Chiapas- My Perspective

It is Tuesday and I have been here for the better half of a week. I am not going to lie, there have been times in which I thought to myself -Why am I here? Are we wanted here? Are we going to make life at all better for the communities we are working with?

These questions ran through my head as I sit in the back of a camioneta, exposed to the harsh daily rains of the Chiapan climate, sitting next to a Tzotzil man carrying Coca Cola to likely sell in the community. I feel it when I talk to the native people of Chiapas, speaking to them in a language that is foreign to them in Spanish-the language that marks the centuries of oppresion. At first I thought I would have a benefit, maybe even a connection to the Tzotil people, in that I speak Spanish and that there is indigenous blood that runs in my family, but here they serve as no benefit. We quickly realized that we are outsiders, and no matter what mastery we had of the Spanish language, it did not bridge the wide gap between us and them. Here in Chiapas there are two types of people- Those native to these lands (the Tzotzil and the Tzetal, etc) and everyone else (including us).

To the people of Chenalho we are outsiders and no matter how much we try to extend to them we will always be. We do not know understand what it is to be truly poor and oppressed. The years of discrimination, oppresion, and of being marginalize show in all of their faces. It is like this unspoken truth that envelops the community.

Our group came with the goal to make life a little better for the people of rural Chenalho, and in the process, learn from the community and remind us that what needs to be changed in this world. Even with the advances we make with this project, I feel that we will take away more than the people will ever take from us.

I never saw myself priveleged in comparision to my peers, actually, I have been at a disadvantage to the vast majority of them. However, with the support of my family and the grace of God I have found myself pursing an education and career in which only 1% of the world has a privelege of pursuing. What is to be said for the oppressed people of this state and country, and of all the world? Is it enough to say that I am lucky to have been born here in the US and to have these oppotunities within grasp? Why cant this be the case for them?

These thoughts have been in my mind the whole trip. And with them come the feeling of sadness and guilt. It is not right for these people to be in this state, it is not right for such poverty to plague anyone. Everyone deserves to live a life that is fulfilling and free from oppression, fear, and anxiety that you may not be able to feed your family.

Chiapas is a battleground of social justice and the struggle of the oppressed. There are many entities out here that are looking to empower the marginalized people of Chiapas. I just hope that what we are able to work with the people of rural Chiapas to hopefully make life better for them...