CPTnet
August 13, 1998
Chiapas, Mexico: Marching in the light of God with the Bees.

[Note: The following is a portion of a report written by a member of Christian
Peacemaker Team in Chiapas. The displaced people referred to below are
members of the Bees -Mayan Indian Christians committed to the biblical
principles of Nonviolence.]

It was a very good two days. Monday, we went to the part of
X'oyep where the displaced from Los Chorros live. They are 220 people living
in four buildings, each about 50' x 15'. (BTW for sleeping that comes out to
less than 2' wide per person.) There are no beds, very few pads. Many are
ill.

A good number want to go back home, but most of these realize that they would
be going back to very little. A lot of houses burnt, some occupied by
others, all the rest stripped of
everything that was in/on them. At the camps they at least have a roof and
food. Most of the displaced, I believe, have not visited Los Chorros since
leaving 7-11 months ago.

Yesterday we went to Acteal, where the eight members of the
Bishops' Peace Commission (or something like that) of the Mexican Bishops'
Conference celebrated a mass. The homily, given by the President of this
commission, was not uplifting, but what WAS was the singing of a choir from
X'oyep. Beautiful four-part singing.

The two women who cooked for us in X'oyep were members of the choir. After
[we sang] "We are Marching in the Light of God" in Spanish as a table grace
on Tuesday, they wanted to learn it. We gave them the words, which they
translated into Tzotzil. Last night we taught it to them in Spanish and
English, then fit their Tzotzil translation to the music.

It goes like this:
Ta xi xano, ta slu sali cajualtik
Ta xi xano, ta slu sali cajualtik (2x)

Ta xi xano, ta xi xano,
Ta xi xano, ta slu sali cajualtik (2x)

("x" is pronounced "sh"; downbeats fall on "no" of "xano" and on "li" of
"sali"; "ta slu sali cajuatik" on the first line, and the whole of each of the
second and fourth lines, are sung as steady eighth notes.)

"Que un espiritu de humilde valenti'a nos caliente el corazon, y nos erradica
todo temor." May a spirit of humble courage heat up our hearts and eradicate
all our fears.