A lively market for local artists and community gatherings surrounding Lake Atitlan. (Photo: Megan Fillatre)

Cultivating global experiential education through study abroad in Guatemala

Dr. Geraldine Balzer, a professor in the College of Education, is deeply committed to international experiential education, service learning, and equitable relations between global organizations that are grounded in reciprocity and meaning. As a first-year Ph.D. student in the College of Education and someone who has embraced international education and language learning since a young age, I was intrigued by Professor Balzer’s Guatemalan study abroad and excited for the opportunity to participate in the April 2024 course “Neoliberalism and the Environment.”

By Megan Fillatre

History of the course and local connections

Dr. Balzer has led international high school and university student experiential education and service-learning courses in Guatemala and Nicaragua since 2007. Upper-year high school students from Rosthern Junior College (RJC) in Saskatchewan have participated as part of their Alternative Learning and Service Opportunity (ALSO) requirement. RJC student visits are often accompanied by teachers and include curricular and reflective components throughout the student learning experience.

When offered at the undergraduate and graduate level, the courses explore neoliberalism and its impact on the environment and land tenure; community-engaged research; processes and impacts of colonization; culture, identity, history, and language reclamation. Since Dr. Balzer’s first visit to Central America in 2007, she has led at least one study tour each year, with an exception during COVID-19 when travel was restricted. In coordination with her organization connections, locally in Nicaragua and Guatemala, they co-develop carefully designed programs that reflect the learning outcomes and objectives of the course.

In Guatemala, the local coordinating organization is the Central American Study and Service Program (CASAS). CASAS is part of SEMILLA which is an anabaptist seminary that serves approximately 600 students from Mexico to Panama with centers across Central and Latin America. SEMILLA believes that with a deeper understanding of oneself and the world around us, we can seek social justice and build a more peaceful world. Program offerings include Spanish language courses (online, or in Guatemala), cultural immersion, and hospitality services such as a very quaint guesthouse located in zone 11 of Guatemala City. Our study group stayed at SEMILLA during our ten-day visit to Guatemala, with a four-day trip to Lake Atitlan, Panajachel, Santiago and Panabaj, San Juan La Laguna, Xela, and Quetzaltenango.

Visiting with the local coordinating organization, Central American Study and Service Program (CASAS). (Photo: Megan Fillatre)

The importance of relationships and co-developing research with community

During our recent study abroad course in Guatemala, we visited ANADESA, a women-led community development organization that supports the training, education, and engagement programs of children, adolescents, youth, and women of rural communities in the region. The trusting and nurtured relationships between Professor Balzer and the ANADESA women were very apparent, developed over many visits with RJC student and university groups. When we arrived, she was greeted with hugs from all the women, and we were all treated to a homemade lunch and overview of the organization’s education programs.

ANADESA, located in the village of Panabaj near the center of Santiago Atitlán. Panabaj is a region of approximately 3,000 indigenous Maya Tz’utujil people. (Photo: Megan Fillatre)

In addition to study visits, Dr. Balzer has developed and led transformative global research projects with community partners in Central America. These research projects seek a deeper understanding into the impact and experiences that study-abroad and service-learning programs from the north have on host communities. In 2017, residents from communities in Nicaragua and Guatemala met in Managua as an encuentro (gathering) to share their experiences in hosting service learning and study visitors from the north.

“Their stories revealed the importance of these education visits while also illustrating the one-way transmission of knowledge,” explained Dr. Balzer. “Local hosts challenge participants from sending countries to explore ways of co-developing programs, respecting local protocols and community governance, and encouraging reciprocity.” 

The encuentro research project received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) in 2013, awarded to Dr. Balzer (Principal Investigator), and co-applicants Dr. Harry Smaller of York University and Dr. Michael O’Sullivan of Brock University.

As a result of their learning from host communities about impact and experience, the research team has shifted their visit model from service learning to experiential education.

“We cannot make assumptions that people in the global south need service, and we must recognize the profound capacity that exists within a community and its members,” said Dr. Balzer. “Through experiential education, researchers and students are encouraged to listen, observe, and be open to learning so that we can better understand what things might (or might not) be needed in the community.”

Using the findings from this research, Professor Balzer weaves those needed aspects into her global experiential education programs. 

I encourage you to watch the encuentro video, and read the published article titled A Nicaraguan/Guatemalan Encuentro: Villagers Hosting International Service Learning Groups Reflect on Their Experiences.

 

Looking at the effects of neoliberalism on the social and natural environments of Guatemala

Three other College of Education graduate students participated in the April 2024 course, each of us bringing a unique set of experiences and willingness to learn, listen, observe, and engage in the course content and international experience. During the first few days of our visit, we saw many clear examples of wealth and income distribution disparities between zones one through 16 in Guatemala City. The lower zones were regions of extreme poverty, contrasted with higher zones of greater wealth and embellishment.

Through an experiential assignment we were challenged to find and purchase items in each zone for under $10 quetzals. In zone one (on the left), it wasn’t difficult; zone 16 (on the right) appeared to be near impossible. (Photo: Megan Fillatre)

A K’iche Mayan professor and speaker in our course, explained that Guatemala is truly a country of paradise and paradox: 1) A country of extreme wealth, yet socially, politically, and culturally unequal; 2) A culturally rich country, yet structurally and systemically racist; 3) A country deeply religious and devout, yet profoundly corrupt.

Systemic inequalities across several areas of life in Guatemala have marginalized many, particularly Indigenous Mayan groups. The only available data is from 2014, which reported that 59 per cent of Guatemalans live in poverty and 23.4 per cent live in extreme poverty. Yet the World Bank classifies this land of paradise as an upper-middle-income country, indeed a paradox. The average education completion year of people in Guatemala is Grade 6.

Guatemala is home to approximately 17 million people in a land of eternal spring and the heart of the Mayan world

Twenty-two Mayan groups survived colonization, European settlement, and the 36-year internal conflict. Many still face the impacts of intergenerational trauma, disparity, and corruption. Often for reasons related to race and identity.

We spent a day at Finca La Florida, where we learned about a Mayan community’s united fight for land justice and reclamation. La Florida is in the western highlands of Quetzaltenango, a place surrounded by large foreign-owned coffee, cacao, and other natural resource plantations for the financial gain of very few. La Florida is a small, self-sufficient cooperative of about 50 families, that grow and consume only what is needed for the people of their community. That day was one that I will never forget. We walked through the steep highland forests with La Florida community elders. We saw the inside of a freshly picked cacao bean and tasted it. We opened and closed our day in ceremony, shared a meal together, and learned about their people’s decades-long fight to protect this beautiful environment. These lands are thriving because of the people who fought so hard to preserve, protect, and nurture them.

La Florida works with the umbrella organization, Tierra Nuestra, which we visited the following day.

Spending a day at Finca La Florida, where we learned about a Mayan community’s united fight for land justice and reclamation. (Photo: Megan Fillatre)

If you ever have a chance to visit Guatemala, be sure to take in San Juan La Laguna and other towns surrounding Lake Atitlan. Here we learned from local Mayan Tz’tujil artist, journalist, and activist, Diego Petzey (website and YouTube). Atitlan is said to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, formed from a volcanic caldera, making it one of the largest and deepest in Central America. Communities surrounding Lake Atitlan are inhabited by Indigenous Mayan Tz’tujil, Kaqchikel, and other people who have developed a magnificent place of colorful culture, music, delicious food, eco-tourism, and more!

Took in San Juan La Laguna and other towns surrounding Lake Atitlan. (Photo: Megan Fillatre)

This was a stark contrast to what we witnessed days earlier during a visit to another lake in Guatemala—Lake Amatitlán—a region severely affected by pollution, mostly from government-approved privatization to foreign-owned companies and dumping. This has had a severe impact on the lake water along with contamination from municipalities surrounding it. Until the 1970s, Lake Amatitlán was surrounded by lively markets and green spaces for local artists and community gatherings. When we visited in April 2024, there were only remnants of what used to be.

Lake Amatitlán—a region severely affected by pollution, mostly from government-approved privatization to foreign-owned companies and dumping. (Photo: Megan Fillatre)

Shadows of the 36-year internal conflict

We visited Casa de la Memoria in Guatemala City, a memory home dedicated to recovering narratives of victims from the internal conflict between 1960-1996. A United Nations Truth Commission reported an estimated 200,000 people were violently killed under the country’s military regime. At Casa de la Memoria, we learned about the brutality that occurred during these horrific years in Guatemala; acts of terrible violence (sexual violence against women and young girls), massacres, and forcible displacement of entire communities. More than 80 percent of those murdered, disappeared, or displaced were Indigenous Mayans. Individuals and families are still searching for their loved ones and are committed to finding answers and justice, almost thirty years later (source: general goes on trial for genocide).

“To know the truth hurts, but without a doubt, it is a healthy and liberating action.” – Monseñor Juan José Gerardi (1992 – 1998). “Brutally murdered on April 26, 1998, two days after having presented the book Guatemala Nunca mas / Guatemla Never again, in which state-sponsored civil patrols and death squads are documented and accounted for more than 90% of the human rights violations during the internal conflict.” Photo taken at Casa de la Memoria, Guatemala City. On our first day at Semilla we watched a profoundly moving documentary titled The Art of Political Murder about the corruption and killing of beloved Monseñor Juan José Gerardi.

Guatemala: A future of youth and hope

Megan Fillatre, Alejandra Rojas (USAC International Relations Office) and Professor Geraldine Balzer on the USAC campus. (Photo: Megan Fillatre)

Toward the end of our Guatemalan study abroad, Professor Balzer and I met with public University of San Carlos (USAC) and private University of Itsmo (UNIS). USAC is the only public university in the country and the oldest in Central America, boasting 345 years. It is an affordable and accessible university for students who can reach this level of higher education. USask and USAC are longstanding international partners, committed to exchange in research, faculty, and student mobility. The partnership has been supported by Canadian-funded programs like the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship, and the Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP).

During our time in Guatemala, Professor Balzer and I met a USAC student considering future graduate studies with an educational visit to Canada. In listening to this young student, we heard courageous ideas of law and policy, human rights protection, and social action for Guatemalan people and the environment. From my perspective, this young person represents the future of Guatemala as a place of paradise, reparation, and environmental justice. The capacity we saw in her was immense and left me feeling hopeful for the future of the country.

I am grateful to have been able to experience Guatemala through study abroad and global experiential education. My learning was multi-layered, multilingual, and extremely enriching. It would not have been possible without the support from the USask Global Engagement Scholarship, my staff supervisor Associate Dean, Research, Graduate Support and International Initiatives Dr. Vicki Squires, and PhD supervisor Dr. Shaun Murphy. My sincere appreciation to international lead Dr. Geraldine Balzer and our local hosts at CASAS—Karla, Jessica, Mauricio, and others—for their incredible work to co-develop and facilitate such a meaningful study visit.

Brightly colored Quetzal is Guatemala’s national bird which represents freedom (left). Guatemala coat of arms. We learned of the paradox here that some of our Guatemalan teachers explained—a quetzal that symbolizes freedom, yet encased by swords and guns (right). (Photos: Megan Fillatre)

Megan Fillatre is a PhD student in Educational Foundations (Cross-Departmental) and a staff member in the College of Education where she supports graduate programs and international initiatives in the college. She is passionate about internationalization in higher education and the experiences of teaching, learning, and exploring in intercultural and global contexts.