Gunpowder Children

Photo Source:  Child Labor Photographs

In rural Guatemala, children are expected to work - or they and their families do not eat. Firecracker manufacturing offers the highest pay for the children.  The work is repetitive, crippling, and extremely dangerous. Accidents and fatalities occur weekly.  A careless bump against a gunpowder-filled circle, could cause it to explode, and kill all the children in the work area.  Sparks are another danger and require extreme diligence (life Online).  

Children begin to manufacture firecrackers at the age of 6.  When demand for firecrackers is high, the children quit going to school in order to work longer hours.  9.9% of the boys and 5.5% of the girls  never return to school once the demand ebbs (IPEC).  A strip of firecrackers requires 3 days to manufacture.  Middlemen pay fifty cents per completed strip. Then they re-sell them for 12 times that amount.  There is no wage regulation within the firecracker industry.  Nor are there any health and safety codes.  

There are solutions being put forth to end, or at least reduce, the safety hazards faced by the children.  One program extends new business credit to families in exchange for promises to keep the children in school.  Another is working to build a safer firecracker factory.  At present, there are 5,000 children working in the Guatemalan firecracker industry.  

Indigenous Radio

Photo Source:  Esperanza Project

In the Peace Accords of 1996, the indigenous people of Guatemala were promised access to local radio frequencies.  Only commercial or government-run radio stations are currently allowable under Guatemalan law.  However, the commercial radio frequencies are sold at prices well beyond the financial resources of the Maya (Esperanza Project).  As a result, some Mayan individuals have set-up their own pirate radio stations.               

The radio programs offered on the stations typically include news stories, educational content, health information, and traditional Mayan music.  These programs are broadcast in 23 indigenous languages. There are 200+ Mayan stations operating illegally in Guatemala. Police are in the process of confiscating their equipment and shutting them down (Cultural Survival).  The broadcasters are punished with fines of $10,000 - $100,000 and up to 6 years in prison (Sound As a Dollar?).  It is not the illegality of the stations, nor the content of the programs, that ‘threaten’ the ruling power.  Rather, it is the underlying message that Mayan culture survives - despite massive attempts to eradicate it.

By denying access to radio frequencies and imposing steep penalties for transgressors, the Guatemalan government is attempting to silence the voice of the Maya.  The international community has taken note of this issue. Cultural Survival.Org has personally taken on the challenge of securing radio rights for the Maya.  They have organized the radio stations, drafted legislation, and conducted workshops with the broadcasters to help them run better quality, more efficient, broadcasting enterprises.  Anyone desiring to assist with the indigenous radio project should contact  Cultural Survival for more information.  For a fuller discussion of the issue of Maya radio access, please read Victoria Henderson’s master’s thesis, Sound As a Dollar?.

The Black Christ

Photo Source: Guatemala Guides

In the 1500’s, the people of Esquipulas desired to have a crucifix in their church.  Upon hearing of their desire, the Bishop of Antigua commissioned an artist to make a crucifix for them.  When it was completed, the villagers went to fetch it.  They built a platform on which to carry it back to Esquipulas.  As they walked through the countryside, the holy image drew hundreds of admirers.  Once in Esquipulas, the crucifix was placed in a small church. A pilgrim from Mexico prayed at the feet of crucifix, and was healed from his illness. The good news traveled fast.  Thousands of pilgrims came to view the crucifix. They brought candles for their relatives who could not make the journey.  Inside the church, the pilgrims burned their candles, along with a resinous incense. The smoke darkened the wooden crucifix. People began to call it the Black Christ (Writings of Scott Thomas).

The Archbishop of Guatemala made a pilgrimage to the Black Christ in the 18th century.   He was inspired to make the church bigger.  Then the popes began to visit. Pope John XXIII in 1961 and Pope John Paul II in 1996.  Pope John Paul II was moved by the pilgrimage experience and wrote about it here. The seed for the 1996 Guatemalan Peace Accords, which ended the Civil War, were drawn up in the holy town of Esquipulas (Lonely Planet). 

Today, thousands of people undertake a pilgrimage to Esquipulas during the year.  Many arrive in traditional clothing.  They sleep on the streets and sell their wares in colorful markets.  They spend hours standing in line, just to have a couple of minutes with the Black Christ.  Then they return home with tablets of healing clay, “tierra santo” and await their next pilgrimage opportunity.