September 20, 2017: There are so many differences in the world from when I was growing up and yet so many things seem to be static and even going backwards. Since I started my photographic work back in 1984, I marvel at where we are technologically and despair at where we are in understanding of and compassion for our fellow human beings.
The Peace Accords had only been in effect for 16 months when we returned to Guatemala in 1998. In the Ixcán, there were 2, maybe 3, radio phones — 1 was at the UN’s Compound, 1 was at the military base and there might have been a 3rd at the bank. If you wanted to use your cell phone, you had to know the locations around the area where one might work — by this tree, or a 100 yards from so and so’s. At our house, I had to climb up the ladder to the water tank on the roof to be able to get any reception. When we left in 2003, there were internet cafés — satellite connections had gotten much better. This meant greater safety for everyone. Living in an area that had seen years of bloody conflict, where the news might reach the “outside” only in a whisper. Where people disappeared, where whole villages disappeared. Where neighbor was afraid of neighbor, it brought a certain peace of mind that there was a way to contact the outside world easily and instantly, certainly more so than before.