Bienvenidos a Guatemala

I’m shivering. The sun has gone hiding behind a cloud, and is soon to be set anyway. I’m wearing a sports sweater and pants, but the coolness of the mountain evening gets to me. I was warned that it would be chilly in Xela, but I had not expected to feel cold.

It is my first night in Quetzaltenango, and second night in Guatemala. I do not know how I feel or what to think. Except cold. I feel cold.

The hostel that I am staying at the moment, Casa Argentina, would make most of my friends turn around at the door. It’s very simple and ascetic, but has a Guatemalan touch; meaning there is no heating or insulation. Since the temperatures tend to drop below zero at night, I am fretting what is to come. I have three blankets in my bed, but I doubt they will be enough.

I’m feeling melancholic enough to almost want to return home. But just almost. However I’m well aware that this time travelling might be very different. I can’t quite get a hold of the feeling, but it makes me restless. I’m hesitating, and I rarely do. Hesitating whether the choices I have made turn out to be okay in my life. It’s a strange feeling, since I’ve never had it before.

I feel a stranger in this country. Which I am, of course. But a stranger in my life too. How to process that feeling, I do not know. Should I embrace it, or fear it? Accept it or get rid of it?

I feel the course of my life might change a lot during these months to come. To where, how, and what is the result, makes me wonder. For the first time in my life I feel somewhat lost at what I really want, or what should happen. It’s a feeling I want to welcome, because it’s a chance to grow and learn. But processing it is difficult.

But now. Time to face the inevitable: the night of Xela.

- - - Next morning - - -

I didn’t die! I didn’t freeze! And I slept well, wearing a fleece and long pants and covered with three blankets.

Fresh mountain air wakes me up immediately and I don’t feel tired like usually in the mornings. My thoughts from yesterday seem to be gone – at least for now. Just taking it one day at a time.

"I remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Kony 2012

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How we react to insane cruelty and crimes against humanity shapes the future. Do we hear their voices? Do we see the invisible children? What we do now defines who we really are.

Kony 2012 video on Youtube has already had over 80 million views worldwide. Brilliantly made video about Joseph Kony, a long-time war criminal from Uganda, who now operates also in South Sudan and other areas. Known for his tactics of abducting children, turning them into sex slaves and child soldiers, Kony has long been free to rape, murder, destroy and terrorize.

There has been a fair amount of criticism about the Kony movement, the video, Jason Russell and Invisible Children Inc. This is to be expected. But what really touches me is the huge support that this movement has gotten during the years, all over the world. It has really changed people and their view of the world, made them act to the point that US government took Kony on their agenda: Barack Obama sent about a hundred special military advisors to Uganda to help and train their military to catch Kony and bring him to justice.

People actually care. People all over the world care about these children, who have had everything taken away from them: their families, their childhood, their humanity. Of course Kony is not the only bad guy doing things like this, but what this movement represents, is hope. Hope for mankind, hope for compassion, hope for a change - because people all over the world demand it.

Jason Russell and his team have great understanding of social media and technology, how to bring people together for a common cause. They believed that if people knew, they would care, and they would act. I have to admit I have lost my hope for mankind from time to time, been overwhelmed by the injustice and cruelty in the world. I have felt like there is no hope. That people don’t care.

Kony 2012 movement has restored my hope. It has opened my eyes. People do care.

As long as we care about the suffering and pain of others, there is hope. As long as our caring makes us act, the world can change. Let’s do the same for Syria – and for other places where crimes against humanity take place.


"Who are you to end a war. I'm here to tell you, who are you not to."
- Jason Russell

Ajatuksia maailman ääriltä

Jännittäviä kokemuksia, uusia ihmissuhteita, näkökyvyn laajentumista, erilaisten kulttuurien kohtaamista.

Nämä ovat asioita, joita ihmiset uskovat kuulevansa minulta kysyessään, mitä olen matkoiltani saanut. Usein tyydynkin tähän vastaukseen: se on helppo, ei vaadi suurempia selittelyjä ja on toki suurinpiirtein totuudenmukainen.

Mutta kysymys, mitä olen saanut, on mielestäni väärä. Haluaisin vastata kysymykseen, mitä olen oppinut tai miten matkani ovat minua muuttaneet. Mutta sisälläni tapahtunut muutos on vielä varsin hienovarainen ja hiljainen. Se tunnustelee vasta sydämeni maaperää, tarttuu siihen hennolla otteella, odottaa jatkoa.

Nöyryys.

Siitä nyt puhun. Kuin kevätaurinko, se alkoi sulattaa sydämeni jäätä. Kuin kesätuuli, se puhalsi pois roskat. Kuin syyssade, se puhdisti sisimpäni mudasta ja loskasta.

Minä, joka luulin ehkä jostain jotain tietäväni, sain oppia, etten oikeasti tiedä mitään. Minä, joka luulin jotain maailmassa nähneeni, sain oppia, etten ole oikeasti nähnyt mitään. Minä, joka luulin elämästä jotain ymmärtäväni, sain oppia, etten ymmärrä mitään.

Nöyryys. Sitä ovat matkani minulle opettaneet.

Olen tavannut rikkaita, köyhiä, lukeneita ja lukutaidottomia, korkeasti koulutettuja ja kouluja käymättömiä, onnettomia ja onnellisia, toisiaan vihaavia ja toisiaan rakastavia ihmisiä. Ja olen tullut siihen lopputulokseen, että nöyryys, joka on ehkä kaikkein aliarvostetuin luonteenpiirre, on tärkein asia, jonka ihminen voi elämässään saavuttaa.

Olen huomannut, että nöyrillä ihmisillä yhteistä on keskinäinen rakkaus, toisten arvostaminen, omien heikkouksien ymmärtäminen ja lempeä anteeksianto. Nöyrät ihmiset ovat usein myös kaikista puutteistaan huolimatta äärimmäisen onnellisia ja tyytyväisiä elämäänsä. He ovat löytäneet jotain, mikä meiltä monilta puuttuu.

Nöyryys. Se on opettanut minulle miten ylpeä, vihainen, epäoikeudenmukainen ja omaa etua tavoitteleva oikeasti olen. Se on opettanut, miten vähäpätöisiä omat ponnisteluni ja viisauden tavoitteluni tässä maailmassa ovat. Se on opettanut, että eivät tiedon määrä, opintojen pituus, urallinen menestys, parisuhteet tai rikkaudet määritä millainen ihminen olen, vaan se, miten kohtaan ja kohtelen toisia ihmisiä.

Usein nöyrät ihmiset ovat joutuneet kokemaan suuria epäonnistumisia, ahdinkoja, kipuja ja taisteluja elämässään. Suurissa tuskissa opitaan suurimmat viisaudet.


"To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness."
- Benjamin Franklin