I just got home from an amazing and exhausting week at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee. It was so much fun, but left me only 2 1/2 days to do last minute arrands, see my family and friends, and of course, pack! Thankfully, my excitement is starting to win the battle against my nerves and anxiety. Here's hoping it will last and I can fully enjoy these last few days at home.
I recently had the scary thought that I will be working and interacting with individuals that lived through the genocide and war that I have been reading about for the past couple of weeks. In school and in personal research I have learned and advocated for victims of countless genocides and other human rights injustices. However, this is the first time that I will be able to speak to the people and experience the physical space in which these atrocities took place. That, to me, is both frightening and exhilarating. The ability to have a direct hand in healing the wounds of human rights abuses is at the root of my desires as an activist and a development major (at Clark they call it the International Development & Social Change major) and I hope that I will be able to fully appreciate this opportunity. I also hope that I will be tolerant and open to different perspective and ideas of development than those that have been taught to me or that I have formulated on my own.
On an entirely different and lighter note, I am so so so excited for good Guatemalan coffee! I am bringing my host family some Vermont maple syrup - I hope they like it and don't just think its weird!
More to come once I land
P.S. Here is a preview of a documentary that addresses the recovery experience of those affected by the genocide in Guatemala, which I found very informative and moving (Thanks Morgan!) http://vimeo.com/16498850.
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