Escuelitas at the Buford Highway People’s Hub

By Jonathan Peraza Campos

A local educational program called Escuelitas at the Buford Highway People’s Hub participated in Teach Central America Week with adults and children. Escuelitas is dedicated to providing cultural and political education programs to local residents and youth in the Buford Highway community of metro-Atlanta, Georgia. 

Vecinos de Buford Highway collaborators and Escuelitas teacher Grace Ambrossi and I led sessions where adults, high school students, and middle school students tested their geographic and historical knowledge of Central America using the map handouts in Geography as History. Students then received bios of important Central American figures from the Introduction to Central America lesson. They intermingled with other people and learn about their assigned historical figures as part of the activity.  

Some of the participants who were from Guatemala and Honduras were surprised to learn about the hidden histories and figures from their countries. Some of the adults had lived through the civil war in Guatemala, but did not have a strong understanding of the key figures behind it. One of the Honduran participants also shared that she grew up not too far away from Berta Cáceres’ home. At the end of the session with adults, Grace discussed how trauma from colonial, racist, and fascist violence can get trapped in the body, which is why we must understand intergenerational trauma for our healing journey.

Escuelitas teachers Adamari and Laura led elementary students in a session where they learned about the Guatemalan civil war and the experiences of Maya peoples through the children’s book Margarito’s Forest. They were captivated by the vivid illustrations and some were shocked at the violence that the Maya experienced. 

By the end of the Escuelitas workshops, the adults and youth came together to pot and plant herbs like basil and squash, which are ancestral crops in Latin American countries today. This act of renewal and engagement with nature provided a joyful conclusion to our heavy lessons on Central American history and stories.