Letters from the Field

April, 2004

Dear Friends,

Spring greetings to you this Easter and Passover. I am recently returned from Latin America (Guatemala, Argentina and Chile) and wanted to share some of my experiences with you. Since 1985 I have been going to Central and South America accompanying different groups in solidarity efforts and in the healing work of Capacitar. It has been a rich experience walking with people from so many cultures sharing joys and sorrows, encouraging, challenging and celebrating mutual growth.

It was wonderful to return to Chile to facilitate a fall retreat and enjoy the friendship of women doing remarkable work throughout the country. Capacitar started in Chile in 1993 under the auspices of a center for popular education. Now the group is a well-recognized NGO—Capacitar-Chile. It was a joy to see their growth and maturation and to celebrate the flowering of their work. With funds from Ireland, Capacitar-Chile recently built a beautiful center in El Cajon de Maipu, nestled in a canyon at the base of the Andes. The center is simple and grace-filled with a lovely Chartres-style labyrinth painted on the hardwood floor of the main gathering room.

In many ways I felt like a grandmother, as the Chilean women who have been part of the Capacitar effort over the years told me of their lives and accomplishments. Some had started their own women's groups or healing centers for those affected by domestic or political violence. Some worked with youth at risk in poor barrios. One teacher has been using Capacitar in her first-grade since the mid 90s. And some are leaders in ecological and feminists groups using Capacitar methods in their work and reflection. It was inspiring to hear how they had integrated an embodied spirituality with their efforts in social justice, healing of violence and healing of Mother Earth.

The theme of our retreat was "Healing the Healer". No matter what country I am working in, the major challenge I see with most staffs and healers is secondary trauma or compassion fatigue. In the case of Chile, after the fall of Pinochet there had been a rush into the economic miracle without dealing with the wounds and trauma from years of violence and oppression. Globalization has also had its negative impact, along with widespread contamination of air and soil and depletion of the ozone layer over parts of Chile (resulting in increased skin cancer and blindness in wildlife). One religious who has worked in Chile for many years described the enormous shift in rural culture within the past 4 years. There is a growing chasm between older generations still living on the farm (traditionally a mainstay of Chilean culture) and their children and grand children who are abandoning the family farm in a rush to embrace the computer, technology, material goods and future possibilities. She described a visit to one such farm where a woman carding wool from her sheep, spoke of her grandchildren who were learning computer skills and wanted to move away to the big city.

I had a similar experience of this time warp of cultural extremes in Guatemala where I have visited and worked since the late 1980s. On my first morning there I awoke to the pungent fragrance of incense and the sound of fervent prayers murmured in Mayan Quiche. For a moment I thought I was sleeping in some heavenly realm, rather than in the humble house of prayer run by two wonderful 85 year-old Maryknoll Sisters. (At one time this church center served as a military base and torture center.) When I went outside to investigate what was happening, I saw two old Mayan priests kneeling in front of the ancient church of San Sebastian of Lemoa offering incense and prayers on this last day of the Mayan calendar. I later found out that they were also welcoming in the new year (which is the Year of Wisdom for the Mayan peoples). Culture shock came when I noticed nearby, a young village girl dressed in her traditional clothing speaking animatedly on her cell phone, apparently oblivious of the ceremony. This juxtaposition of past and future, the elders and children of techno-culture, continued to be an experience throughout my trip.

My work in Guatemala was with Mayan mental health teams founded by friend Bobbie Ford, SC, who was assassinated 3 years ago. The teams work in the Quiche region to heal the trauma of 30 years of armed violence and to accompany the exhumations of clandestine cemeteries. In Quiche alone over 100,000 people were killed, tortured or disappeared. Along with trauma resulting from the years of political violence, there is also an escalation of violence on the streets and in the family, with an increase in rape, sexual assault and hijackings. A pattern I see in many countries with a history of political violence: once the peace process is underway, violence is internalized within the family or within organizations along with an increase in rape, sexual assault and battering of women and children. As a friend once remarked referring to conflict in his union: "It's no longer the dictator who threatens us. We are destroying each other with our own internal conflicts."

I have walked for the last 4 years with some of these mental health teams. The pain they are currently dealing with is internalized frustration and conflict, along with unhealed personal wounds. What the teams are experiencing and trying to learn is perhaps what the whole country is in desperate need of learning. Many of these young people (as well as those currently in political leadership) never had a childhood, but grew up fleeing the army, seeing friends and family murdered, and living lives of constant fear. As a bishop in Tanzania said to me last year in reference to the experience of African refugees: How can these people hope to rebuild a country based on peace and justice when all they have known is violence and trauma? Part of what Capacitar does is teach people skills to heal past memories and divisions to be able to open to forgiveness and reconciliation—a long, slow process and not a quick fix. And as Capacitar we are especially committed to grassroots groups working with this important process.

During my time in Guatemala one of the exhumation teams took me to an archaeological site that continues to serve as the local ceremonial grounds in Santa Cruz del Quiche. There we held our training amidst the temple ruins and the charred stones of recent ceremonies. The team prayed to the Spirit of the Cosmos and the Heart of the Earth, asking for wisdom to heal and transform their own conflict and pain. And then we worked using Capacitar practices for compassion fatigue and to heal the personal wounds of the team.

Currently most Guatemalans are hopeful that the newly elected Berger government (representing the business sector) will stop the rampant violence and crime and bring greater peace and justice to the society. One positive development: human rights advocate and friend Helen Mack recently won a landmark case against the Guatemalan government in the international court for human rights. Helen sued her own government and fingered top military and government officials for the brutal assassination of her archaeologist sister Myrna Mack, over a decade ago. This was a remarkable first in the history of the country!

A new place of work for me this time was Argentina. The trip there was funded by donations of women (from Wisconsin, Illinois, New Jersey and Toronto, Canada) who participated in my 2003 training at the Center to BE in Milwaukee. There they met Susana Diaz and Sarita Flies who told of their dream to start Los Cerezos, an ecofeminist center to serve poor barrio women in Buenos Aires. The US and Canadian women wanted to empower this dream, so they shared their abundance to bring Capacitar to Argentina for grassroots and professional workshops.

Through Los Cerezos (meaning the cherry trees) Susana and Sarita are reaching out especially to women and families in some of the poorest barrios of Buenos Aires. About 30 women from two barrios participated in my grassroots workshop. They were a joy with their many wounds and their open loving spirits. From the start they loved the Capacitar work and felt better and more energized as we moved through the day. Many live as single mothers, often with an average of 5 to 7 + children. Many of the women deal with abusive partners, yet they have remarkable inner strength. One group of women stood up to their neighbor's husband demanding that he stop beating his wife. Another woman's partner was very upset that she had been away all day at the Capacitar workshop. But instead of fighting or being cowed, she practiced her homework and gave him a hand massage. He felt so good afterwards that he sent her back to learn more the next day!

Most of the women struggle daily to survive. Those lucky enough to have a job earn on the average about $50 per month through a government program for the unemployed. Government jobs include picking up garbage, sweeping the streets, caring for children and other menial labor for the barrio. Most families do not have enough to eat, so they participate in popular kitchens where families share food and together cook one hot meal a day. I am always deeply touched by the remarkable generosity of the poor. The women wanted to celebrate with me March 8, International Women's Day. So with their few resources they hosted a party with empanadas (a delicious pastry filled with meat and vegetables) and of course music and dancing. They also wanted to give gifts to me and to the group in Wisconsin. They put together the little they had to buy us matte cups (for the strong tea which is a national drink) so we wouldn't forget the people of Argentina. My matte cup on the front has a couple dancing the tango!

The negative impact of globalization was especially evident in this country. I always envisioned Argentina as affluent with a solid middle class. With privatization and the sale of industry by past governments, along with the major economic crash of three years ago, the country was plunged into serious crisis. Currently over 65% of the population lives below the poverty level and the middle class has all but disappeared. Several of the women participating in my trauma training for professionals had been women of wealth and means who lost everything with the crash. Economic loss is often harder for those who are accustomed to living the good life, while the poor have ingenious ways of surviving with little or nothing. So these women with a history of higher education and affluence, were now dealing with personal trauma resulting from great financial and lifestyle loss.

As I revisit and share with friends in so many parts of the world, I recognize the grace and blessings of communities connecting with communities. When we were joined in our ritual circles in Guatemala, Argentina and Chile, other groups were joined together with us in their prayerful circles in Ireland, Indonesia, South Africa, Wisconsin and California. Thank you for being part of the growing community of Capacitar as together we work to heal ourselves and heal our world.

Peace and blessings,
Pat Cane