Youth Helping Youth Project: Vamos a Guatemala!
By Rachel Mason

In February 2006, youth from the Provincial Aboriginal Youth Council (PAYC) will be traveling to Guatemala for a cultural exchange with Mayan youth. PAYC is partnering with MOJOMAYAS (Movement of Mayan Youth), to work together on strengthening Indigenous youth leadership. Mojomayas has regional youth councils, similar to the Friendship Centre’s local youth councils, and a national council as well. PAYC will be meeting with representatives of the national youth council in the capital, Guatemala City, and will then travel to some of the surrounding regions to meet with youth at their local councils. PAYC will be sharing information about how the Friendship Centre movement supports youth councils, and what our successes with youth councils have been. PAYC will also be learning about how Mojomayas works and what their youth councils’ goals are.

In Guatemala, Mayan people make up 60 % of the population. Although they are by far the majority, they have been oppressed by the colonialist population for centuries. Many Mayan youth can remember, from their own childhoods, the civil war in their country which was known as the "Silent Holocaust.” During the 1980’s, the military attempted to suppress “political uprisings” with violent tactics, specifically against Mayan peoples. As a result, 200,000 non-soldiers were killed, and 440 Mayan villages were wiped from the map. The results of this tragic and violent time are broken families, lack of schooling and job opportunities, addictions and health problems, and physical and emotional trauma.

But the Mayan people have retained their strength through all of this oppression. Near the end of this period of conflict, Mayan widows who had lost their husbands in the conflict came together to form an organization to fight for the rights of Mayan people. Mojomayas was born out of that organization of women, and now works to improve the living situation of Mayan youth and to make sure that their voices are heard. Mayan people are still kept out of many government decisions that affect them, but they are working hard to achieve more involvement and control.

Two youth from PAYC, Megan Clarkson (Victoria Native Friendship Centre) and Soren Poulsen (Nanaimo Tillicum Lelum Friendship Centre) will be going on the trip in February. This trip is the first in a series of three exchanges. If the funding is continued, Mayan youth from Mojomayas will be visiting BC next year—maybe you will meet them at your local Friendship Centre! And, on the final stage, a larger group of PAYC members will travel down to Guatemala to help Mojomayas develop their youth councils, making use of the knowledge and experience we have achieved with youth councils in BC. Check in the next issue for updates on the project, and in the March issue for a full report on the trip!

If you are interested in sending anything to Guatemala to help Mojomayas learn about your culture or youth council, please contact the PAYC Coordinator, Rachel Mason at rmason@bcaafc.com. Pictures, artwork, music or anything else would be welcome!

MOJOMAYAS IN ACTION