Rigoberta Menchú

Rigoberta Menchú writes a testimony of herself and her people, she stresses that it is not only her life that she illustrates to us because she did not learn throughout her life alone and she explains that her personal experience is the reality of a whole people.  Growing up in Guatemala was very tough for the residents there that did not have much money, they were not able to attend school, in order to get to town they would have to walk very long distances, and they weren't even guaranteed their own home.  Rigoberta's parents moved to Chimel in 1960 but were unable to build a home there at the time because of funding so they cultivated the land but remained at their small home in town.  Eventually they were forced out of their small home in town by some  ladino families, further in her writings Rigoberta explains that not all ladinos are bad and that the bad ones are the ones that know how to talk and steal from the people, and they had to move to the land they found in Chimel.  Unfortunately after clearing the land they were unable to get a good yield of crops for about eight or nine years, during this time they had to work in the fincas, where times were very tough.

Working in the fincas brought great hardship to many people, even the ride there was brutal during the time they were stuck in the lorry and could not use the bathroom or bathe and everyone became dirty and were burned from the sun.  Rigoberta tells about her first day picking cotton and how afterwards, that night, she discovered that everyone's faces, including her own, were covered in Mosquitos and this made her panic.  She says, "That was our world. I felt that it would always be the same, always the same. It hadn't ever changed."  This makes me feel so terrible for her, her family, and all of her people that she is able to speak for...  Of course we are all aware of the different hardships that people around the world are facing but to read just how awful it really is, it is quite troubling.  She carried on to explain how everything was deducted from their pay at the fincas and that they would have to stay to work extra days for resting or times they could not work whether it was their choice or not.  When Rigoberta was a bit older she was sent to the capital after the landowner of the finca had asked her parents for her.  To think that someone could just be sent away is a terrible thought...  I could not imagine someone asking my parents for me and to then actually be taken away!  I think that this story has a lot to teach everyone and it brings a lot of different things into a new perspective.  
The biggest lesson I took from reading about Rigoberta and her people is to be thankful for everything I have and to try my hardest not to take anything for granted because I really am very fortunate in so many different aspects.  As of right now my biggest stressor is school, most of the people in Guatemala could not even attend school, and this makes me realize that I have it really good and I need to always remember that before I complain about something silly and not worthy of a complaint at all!