Bob Heberle Brings Candles from TNII

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...Bob Heberle brings back candles from TNII.

Editor's Note: Last Sunday, the SJA Sister Parish committee sold candles made by our brothers and sisters in Tierra Nueva Dos. The annual sale has helped fund several activities including the delegation from TNII last year. The TNII committee purchases the supplies and equipment and makes the candles. The SJA committee sells them. This year, a member of the committee, Bob Heberle, traveled to TNII to pick up the candles. This is his story.

The fire in my belly has been rekindled. The recent trip to our Sister Parish, Tierra Nueva Dos(TNII) on the outskirts of Guatemala City did it. I was again reminded of the bleak and desperate existence our brothers and sisters endure every day. I arrived Friday, November 9, loaded down with two computers and keyboards that SJA committee member Joel Papa had secured for the Sister Parish organization. SP's Southern coordinator, Ruth Garrido, was at the airport to greet me along with my hermano, Laureano de la Cruz(Laureano visited Bob in Minnesota for the International AA Conference. See that story.) and his 14 year-old daughter, Magda. Ruth's cousin, Jorge, drove us in his cab to Ruth's place to deposit the hardware before continuing on to TNII.

Bob and Laureano

At Ruth's home, I met her father who has recently become unemployed at a relatively young age by ill health. He, of course, has no workman's benefits from his job as a carpenter. I later learned that because of Ruth's mother's job as a social worker, the Garrido family has managed to eke out a life style that provides them with a comfortable home with a clothes washer ten minutes from TNII!

Jorge then drove us to our Sister Parish in the municipality of Chinautla. As most SJA'ers now know, TNII is a developing community of humble homes taken over by "invasions" of people. Left to their own devices, they have managed to build homes that provides some protection from the elements, and if lucky, can even protect them from thieves and assaults.

Laureano's other daughter, 21-year-old Luky and her two-year-old daughter welcomed us proudly to their balloon-festooned home with welcome signs on the walls. One of the signs welcomed their "hermanos, Bob and Jean." I guess some miscommunication had suggested that my wife would accompany me, and they were disappointed. They served us local KFC-type chicken for a quick dinner. (Not a cheap night out - I was later to treat them, and found that twenty-one pieces cost $12.)

Laureano inside the church. The first few rows of floor tiles are in. The church is now enclosed and the dirt floor will soon be no more.

Later, after returning from a grueling day's labor, Laureano's son, Rudy joined us. The following morning I met the last member of the Cruz household, Lucky's husband, Julio. He worked nights that week on twelve hour shifts, with no overtime compensation. (Since he was gone nights, I was given their bed!). Rudy, 18, had a job that paid him about a dollar a day and Julio's pay was about triple that. Of course, those jobs provide no vacation or fringe benefits. Socialized medicine has been privatized, and all hospitalization, doctors and medicines now require cash payment for services. Laureano's niece reported that their mother had to pay $100 a month for medication. And we complain about the high cost of medicines!

A trip with Laureano, Magda and Luky's daughter to the local shopping center several miles away was our "night out" via the typical well-used converted school buses. I managed to convert dollars to Guatemalan quetzales at the going rate of 8 quetzales to $1 after some confusion and fairly non-enthusiastic service at a bank. The value of Quetzal has dropped from 6Q to the dollar since my last visit three years ago. After purchasing food for breakfast, we got a freshly-baked pizza to go to enjoy later by the entire family. Obviously no one got stuffed - it was "FHB"(family hold back) as my mother used to call it.

Saturday TNII committee member, Paul Quiroz, dropped by and invited me to his home, a stone's throw away. There, I used his computer that I had taken down several years ago. Paul asked me to convey to Carol Krush their appreciation for maintaining SJA's enthusiastic bible discussion group.

TNII's AA Club

Later Laureano and I walked three blocks to what was to be one of the highlights of my trip - the house he and his AA group rent for daily meetings. Was I impressed! On the inside walls are lighted portraits of Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the founders of AA, along with a sign signifying the identity of TNII's club, "Nacer del Abismo". (Born from the Abyss). There's also a large poster of the "Oracion por la paz." (Prayer for peace of St. Francis de Assisi)

An AA member is responsible for each day of the week and the assignments are listed on a blackboard. Currently they're raising funds to purchase a lighted sign over the entryway. On the main road two buildings away is an arrow pointing to the club. It's obvious that the fifteen or so members have been active and productive. Clearly, Laureano's thirty-three years of sobriety are an inspiration to them and to me. It gives me enormous satisfaction to know that this is an outgrowth of our Sister Parish relationship!

Saturday night the core of the Sister Parish committee met at Laureano's house to welcome this American visitor and renew old friendships. Although my visit was not an official delegation trip, we felt the need to conduct a SJA/TNII Committee business meeting .

Women's group learning to prepare chicken. Instructor on left.

Louise Eidsmoe, SJA Sister Parish Chair, had asked me to present the following topics. (Paul took notes and will give a more detailed response at a later date via email.) I will capsulize the conversation as I understood it:

Women's project: Still going strong. When asked whether they will need $1000 now to keep the project going, the answer was "si". (I attended a session that was held the following Wednesday at which about twenty attentive women were present. The lesson that day was on preparing a stuffed chicken.) All agreed that they would like help to continue, as it has been a great growth experience.
Scholarships for students: A consensus seemed to be that the program was working and that $30,000Q would be needed to to fund 15 scholarships. (That's about $3,750 US)

Dates of 2002 delegations to TNII: For youth: June 14-24; Adult: July 19-29 OK? Seemed OK.

"Oracion por La Paz"

Señor, hazme instrumento de tu paz
Donde haya odio, siempre yo amor
Donde haya injuria perdón
Donde haya duda, fe
Donde haya desaliento, esperanza
Donde haya sombra, luz
Donde haya tristeza, alegría
Donde haya soberbia, humilidad
O divina maestro
Concedeme que no busque ser consolado, sino consolar
Que no busque ser comprendido sino comprender
Que no busque ser amado sino amar
Porque dando es como recibinos
Perdonando es como tu nos perdonas
Y muriendo en ti es como nacemos a la vida eterna.

San Francisco de Asis

Prayer in English

Get lots of pictures: Got a bunch. Also, I was given a small wall decoration made of corn that's a product of their women's project. Also got the words for the "Oracion por La Paz." At the meeting I mentioned that Fr. George leads the St.Francis' prayer at the end of Sunday services. To my surprise, on Sunday, Aurora, a member of the church choir, led the assembly in singing it. She said they would continue to sing it at the end of each mass. I had tears in my eyes at that one, too.
Memorial of Keys:Although Louise asked me, I never made it downtown to see the memorial to Monsgr. Gerardi made from keys. The metal monument was made from donated keys from Guatemala and the US to honor the murdered Auxillary Bishop who made public the Nunca Mas findings of human rights abuses during the Guatemalan Civil war by the military. Gerardi was brutally assassinated on April 26th, 1998, two days after he had made public the Report of the Interdiocesan project to Recover Historic Memory(REMHI). Everyone felt strongly that trips downtown were unsafe. In fact, everywhere I went I was accompanied, even to church a block away.
High School Host Families: I asked about interest in my personal hope of having several high school students/teen agers wishing to study English spending an extended time with a family/families in the U.S. I received very positive responses. A youth from an earlier delegation, now a college student, asked if the ages could be extended to accommodate older people. I said that nothing is set in concrete and that I was just checking their interest in the possibility. I explained how several students might be placed in homes where there's a same-sex and age son or daughter who would accompany them to their high school.
Email Dangers:Mindy Ahler Olmstead of SJA's committee had asked me to probe their feeling about receiving politically sensitive email. They assured me that they are not concerned about receiving political views via email. They, too, are opposed to further violence. Bernardo read aloud a long letter from Mindy written in beautiful Spanish explaining how she/we feel about our opposition to the U.S.'s current bombing of Afghanistan. I had tears in my eyes as I watched how seriously the group received the message. I was heartened to observe that there was total sympathy with our position. (That same message of non-violence was presented the following day by the mass presider, Fr. Ricardo, Padre Arturo's substitute for the day.)

Paul wrapping candles. The improvements in TNII's candlemaking system this year included cellophane wrapping and new pillar style candles. The "unofficial" total for the candle/card sale last Sunday was $4322.05!!! $1000 of that came from an extremely generous donation. All of the pillar candles and advent candles sold out with a few tapers left over.

The meeting concluded quite late. I'm always amazed at how much energy our Guatemalan family has in spite of their extraordinarily long working days.

The Sunday service was rather typical except that the priest, after an elaborate introduction of myself and St. Joan of Arc, asked me to step forward. With the microphone aimed at my face, he asked, "Hablas Espanol, verdad?" My quick reply was, "Mande"?(what?) Then he asked me say something. I can't recall what I said, but several days later the sweet and tactful Ruth Garrido assured me that it made sense. Gracias a Dios!

I told my host, Laureano, that my mother-in-law always insisted that fish and house guests smell after two days, so I made plans to go somewhere in Guatemala for three days while the group finished packing the candles. For safety reasons, Paul and Aurora Quiroz and their three precious children accompanied me on Sunday to Antigua. What a lovely town just two hours from our Sister Parish! I used to speak with disdain about Antigua and referred to it as the "Disney World of Guatemala" because of its disproportionate number of Gringo tourists. But I've changed my opinion and was grateful for its tranquility and beauty. There I secured a simple hotel ($8 a day), obviously not a five star but clean and comfortable. I showed it to the Quirozes and they were so impressed that they said they would love to go there on their fourteenth wedding anniversary in January. I hope they make it.

After enjoying three comfortable days of indulging in good food, coffee, sleep and a couple of good Cuban cigars, Ruth met me on Wednesday, a meeting made possible by her cell phone. The bus trip back to TNII was uneventful.

Wednesday morning I received an email request from Mary Swenson of the Resource Center of the Americas, to bring back some earth, hopefully soiled with blood. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, author and peace studies professor, would be speaking at the SOA Watch demonstration in Columbus, Georgia, and wanted the soil for his presentation. How fortuitous that while visiting TNI to observe the women's group, I was able to visit the spot where the former pastor of TNI and TNII, Alfonso Stessel, was murdered at about the time of the start of our Sister Parish relationship. As luck would have it, I found a plastic bag and spoon nearby and I filled the bag with soil below a plaque designating his place of death. So, the earth, stained by Fr. Stessel's blood, will be used on November 18 to symbolize the torture and death of so many Central Americans at the hands of U.S. trained thugs.

Packing the candles for the trip north. The group included Miriam(left, 2nd delegation), Bernardo(2nd from left, 1st delegation), and Paul(right, 1st delegation).

I attended a charismatic church service Wednesday evening at 8 p.m. at Mario's invitation. Mario, a recent delegate to St. Joan of Arc, plays the bass guitar for the church band. After that, a crew of at least ten met at Laureano's to try to figure out how to pack the remaining candles securely. Already two suitcases had been filled. In spite of my cynicism, it was fun to watch the group problem-solve. These were the candles they had made after working long, often 12 hour shifts. These were the candles they had made for their "hermanos y hermanas de Santa Juana de Arco". We finished packing late and my sleep was less than sound knowing that Jorge was to pick me up at 5 a.m. Thursday. He arrived on time with Ruth, and fortunately they stuck with me during the interminably long line at the always-chaotic airport. They kept track of the three suitcases which were too heavy to push along the long line of passengers.

Despite the struggle with three heavy suitcases, the candles found their way safely into the cargo hull of the plane. However, now comes the crazy part. When one of the suitcases came by on the carousel in Houston, I noticed colored candles around it! The zipper had burst. Uncertain of what to do, I jumped up on the carousel as it moved and retrived the six or seven loose candles that lay about the suitcase. I took the rope from the bigger suitcase,and wrapped it around the defective bag. But since pocket knives are prohibited, I was unable to cut the rope and tie the larger bag. SHE was watching over, however, because when I delivered them to St. Joan's at 6 p.m.on Thursday, it appeared as though all the candles had survived intact!

Bob Heberle is a longtime SJA'er with a passion for peace and justice issues. Bob is an original member of the Sister Parish Committee and has visited TNII several times.

I'm grateful, with the help of so many, that everything worked out. And I feel an even stronger commitment after the witnessing how difficult life is for our sisters and brothers in TNII. I come away more convinced than ever of the value of our Sister Parish program when I again feel the affection and see the enthusiasm of our southern brothers and sisters.