''What we need is a 'revolution', not with weapons but with love and generosity.'' |
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MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER
My name is Arnulfo Fernando Gómez Oxlaj. I´m a native American, an indigenous Mayan whose soul cries out with those of my ancestors when every day I see children born into the world condemned to be beggars, without a space, without freedom and without hope.
I was born in 1985 in Chiul, in the north of Guatemala. Guatemala is a beautiful, fertile land which previously encompassed the territories of Belize and Chiapas, Mexico. It is home to mountains, rivers, volcanoes and lakes such as Lake Atitlan, and myriad ethnicities such as the Garifunas, Xinkas, Ladinos as well as 22 different Mayan groups. The Mayans are famous for building pyramids such as Tikal, Kumarkaj and Iximche. I am from the K´iche´ Mayan people. Chiul is an oppressed and marginalised indigenous K´iche´ village. Chiul means “on the edge of the ravine”, but in reality it is adorned by lush mountains. Its people are very lovely; we call its women “warriors of peace”. Yet we indigenous people suffered a holocaust, a holocaust which has left us buried beneath fear, injustice and hunger. And ever since that holocaust, Chiul´s glorious mountains have become deserts, its rivers, lakes and streams polluted, and every beautiful child and woman exists in a waking state of coma in which their vital signs are slowly diminishing. It has become a heaven for the oppressors - and for the ninety-five per cent who live without freedom or food or water or space or education or home or justice, a hell. I call this "the war on peace." |
The War on Peace
In 1996, following 36 years of holocaust in which over 200,000 of my people were murdered, the Guatemalan Peace Accords were signed. Yet the war continues. Today, my people are besieged by a psychological war, one of the deadliest wars in existence whose primary weapon is the virus that is programming and poverty. Children are programmed to accept poverty, to accept hunger, to accept slavery, to accept a life devoid of freedom, education or justice. This virus eats away at them like a cancer until they believe that they were born for this. And the bullets in this war are that false democracy that is preached today which has nothing to do with equality and justice, and everything to do with oppression, injustice and racism. For the indigenous people and the overlooked and oppressed peoples of the world, this “demigod-acy” has been a stone around our necks that pulls us down to the depths of a sea of poverty, injustice and slavery.
My precious Chiul has been turned into a place where survival is a challenge because the government, corporations and public institutions don´t respect life. A place where human rights are millions of light years from the indigenous and the poor, and peace even further away. A place where racism has become the norm. Not even the tiniest drop of human rights is respected in Guatemala.
In my precious Chiul, our traditional indigenous way of life has been destroyed, our lands confiscated. Even today, the majority of indigenous people can´t read or write and don´t speak Spanish, governed by laws they don´t understand. And if an indigenous person opens her eyes and uses them, in the name of “democracy” they will make her close them again. I say this out of experience. There have been numerous attempts made on my life.
I am sharing this with you as an indigenous K´iche´ Mayan man who survived this holocaust, a holocaust which today the government denies ever happened.
However, the difficulties I survived, together with my beloved family, have been transformed into a column for my dream. I´m the fifth child of parents who, together with my brothers and me, had to make huge sacrifices and perform inhumane labour just to obtain a piece of bread for our table. There are different levels of poverty. In developed countries, there is need and there is strife and there is inequality and there is injustice. Yet the level of poverty that I´m describing here is an inhumane daily struggle for survival that my people and many people in the world suffer. Even animals in their natural, undisturbed habitat have food. Yet today they, too, are losing their home and their fight for survival.
My precious Chiul has been turned into a place where survival is a challenge because the government, corporations and public institutions don´t respect life. A place where human rights are millions of light years from the indigenous and the poor, and peace even further away. A place where racism has become the norm. Not even the tiniest drop of human rights is respected in Guatemala.
In my precious Chiul, our traditional indigenous way of life has been destroyed, our lands confiscated. Even today, the majority of indigenous people can´t read or write and don´t speak Spanish, governed by laws they don´t understand. And if an indigenous person opens her eyes and uses them, in the name of “democracy” they will make her close them again. I say this out of experience. There have been numerous attempts made on my life.
I am sharing this with you as an indigenous K´iche´ Mayan man who survived this holocaust, a holocaust which today the government denies ever happened.
However, the difficulties I survived, together with my beloved family, have been transformed into a column for my dream. I´m the fifth child of parents who, together with my brothers and me, had to make huge sacrifices and perform inhumane labour just to obtain a piece of bread for our table. There are different levels of poverty. In developed countries, there is need and there is strife and there is inequality and there is injustice. Yet the level of poverty that I´m describing here is an inhumane daily struggle for survival that my people and many people in the world suffer. Even animals in their natural, undisturbed habitat have food. Yet today they, too, are losing their home and their fight for survival.
The Root of the Dream
My dream was born when I was a child, one bright afternoon as the sun´s rays penetrated the leaves of each tree around me and touched my skin. Where several moments before I had been pulled out of a deep well where the Guatemalan army, supported by the most powerful governments in the world, had thrown us, where the lives of 115 of my friends and neighbours had been snuffed out.
Most people don´t love life. When we acquire knowledge embraced by our ego and dreams of power, this knowledge and these dreams destroy the world.
As I lay there by the edge of that well looking up at the miraculous angel who had rescued me, a beautiful woman incandescent and framed by a startlingly blue sky, I will never forget the light in her eyes which embraced me with their look. Her tears formed a waterfall between her lovely cheeks, and she whispered, “Champion, you have a lot ahead of you.”
As I lay by the edge of the well in those arms, a dream was born in my soul of peace and to transform the desert of war into a green and fertile Guatemala. A dream of equality and respect for all creation. I saw clearly that what was needed was to sow a seed of knowledge in the world: not more pride-filled knowledge that benefits a single group, but a knowledge based on a humane and conscious education and the principles of true peace. A knowledge with the power to free people to use their gifts and talents, without which we become distracted and depressed. A knowledge that teaches us how to live well on the earth and to appreciate it, for the body is part of the earth; the body is matter which every single day shares an embrace with the earth, with the trees, with the wind, with clouds, with the minerals. A knowledge that stops the daily killing of hundreds of thousands of children around the world.
I saw that it was time to build this new land of knowledge where intelligence and wisdom flow, where wisdom is adorned by love, where women and men no longer fight for power but simply enjoy life as angels do. Time to enjoy the fruits of wisdom which are peace and equality. Time to occupy that new earth, for the sake of our children and all humanity. A new earth where the cradle of each newborn child is wisdom, a wisdom that moves mountains and parts oceans when necessary to establish peace. A new earth that governments and powers would surely oppose, but which would be possible in the name of peace and justice. A new earth where no child, adolescent, woman or man is demeaned or despised. A new earth where life is appreciated and no longer destroyed.
I resolved there and then to transform that terror of the holocaust into seeds of peace, love and justice. By the edge of the well, I saw that my friends and neighbours had already lost their lives; for them, there was no hope. Yet I was alive. In our name I could still do something for their hopes and dreams, which were the same as mine and those of every child: peace. I could still do something for those who would be killed by contamination, by malnutrition, by bombs. I needed to work for that green and fertile world of peace. I needed to do it in the name of the 116.
I called this dream Afretlain. Afretlain means in essence “water-space-breath-fire-earth-wind” in K´iche´ Mayan. In Spanish, it means "Abrazando Fuertemente la Revolution de Amor y Generosidad", or “Embracing the Revolution of Love and Generosity”.
Most people don´t love life. When we acquire knowledge embraced by our ego and dreams of power, this knowledge and these dreams destroy the world.
As I lay there by the edge of that well looking up at the miraculous angel who had rescued me, a beautiful woman incandescent and framed by a startlingly blue sky, I will never forget the light in her eyes which embraced me with their look. Her tears formed a waterfall between her lovely cheeks, and she whispered, “Champion, you have a lot ahead of you.”
As I lay by the edge of the well in those arms, a dream was born in my soul of peace and to transform the desert of war into a green and fertile Guatemala. A dream of equality and respect for all creation. I saw clearly that what was needed was to sow a seed of knowledge in the world: not more pride-filled knowledge that benefits a single group, but a knowledge based on a humane and conscious education and the principles of true peace. A knowledge with the power to free people to use their gifts and talents, without which we become distracted and depressed. A knowledge that teaches us how to live well on the earth and to appreciate it, for the body is part of the earth; the body is matter which every single day shares an embrace with the earth, with the trees, with the wind, with clouds, with the minerals. A knowledge that stops the daily killing of hundreds of thousands of children around the world.
I saw that it was time to build this new land of knowledge where intelligence and wisdom flow, where wisdom is adorned by love, where women and men no longer fight for power but simply enjoy life as angels do. Time to enjoy the fruits of wisdom which are peace and equality. Time to occupy that new earth, for the sake of our children and all humanity. A new earth where the cradle of each newborn child is wisdom, a wisdom that moves mountains and parts oceans when necessary to establish peace. A new earth that governments and powers would surely oppose, but which would be possible in the name of peace and justice. A new earth where no child, adolescent, woman or man is demeaned or despised. A new earth where life is appreciated and no longer destroyed.
I resolved there and then to transform that terror of the holocaust into seeds of peace, love and justice. By the edge of the well, I saw that my friends and neighbours had already lost their lives; for them, there was no hope. Yet I was alive. In our name I could still do something for their hopes and dreams, which were the same as mine and those of every child: peace. I could still do something for those who would be killed by contamination, by malnutrition, by bombs. I needed to work for that green and fertile world of peace. I needed to do it in the name of the 116.
I called this dream Afretlain. Afretlain means in essence “water-space-breath-fire-earth-wind” in K´iche´ Mayan. In Spanish, it means "Abrazando Fuertemente la Revolution de Amor y Generosidad", or “Embracing the Revolution of Love and Generosity”.
And I planted those first seeds by going from house to house on my donkey or on foot, taking food and natural medicine to people in need at night, and awakening their awareness through my gift of seeing the true love of God, who doesn´t depend on space. Today, my motorcycle makes things a little easier. This gift that God has placed in my heart has helped me transform the pain of what happened into a seed of peace, freedom and justice.
It was difficult because of the war and the extreme poverty we lived in. However, I learned from the ants that they had very little but they shared what they did have amongst them. I asked God for strength and help with gaining resources. And from a far-off land across several oceans a tall, white man arrived where we were selling corn leaves, and said to me in Spanish, "I see a light in your eyes. Where are your parents? Take me to them. Because the light in your eyes brings me peace."
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I had a dream while I was in the mountains of my country." He mentioned the Alps; I didn´t know what they were. "And I saw a child with the eyes of light and peace I see in you."
It´s a long story, but that was when my Swiss godfather, Claude-Alain Maret, began to help me, and what he gave me I shared with other children as I grew up. He sought ways to help strengthen this dream so that angels who wanted to give their drop of rain could do so easily. He supported my education, taught me to read and enouraged me to read many important books which would shape my thinking.
I began to paint and weave, and I sold my art, my hand-woven crafts and natural medicine in order to raise funds for small programmes and help more people. I went into homes to find out exactly what the needs of the women, the children and the men of my village were, because it would have been unwise to guess. Likewise, with my godfather we investigated what the earth needed to restore its fertility. He brought a team of university researchers from Switzerland to study the soil in Chiul, and their research discovered that it was highly contaminated by bomb residues. Unfortunately, the research papers were swept away together with our home in Hurricane Stan in 2005.
This work is like the mother eagle who goes out to find food for her chicks, who hears their cries in every instant, but who only returns when she has food.
I have helped many people in remote communities where there are no doctors. I have helped many women give birth safety, sometimes to beautiful sets of twins, and whenever I see this miracle I ask myself: When will the human heart allow itself to soften to consider these children? To consider this woman, who is only useful as a slave, but in her moment of need who fights for her? There are times when even the devil has a tiny bit of conscience but it seems the demons don´t. Today, working with women has become difficult for me as a man, but I needed to save lives first, and then take those individuals to hospital for further and sustained treatment and recovery.
My work is dangerous, forever beset by obstacles, for peace always attacks the ego of the oppressors. The Guatemalan government will never recognise my work. I have suffered racial abuse, injustice, judicial harassment, threats, violence and persecution, as has my family. These enemies of peace, deep haters of the indigenous people, have wanted to destroy this work, but they haven´t succeeded. I knew that I would die of something, but resolved that it would be death that silenced me and not the destroyers of peace, justice and freedom. No. I will only be silenced when I see peace before me in Chiul, in Guatemala and in the whole world.
And this work continued to grow and bear fruit.
I analysed what it was that didn´t allow my people them to heal from their trauma, to wake up and take action. I saw it was that psychological war, the programming and "demigod-acy" which together create poverty, which in turn causes family disintegration. The fruits of our lands are taken away from us by multinationals before we even have the opportunity to take a bite. The result is malnutrition, greater violence, and greater insecurity. This river of programming and false democracy sweeps people away into the sea of depression. If democracy is based on a vote or the freedom not to love life, not to love peace, then that "democracy" is of the enemy. That false democracy and peace they mention has become a religion that destroys minds and hearts and above all gifts and talents. It is like a sheepskin, and wolves dress up in it. It´s better to know how to choose in life and avoid being an accomplice.
I realised that for an indigenous person, the Guatemalan government is like a poisonous snake: you need to be careful it doesn´t spot you.
World leaders often say that making accusations about the past doesn´t change anything; it´s better to look ahead instead. Yet I saw that while accusing falsely doesn´t bear good fruit, standing up and speaking out about history, which isn´t history because the consequences of that war, injustice, racism, colonisation and corruption continue in reality, would bring me and my people peace, justice and freedom. I saw that forgetting, forgiveness and good relations are based on returning what has been taken. To ignore the violent disaster of the war would be the suicide of peace. As my grandfather used to say, Jesus forgives our sins but doesn´t omit the effects of our acts.
I saw that it wasn´t a church or a school that was going to begin making my people happy, it was having good food, a good home, good health and of course that education that flows from the heart of peace, freedom and justice. In this way, our minds and hearts would be able to open to embrace knowledge again, to plunge themselves into the waterfall of wisdom towards the promised land of the man and woman of love.
I was certain that every woman and man has a space in that promised land of knowledge.
It was difficult because of the war and the extreme poverty we lived in. However, I learned from the ants that they had very little but they shared what they did have amongst them. I asked God for strength and help with gaining resources. And from a far-off land across several oceans a tall, white man arrived where we were selling corn leaves, and said to me in Spanish, "I see a light in your eyes. Where are your parents? Take me to them. Because the light in your eyes brings me peace."
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I had a dream while I was in the mountains of my country." He mentioned the Alps; I didn´t know what they were. "And I saw a child with the eyes of light and peace I see in you."
It´s a long story, but that was when my Swiss godfather, Claude-Alain Maret, began to help me, and what he gave me I shared with other children as I grew up. He sought ways to help strengthen this dream so that angels who wanted to give their drop of rain could do so easily. He supported my education, taught me to read and enouraged me to read many important books which would shape my thinking.
I began to paint and weave, and I sold my art, my hand-woven crafts and natural medicine in order to raise funds for small programmes and help more people. I went into homes to find out exactly what the needs of the women, the children and the men of my village were, because it would have been unwise to guess. Likewise, with my godfather we investigated what the earth needed to restore its fertility. He brought a team of university researchers from Switzerland to study the soil in Chiul, and their research discovered that it was highly contaminated by bomb residues. Unfortunately, the research papers were swept away together with our home in Hurricane Stan in 2005.
This work is like the mother eagle who goes out to find food for her chicks, who hears their cries in every instant, but who only returns when she has food.
I have helped many people in remote communities where there are no doctors. I have helped many women give birth safety, sometimes to beautiful sets of twins, and whenever I see this miracle I ask myself: When will the human heart allow itself to soften to consider these children? To consider this woman, who is only useful as a slave, but in her moment of need who fights for her? There are times when even the devil has a tiny bit of conscience but it seems the demons don´t. Today, working with women has become difficult for me as a man, but I needed to save lives first, and then take those individuals to hospital for further and sustained treatment and recovery.
My work is dangerous, forever beset by obstacles, for peace always attacks the ego of the oppressors. The Guatemalan government will never recognise my work. I have suffered racial abuse, injustice, judicial harassment, threats, violence and persecution, as has my family. These enemies of peace, deep haters of the indigenous people, have wanted to destroy this work, but they haven´t succeeded. I knew that I would die of something, but resolved that it would be death that silenced me and not the destroyers of peace, justice and freedom. No. I will only be silenced when I see peace before me in Chiul, in Guatemala and in the whole world.
And this work continued to grow and bear fruit.
I analysed what it was that didn´t allow my people them to heal from their trauma, to wake up and take action. I saw it was that psychological war, the programming and "demigod-acy" which together create poverty, which in turn causes family disintegration. The fruits of our lands are taken away from us by multinationals before we even have the opportunity to take a bite. The result is malnutrition, greater violence, and greater insecurity. This river of programming and false democracy sweeps people away into the sea of depression. If democracy is based on a vote or the freedom not to love life, not to love peace, then that "democracy" is of the enemy. That false democracy and peace they mention has become a religion that destroys minds and hearts and above all gifts and talents. It is like a sheepskin, and wolves dress up in it. It´s better to know how to choose in life and avoid being an accomplice.
I realised that for an indigenous person, the Guatemalan government is like a poisonous snake: you need to be careful it doesn´t spot you.
World leaders often say that making accusations about the past doesn´t change anything; it´s better to look ahead instead. Yet I saw that while accusing falsely doesn´t bear good fruit, standing up and speaking out about history, which isn´t history because the consequences of that war, injustice, racism, colonisation and corruption continue in reality, would bring me and my people peace, justice and freedom. I saw that forgetting, forgiveness and good relations are based on returning what has been taken. To ignore the violent disaster of the war would be the suicide of peace. As my grandfather used to say, Jesus forgives our sins but doesn´t omit the effects of our acts.
I saw that it wasn´t a church or a school that was going to begin making my people happy, it was having good food, a good home, good health and of course that education that flows from the heart of peace, freedom and justice. In this way, our minds and hearts would be able to open to embrace knowledge again, to plunge themselves into the waterfall of wisdom towards the promised land of the man and woman of love.
I was certain that every woman and man has a space in that promised land of knowledge.
As an artist, I began to teach art to children and young people in order to unleash their creativity and prevent alcoholism, one of the most destructive forces in my village. As I sold more paintings, I began to provide orphans with food and clothing. I wasn´t a millionaire; I was a child. We humans are not rich because of what we have but because of what we do with what we have right now. My wealth is the knowledge that my people have a hunger, a thirst to reach that promised land. It´s a single faith, a single vision. I saw this vision as being like the rain: it comes from a single place, but falls to Earth in different places causing trees and the earth to bear fruit in every place on the planet. That is the vision.
There is nothing lovelier than telling an orphan, Don´t fear, I´m here with you. We´re here with you. We´re brothers and sisters, you and I. You´re not an orphan anymore; I´m your brother, your father, your uncle, your friend.
Taking action gave me more determination and strength. Every time the well came into my mind, I took action. I began raising awareness of my people of their gifts and mission. I began teaching people in churches, community activities and in their homes about their rights as human beings.
Over time, I saw that this dream is indeed like the rain but that, unlike the rain, each drop is unique and has a different task.
Yet I saw that the challenges were great. Not only were there hunger but also illiteracy, malnutrition, violence, orphans and disabled children who urgently needed treatment and surgery.
I will never forget those moments when I have reached the sick only to see that it was too late, that my medicinal plants could do nothing. Advanced pneumonia. Gangrene. The final stages of stomach, liver or brain cancer. Mother and baby gone. Conditions that began with a simple cough or ache but nobody ever reached out their hand to those people.
I will never forget those children crying over their mother´s dead body during the war. Those newborns without a father and now a mother.
I will never forget those homes I´ve visited where the children were crying because the mother only had one tortilla for the whole family, those children made of tortillas and salt.
There is nothing lovelier than telling an orphan, Don´t fear, I´m here with you. We´re here with you. We´re brothers and sisters, you and I. You´re not an orphan anymore; I´m your brother, your father, your uncle, your friend.
Taking action gave me more determination and strength. Every time the well came into my mind, I took action. I began raising awareness of my people of their gifts and mission. I began teaching people in churches, community activities and in their homes about their rights as human beings.
Over time, I saw that this dream is indeed like the rain but that, unlike the rain, each drop is unique and has a different task.
Yet I saw that the challenges were great. Not only were there hunger but also illiteracy, malnutrition, violence, orphans and disabled children who urgently needed treatment and surgery.
I will never forget those moments when I have reached the sick only to see that it was too late, that my medicinal plants could do nothing. Advanced pneumonia. Gangrene. The final stages of stomach, liver or brain cancer. Mother and baby gone. Conditions that began with a simple cough or ache but nobody ever reached out their hand to those people.
I will never forget those children crying over their mother´s dead body during the war. Those newborns without a father and now a mother.
I will never forget those homes I´ve visited where the children were crying because the mother only had one tortilla for the whole family, those children made of tortillas and salt.
Through my godfather I had learned that people in developed countries, too, had difficulties. I saw that many young people are depressed and feel useless, and yet there´s so much to do, not just in Guatemala but also in their own countries. And nobody is more or less. And so we opened the opportunity up to individuals, to schools, institutions, organisations and universities to come and learn about this humble knowledge of life – a knowledge which doesn´t just inspire people to dream and realise their dream but, more importantly, ensure that their dream, their drop of rain, is contributing to peace, justice and equality and not more destruction. I sought to inspire young people not just with words but through action, by my example, the reality of my work and the disaster of war and poverty.
In 2001, when I was 16, we founded the PAKL Institute (Institute for the Promotion of an Ancestral Knowledge of Life), which helps people from around the world realise their mission and use their gifts towards peace through a practical teaching that takes people beyond four walls out to the reality of their lives. Through my teachings and personal guidance, I help them see the reason for their existence, to free themselves from the confusion, depression, programming and destructive feelings that keep us from true love and finally experience true peace not just of mind but in the depths of their souls. I also practice and teach natural medicine and physical therapy, as well as a form of physical preparation for a healthy body I call “Yogamaya” whose traditional name is “Ruchoq´ap Achi Leu” (Strengthening of the Clay Body).
This knowledge has helped people around the world from all walks of life heal their lives, take the difficult steps to change, and find peace. Together with my vehement rejection of all war, this is my individual contribution to world peace. I can´t change anyone, but I can share my experience that peace is unequivocable.
Not only did the Institute become an important source of project funding, but also the students of the Institute have, in turn, become angels and drops of rain in helping me in this difficult task of taking my people to that promised land.
Help for my people increased exponentially. We didn´t just build homes but also remodelled schools, building new classrooms and making access routes safe. I also looked into ways in which women could contribute to the family economy without having to go and suffer cutting sugar cane or cotton in the coastal plantations. I organised weaving and embroidery classes and it had a great impact on their lives. In return for their training and nutritious food for their family, the women attended literacy classes.
Subsequently, I began to give formal human rights training so that one day we might have a government that distributes the riches of Guatemala evenly among the people. I also began accompanying vulnerable people in court to protect them and help them fight injustices against them. The government seems more interested in creating more weapons, prisons and centres of false justice than in creating schools and healthy citizens with values.
In 2008, I noticed that there was a steep and dangerous access route to a school and community which was causing innumerable accidents among children, parents, teachers and villagers. The people suffered, especially the children and the elderly, and when it rained it became impassable. The government had failed to rebuild this 200-metre staircase despite numerous promises. I decided to create a fund to help and began selling my art and crafts to buy construction materials. But who would build it? I knew that if the parents worked on the construction their children wouldn´t have food at home. I managed to obtain supplies of corn, beans, rice and oil sufficient for two months of work. Then, I held a meeting with PTA committee and subsequently with 600 parents. I reminded them of the need to be united to make this happen. They asked, “But what about our children? They´ll go hungry.” "No," I replied. I gave them each a large quantity of basic foodstuffs per week of work. As a result, these families were highly motivated and the 156 stairs were built without obstacles. Today the schoolchildren and community are able to move about safely thanks to the collaborative spirit of those parents.
In 2001, when I was 16, we founded the PAKL Institute (Institute for the Promotion of an Ancestral Knowledge of Life), which helps people from around the world realise their mission and use their gifts towards peace through a practical teaching that takes people beyond four walls out to the reality of their lives. Through my teachings and personal guidance, I help them see the reason for their existence, to free themselves from the confusion, depression, programming and destructive feelings that keep us from true love and finally experience true peace not just of mind but in the depths of their souls. I also practice and teach natural medicine and physical therapy, as well as a form of physical preparation for a healthy body I call “Yogamaya” whose traditional name is “Ruchoq´ap Achi Leu” (Strengthening of the Clay Body).
This knowledge has helped people around the world from all walks of life heal their lives, take the difficult steps to change, and find peace. Together with my vehement rejection of all war, this is my individual contribution to world peace. I can´t change anyone, but I can share my experience that peace is unequivocable.
Not only did the Institute become an important source of project funding, but also the students of the Institute have, in turn, become angels and drops of rain in helping me in this difficult task of taking my people to that promised land.
Help for my people increased exponentially. We didn´t just build homes but also remodelled schools, building new classrooms and making access routes safe. I also looked into ways in which women could contribute to the family economy without having to go and suffer cutting sugar cane or cotton in the coastal plantations. I organised weaving and embroidery classes and it had a great impact on their lives. In return for their training and nutritious food for their family, the women attended literacy classes.
Subsequently, I began to give formal human rights training so that one day we might have a government that distributes the riches of Guatemala evenly among the people. I also began accompanying vulnerable people in court to protect them and help them fight injustices against them. The government seems more interested in creating more weapons, prisons and centres of false justice than in creating schools and healthy citizens with values.
In 2008, I noticed that there was a steep and dangerous access route to a school and community which was causing innumerable accidents among children, parents, teachers and villagers. The people suffered, especially the children and the elderly, and when it rained it became impassable. The government had failed to rebuild this 200-metre staircase despite numerous promises. I decided to create a fund to help and began selling my art and crafts to buy construction materials. But who would build it? I knew that if the parents worked on the construction their children wouldn´t have food at home. I managed to obtain supplies of corn, beans, rice and oil sufficient for two months of work. Then, I held a meeting with PTA committee and subsequently with 600 parents. I reminded them of the need to be united to make this happen. They asked, “But what about our children? They´ll go hungry.” "No," I replied. I gave them each a large quantity of basic foodstuffs per week of work. As a result, these families were highly motivated and the 156 stairs were built without obstacles. Today the schoolchildren and community are able to move about safely thanks to the collaborative spirit of those parents.
And these roots have grown into a tree. I formed a team of 116 people formed of 68 women and 48 men, a representative for each of the children in the well. And the grassroots movement of Afretlain and the "revolution of love and generosity" was born. My team maintains a low profile for fear of attracting more violence and persecution, such as I am experiencing, into their lives, but they are there, working tirelessly in my community and throughout Guatemala. They are gaining courage with every year that passes. They have given me the privilege of being the voice and the face of my friends and neighbours.
2011 was a difficult year. My father died. Then just months later, I received a message saying that my godfather had passed away too, after many years of a father-son relationship. We had had a plan, but he died before he had the chance to complete it. My fellow combattant in the fight for my people and for peace had gone. This double loss was a tough page in the book of my life. The plan had changed, and I now needed a new plan.
So I created the strategy of AMOR (short for "The Revolution of Love and Generosity", “amor” being the Spanish word for “love”) to help raise funds in partnership with individuals, families, foundations, companies and governments around the world. In 2012, AMOR was established as the legal representative of the dream of Afretlain.
My work is a desire, based not on ego but on my experience in the well, to help my people and all of humanity cross over to the land of peace, the land of true knowledge. This is the objective of my work. And I can´t do it alone. This dream is divided into two, into hundreds, into millions and billions of drops of water from the angels of our beautiful universe. There is no bridge, but each drop of rain is like an eagle who, when her nest is destroyed, rescues her chick by lifting it up and carrying it across the river.
To do this we need more people. We need more drops of rain so that together we can carry a woman, a child, a man, over.
I invite you to walk with me. We don´t need to cross deserts and oceans on our knees to understand the world of peace. We simply need to let the root of peace sprout silently in our heart.
2011 was a difficult year. My father died. Then just months later, I received a message saying that my godfather had passed away too, after many years of a father-son relationship. We had had a plan, but he died before he had the chance to complete it. My fellow combattant in the fight for my people and for peace had gone. This double loss was a tough page in the book of my life. The plan had changed, and I now needed a new plan.
So I created the strategy of AMOR (short for "The Revolution of Love and Generosity", “amor” being the Spanish word for “love”) to help raise funds in partnership with individuals, families, foundations, companies and governments around the world. In 2012, AMOR was established as the legal representative of the dream of Afretlain.
My work is a desire, based not on ego but on my experience in the well, to help my people and all of humanity cross over to the land of peace, the land of true knowledge. This is the objective of my work. And I can´t do it alone. This dream is divided into two, into hundreds, into millions and billions of drops of water from the angels of our beautiful universe. There is no bridge, but each drop of rain is like an eagle who, when her nest is destroyed, rescues her chick by lifting it up and carrying it across the river.
To do this we need more people. We need more drops of rain so that together we can carry a woman, a child, a man, over.
I invite you to walk with me. We don´t need to cross deserts and oceans on our knees to understand the world of peace. We simply need to let the root of peace sprout silently in our heart.
The Afretlain Centre
The dream needed a home, a home in which to raise our voices for reparation. This home is the Afretlain Centre. Afretlain means "Abrazando Fuertemente la Revolucion de Amor y Generosidad", or “Embracing the Revolution of Love and Generosity”.
For many years, it was difficult to speak about the holocaust because the people had grown too fearful. The truth is it would have been easier for me to stay silent and hidden because I had escaped with my life, but to me this would have been cowardly and selfish. No. I didn´t know how long I would live but I thought of the future, the future of a child, of a woman, a man, and also the future of our earth, our flora and fauna. I said to myself, “Waiting for someone else to act would make me an oppressor too.”
A war may last a year or thirty-six, but its effects endure for millennia. We cannot leave the past behind when that war is still claiming its victims on a daily basis. At the end of the day, it´s the children who suffer most. And the blood of the children, women and men of the holocaust cries out for peace. And so does the blood of the living. These cries can be heard on the wind. I realised that poverty is an illness that shouldn’t exist, created by governments and strengthened by that false democracy. And so we need to unite to raise our voices for reparation, for justice, for freedom for my people, for all people.
How sweet it is to see a child playing with a car or doll or with leaves or earth. And how sad it is when adults, governments who should be the guarantors of peace and security, come and drop bombs on them as they play. And this cruelty is gaining strength every day.
The Centre isn´t a place where people will be programmed like computers, but one where the community can heal the wounds of the past and present, rise up and contribute their gifts and talents to the world. Only in that way will we be able to walk on the path to the true freedom, the path to equality and ultimately a politics which fights for the full life of each citizen and not just one group, which fights for education for all because education should be the stage where our talents and gifts are enriched. And schools shouldn’t have walls to prevent access.
A place where we each of us can smile without needing to hide that fear and sadness that traps us like prey every second of our lives and ultimately kills us.
A place whose programmes will support community development transformation and whose effect is freedom, peace, justice and happiness.
The foundations of this Centre are respect for life, and this respect means having a space, a roof, food, freedom, health, a voice, and security, the opportunity to develop oneself and broaden one´s knowledge. And so the Centre will house the current programmes and strengthen them.
When I was a child, many people told me my dream of a Centre was impossible. But today I see that it is possible based on all that has been achieved thus far. I have always had faith that there are billions more angels who will read this message for the first time and will become in turn messengers, ambassadors of peace.
Together we can create a chorus of true love, of knowledge, of generosity that will infect all of society. Together we can fight and collaborate to establish a Guatemala and a world of peace and justice with a humane conscience.
For over two decades I have been strengthening the dream of Afretlain, but I would never impose my dream on my people because they have their free will to choose whether to be slaves of the hell of suffering or be slaves of real peace, justice and freedom. My people have an awareness, but it is founded on the fear of war. And so I have been reuniting my community and representatives and presenting this dream to them. It was presented to the whole village and the people support this dream. And my dream is now their dream too. They are praying day and night for this Centre to become a reality; for my way to be guided to find hearts, to find those angels in the world with that drop of water or waterfall, our fellow lovers of peace on this earth.
The angels who share this dream will be like keys that free those hearts which are like caged birds who die slowly from their captivity.
Once the Afretlain Centre is established in Chiul, other centres will be created in the region and nationally, the Chiul Centre being the mother from whom all others will spring.
For many years, it was difficult to speak about the holocaust because the people had grown too fearful. The truth is it would have been easier for me to stay silent and hidden because I had escaped with my life, but to me this would have been cowardly and selfish. No. I didn´t know how long I would live but I thought of the future, the future of a child, of a woman, a man, and also the future of our earth, our flora and fauna. I said to myself, “Waiting for someone else to act would make me an oppressor too.”
A war may last a year or thirty-six, but its effects endure for millennia. We cannot leave the past behind when that war is still claiming its victims on a daily basis. At the end of the day, it´s the children who suffer most. And the blood of the children, women and men of the holocaust cries out for peace. And so does the blood of the living. These cries can be heard on the wind. I realised that poverty is an illness that shouldn’t exist, created by governments and strengthened by that false democracy. And so we need to unite to raise our voices for reparation, for justice, for freedom for my people, for all people.
How sweet it is to see a child playing with a car or doll or with leaves or earth. And how sad it is when adults, governments who should be the guarantors of peace and security, come and drop bombs on them as they play. And this cruelty is gaining strength every day.
The Centre isn´t a place where people will be programmed like computers, but one where the community can heal the wounds of the past and present, rise up and contribute their gifts and talents to the world. Only in that way will we be able to walk on the path to the true freedom, the path to equality and ultimately a politics which fights for the full life of each citizen and not just one group, which fights for education for all because education should be the stage where our talents and gifts are enriched. And schools shouldn’t have walls to prevent access.
A place where we each of us can smile without needing to hide that fear and sadness that traps us like prey every second of our lives and ultimately kills us.
A place whose programmes will support community development transformation and whose effect is freedom, peace, justice and happiness.
The foundations of this Centre are respect for life, and this respect means having a space, a roof, food, freedom, health, a voice, and security, the opportunity to develop oneself and broaden one´s knowledge. And so the Centre will house the current programmes and strengthen them.
When I was a child, many people told me my dream of a Centre was impossible. But today I see that it is possible based on all that has been achieved thus far. I have always had faith that there are billions more angels who will read this message for the first time and will become in turn messengers, ambassadors of peace.
Together we can create a chorus of true love, of knowledge, of generosity that will infect all of society. Together we can fight and collaborate to establish a Guatemala and a world of peace and justice with a humane conscience.
For over two decades I have been strengthening the dream of Afretlain, but I would never impose my dream on my people because they have their free will to choose whether to be slaves of the hell of suffering or be slaves of real peace, justice and freedom. My people have an awareness, but it is founded on the fear of war. And so I have been reuniting my community and representatives and presenting this dream to them. It was presented to the whole village and the people support this dream. And my dream is now their dream too. They are praying day and night for this Centre to become a reality; for my way to be guided to find hearts, to find those angels in the world with that drop of water or waterfall, our fellow lovers of peace on this earth.
The angels who share this dream will be like keys that free those hearts which are like caged birds who die slowly from their captivity.
Once the Afretlain Centre is established in Chiul, other centres will be created in the region and nationally, the Chiul Centre being the mother from whom all others will spring.
Inside the Centre
The Centre will be a temple, a sacred place for my people. The vision is huge but we need to start somewhere.
How will the Centre work? It will offer an education that will create both literacy and a humane awareness, helping to preserve our K´iche´ Mayan culture, language and knowledge which serve to collaborate with the world. Men will be trained who will have an in-depth knowledge of the value of life, of work, of rights, of not being silent any more. Women will be trained who won´t just seek power but who know who they really are, and who realise their role as the columns of family and society. This Centre won´t just be for indigenous people but for all cultures. Afretlain will be the home of freedom for my people and all people.
The Centre will have 16 classrooms serving 800 of Chiul´s most vulnerable children at both primary and secondary level during the day. Its community health clinic will assist with maternal and child health and give Chiul its first medical doctor. The Centre will house arts studios and workshop space so that more children and adults can express themselves through therapeutic colour, weaving and music. A computer centre will help enrich knowledge and train both children and adults in the latest technology. A sports ground, mini-stadium and swimming pool will provide first-class sporting facilities that will help prevent delinquency and encourage teamwork, excellence and health. A library will encourage literacy and begin a culture of reading in Guatemala. An auditorium will house special events and performances. A museum will pay homage to the past and present a hopeful vision of the future. A vegetable garden and small farm will provide nutritious fresh food which will be prepared in the kitchens for the children, as well as produce to help raise money for the Centre.
The Centre will be built with the collaboration of the whole community, in the same as with the steps. This strategy has been applied similarly to the construction of smoke-free stoves (Chimneys for Chiul) to prevent eye damage and respiratory problems caused by smoke. This voluntary labour will help to reduce the costs of the construction.
The construction of the Afretlain Centre will be a great celebration from the first foundations dug to its completion; it will be a sacred and memorable experience for the people and the volunteers who help build it from all over the world, a story of hope for Chiul, the Quiché region and Guatemala.
The Centre will be built in stages. For the first classrooms, materials, electricity, gas and water installations and land purchase we are looking to raise an initial amount of £35,000 ($45,000).
The good news I have to share is that some monies have already been raised and in 2017 the very first stone will be laid, and the construction will begin. This beginning will be like a small light that will light the way.
I invite you to be part of the beginning, middle and end of the Centre. I promise it will be one of the greatest adventures and most beautiful experiences of your life. You´ll be a part of the magic, culture, history and future of the K´iche´ Mayan people.
I´m sharing this dream in the hope that you will be an angel who helps make it a reality, but when you read this don´t feel any obligation. I just want to say to you: We need you. I and my 115 friends say: We need you. I and my 115 friends thank you for reading this. I and my 115 friends cry out: The people need peace. The people need peace.
How will the Centre work? It will offer an education that will create both literacy and a humane awareness, helping to preserve our K´iche´ Mayan culture, language and knowledge which serve to collaborate with the world. Men will be trained who will have an in-depth knowledge of the value of life, of work, of rights, of not being silent any more. Women will be trained who won´t just seek power but who know who they really are, and who realise their role as the columns of family and society. This Centre won´t just be for indigenous people but for all cultures. Afretlain will be the home of freedom for my people and all people.
The Centre will have 16 classrooms serving 800 of Chiul´s most vulnerable children at both primary and secondary level during the day. Its community health clinic will assist with maternal and child health and give Chiul its first medical doctor. The Centre will house arts studios and workshop space so that more children and adults can express themselves through therapeutic colour, weaving and music. A computer centre will help enrich knowledge and train both children and adults in the latest technology. A sports ground, mini-stadium and swimming pool will provide first-class sporting facilities that will help prevent delinquency and encourage teamwork, excellence and health. A library will encourage literacy and begin a culture of reading in Guatemala. An auditorium will house special events and performances. A museum will pay homage to the past and present a hopeful vision of the future. A vegetable garden and small farm will provide nutritious fresh food which will be prepared in the kitchens for the children, as well as produce to help raise money for the Centre.
The Centre will be built with the collaboration of the whole community, in the same as with the steps. This strategy has been applied similarly to the construction of smoke-free stoves (Chimneys for Chiul) to prevent eye damage and respiratory problems caused by smoke. This voluntary labour will help to reduce the costs of the construction.
The construction of the Afretlain Centre will be a great celebration from the first foundations dug to its completion; it will be a sacred and memorable experience for the people and the volunteers who help build it from all over the world, a story of hope for Chiul, the Quiché region and Guatemala.
The Centre will be built in stages. For the first classrooms, materials, electricity, gas and water installations and land purchase we are looking to raise an initial amount of £35,000 ($45,000).
The good news I have to share is that some monies have already been raised and in 2017 the very first stone will be laid, and the construction will begin. This beginning will be like a small light that will light the way.
I invite you to be part of the beginning, middle and end of the Centre. I promise it will be one of the greatest adventures and most beautiful experiences of your life. You´ll be a part of the magic, culture, history and future of the K´iche´ Mayan people.
I´m sharing this dream in the hope that you will be an angel who helps make it a reality, but when you read this don´t feel any obligation. I just want to say to you: We need you. I and my 115 friends say: We need you. I and my 115 friends thank you for reading this. I and my 115 friends cry out: The people need peace. The people need peace.
The Difference
What is the difference between this dream and other dreams?
A DEEPER AND GREATER PURPOSE – A REVOLUTION, INSIDE AND OUT
AMOR is a humane organisation which focuses on the richness of the knowledge of the five human senses. This dream has a unique thesis based on natural law in which history needs to be viewed against the backdrop of reality. It is a dream of real peace and not an imagined peace. It is a dream of an education that will actually create and fight for peace, justice and freedom both in ourselves/hearts and society/the world. It is a dream of a revolution of love and generosity on the planet.
OUR MISSION IS TO BECOME REDUNDANT
The objective of AMOR is not to gain power, exist for its own sake, or fundraise for its own existence, but to realise its mission. For us, the sooner we are no longer needed, the better.
PROVIDES A HUMANE EDUCATION THAT FREES RATHER THAN PROGRAMMES AND OPPRESSES
AMOR´s mission is not to programme people more but to free them. For oppressed people cannot exclaim what John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural presidential speech, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” for he was part of the elite.
Because the beneficiaries of this dream are imprisoned by a great lie, a weapon that oppresses the people. Where the people are forbidden to say the truth. The government tells us who to call terrorists, but the people can´t call those who really are terrorists terrorists.
DEEP EMBEDMENT & LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
AMOR is deeply embedded in the communities in which it works, having established relationships of trust within these communities over decades. Moreover, Arnulfo and his team have not only lived in extreme poverty but also Arnulfo has dedicated over twenty years to speaking with people about their needs in their own homes. We know the real needs of the indigenous people and how they need them to be met. All of our local employees hail from the families and communities with whom they work.
EMPOWERS WOMEN NOT AS A STRATEGY BUT FOR THEIR OWN SAKE
AMOR doesn´t promote women as a strategy but in order to give women a real space in which to use their gifts, because in both developed and underdeveloped countries women´s gifts are cast to the ground and trampled on.
PROVIDES DIRECT AID
AMOR provides direct assistance to people in need in Guatemala, where there are many organisations whose funds don´t even reach the streets in which the needy live.
100% FUNDING
100% of funds donated online go to project funding and the people who really need it.
PROGRAMMES WHICH EMPOWER BOTH THE GIVER AND THE RECEIVER
AMOR explores novel ways of connection and interaction between donors and recipients in a way that both simultaneously empowered in the process to realise their own dreams. In this way, AMOR isn´t a charitable dream but one which opens up an opportunity to people, an international exchange of drops of water.
A DEEPER AND GREATER PURPOSE – A REVOLUTION, INSIDE AND OUT
AMOR is a humane organisation which focuses on the richness of the knowledge of the five human senses. This dream has a unique thesis based on natural law in which history needs to be viewed against the backdrop of reality. It is a dream of real peace and not an imagined peace. It is a dream of an education that will actually create and fight for peace, justice and freedom both in ourselves/hearts and society/the world. It is a dream of a revolution of love and generosity on the planet.
OUR MISSION IS TO BECOME REDUNDANT
The objective of AMOR is not to gain power, exist for its own sake, or fundraise for its own existence, but to realise its mission. For us, the sooner we are no longer needed, the better.
PROVIDES A HUMANE EDUCATION THAT FREES RATHER THAN PROGRAMMES AND OPPRESSES
AMOR´s mission is not to programme people more but to free them. For oppressed people cannot exclaim what John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural presidential speech, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” for he was part of the elite.
Because the beneficiaries of this dream are imprisoned by a great lie, a weapon that oppresses the people. Where the people are forbidden to say the truth. The government tells us who to call terrorists, but the people can´t call those who really are terrorists terrorists.
DEEP EMBEDMENT & LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
AMOR is deeply embedded in the communities in which it works, having established relationships of trust within these communities over decades. Moreover, Arnulfo and his team have not only lived in extreme poverty but also Arnulfo has dedicated over twenty years to speaking with people about their needs in their own homes. We know the real needs of the indigenous people and how they need them to be met. All of our local employees hail from the families and communities with whom they work.
EMPOWERS WOMEN NOT AS A STRATEGY BUT FOR THEIR OWN SAKE
AMOR doesn´t promote women as a strategy but in order to give women a real space in which to use their gifts, because in both developed and underdeveloped countries women´s gifts are cast to the ground and trampled on.
PROVIDES DIRECT AID
AMOR provides direct assistance to people in need in Guatemala, where there are many organisations whose funds don´t even reach the streets in which the needy live.
100% FUNDING
100% of funds donated online go to project funding and the people who really need it.
PROGRAMMES WHICH EMPOWER BOTH THE GIVER AND THE RECEIVER
AMOR explores novel ways of connection and interaction between donors and recipients in a way that both simultaneously empowered in the process to realise their own dreams. In this way, AMOR isn´t a charitable dream but one which opens up an opportunity to people, an international exchange of drops of water.
How Can I Help?
How can you be part of this dream? This dream needs all kinds of professions, abilities, the talents of all the lovers of peace to make it happen. Here you will have a space where you can realise your dreams and help others realise theirs too. That´s how we can start to water the soil of knowledge/wisdom.
Perhaps you say I´d like to but I can´t. I say you can, first of all by not being a part of the wars in the world in which millions of children die.
You can, because your dream has a space in my dream, a space in the promised land.
You can sponsor a child directly, by providing them with food and scholarships to building them a home.
You can also sponsor a specific project, such as the construction of the Afretlain Centre, or other programmes such as Human Rights, Reparation for the Genocide, Scholarships for the Afretlain School, Humane Education, Food for Life, Homes for Orphans, Gender Equality, Reforestation, Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihoods.
Some angels have been part of this dream by buying my humble paintings, my craft, bags, scarves and table runners with all the love that is deposited into that work as gifts to themselves, or for their families, friends and partners for birthdays, Christmas, St. Valentines, Mothers and Father’s day.
Another opportunity to be part of this dream is through my teachings on love and peace and how to realise your dreams and understanding deeply this philosophy of peace, freedom and justice, by giving their drop of rain as students of the Institute, as coaching clients or tour participants.
Also, others have bought and promoted my book, The Light of Peace, a book on the roots of this dream, on how you can free yourself from programming and achieve your dreams and the peace the world is desperately seeking.
Even if you feel you can´t donate, perhaps you can be a voice on behalf of this dream with your friends, your school, your family, your work, on your travels or by connecting AMOR with other organisations, and that will be your drop of rain. Because of you, others will give their drop of rain by donating.
I go from house to house with the people and so I see and know their needs. The strategy and vision of this dream is for children and families to receive the precise help they need directly, that those drops of water arrive directly with people as though the giver were arriving at the children´s homes with the gift themselves.
All of these drops of rain provide sustainability for the dream and we hope the sustainability of the Afretlain Centre, to which others have donated directly.
All of these people are creating an impact that is helping transform lives in Chiul, in Guatemala and the world.
And today more than ever, there´s no need to come to Guatemala as all of this is possible online.
I was telling a family recently, if your mother needs help and you see your mother as being outside your family now that you have our own family, you will see this as difficult, but if you include her in your family and your daily expenses it won´t be extra but part of your family. The same with this dream: if wants to be the friend of your family, the friend of your children, your brothers and sisters, your friends. This dream Afretlain invites you personally to be a part of its family.
This dream isn´t charity but a dream to end all need for charity. People are not beggars, but we do have a chance to be angels.
Perhaps you say I´d like to but I can´t. I say you can, first of all by not being a part of the wars in the world in which millions of children die.
You can, because your dream has a space in my dream, a space in the promised land.
You can sponsor a child directly, by providing them with food and scholarships to building them a home.
You can also sponsor a specific project, such as the construction of the Afretlain Centre, or other programmes such as Human Rights, Reparation for the Genocide, Scholarships for the Afretlain School, Humane Education, Food for Life, Homes for Orphans, Gender Equality, Reforestation, Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihoods.
Some angels have been part of this dream by buying my humble paintings, my craft, bags, scarves and table runners with all the love that is deposited into that work as gifts to themselves, or for their families, friends and partners for birthdays, Christmas, St. Valentines, Mothers and Father’s day.
Another opportunity to be part of this dream is through my teachings on love and peace and how to realise your dreams and understanding deeply this philosophy of peace, freedom and justice, by giving their drop of rain as students of the Institute, as coaching clients or tour participants.
Also, others have bought and promoted my book, The Light of Peace, a book on the roots of this dream, on how you can free yourself from programming and achieve your dreams and the peace the world is desperately seeking.
Even if you feel you can´t donate, perhaps you can be a voice on behalf of this dream with your friends, your school, your family, your work, on your travels or by connecting AMOR with other organisations, and that will be your drop of rain. Because of you, others will give their drop of rain by donating.
I go from house to house with the people and so I see and know their needs. The strategy and vision of this dream is for children and families to receive the precise help they need directly, that those drops of water arrive directly with people as though the giver were arriving at the children´s homes with the gift themselves.
All of these drops of rain provide sustainability for the dream and we hope the sustainability of the Afretlain Centre, to which others have donated directly.
All of these people are creating an impact that is helping transform lives in Chiul, in Guatemala and the world.
And today more than ever, there´s no need to come to Guatemala as all of this is possible online.
I was telling a family recently, if your mother needs help and you see your mother as being outside your family now that you have our own family, you will see this as difficult, but if you include her in your family and your daily expenses it won´t be extra but part of your family. The same with this dream: if wants to be the friend of your family, the friend of your children, your brothers and sisters, your friends. This dream Afretlain invites you personally to be a part of its family.
This dream isn´t charity but a dream to end all need for charity. People are not beggars, but we do have a chance to be angels.
