Anonymity doesn’t really exist here in the way I’ve come to know it growing up in Canadian cities.
Rabinal boasts a vibrant sense of community. Sometimes it feels like everyone knows each other, a fact which can be both beautiful and overwhelming. Connecting with one person means connecting with their circle, thereby connecting with the whole. It feels as though every individual plays their part in something bigger. People become inter-tangled, not through grand gestures, but through the simple acts of everyday life.
Every morning, the four women leading the New Hope Foundation’s (FNE) office earnestly sweep the tiled floors and mop, not once, but twice, with a potent blend of citronella to keep the mosquitos at bay. They weed and tidy the yard, while chatting away before the morning ritual concludes with a cup of coffee. Mondays at 6:30 a.m., the marimba music blasting from the garbage truck echoes down the streets. Every household hastily gathers their trash bags and rushes to the curb to chat as they wait. At the market, the woman who sells me two buttery green avocados points me to a vendor a few stands down where I can find ginger. From there, ginger and avocados in hand, I am directed to the fresh chamomile. Walking past the line of atol vendors, I hear “elote” and “tres cocimientos”, as I am greeted by the smile of someone who knows my atol preferences a little too well. I chat and purchase my atol, promising to come back the next market day for the other flavour (which I always do).
Through these experiences and interactions I am beginning to understand the composition of Rabinal, a community where everybody knows everybody. Each holds an individual role, but this production is no monodrama; within the community, these roles become infinite, as responsibility multiplies through connection.
Sights and skies of Rabinal.
The Intercultural Bilingual Community Education Centre (CECBI) functions as a microcosm of this broader culture, simultaneously reflecting, depending on, and contributing to Rabinal. Students are divided into six separate grades; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years belong to the básico level; 4th, 5th, and 6th to perrito (middle and high school). Together they make up the student body at CECBI. Then there are the teachers. Nurse Griselda. Don Tomás, the groundskeeper. Don José, the bus driver. And señoras Marina and Tomasita, who can always be found giggling together while they make tortillas to feed the whole bunch. Everyone has a role within this single CECBI community, woven together by shared space and responsibilities.
When it’s time to harvest yuca, everyone participates. When it’s time to shell, toast, and mill corn, no one sits out. And when the aforementioned corn turns into tamales, nobody goes hungry. On Friday afternoons, everyone is suddenly sweeping floors, wiping desks, or gathering trash. You’ll find a few stragglers offering emotional support, cracking jokes while their classmates scrub away, but even that is part of the CECBI ecosystem.
Age-old divisions – students vs. teachers, middle vs. high school, math vs. art class – all blur together yielding the resplendent watercolour that is CECBI.
CECBI’s work is rooted in the Maya cosmovision, a worldview emphasizing the interconnectedness of humans, Mother Nature, the universe, and everything that is.
Their pedagogy incorporates this philosophy, interweaving academic, agricultural, and ancestral knowledge, placing historical memory at the heart of its education to play a key role in healing and the ongoing struggle for justice. Courses are designed to build skills supporting youth in municipal leadership and community development roles. Through mediums such as classes, art, workshops, and field trips, students have the opportunity to explore their history and connect with their culture, while becoming the leaders of tomorrow.
Their health program, supporting students, their families, and the broader community, is “designed to generate social, community, personal, emotional, physical, and spiritual balance, using local, community, and ancestral means, resources, and personnel.”
Even daily activities live and breathe this outlook; the communal cooking and cleaning, the melodies of Spanish and Achí, the way students dance between the classroom and the gardens, fields, and mountains, free of hierarchy.
At CECBI, education is about more than writing essays and solving quadratic equations. It’s about contributing to the whole and learning to care for the land and those around you. A place where education is synonymous with community, where living, learning, and laughter mingle, and where everyone plays a part in something bigger.
In the spirit of the Maya Cosmovision, CECBI mirrors the rhythms and responsibilities of community life; a constellation of individuals whose roles endlessly expand, like the universe itself, in relation to those around them.
If you would like to learn more about FNE’s work, check out their recently rebranded website, available in both Spanish and English.
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