Pictures and delegate reflections from St Joan of Arc’s visit to TN2 in October 2024.

by Luke Nohner

Before being embraced by the families of TNII, I didn’t fully understand what it means to be human.

I’m struggling to apply language to what I’ve experienced here in Guatemala; and even now as I type, these words seem ornamental, saccharine almost, because this experience exists at such a fundamental depth. No language can truly dictate this vividly human experience. But I can try.

The shared existence that is the “Sister Parish Delegation,” is one of eating, laughing, dancing, living, loving, crying.

It’s strangers welcoming you into their home of corrugated aluminum and cinder blocks, making you meals their mother taught them to make, giving you their bed, all despite them not having running water for four days.

It’s twenty children under 10 years old who refuse to let the fact that you don’t speak Spanish stop them from making you their best friend.

It’s sitting next to your host father, phones in hand, scrolling through your photos — armed with the words for friends, son/daughter, husband/wife, mother/father — only to realize that his photo album is nothing but friends and family, while you have to scroll and scroll to find a fraction of pictures of the people important to you.

It’s the realization our society may deem the people of TNII economically impoverished, but their connection with each other and the things they love is so rich, that your life compared seems colorless.

The pictures shared attempt to portray this, the stories shared barely scratch the surface. The only way to understand this experience is being here. And by being here, I have been introduced to humanity, and what it means to love, on a level I once could not comprehend.

Thoughts on Solidarity:

Solidarity — prior to this trip — was a word I gave little thought to. I would not have been able to give a real definition, the word invoking the image of a raised fist, but nothing more. Though, I have come to understand Solidarity as a vital tool required in the building of a world comprising equality, justice, and peace.

Solidarity is not dropping food off to your neighbor in need; it is knocking on the door and sharing a meal together; and around that table, amidst the laughter, conversations of weather, and discussion of deep and dark struggles, discovering an agreement of feelings, from there working towards mutual support of each other.

It is the recognition that your own idiosyncrasies are created by your personal experiences and cultural background; and that the solution to the problems of the world we so seek may lie outside of those idiosyncrasies.

Solidarity requires the analysis of one’s own thoughts and behaviors, and accepting that they may not always be helpful, despite intentions. Such as, to impose Western/American values. We may perceive a strong house with a waterproof roof to be vital for a child. Though sit down with a family living in a one-room home where the rain comes in, listening for what actions could lead to the betterment of their situation, and you may learn that support in the development of community based programs would protect that child tenfold what a new gifted home could.