In considering the projects the Parroquia has and has had, the many ways in which it has worked for and with the people of San Lucas Tolimán and its surrounding communities, it is impossible to neglect the social and political implications of such service. The parish and its leaders have not had any specific political agenda; nevertheless, it is impossible to separate proactive human development from the political climate within which it operates.

     One of the easiest ways to see this relationship is with what is locally called El Proyecto de Agua – the water project. To fully understand what this project is, one needs to look at the many years of social, political, and governmental conditions and changes which have shaped the parish’s efforts to serve its people as fully as possible.

     The social unrest that plagues Guatemala finds its beginnings with what much of the world recognizes as the spanish conquest. The term spanish conquest often brings thoughts of conquistadors and the plundering of Mayan civilization. Hearing the story from many Guatemalans, however, adds a new dimension: the words conquest and conquerors are replaced with invasion and invaders. The Maya are a very proud people with a very rich cultural history; a conquest would mean that this culture was defeated. The Maya have certainly not been defeated. They were invaded, and they have experienced a staggering communal setback, but the Maya do live.

     This living of Mayan life and culture takes place with difficulty and on small scales within the communities scattered through the mountains, valleys, and plains of this small nation. There is a difference between the culture desired and imposed by those with political power and the culture desired and protected by the Maya. This cultural, and thus societal, rift is caused by the Maya’s having very little political voice. Political voice is gained through money, through large land ownership. Most Maya have neither.

     Recent Guatemalan governments contended that active participation in the preservation of Mayan culture reflects an anti-government position. This contention caused fear in and continued repression of the Maya.

     In addition to this climate of cultural discrimination is the reality that only a few people own most of the nation’s land. Such ownership has made the landholders very rich and powerful. Campesinos have become finca workers, subject to the whims of the fincas’ owners, whims that include salary and workday definitions. Though the workers are not slaves, they do not really have the freedom to seek other work. The high unemployment rate has left very few job options. Struggling to keep their families alive, they remain at their less than ideal jobs.

     In recent history, brutal dictator Jorge Ubico was overthrown in the revolution of 1944. In March of the following year, the people elected Juan José Arévalo president. Arévalo, and his 1950 elected successor, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, purchased land from wealthy landowners and gave it to the people. This redistribution of land disquieted the powerful landowners and the international produce-purchasing community, which led to Arbenz’s forceful removal from power in 1954 by General Carlos Castillo Armas.

     This, finally, brings us to San Lucas Tolimán and to the work of the parish. One of the areas of land given to the people by President Arbenz was the area now called Colonia Pampojilá, several miles south of San Lucas. When General Castillo Armas overthrew the presidency and set up his military dictatorship, one of the few positive elements of his government was his not removing all of the redistributed lands such as Pampojilá from their new owners.

     Shortly after Father Greg arrived in 1963, he spoke with the people of Pampojilá and asked what they would like him to do in his work with them. They replied with a challenge: we have land, but the land is unusable without water – help us have water in order to both develop and live on our land.

     Thus, within the context of many years of social, political, and governmental conditions, El Proyecto de Agua was born.

     With the help of engineer Bruce Clemens from Saint Louis, Missouri and San Lucas resident Andrés Chajil, the water project got off the ground in 1973. Sixteen kilometers of two-inch pipe were run from Lake Atitlán to Pampojilá. Engineer Gene Simpkins of Prior Lake, Minnesota provided his expertise in well drilling and had a large role in the creation and updating of the pumphouses. In this way, water, so basic to life, was provided to people in need. Through this service of the Parroquia, the people of Colonia Pampojilá could leave finca life and live on their own land. Put more appropriately, the people of Pampojilá could really begin to live.

     Andrés Chajil, who has become the head of the parish water project, considers this provision of water, in a country in which a vast majority of the population does not have access to safe drinking water, to be a revolution. However, this revolution is markedly different from those this nation has known all too well; this is a peaceful, non-violent revolution. Having water, these people and any who join them on this land have greatly increased independence, an independence which could threaten the assumed security of the landowners, the nation’s wealthy, the nation’s powerful. This independence allows the Maya, with their determination to not relinquish their culture and their self-definition regardless of the forces of oppression, the time and space necessary to pursue the preservation of who they are as a people.

     This peaceful revolution continues today. The communities of Panimaquíp, San Martín, Patzivir, and Finca Pampojilá are in need of increased water supply. These areas currently have water supplied through the parish project, but population growth has led and will continue to lead to greater water needs, needs which, if met, will assist in safeguarding the health and independence of these communities’ residents. The two-inch pipe will be replaced with four-inch. Pumps will be replaced with more powerful units. New, larger storage tanks will be constructed. Water for People, an offshoot of the American Waterworks Association and based in Denver, Colorado is assisting the project with funding and with technical help. Through this international effort, completely independent of the Guatemalan government, the current and future residents of these areas of land will have the water necessary to fuel their lives, their families, and their individual and communal dreams.

     The Parroquia has been, and remains today, a non-political assembly of God’s people striving to serve in response to expressed needs. Though they have clearly worked in the climate of social and political conditions, they have not worked for any social, political, or governmental agency or organization. Regardless of the evident, earthly impact of its service, the Parroquia has had one and only one motivation: the building and service of, not an earthly kingdom, but the kingdom of God, the kingdom of active, tangible, selfless love.