Partners for Arlington and Guatemala (PAG)

… Once change begins, it cannot be stopped. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore” -- Cesar Chavez

WHO WE ARE
Partners for Arlington and Guatemala (PAG) is a project of UUCA that promotes human rights in Guatemala and fosters independence and dignity for immigrants in the local community.  PAG:

• Sponsors human rights monitors (accompaniers) in Guatemala for communities and individuals threatened with violence and repression;
• Educates our community about the history and human rights concerns of Guatemala;
• Works collaboratively with the local immigrant community served by the Gates of Ballston Outreach Center in Buckingham. Contact Nancy Hall or Sue Randall
• Provides scholarships for Mayan high school students whose families were directly affected by the violence of the 36-year internal conflict in Guatemala.

BACKGROUND

From 1960 – 1996, Guatemala experienced a violent internal conflict during which more than 200,000 people were killed or ‘disappeared’, and one million more were forced to flee and seek refuge in the mountains, in Guatemala City or in Mexico.  At the height of the conflict in the 1980’s, the Guatemalan military and dictators waged both a campaign of urban repression against students and labor leaders and  a rural ‘scorched earth’ policy that resulted in the destruction of entire indigenous villages and more than 600 massacres.  The U.N. Commission for Historical Clarification in 1999 concluded that the acts committed by the State’s armed forces and conscripted paramilitaries constituted genocide against the Mayan people.

After 1993, as violence diminished and the involved parties moved forward with a peace process, refugees began to return to rebuild their lives and communities.  They wanted to find the remains of family members and gather evidence to hold accountable those responsible for the massacres; they were threatened, and many were killed.  So, those threatened turned to the international community for help.  (To learn more, click on A Primer on Guatemala.

Human rights organizations from several countries responded to the request for help and began to place long-term volunteers, known as accompaniers, side-by-side with rural people, communities and organizations to deter human rights violations.  Since 2000, a U.S. grassroots organization, NISGUA - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala – has sent accompaniers to Guatemala as part of this international network.

In 2006, UUCA joined NISGUA’s network of a dozen Sponsoring Communities and agreed to support accompaniment.  Through the PAG project, the church has supported several young people (9 as of Sept. 2011) who accompany Mayans and rural communities threatened for developing evidence for genocide trials, for opposing transnational mining operations that devastate their ancestral lands and water supply, and for organizing against inundation of their villages to build hydroelectric power reservoirs. (For more information on PAG, contact Suttons.

WHAT DO ACCOMPANIERS DO?

The presence of an accompanier in a situation where violence is threatened can dramatically change the dynamics of what is happening.  As one Mayan survivor said,

“Your presence lets us do the work that we need to do, and not always be afraid.  There are so many people who don’t want to see justice here, who don’t want to see healing.  The work is ours, it is our country, it is for us to do; but you open the space for us to do that work.  We need your presence.”

Ali, one of UUCA’s former accompaniers, reflected on the significance of being in Guatemala this way:

“The safety that people expressly felt in my presence didn't seem to be grounded in the current Guatemalan reality I was becoming more and more familiar with - a collaborative effort by various heads of government, transnational corporations, drug-traffickers, and large-landowning families to exert power in whatever way possible.  I was starting to see what little value my passport would actually hold in any conflict. However, that didn't really seem to matter, as I was struck again and again by how undeniably real the sense of safety my presence provided was for the people I spent time with… I think accompaniment also made people feel more hopeful. Many people told me that our visits made them feel like people still cared and like they weren't as alone anymore…

I don't think I'm going to be able to stop powerful people from making decisions that cause other people pain. But there are still so many things I, we, can do - the connections we can choose to make everyday to the humans all around us, the ways we can allow ourselves to grow to love each other better, with more respect and more joy, the ways we can show each other, even in the smallest ways, that our lives are valuable, at a time when that value is increasingly put into question by systems that favor capital over lives. Most importantly, we have the incredible ability to imagine new and better worlds and ways of relating to each other.”

SOME EXAMPLES OF PAG’S WORK:

• Sponsorship of 9 accompaniers since 2006;
• Educational series on Mayan culture; immigration factors; human and environmental consequences of gold mining by transnational corporations; U.S. policies in Central America; hearing our immigrant neighbors’ stories;
• Conversations with returned accompaniers;
• Annual newsletter, Partner Noticias, to all who attend UUCA;
• Social justice delegations to Guatemala, led by UU Service Committee and Guatemalan Human Rights Commission;
• Advocacy and witness through visits to Congress members, letter writing campaigns, and support of human rights organizations;
• Volunteers at Buckingham/Gates Center who work in after-school tutoring, ESL classes, computer training, GED tutoring, videotaping instruction, and leadership mentoring;
• Collaboration with immigrant community on annual international potluck dinner celebration, sharing of Mayan dance, art and weaving traditions, and Buckingham children’s choir;
• Jobs Bank pairing immigrants with UUCA-ers needing help.

FINANCIAL AND VOLUNTEER NEEDS

The work of PAG in Guatemala and here at home depends entirely on the support and participation of individuals.  Accompaniers are essentially volunteers who donate their time for a minimum of 6 months.  As a Sponsoring Community, PAG provides a modest monthly stipend of $300, some support for medical coverage and airfare a return entry stipend, and administrative support to NISGUA.

All in all, PAG needs $9500 to provide one year of accompaniment in Guatemala and for its work with local immigrants.   Your generous financial support is greatly appreciated and makes a world of difference.  Donation checks may be written to UUCA, with “PAG” written in the memo line, and mailed to UUCA, 4444 Arlington Blvd., Arlington, VA 22204.  For more information, contact Suttons.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Join the UUCA-PAG YAHOO! Group

Join the PAG online UUCA community

Volunteer time & talents - contact:
Chris Sutton - Coordinator

Pat Davis - Accompaniers

__________ - Advocacy

Nancy Hall - Buckingham Co-chair

Sue Randall- Buckingham Co-chair

John Sutton - PAG Yahoo Group

Anne McKnight - Mayan Scholarships

PAG Newsletters

Spring 2011

Spring 2010
Winter 2008

Fall 2007

Accompanier Letters to UUCA

Laura (Dec 2011)

Courtney (Jan 2012)

Laura (July 2011)

Laura (May 2011) 

Tad Teaches Maya Achi Phrases:

PHOTO ALBUMS

Accompaniers Photos

2010 Trip: Why Emigrate to US?

Our Immigrant Neighbors

2009 Trip: Why the Genocide?

Neighborhood Fiestas

Local Mayans' Creative Arts