It all started on July 4th. If you remember, I previously wrote on here saying that we had a little "blip with safety" one week. Well, it was a little more than a blip. Three of our girls were on a hike with a couple of our native friends (including Lencho if you remember me talking about him), when they were held up at gunpoint for about 3 hours. All of there things were taken, and a native girl not from our group (two groups of hikers got held up) was raped.
So for the next couple of weeks we have been working close with the police, private investigators, and detectives to try to find the people who did this. The problem was, by doing this we were (against our will I might add) put in a newspaper article telling our story along with the name of "HELPS International", Melissa Flores (our country director), Lencho, and a picture of the back of Sean and Melissa's head and the side of Lencho's face. Also, we were on the evening news and on the Internet, name included. Why is this a problem? Well, if the people we were up against were part of any sort of gang or organized crime (we didn't know at this point any of their information), then they could easily hunt us down and retaliate, probably with violence because we were trying to take action and stop their work. Obviously, our situation at this point was not good. Later, the investigators found two houses filled with guns and other tourist items, and then we found out two cops were shot on the same volcano with another group of tourists.
(From this point I will be quoting from my journal to make things easier, so sorry if it doesn't make complete sense. This was written on Wednesday the 22nd, the day we found out we were leaving)
"Well... here we go. Tonight we found out we are leaving, all of us, in the next 2-3 days. Oh man, I don't even know where to begin or what to say. Remember how I said there was a shooting and two cops were injured? Here's what happened. A group of tourists were hiking up Acatenango (the volcano) and brought security guards as an extra protection. One of the tourists got sick, and the cops brought the tourist down to the bottom. On their way back, they (the cops) were ambushed, shot, and left in critical condition. Why was this done? Well, remember how I also said they raided some houses and found two houses filled with guns? That's not all. Those two houses were also filled to the brim with stolen goods: 30 or so backpacks, ipods, cameras, phones, video cameras, tents, even women's clothing. They took one man into custody who they think is related to our shooting as well as these robbings. So what we think is that the shootings of the cops on the mountains this weekend was retaliation from those associated with the robbings, the man in custody, and the raided houses.
"You see, it turns out this community is known for its crime- especially dealing with robbings. Its not just a couple of people, its the whole community we are dealing with. Its not that all of them are part of the gang doing the actual robbings, they fight as a means for the community to protect their brothers and friends. They protect/stick up for each other, and if anyone wants to 'mess' shall we say with one member of the community, the rest retaliate. Its all a matter of a twisted sense of pride.
"Also, it turns out that the man who is in custody is the son of the man we worked directly with for our reforestation and eco-tourism projects. Meaning that said father knows who we are, what we do, and our contact information dealing with HELP. Now lets put that with the fact that HELP was plastered over the newspaper, internet, and TV as the source of motivation behind the police raids against this community. Bad combination. What this means is that now we have men who may or may not be part of an organized crime association, who know all our information and are angry and clearly not afraid to use physical force and violence to get their revenge, who would be more than happy to find the people behind the police investigations and essentially 'eliminate the problem'. Yep. As in not good.
"On top of this, Sean (our country director) has received two phone calls from said father asking for personal information, alluding to certain suspicions and trying to get the volunteer's and Melissa's information. Then, two separate men have contacted Lencho and his friend with threats from this community. Now lets add it all up.
"Angry criminals who are in essence "above the law" (They've been doing this for years and no one's been able to stop them) + Police chasing after them making them more angry = retaliation from criminals to show whose boss + information on who started the whole thing + revenge and pride = trying to find people so that they can then retaliate with physical force = us in danger!
"So this evening we had a meeting where we were told all this information and that the US embassy, HELP's board, and BYU all unanimously agreed we have to leave the country ASAP. So I called tonight and got my flight changed to Friday noon.
"Wow. So there's the update. As for me? I don't even know what to think. Am I done here? No. Not even close. Have I done all that I can? No. Did I feel like I had so much more to give, especially since I am finally starting to get a hold of things? Yes. Was I excited to stay the next couple of weeks? More than I can describe. Overall, I'm not ready to go. I don't want to go. I LOVE it here times a million. I've been though SO much, and have invested so much of myself into this experience that it kills me to leave. I LOVE IT HERE! Man, this is crazy. I can't believe how fare I've come and grown!
"But on the other hand (and I told this to our group tonight full-heartedly in my debate mode), our purpose here is to make a difference. We came to life people out of their current circumstances, change mindsets, help eliminate poverty, and all in all change lives. I honestly believe that by us being here, taking our story to the law, demanding justice on the injustice of these circumstances, and by refusing to let things like this happen, we are making perhaps the single biggest impact we ever could have other wise. These people have been doing things like this for years, and little has been done to stop them. They are in essence above the law, where both native citizens and law enforcement alike are too afraid/not powerful enough to stop anything. But by us being here, going through what we did, and refusing to let evil and unjust men continue to harm innocent people, we could be making a push and effort that is needed to at least start the chain for change. By us doing this, we ARE making a HUGE difference in these people's lives! We are fulfilling all of our goals we started out with at a higher, more powerful political level than we ever could dream of, and by us leaving and tearing down our dreams, we can in return build up a community free from crime, and maybe stop this from happening to at least one person. By us leaving, we save that person. Isn't it worth it for that? Didn't we make a difference in at least their life? This is service and sacrifice on our parts, and if it is what it takes, I'll be the first person on that plane going home to fight for this cause.
"And there's my soap box on the matter. Who knows what's going to happen. Who knows what I'm going to do when I get home. Who knows where my life will lead me next. But what I do know is that god loves me, and he will provide no matter what comes my way. All I need to do is trust in his love, and have the faith to make the best of whatever situation I may be in."
And that is my journal entry on the matter. I thought that it explained everything better than I could now. So Thursday we closed down all of our projects, and Friday I came home. Thus ends my adventure to Guatemala. I do want to thank everyone for your support. Thank you for all of you who sent me money and helped fund this amazing work. I know that I am not done. This trip has taught me SO much, and was truly a life changing experience.
On a much lighter note, now that I am home, I can easily down load pictures. So enjoy!
My GCP orphans.
This man was cooking tortillas and meat on the hot rocks of a volcano. How cool!
Lake Atitlan... Beautiful!
Oh my goodness, you have a blog! This totally rocks. Uh, I found it through Garrett Smith's by the way...hope that's cool, because I definitely think you are awesome.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had an awesome trip! I've just been living large in Logan. :)