Wednesday, October 7, 2009

ELVIRA

A cheerful, hard working, twenty six year old devoted mother of four, Elvira epitomizes the qualities of a bare-footed traditional Kekchi Maya woman. At daybreak you’ll hear her sweeping or washing the previous night’s dishes at the outdoor spigot otherwise referred to as the “pipe”. By the time you rise and head out to the open-air kitchen for breakfast the water is on for instant coffee and fry-jacks or tortillas are in the skillet on the open wood fire. Keeping her home neat and tidy and bellies full whenever possible are Elvira’s top priorities...not to mention keeping four very active children in crisp clean clothing that’s she’s laundered in the nearby Jacinta River! Other duties include gathering firewood in the bush, tending to her garden, managing the family finances, and caring for the needs of her children and extended family.
San Benito Poite, where Elvira was born, is a remote village deep in the “bush”, a dusty and bumpy forty mile drive from Cuxlin Ha where she now lives with her husband Ponciano and children Magdalena, Carlos, Marcelino (Marc), and Chrelina (Cheri).

ROSARIO

Rosario is a quiet Maya woman who came to Belize from Guatemala. Like her mother-in-law, Catalina, you will always see her in the traditional Maya dress and is most often barefoot. Rosario is married to Elvira’s brother, Alberto, and they have four children, Oscar, Benjamin, Alicia, and Brenda. They live a stone’s throw across the road from Elvira & Ponciano in Cuxlin Ha Village.
Rosario grew up in Guatemala and speaks primarily Spanish and Kekchi. She depends on her husband and sons to communicate with visitors. She is a skilled crafter and somehow manages to find the time to make baskets, hand bags, belts and jewelry. Like every Maya woman, Rosario is very hard working and takes great pride in caring for the needs of her family.

PRIMA

Along the Rio Blanco River in the village of Santa Elena, an hour’s drive into the bush from Cuxlin Ha, lives Ponciano’s brother Eucebio with his wife Prima and their four children. Eucebio is a farmer and the “chairman” of the village. His father, Hillario, lives in the village too. Hillario is a gentle man who has recently lost his vision so he depends a great deal on his family. There is no electricity in Santa Elena.
Prima is kind, soft spoken and shy until she gets to know you. There are few visitors that come to her village so the opportunities to sell baskets and other crafts are few. Many Maya women in remote villages like Santa Elena will leave on the bus long before dawn and travel a great distance to a tourist town in the hopes of selling some items. Quite often their sales are not even enough to cover the bus fare. They will sit all day without food or water asking passers-by if they would like to buy something. Then, returning to the village after a long day, the women will resume their duties of preparing the evening meal and tending to their family.

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