The Strongest Women I've Ever Met

After learning about the woman's co-op we were able to ask questions. When I asked the current leader of the project, Maria to tell us about her life I got more than I expected. Something must have gotten lost in translation because as she began to tell her story she was looking at me directly, smiling. It was one of those genuine smiles that you can't fake. As her story was translated from Q'eqchi' to Spanish and then Spanish to English I returned her smile, unaware of what I was about to hear. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

She started out with her childhood. Her mother passed away when she was only 7 years old and she lived with her father, two brothers and sister. At that time she didn't know any trades but her sister soon taugh her to weave. As they got older her bother and sister both married and left the house. She lived with just her younger brother until she married at 17.

Maria only spent 8 years with her husband before he was murdered during the war. When he was killed she fled to Guatemala City with her two children and a baby in her womb. When the baby was born it only lived to be a year and a half before it died. This was all said so nonchalantly I couldn't really process it at first. How could a woman sit there and tell us of this tragic life with a smile on her face? If those same things happened here in the US the woman would never really be expected to move on from what happened. Loosing a husband to violence and then a young child soon-after is seemingly one of the most terrifying things that could happen. Yet she seemed to be okay.

Later, we learned that this has much to do with the Mayan lifestyle and their traditional beliefs which I will be sharing with you. We came to realize that these people don't move on because they want to but because they have to. It's a part of who they are. Not to mention they can't spend all of their time dwelling on the terrible things that have happened to them because there are too many horrifying stories in this country to count.

My only hope is that if events that tragic ever strike my life I can find half the courage and half the strength that these amazing women have found.