Author: serveradmin
Two from Peru
On birding trips, my first priority is the birds. Insights take a while to emerge. To enrich the experience I like to write what comes to mind after I return home. A recent trip to Northern Peru spawned the following two pieces. Northern Peru draws birders for the birdy habitat yet to be fully researched […]
Gifts from Shy Birds
The last of our group of fourteen birders straggle into the clearing. We are in a gully below Owlet Lodge, located on an Andean ridge in northern Peru. Nearby is a favored perch of the recently discovered Long-whiskered Owlet. Many birders come hoping for a glimpse of the tiny bird only to be disappointed. We […]
Basic
I like basic accommodations; clean with a bed, a bathroom and hot water as needed but no frills. My favorite birding company promises “the best accommodations available”. Be warned. There may not be many choices. On a recent trip to Peru, one hostel lent new meaning to “basic”. A week into the trip, my group of […]
Huli Sing Sing, Papua New Guinea
At the airstrip in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, a family group stood next to the small bus awaiting our arrival. A young boy played with a long stick, pointing it and stamping his feet. Then he raised it like a spear, bowed his legs and stood on his toes, elbows out, jabbing […]
Justice in Guatemala, 2006
I never understood what it meant to witness until I went to Guatemala. As a Unitarian, the word is not one we use, though I am aware that it is often used in other religions. In Guatemala, we listened to the stories from survivors of massacres that occurred during the 1980’s. Stories hard to hear […]
Forensic Research
The tiny, mud-flecked shoes sat next to a few bones and pieces of cloth in the forensic laboratory in Guatemala City, waiting for someone to identify the little girl who caught the fatal bullet so many years ago. In 2006, her remains and those of her family and neighbors were dug from one of the […]
ADIVIMA, Justice for the Survivors
The survivors of the Mayan genocide still struggle for justice. In the years since the height of the violence, 1981 and 1982, the strength of the indigenous people has grown. The organizers won’t even use the term leader because the leadership is shared but the ones who stand in front of the crowd are at […]
Juan Manuel Geronimo, Witness
We spent the night in Rabinal, a town where many of the indigenous people who moved from the valley we had just visited lived in grim poverty, still waiting for the government to live up to the promises. The next day, we looked forward to meeting Juan Manuel Geronimo, President of the Association for Justice […]
Outcome
When we returned to Antigua, an article appeared in the local paper saying a resolution had been passed in the US House of Representatives supporting the arrest of the eight men most responsible for the worst crimes during the years of violence. Among the 40 signers were Representatives Earl Blumenaur and Peter de Fazio from […]
Nary a Drop to Drink, UUSC In Ecuador
Water Issues in Guayaquil, Ecuador, 2010 A Visit with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Water, water everywhere, but nary a drop to drink. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner-Samuel Taylor Coleridge Guayaquil, Ecuador. I first heard the name when I was living on a boat in the early seventies. My husband and I […]