This blog post was originally published earlier this week by Ma’yan Tikvehhttp://mayantikvah.blogspot.com/2015/08/earth-etude-for-elul-10-guatemalen.html and by Jewcology. http://jewcology.org/2015/08/earth-etude-for-elul-10-guatemalen-etudes-for-the-earth/
Ma’yan Tikveh is translated as Wellspring of Hope. It is a congregation without walls in Massachusetts that spends much of its time praying outdoors. Its founder, Rabbi Katy Allen, is committed to repairing the world, particularly the earth. For Elul, Ma’yan Tikveh sponsors 40 days of Earth Etudes to preparing for Rosh Hashanah. This one is mine:
An etude is a song, a song of praise. This summer I spent time bouncing on a bus as part of American Jewish World Service’s Global Justice Fellowship in Guatemala. Part of a two year program, we studied text together, we lobbied together, we learned organizing skills together and then we experienced Guatemala together.
It is hard to reconcile the beauty of the land together with the brokenness of the country. In 1954 there was a coupe organized in part by the United Fruit Company and the CIA to protect US interests and land ownership. There was a bloody civil war, a genocide really, with a peace accord that was signed in 1996. But these struggles are not yet over. On September 6, 2015, there will be yet another election and land rights and land ownership are some of the hotly contested issues.
For the Mayan people, the indigenous people, the land is very important. We were witnesses to several Mayan blessings to start our meetings. The first was at an NGO Codecut which trains Mayan women to be midwives. Their circle included colorful candles symbolizing sun, rest, water, purity, blood, transparency, air, sky and the green natural world. We told the story of Shifrah and Puah, the two midwives in the book of Exodus whose civil disobedience enabled the Jewish people to survive. I watched as the head of Codecut, Maria Cecelia, beamed as the story was told. Unfamiliar with the story, she understood the connection as her face lit up with joy and appreciation at the parallels. Their song was an etude for the earth.
Later in the week we visited CCDA. By now the candle ritual was expected and understood, but this NGO added a Maize Dance. During this dance we learned the importance of the struggle for the land. It is not unlike the story of Abraham buying a burial plot for Sarah and the struggle that has ensued ever since. This is the very land that grows maize and provides nourishment for the people through the ubiquitous tortillas, also made as part of the dance. Their dance was an etude for the earth.
CCDA is a grassroots organization of small farmers in 11 regions of Guatemala. They advocate successfully for land rights, help local farmers increase their yields and protect land from environmental damage. Those increased yields help members gain access to health care and education. They can track accounts of human rights abuses against the indigenous, mostly Mayan farmers.
Some of this has come with the sale of their organic coffee beans, Café Justica, to global partners. Some of it is even more local. In their Patio Systemes, there was one woman who explained that with just one chicken on her patio, she was able to put her daughter through 6th grade and now she is entering high school. The woman herself does not read or write. “We’re not just in the business of buying and selling coffee,” said Leocadio Juracán, Coordinator of CCDA. “We are using the resources we have to work for justice in our communities.”
What CCDA is doing is building community. We watched as the women tended to their children together. As the older kids went to school. As the dogs played on the lawn. As the members of CCDA work together to protect their land rights, learn better farming techniques, provide education to their children, advocate for themselves, they are building community.. One pound of coffee at a time.
This advocacy comes with risk. There are 84 arrest warrants out for leaders of CCDA. Yet, they are making a difference in protecting their land rights, frequently from large multi-nationals who would like to engage in strip mining or who would like to put in large hydro-electric dams which would flood their homes and villages.
When Rosh Hashanah comes, I will be proud to be serving CCDA honey on my table, and Cafe Justica in my cup, making it an extra sweet new year. And I will remember the Guatemalan etudes for the earth.