Army tanks rumbling down the quiet cobblestone streets of Antigua.

Shafts of smoke rising from bombs dropped on mist-covered mountains.

Tinted glass raining on the sidewalk after the tourist bus exploded by the four-star hotel.

That was my introduction to Guatemala in September of 1989.

In the following eleven years I would become immersed in the ongoing struggle for peace and justice in that beautiful and troubled country. Guatemala would become much more than my home... it would become my passion, my frustration, my challenge, my inspiration, my calling.

As the years passed, Guatemala seemed to emerge from its dark past, shrugging off its culture of political violence like a moldy, old coat that no longer fit. Guatemala in the year 2000 was a significantly different country than the one I had first encountered eleven years earlier:

The Peace Accords had been signed, ending 36 years of civil war.

The URNG had successfully transitioned from revolutionary movement to progressive political party, with representatives in Congress and local government.

International human rights organizations such as Peace Brigades and Witness for Peace decided that the human rights situation no longer warranted a permanent, in-county presence and closed their Guatemala offices.

One by one, my foreign-born friends... activists, journalists, volunteers and others... decided they could be of more use elsewhere.

On January 18, 2000 I wrote in my journal: "If it weren't for Rios Montt and his cronies being in power (The FRG, Montt's party, had won the Presidential elections and control of Congress in the November elections), I would say that Guatemala is in better shape now than it has been in a long, long time."

I decided to move on to the next stage of my life.

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