literally the only ‘tourists’ around. The people at the market greet us as if we were locals, with kind smiles and ‘buenos dias’, although their staring at us is evidence that the town is not used to outsider visits. San Pedro Yepocapa is one of the villages that Félix visited multiple times after the eruption of the Fuego volcano. An association he collaborated with collected many donations in the first donation wave, but was not able to use all of them. For 3,000 quetzales (+/- €350), Felix bought a part of the donations and delivered it to people who are victims of the eruption, yet neglected by the government for not being ‘actual victims’ as they live on the side of the volcano where lava and mud did not leave their traces. However, as a result of the volcanic eruption and the volcanic activity in general, sand continues to fall on their laminate roofs, leaving holes in them and causing damage to people’s health. These people are victims of (the lack of) governmental policy in general and are living in low-resource conditions on public land. This day, we are visiting one of these communities in San Pedro Yepocapa.
Félix leads us from the market square onto the streets. We stop in front of a narrow alley, where Félix is told by two little girls that the man he is looking for, don Pedro, is still at work. We follow the girls back to the market, where don Pedro’s wife is making and selling tortillas. She tells us don Pedro will be home at 14:00, makes an unnecessary apology, and asks us hopefully whether we have time to wait. We decide to stroll around town for a bit to kill time. We follow a road downwards, where we are passed and waved at by children in school busses who are singing Spanish pop songs at the top of their lungs. We start a chat with a boy from first grade around the corner of his house, and are asked to come and enter the piece of land he lives on. On this 80m2, four one-room laminate houses have been placed, supported by unfounded wooden structures. We are welcomed by the mother, daughters and grandchildren of the family, and the boy excitedly starts playing football with us. We are told that the ground this family lives on is not theirs, and that they wouldn’t live there would it not have been for the cemetery that was constructed between 2016 and 2018, 3 minutes walking uphill. The family used to live right next to where the cemetery is situated now, but was forced to leave due to its construction, which was causing severe damage to the family’s health. The construction was completed in February 2018. The family is still waiting for a sign of the municipality to return home uphill. We follow the family towards the cemetery. The cemetery’s building and its ground are absolutely beautiful, and form an uncomfortable contrast with the living conditions of the majority of San Pedro Yepocapa’s citizens, including the family we are visiting. The cemetery guard tells us that this cemetery was built for all people of San Pedro Yepocapa, just like the older cemetery downhill, and that the cemetery costs of both cemeteries are equal. We doubt it. On our return downhill, one of the family members tells us that the laminate roofs of their houses are increasingly being damaged by the falling sand as a result of the eruption of the Fuego volcano. After the eruption, this family was unable to gain access to any donations, despite their living conditions and the fact that they were actual victims of the eruption. While the town’s Salon was stacked with donations, not a single bag of flour was given to this family. They apologize for not being able to offer us a glas of water. Stunned by their kindness, we counter the apology for not having brought them anything.
Side note: On our way to visit the family we came to San Pedro Yepocapa for, we ask an inhabitant about the cemetery costs of both cemeteries. The older cemetery is free. The cemetery costs of the new, beautiful cemetery add up to 3,500 quetzales (+/- €410).
We meet don Pedro at his home, which looks similar to the houses we have seen earlier this day. He is clearly happy to see Félix. We climb in the back of the pick up truck, accompanied by don Pedro, a friend of his, and their two daughters. The goal of this visit is to see how the families of don Pedro’s community live and, elaborating on Félix’s experiences during his previous visits, to investigate how we can help this community taking small steps towards more sustainable living conditions. We do not make any promises; we merely visit some families of don Pedro’s community and try our best to adopt a humble attitude towards these people, who seem happy to receive a visit from strangers. Don Pedro guides us to four different families, all of whom are unable to buy the land they live on, live on low wages and resources, and basically survive from day to day. At the first visit to one of these families, we experience the health-damaging effects of open stoves. This specific family consists of a mother, son and wife, and seven children, of which only two can go to school. It starts to rain. We are invited in one of the one-room laminate houses to wait until the rain passes. On our next visit, we meet the cousin of don Pedro’s friend, who is partly paralyzed and therefore in a state of incapacity for work. She has a child but no husband, and is completely dependent on her sister, in whose house she lives. This sister works in town, and in return only receives some food and the right to live in the house we are visiting. The story of their neighbors is equally eye-opening. The father of the family introduces us to one of his sons, Jorge, who is ‘especial’, as he cannot talk nor walk. At home, Jorge mainly sits in a 12-year old wheelchair, which has become too old and broken to function. Jorge can only go somewhere if his father carries him. Therapy helps to improve Jorge’s situation, but costs 60 quetzales (+/- €7) a week. Two years ago, when he was about to start therapy, Jorge’s mother was diagnosed with ovary cancer. The operational costs were 15,000 quetzales (+/- €1,770), for which the father got a loan. As a result, therapy of Jorge was put on hold. Due to the high interest rate, the loan eventually added up to a total of 24,000 quetzales (+/- €2,820). Within a couple of weeks, his father tells us gladly, Jorge will be able to resume his therapy.
Back at don Pedro’s home, he hands a file over to Félix. The file contains copies of the identity cards of 85 people of don Pedro’s community. These copies may help Félix in achieving steps in the development and execution of a sustainable project plan. This situation makes us realize that Félix gained complete trust of this community, which was established by being genuinely interested, helpful, humble, and on-ground during a significant period of time.
