Obama in Remote Guatemala

Sometimes I think it's easy to forget how much of an impact the US has on others around the world. This is one clear example.

From Good.is...

The [Guatemalan] village where we spend most of our time is high in the altiplano in the Sololá area. There are no black people here. Nor are there white people, other than occasional missionaries and Peace Corps workers. There are only K’iche Mayan people here.

...we were surprised by their reaction to the Obama election. It was of great symbolic importance. If a black man can enter the Casa Blanca, they are saying, maybe a Mayan person can one day become president of Guatemala. Maybe we will live to see a true democracy here, a government that represents the rights of Guatemala’s First People, instead of representing their destruction.

[Just after the election, a resident of the village sent the following email with the subject of] “An Urgent Message of Congratulations for the Presidential Elections.”

We believe that Ajaw has heard our prayers for America, because we know very well the difficult situation in our world right now. May the creator bless Barack Obama, the future president of the USA, who, in his hands, will carry the destiny of this huge and powerful country. We chapines [Guatemalans], we’ve been so concerned about the situation in America, because what happens in America affects us deeply and immediately, economically.

But today, America has achieved what so many have dreamed and died for, for so many years.

I heard the acceptance speech of Obama, at four in the morning when I turned on the little battery-powered radio I have here. And I had the tremendous surprise of hearing the news that Barack Obama won by 58%.

Maybe now we do not see races, or the color of the person. What is important is peace, liberty, and harmony so that we may all have the power to work. I, and my family—it made us so happy. And we give a triumphant hug to each other as if we were norteamericanos, because it made us so happy in our hearts.

Hope is springing up all over the world...it's a wonderful thing.