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Introduction: Rigoberta Menchú

1

“My Name is Rigoberta Menchú. I am 23 years old. This is my testimony. I didn't learn it from a book and I didn't learn it alone. I'd like to stress that it's not only my life, it's also the testimony of my people. . . . My story is the story of all poor Guatemalans. My personal experience is the reality of a whole people.” (- I, Rigoberta Menchú 1983)

Rigoberta Menchú has made herself known all around the world for her work towards human rights. She began her adolescence in Guatemala, as an Indian peasant where she faced countless injustices that ultimately inspired her work. Giving up her life for her beliefs, she witnessed atrocities beyond belief, such as the murder of her mother, and even ended up exiled from her own country. She has inspired and aided many people and her work earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.

Background Info: Birthplace

Rigoberta Menchú was born in a village in Chimel, a Quiché province of Guatemala on January 9, 1959. She was born of Indian descent and spent most of her childhood a peasant, like many Indian families living in Guatemala at the time. In 1960, her parents moved the family to a land, which they claimed and cultivated themselves. Shortly after other indigenous families followed, and thus they formed their community. Farming was their main way of life at this home, and although their crops prospered, there was still not enough to feed everyone and pay expense all the costs of living. To supplement these harvests, the family worked on coffee bean plantations for the extra money and food. On the downside however, these living areas were often cramped and unsanitary, with many people living without clean water. It was often cramped and unsanitary however, and many people lived in small areas without
clean water.

Guatemala

Background Info: Family

Rigoberta's mother was a midwife and traditional healer, and her father, Vincente, was a day laborer, catechist, and community leader. He too stood for the rights of the Indian people in the community by leading a band of people against the Spanish Embassy, and was also active in the Peasant Unity Committee, a group that fought for peasant land rights. Both parents belonged to one of the many Indigenous groups in Guatemala, the Quiché Maya, and spoke little Spanish. She had three brothers and a sister, and all seven of them were faced with unimaginable horrors that left Rigoberta practically alone. Her family amongst other things was a main inspiration that she looked to as she grew and became politically active.

2

Background Info: Beliefs

Guatemalan Flag

"What hurts Indians the most is that our regalia are considered beautiful, but it's as if the person wearing them didn't exist." - Menchú

The Tribe
As part of the Quiché tribe, Quiché was the language in which was spoken, and is one of over 20 different languages spoken in Guatemala. The Quiché language is a Mesoamerican language of the Mayan language family, and Rigoberta spoke nothing else until she was nineteen years of age. The meaning of the word Quiché is, "many trees." El Quiché is also a name of a department of modern Guatemala which most of the tribe is found living in.

The culture surrounds nature, because nature is what they've used to survive since the culture's creation. Along with nature comes farming, a way of life in Quiché communities. An old legend depicts the tale of the first Quiché people who God created from corn after being unable use mud or wood.

A custom in the tribe is one that Rigoberta was told from the time she was a baby. People find it morally incorrect to eat food in front of a pregnant woman without offering to share, so that the baby will not grow up lacking food or a necessity. Mothers teach children to be respectful to everybody always for this reason, a strong principle in Rigoberta's mind.

Rigoberta's personal beliefs were based upon the freedom and equality of the indigenous people.

Background Info: Education

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Rigoberta Menchú received a primary-school education as a student at many Catholic boarding schools. She did not however receive a formal diploma. All of her wisdom and knowledge she acquired from herself, her culture, and from her experiences. She started working towards women's rights even at the young age of fourteen.

Hardships: Early Years

Coffee Beans

Rigoberta began working on the coffee bean plant when she was eight years old along with the rest of the family. They were overseen by a master who did not speak the indigenous language and were also forced to endure the toxic insecticides put on the plants. These toxins eventually killed one of Rigoberta's brothers. This was the first time Rigoberta had lost a family member to injustice.

Her family held no citizenship in Guatemala, as was the case for all other Indian people in the region. Because the Menchú family was active in bettering the community for peasants, the local government ended up suspecting them of being subversives and engaging in guerrilla tactics. It was at this time that Rigoberta's father, Vicente, was arrested and tortured because he allegedly took part in the murder of a plantation owner.