Sean Hawkey Photography

Image 1 of 1
Less

Honduras_Hawkey_20180317_2146.jpg

Add to Cart Add to Lightbox Download

Maya-Chortí Jesus

Jesús Alberto Ramírez, Sinaí Chimichal, Copán

"Sinai is a holy place. It’s where Moses got the ten commandments. Chimichal is a tree that grows here. That’s why we called this place Sinaí Chimichal. We’ve been here since 1991, when we organised ourselves into a group.

We organised ourselves because we’d been enslaved by the landowner. We weren’t allowed to plant food to eat, or to put up a fence around our huts, or to wash clothes in the stream. They just made us work for whatever they wanted to pay us, and they’d treat us very badly.

Organising ourselves was hard on everyone. My brother, Nicolás Ramírez, was shot in the belly and killed. The rest of us were captured, tied up with rope, and taken to prison in Santa Rosa. After 20 days or so I was let out, but I was captured and sent to prison again. Our friend Rufino was also shot and captured and sent to prison without medical treatment.

While I was in prison the second time negotiations took place, and eventually we were given about 30 acres to plant food and build huts. And here we are.

We’ve suffered a lot of poverty here. Most of the families here have lost a child. But since we’ve been able to plant food it’s a lot better and not so many children have died."

Copyright
(c) Sean Hawkey All Rights Reserved sean@hawkey.co.uk
Image Size
3840x5760 / 8.1MB
Keywords
Contained in galleries
Honduras: Maya Chortí, Pech, Lenca, Tolupán, Honduras: The Real Face of Jesus
Maya-Chortí Jesus<br /> <br /> Jesús Alberto Ramírez, Sinaí Chimichal, Copán<br /> <br /> "Sinai is a holy place. It’s where Moses got the ten commandments. Chimichal is a tree that grows here. That’s why we called this place Sinaí Chimichal. We’ve been here since 1991, when we organised ourselves into a group. <br /> <br /> We organised ourselves because we’d been enslaved by the landowner. We weren’t allowed to plant food to eat, or to put up a fence around our huts, or to wash clothes in the stream. They just made us work for whatever they wanted to pay us, and they’d treat us very badly.<br /> <br /> Organising ourselves was hard on everyone. My brother, Nicolás Ramírez, was shot in the belly and killed. The rest of us were captured, tied up with rope, and taken to prison in Santa Rosa. After 20 days or so I was let out, but I was captured and sent to prison again. Our friend Rufino was also shot and captured and sent to prison without medical treatment.<br /> <br /> While I was in prison the second time negotiations took place, and eventually we were given about 30 acres to plant food and build huts. And here we are.<br /> <br /> We’ve suffered a lot of poverty here. Most of the families here have lost a child. But since we’ve been able to plant food it’s a lot better and not so many children have died."