Cancelled due to Covid.
For the past ten or so years, families from our Bay Area Guatemalan adoption group have gathered this weekend to celebrate, connect, and catch up; to compare stories of travel to Guatemala and reunion with birth families. The gathering is our touchstone–a few blessed hours of conversation when everyone we talk to has walked the same path; a time, once a year, when we feel heard and understood. It’s the day we marvel together with love and pride at our beautiful children growing into adults. The day we witness our kids’ deep bonds of friendship. I wish I had an album of photos to share with you, but out of respect for everyone’s privacy, I don’t post pictures. So I’ll share a photo of Olivia and me during her Quinceanera year, which we celebrated with two other young women in our group. (A grand event!) And a photo of me during last year’s pre-party Costco run. Tomorrow, our group will celebrate via Zoom, set up by one of our moms who’s great with technology. We’ll miss the delicious potluck side dishes everyone bring, the burgers on the grill, the sweet desserts. We’ll miss the hugs. But we still have one another. That, we know, will never change. xoxo
Covid-19 in Guatemala
Fear of Covid-19 has changed the way migrants returning from the US are received in Guatemala. Nearly 1/5 of the country’s 585 confirmed cases have been traced to deportees, many on the same US flight. Backlash to returnees includes threats of home burnings and lynching. One young man tells of a mob confronting him in Santa Catarina Palopo on the shores of Lake Atitlan. Fearing for his life and his family’s safely, he fled, and is now self-isolating in Guatemala City. The threat presented by Covid is real–an outbreak of the virus could devastate a village. Very uncertain times. Here’s a link to an article by Sofia Menchu on Reuters: Maya villages in Guatemala spurn US deportees as infections spike. The photo below is of Lake Atitlan, taken in January 2020 from the shores of Santiago.
Vitalina Williams
On Easter Sunday, Vitalina Williams, a Guatemalan woman from Tecpan, one of 10 children, in the US for more than 20 years and a legal US citizen, became a victim of Covid-19. She lived in Massachusetts, worked at the Market Basket and Walmart, in Salem and Danvers, towns close to where my sister lives, but it could be Any Town USA. Any Town Anywhere in the World, really. There’s no escaping this virus. Her husband, David, who survives Vitalina said, “I never deserved her, but I always wanted to strive to deserve her.”May she rest in peace.Stay safe, everyone. xoxo