What is your "hometown" in the diaspora?
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Where do you consider your homelands to be?
Xela, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
What has your experience been like growing up in the diaspora and connecting to your roots in your homeland(s)?
Growing up in the diaspora in the 90's made connecting to my roots back in Guate difficult. In the early 90's, the Guatemalan & Latin/Mesoamerican community was very small in Calgary. Everything that many of us have access to now either didn't exist at the time, you had to be a rich immigrant; or know a kid in the neighborhood who's parents were rich and had access to Telemundo. Things like Maseca were hard to come by... let alone Tajin or Takis! You catch my drift. And although we spoke Spanish at home and my parents had made a few 'Latino" friends; it was as if there was a subconscious effort from immigrant parents to assimilate as much as they could. Who could blame them though? My parents had fled the civil war, migrated and suffered the traumas of such.
And so, I too; felt the need and want to be like everyone else. This need further exasperated the challenges to connect with my roots. As I grew older in age (not "grew up" because I'm a generous 5"3.5 on a good day), I slowly began to understand that I in fact was not "Canadian" like some of the non immigrant kids... like when they walked by my kitchen window and saw me eating frijoles for lunch - they told everyone at school the next day that I was eating poop -_- Or; the question of "But where are you from FROM?" made me overthink my answer in my 20s. It wasn't until I got a bit older, traveling to Guate for my 30th birthday to be exact, and the implosion of my nearly 11 year marriage to an Evangelical Pastor that I felt such a desperate urge to reconnect with my roots. Over the next few years, I longed to have a strong connection to our teachings and struggled to find people in Calgary that had our traditional knowledge. I searched for ways in which I could reconnect with my roots by using many of the Guatemalan textiles my mom had given me through the years to decorate my home, trying to learn Quiche and Mam on my own, and looking up social media specific hashtags that were related to Guatemalan culture, which eventually lead me to the Popol Nah Instagram account... The rest is history :)
Why are you a part of the Chiltepes Chilerxs community?
Why not!? lol
As soon as I heard about the project from Willy during my trip to Xela last May; I knew I wanted to be part of the community once it launched - A community of people like myself that are looking to reconnect with their roots while living in the diaspora. On the last day of my time with Willy, we sat down en el patio in this house where he said to me "No estas sola. Hay muchos como tu que estan regresando a sus raices. Y todos estamos aqui contigo; estas en casa." Knowing that there are other people that are looking to reconnect and feel the same way I did/do about their identity and culture helps me feel less alone.
What is something new you have learned since being part of the Chiltepes Chilerxs community?
All the amazing things we are doing around the world! I love hearing how people are doing things for the community and how passionate they are about. It has also been very reassuring to hear others share their similar stories and journey - reminding me I'm not alone.
How do you find ways to connect with your roots outside of the Chiltepes community?
Social media has been a great way for me to connect with my roots; by following accounts that share history and traditional teachings - especially when it come to traditional birthwork knowledge (becuase I'm a Doula!). Music and food are also ways in which I connect with my roots. I have also found it helpful to connect with my roots by connecting with the First Nations community here and discovering so many similarities with our teachings. I do find it hard to connect with my roots in some "latino" circles... many of them deny their indigeneity, are very religious, or colonized in their way of thinking.
Tell us a little more about yourself!
Birthwork and culture are deeply woven in my life. The importance of reclaiming our traditional teachings around pregnancy, birth and postpartum, ensuring our community in the diaspora are supported in their birth journey, and making that support accessible to our people is so important to me. I'm also a drummer and singer! Music has taken me on many amazing journeys! I am currently playing for a local Female MC while also doing a Selena tribute act - Bidi Bidi Bom Bom!
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