So, my plan to move down to Nicaragua in September has changed. Instead, after spending August traveling around a bit, I will head back to Xela September 1st to start working (unpaid, unfortunately) as the international volunteer coordinatory for a well-established women’s weaving cooperative.
Why the change of plans? There are simply too many opportunities here for me in Xela. Yes, I would have loved to get to know another country. But in order for me to have an adventurous life living all over the world, working for NGOs in some sort of development-related field, I need to think slightly more practically now. And practically speaking, I need more experience working “in the field,” in a job that has more responsibility and will teach me more hard skills.
Yes, this change of plan kind of blows, because a large part of me wants to run around Latin America for the next year.
But on the other hand, I love it here. I will learn a ton, and hopefully contribute to a great organization. I will really get to know this beautiful, crazy country, and my Spanish will be awesome. Hopefully, by March, I’ll have enough money left over to head down to Nicaragua, Costa Rica and fly out of Panama in order to satiate my wanderlust. And, hopefully, my resume will be sufficiently pimped that I will score the next job in this-or-that country, then the next job in another country, then the next…
Anyways, so while I will still be traveling away from Xela plenty of times over the next eight months, yelkaye.net is going to take a very Guatemala and especially Quetzaltenango-focused slant.
So… change of topic.
I am currently having a rather large ethical dilemma.
On one hand, I have learned from experience that it is important to be culturally sensitive, that different actions can have different meanings or consequences in different countries.
But, on the other hand, shouldn’t it be important to be a good, loyal gal in every country?
Luckily, at this point I am starting to get to know many Guatemalan women and men. This is great – while my foreign friends here in Xela are great, these people mostly come and go, so it is important for me to make Guatemalan friends if I am to be happy and sane over the next year.
One female Guatemalan friend, however, recently made a troubling request.
Her husband, let’s face it, is a huge jerk. She’s had enough.
She’s met someone else who might be able to offer a new, more healthy relationship.
However, some people, including her husband, are jealous and possessive. It is almost impossible for her to sneak away and see this potential new love.
She asked me: Can you help me? Can you invite me out to coffee, and then bring me to him?
If I was in Canada, the answer would be simple. Yeeeeaah. Let’s ditch that douchebag and help you upgrade to a better model.
But here, I don’t know if I should get involved. It might not be safe for her, I might get myself in way over my head. Because I don’t know a ton about marriage, relationships or Guatemalan culture, I think I’m more likely to fuck stuff up.
So, unfortunately, I think I am going to have to decline involvement, and offer my support in other ways. But gosh, darn, damnit do I feel crappy about that.
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