IN MEMORY
I know it is good to leave a space of time between blog post to allow our readers time to read them but the timing of this event is too precious for me not to join this blog and the one title Zacpotal together. Anyway the events happened together with one event’s photos being taken in between photos of the other. I hope that if you come across this blog first you will not let the convenience of a click keep you from going back to read the story of Zacpotal.
I want to dedicate this blog to our son Forrest who passed away on this day June 16 in the year 2006 and a young girl Mirage Perez Castro from Xesalli who passed away June 6th 2014. Her father is a good friend and member of the TRE Ixil team. There will not be a lot of words with this blog for it records a deed beyond word. You can see the silence in the crowd. The few words that do come from an event like death are deep and profound. Three words I saw in action during the days these photos were taken and the weeks surrounding the death of our son were community, family and friends.
We found out Saturday the seventh that Phillip’s daughter Mirage had passed away. Two and half weeks earlier Phillip had borrowed some money from me so he could take his daughter to Guatemala City for treatment. She had been battling an infection in her system for a year and a half. After two weeks of treatment her situation was only deteriorating and he prepared to go and bring her home again. He told me it was very expensive if she died in the hospital so it would be better to bring her home, pray and hope. Those are words of poverty that are hard for me to comprehend.
She passed away two days before he was to leave. After receiving the phone call announcing her death he left the community to go without telling anyone. The community quickly learned about the death for news like this cannot be hidden. They banded together to support the family and prepare to receive the young girl.
Early Sunday morning men started cutting and hauling firewood to his home. This is the second trip for these men. All day long wood was hauled, everyone participated.
The wood would provide a period of rest for Phillip when he returned and also allow the women to prepare a community meal.
Relief from a heavy burden.The wood would provide a period of rest for Phillip when he returned and also allow the women to prepare a community meal.
This is the first of three fire pits that were stated inside the kitchen. The next night one of the men commented how the women suffered. They cooked for 24 hours straight in that smoking kitchen.
A collection was taken and we bought four hundred pounds of corn and beans
The house was swept clean and a table prepared to receive the casket.
The women borrowed the big pots from the neighboring villages
At 2:30 in the morning Phillip and his daughter arrived. He had not slept for two days.
When the body was in place they gathered to pray
The following day at 12 sharp we descended down the hill. The girl had been dead for three and a half days and needed to be buried.
People had come from 5 villages to honor the family
They came
And they came
And they came
Arriving at the cemetery Mirage was carried to where her mother who had passed away years ago waited.
I did not take photos when Phillip spoke, it did not seem right. He spoke of suffering, of injustice, of sorrow here in this place. He also spoke of hope. Mirage was not here anymore. There was rest for her. He spoke in Spanish and his words were not translated into Ixil but they had a power that was felt by all. They at times seemed to be spoken just to me.
There was not the sound of a bugle blowing taps but the sound of the shovel and trowel mixing mortor as the cement cap was made. Candles were lit, flowers laid and the crowd slowly left in silence.
With a little help from friends Phillip and the whole crowd headed back up the hill to eat. To eat another meal, gather strength, face another day and carry on.
I feel at times I get on my soap box and that I am a little preachy because I believe life could be different. We could band together and do so much good in this world if we put our backs into it. But tell me where would we be without family, friends and community? On this day, in honor of Mirage, in honor of Forrest let us stand together for healing and hope and be the kind of community that will bring about the future that we have in our hearts.
I know it is good to leave a space of time between blog post to allow our readers time to read them but the timing of this event is too precious for me not to join this blog and the one title Zacpotal together. Anyway the events happened together with one event’s photos being taken in between photos of the other. I hope that if you come across this blog first you will not let the convenience of a click keep you from going back to read the story of Zacpotal.
I want to dedicate this blog to our son Forrest who passed away on this day June 16 in the year 2006 and a young girl Mirage Perez Castro from Xesalli who passed away June 6th 2014. Her father is a good friend and member of the TRE Ixil team. There will not be a lot of words with this blog for it records a deed beyond word. You can see the silence in the crowd. The few words that do come from an event like death are deep and profound. Three words I saw in action during the days these photos were taken and the weeks surrounding the death of our son were community, family and friends.
We found out Saturday the seventh that Phillip’s daughter Mirage had passed away. Two and half weeks earlier Phillip had borrowed some money from me so he could take his daughter to Guatemala City for treatment. She had been battling an infection in her system for a year and a half. After two weeks of treatment her situation was only deteriorating and he prepared to go and bring her home again. He told me it was very expensive if she died in the hospital so it would be better to bring her home, pray and hope. Those are words of poverty that are hard for me to comprehend.
She passed away two days before he was to leave. After receiving the phone call announcing her death he left the community to go without telling anyone. The community quickly learned about the death for news like this cannot be hidden. They banded together to support the family and prepare to receive the young girl.
Early Sunday morning men started cutting and hauling firewood to his home. This is the second trip for these men. All day long wood was hauled, everyone participated.
The wood would provide a period of rest for Phillip when he returned and also allow the women to prepare a community meal.
Relief from a heavy burden.The wood would provide a period of rest for Phillip when he returned and also allow the women to prepare a community meal. 
This is the first of three fire pits that were stated inside the kitchen. The next night one of the men commented how the women suffered. They cooked for 24 hours straight in that smoking kitchen.
A collection was taken and we bought four hundred pounds of corn and beans
The house was swept clean and a table prepared to receive the casket.
The women borrowed the big pots from the neighboring villages
At 2:30 in the morning Phillip and his daughter arrived. He had not slept for two days.
When the body was in place they gathered to pray
The following day at 12 sharp we descended down the hill. The girl had been dead for three and a half days and needed to be buried.
People had come from 5 villages to honor the family
They came
And they came
And they came
Arriving at the cemetery Mirage was carried to where her mother who had passed away years ago waited.
I did not take photos when Phillip spoke, it did not seem right. He spoke of suffering, of injustice, of sorrow here in this place. He also spoke of hope. Mirage was not here anymore. There was rest for her. He spoke in Spanish and his words were not translated into Ixil but they had a power that was felt by all. They at times seemed to be spoken just to me.
There was not the sound of a bugle blowing taps but the sound of the shovel and trowel mixing mortor as the cement cap was made. Candles were lit, flowers laid and the crowd slowly left in silence.
With a little help from friends Phillip and the whole crowd headed back up the hill to eat. To eat another meal, gather strength, face another day and carry on.
I feel at times I get on my soap box and that I am a little preachy because I believe life could be different. We could band together and do so much good in this world if we put our backs into it. But tell me where would we be without family, friends and community? On this day, in honor of Mirage, in honor of Forrest let us stand together for healing and hope and be the kind of community that will bring about the future that we have in our hearts.
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