I had the amazing experience of traveling to Guatemala twice with Sister Parish. For me, it was a life-changing experience. I was able to live with a Guatemalan family and experience the school system first hand. Sister parish also enabled my church to bring 4 Guatemalans from our sister community to Minnesota. We were able to host and have a truly amazing exchange. I appreciate potable water here in the U.S. because it is so much work to have water in Guatemalan villages. We take so much for granted here. We are lucky, but I feel that our brothers and sisters in Latin America have much to teach us as well.
Sister Parish, Inc does amazing work connecting communities in the US, Guatemala and El Salvador. The organization completes a tremendous amount of work with a small but mighty staff, and a very committed Board of Directors. The governing Board in the US takes time to listen and reflect upon statements from the leaders in Guatemala and El Salvador to truly live out the mission of mutuality and respect across borders.
From the first trip I took with Sister Parish to the highlands of Guatemala in 1999 to this year when I began arranging to take a group of high school students to meet Central Americans and encounter the power of solidarity across international boundaries.
On my first trip to Nebaj, I met, lived with and worshipped with and Ixil couple named José and Maria. They embodied the simplicity and deep faith of the Biblical parents of Christ himself. Here I became aware that people of limited means have something to share with those of us of great wealth and education. I was humbled and grateful.
The experience that Sister Parish offers to every delegate whether traveling south or north is a chance to meet good people and support each other in the context of our own life struggles, while searching for ways to change our own lives to make the world more equitable and just for all.
Sister Parish, Inc. works to promote intercultural understanding and commitment to peace and justice between people in the U.S. and Central America. I have been involved with Sister Parish for several years through my church, which is engaged in a 23-year sister parish relationship with a church community in Guatemala. Through annual back-and-forth travel (delegations from our community to theirs and vice versa), we have stayed in each others' homes and shared each others' lives. I have experienced our Guatemalan friends' incredible friendship, faith, hospitality, hope, love and commitment to family. We build community by journeying together in mutual respect, dignity and learning. Through this relationship, I have come to see that there is no "other", that we are all more alike than we might realize, and that the love we share between communities has improved and transformed our lives.