I wrote the other day about the link between conviction and energy. One of the nice things about blogging in the internet age (and one of the things that keeps me being careful what I say 
) is that our partners are reading the blog on the day that it’s published, and talking to me about it.
Lina, the president of Kinal, read the entry on conviction and energy and added a third word to the set in a speech to a group of Kinal health promoters and midwives, staff, and Jose and I yesterday. The word she added was “gratitude.”
She went on to say how thankful she was that there are peope in other parts of the world who have never met Kinal staff, volunteers, or beneficiaries but believe in them and their work. She is thankful that those people donate to the work of Kinal, and that they make big things possible. She said how important it is to have us visit because Kinal does a lot more thingsthan are conveyed in reports to donor organizations. She wants to make sure that all of us at PWRDF know that our work is so important to what Kinal does.
I responded to her, because I wanted her to know that gratitude is a two-way street. I told her how thankful we were to be able to visit, to learn about the work, to meet all the fantastic people at Kinal, and to be welcomed into the communities where they work.
Yesterday we visited two communities of the Amuzga indigenous people in Guerrero state (for those of you not fluent in Mexican geography, that’s the state where Accapulco is located).
The Amuzgas invited us into their homes in both villages we visited. In the first village, we had a wonderful lunch with Kinal health promoters and midwives. The meal of tortillas, cheese, and hardboiled eggs was one full of laughter and tears and learning as these colleagues and friends from Kinal shared with each other and with us stories of their work.
It was clear how well Kinal has built community among its staff and volunteers as they told of their joys and frustrations in their work. We got to meet babies who had been accompanied by Kinal’s midwives who might not have survived without that work. We heard stories of institutional racism that regularly deny indigenous women access to health care at clinics and hospitals in the region.
But mostly we joined in the community and listened. It was a great lunch.
As we left the lunch meeting, I thought this blog entry was already written in my head, and I was done. But then we visited the next village.
During the introductory speeches (there are lots of speeches here, if not so many as in Burundi), it was mentioned that our arrival was cause for meat to be buried in the dirt, and that we would help to dig it up.
To be honest, I found that kind of odd. But I’ve learned to go along with these things, and they usually work out.
As I got more details, it turns out that the meat had been buried in a pot to cook. So Jose and I got to literally work for our suppers as we carefully removed the top layer of dirt from the banana leaves that were used to insulate a hole in the ground. Inside that hole was a pot that, when removed and uncovered, turned out to have our supper inside- baked goat.
The feast we had was again marked by laughter and sharing of the Kinal members from the local community. Good food, good company, and good learning made for a superb afternoon.