Making Marimbas with Modern Maya

Curly hair and braces (i.e. me)—this is not your everyday sight for the children of San Antonio. The small village of San Antonio is home to the Mopan Maya, who still adhere to many of their age-old traditions. Originally, the ancestors of the inhabitants of San Antonio lived in the village of San Luis Peten, which is located just across the border with Guatemala. The villagers fled to Belize to seek refuge from the oppression they faced in Guatemala. They then named their new home San Antonio, after Saint Anthony, who was the Catholic saint they chose to bring with them when they left their old life behind.

I walked around the school to meet some of the students and found some shocking stuff going on. For example, I walked into one class and was startled to see the teacher wielding a long, sharp machete. Imagine walking into your classroom and seeing your teacher with a machete in her hand. Now remember all the times you made your teacher mad by being noisy or misbehaving. Are you regretting it now? In his other hand, the teacher was holding a long piece of bamboo. Phew. He meant no harm. He was simply giving his students a lesson on how to make a "marimba," a traditional instrument that looks similar to a xylophone. It was exciting to see the students chopping away with the machete. I wanted to try it myself but, since I didn't have much experience with large, sharp objects, I held back. I didn't mind missing out on the experience because I did not want to end up with a hand missing instead!

I noticed that many of the students were not wearing shoes. The school requires its students to wear uniforms; however, exceptions are made for those who cannot afford to buy the uniforms or shoes. What matters most is that they attend school at all since not everyone can. The cost to register to go to school is $3.00 Belize ($1.50 US). Even though this may seem very inexpensive to you, there are a number of families here who cannot afford to send their children to school.

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