MACHI and Fundación ProPetén

Radio, in impoverished rural regions such as the Peten, is a vital means for the dissemination of information. Many communities in this area do not have access to electricity and thus are not exposed to television. Few read newspapers due to high levels of illiteracy and the simple cost of purchase. Regardless of their poverty, however, the vast majority of households in this region have a radio that serves as a primary form of entertainment throughout the day. MACHI members felt that harnessing the power of the radio would be an ideal means of spreading information about the pre-Hispanic past and the importance of archaeological conservation in the Peten.

In the course of interviews conducted in 2006, MACHI had the great fortune of meeting with Ms. Rosa Maria Chan Guzman, director of Fundación ProPetén. This NGO, located on the island of Flores in Lake Petén-Itzá, is committed to ecological and cultural conservation and the promotion of sustainability, education, and health in the region. Since 2003, Fundación ProPetén has produced a program of radionovelas (radio soap operas) that adeptly mix the drama of a soap opera with messages about environmental, health, and social issues. The program, entitled “Entre Dos Caminos” (“Between Two Roads”), plays on four radio stations (see Current Status for schedules and stations info) ranging through the department and beyond and is researched and evaluated within several rural communities.

Fundación ProPetén and MACHI are working together to develop a series of 24 episodes continuing the drama established during the previous 130 episodes of “Entre Dos Caminos” with the characters and situations of the fictional community of San Jerónimo. The program will be recorded and broadcast in Spanish and Q’eqchi’ Maya and played twice a day, at 5am and 5pm, for a period of two to three months.