Qachuu Aloom youth – Damaris Valey, Eber Cortez, Reyna Morales Raxcaco, and Julian Vasquez Chun – conducted personal interviews with Qachuu Aloom members. This blog post was written by Qachuu Aloom member, Josselin Chun Cojom based on one of these interviews with Encarnacion interview.
by Josselin Chun Cojom
Encarnacion Piox Tecu is a member of Qachuu Aloom from the village of Pichec, in the Rabinal area. In this picture, she poses with her tinaja. The tinaja is very important to her livelihood and culture. It is used to carry water and also used by women who sell atole in the market. Atole is a sweet corn mixture, eaten like warm pudding. The tinaja keeps the atole hot all day because of its thickness.
Encarnacion with her tinaja.
Encarnacion’s tinaja is plastic, but they are traditionally made out of clay and very fragile. Women without running water in their houses use tinajas to haul water from the river or wells for cooking, washing, and watering the garden. Encarnacion says that in the past Pichec had more water, more rivers, and everything was greener. Rabinal is in the dry corridor of Guatemala, where deforestation and climate change have caused natural springs and rivers to dry up. These changes in climate hit farming families particularly hard because they rely on seasonal rains for crop production.
Encarnacion’s mother taught her to sell vegetables in the market. Before becoming a member of Qachuu Aloom, she purchased the seeds for her garden at a feed store. She had to buy seeds every year because they were hybrid and did not reproduce. Now, she gardens, saves seeds, and sells excess seeds back to Qachuu Aloom. For Encarnacion, being a member of Qachuu Aloom is significant because she knows where to sell her seeds. With the income from her seed sales, she can buy sugar, soap, and other staples.
A Painful History
Encarnacion’s story of self-sufficiency involves remembering a difficult past. Her husband was killed in Guatemala’s Civil War. As a single mother, she had to go to the fincas to support her children. Fincas are plantations typically owned by U.S. companies, where families migrate seasonally to pick coffee or bananas. As a young widow, Encarnacion also learned to plant corn. In Mayan communities, men traditionally did the agricultural work because women took care of the home and raised children. This started changing after the civil war because many women became widows. Out of necessity, widows started to take on both the man’s and the woman’s role within the household.
“One of my greatest joys is to be able to garden with my family. Thanks to Qachuu Aloom, I am now able to work from home and no longer depend on seasonal work in the fincas.”
Encarnacion continues to remember the terror and sadness of the civil war. She says that it is the most difficult event that ever happened in her life and is her greatest fear. She still remembers the screaming coming from people’s houses. Encarnacion says that Qachuu Aloom gives widows like her the opportunity to share stories and discuss these painful memories openly. She says that the civil war created fear in the community even after it ended, but that Qachuu Aloom is a welcoming place and changes the lives of many people through the work that it does.
“I love where I live because it is where I have lived many of my saddest and happiest moments. I would never want to leave.”
