If you've visited or volunteered in the Guatemalan
Highlands, the chances are you'll already be familiar
with the bright yellow doors of El Espacio, the
Entremundos office in Xela. You'll certainly have come
across their magazine in your travels, a bi-lingual
treasure trove of stories about the country's history,
culture and volunteer opportunities.

For five years, Entremundos has been a hub and contact
point for volunteers and Non Governmental
Organisations, in this culturally rich but
historically troubled part of Guatemala. The Western
Highlands, overwhelmingly indigenous Mayan, were a
bastion of resistance to the military dictatorship
during the Civil War - and bore the brunt of much of
much of the army's repression. The region remains
poor but proud, and its beauty and history have made
it a popular base for NGO work.

Entremundos was founded because of a perceived lack of
communication between these different groups. Through
its magazine, website, lectures and database of
hundreds of volunteer opportunities, it hooks up
volunteers with the right skills and interests to the
right organisations. Pop by its offices, and there's
always a few fresh faces browsing through the options
- everything from women's weaving co-operatives,
organic fair-trade coffee farming, to IT support for
Indigenous Rights Groups. Increasingly, however, it is
using its expertise to reach out to Guatemalan
projects and project workers, offering training,
information and capacity building.

I was working with a small community radio station,
Radio San Pedro, near Lago Atitlan when I first got
hold of a copy of the magazine, and heard about
Entremundos. At the time, I was experimenting with
making radio pieces in English, Spanish, and Tzutuhil,
the Mayan language spoken on the Southern shore of the
lake. Whilst the station makes some great shows
dealing with local issues, I realised that small radio
stations like San Pedro do not really have the
resources or the experience to make their own news or
current affairs program, collecting national and
international stories. What was really needed was a
show that could be shared amongst those stations,
which they could contribute to, and which could be
produced in the many different languages spoken in
Guatemala - twenty three indigenous languages as well
as Spanish - with a version for an international
English speaking audience to create contact with
groups abroad.

These two radio programs are the result of that idea,
and hopefully, just the first stage in this project.
Working with Entremundos, I produced two bi-lingual
programs, one in Spanish and English, the other in
K'iche and Spanish. The shows combine the best
articles, news and stories from the magazine, an
interview with Rebecca Archer, the new director of
Entremundos, poetry, and songs from local trova de
musica, La Fonda Del Che. The show is currently being
distributed and aired on student and community radio
stations around Guatemala; wed like to encourage you
to share this unique program with your listeners too.

For more information on Entremundos, see
www.entremundos.org

Tom Allan is currently writing a feature length
article about trilingual radio work in Guatemala
called "Sound Barriers," and is planning a radio
feature on the making of the Entremundos Radio
Program. For more information, contact
w_t_allan@yahoo.com

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews