My parents didn't teach you the miracle. The language you acquired later.

Maia is not my mother tongue. I started speaking Spanish, precisely because my parents saw the problem my siblings had when they started school. I have eight siblings, all older, and they all speak Mayan. They have their mother tongue. At school, all teachers spoke in Spanish and the parents had apparently felt the problem of understanding the teacher. So the parents decided to make me in Spanish.

Was there only Spanish speaking at school?

That's right. Mayan speakers came to school and had to learn Spanish on a compulsory basis. They couldn't understand it.

Therefore, the only one who did not travel at home was you. Why did you decide to study?

My mother sent me to pray to my aunt, but she spoke only of Maya. My cousin was translating me. One day, my mother sent me to my aunt's house, I arrived and I didn't see my cousin. I asked my aunt. “Where is my cousin?” I asked him in Spanish. I guess he told me I wasn't there, I read the movement of my hands. I didn't know what to do, and I started talking. “My mother has told me to give it to me.” I guess I didn't understand my answer, because I didn't understand her. And then: What am I going to do now? I became angry, we couldn't understand each other. I went home and told my mother that I thought my cousin was not at home because I hadn't seen him and my aunt didn't understand me. Our mother says: “Tell him that you want it.” He talked to me about Maya. I went to meet my aunt and said, “My mother has commanded me to ask you.” He says: “Ah, yes!” And it gave me some food condiment.

How old were I then?

I was about five years old. This situation made me want to learn my language. I felt the need to learn. What if I had the same thing happen elsewhere? From then on, I paid attention. I started to understand. I asked what I didn't understand. Even today, brothers remember that, which I've always been asking.

For them your situation would have been strange. You didn't know the original language of your relatives.

That's what they were using. So that I didn't understand each other they did it in Maya. Today, some parents are doing the same. Of course, it's not the only reason we don't teach, we live discrimination.

What did your parents think when they found out that you were anxious to learn a language?

They thought it was normal, but they thought he did it out of curiosity. Otherwise, it was what I was, a curious child.

When did you realize it was more than just a curious kid's issue?

When I started making community tours, I was about 18 years old. I told my parents that it might be necessary for me to meet people who speak no more than a language. What do I do? If I am hungry or thirsty, if I have a need, we will not be able to understand each other.

Thanks to the steps taken between 10 and 15 years, I came to understand most of it. I would release phrases that laughed at me. At home all spoke Maya and with me all spoke Spanish. It was weird for my family to hear me talk about maia, it was ridiculous.

You started working for a government institution and you found the language. Tell them what happened to you when you came to that community where you only talked about May.

We strive to carry out concrete projects, such as organizing a school breakfast or creating a store in the community. I was sent to communities much smaller than mine. At first everything was going well, almost everyone was talking Maya until I was sent to the community. There I had a friend and I told him that at the meeting we would talk about this issue. Your question: “But how will you speak in Spanish or in Maya?” I was surprised and said: “In Spanish.” Your answer: “It’s not worth holding a meeting, because most people speak Mayan.”

Weren't they able to understand Spanish?

They understood a little bit. At that time, I said: “It’s a challenge for me.”

Did you feel like you had a hole? The opposite often happens, to think that others have to learn the language, Spanish in this case.

No, absolutely. I had contradictory feelings. First of all, I was worried that I didn't know how to fix it. On the other hand, I didn't feel bad because they didn't know Spanish. If I go to their community and they speak their language, why should I impose my language? I told that friend that I would talk about you, but I wouldn't laugh. I didn't use it on a day-to-day basis, and I didn't master it. I felt the challenge in my hands, and I thought I would, not very well, but I could do it.

My acquaintance told community members that I would do it in May, and I started the meeting. Yeah, sometimes I stumbled upon him -- and when I said this, but that day I felt like I had made my Mayan language. I realized that I could do it and that it would be natural for me to talk about Maya, even that they would listen to me.

What did you learn that day?

From there, when I went to other communities, I asked them in what language they wanted the meeting to be held. The first time I felt I was connecting with people. You see the steps, they're down here [he's lowered his arm], and the one who's going to talk there, I, up here [he's raised his arm]. We spoke another language, and we also represented the government. They think we're more important than them. If I make the meeting in Maya, it's as if we're at the same height. Thanks to language, they understand that I am not going to impose things, but to make decisions on a consensual basis. Language helps a lot to share the desire of the same goal: you have convinced me, you have spoken to me in my language, I feel identified with you.

Would you be grateful if you would speak of May?

Yes, of course. His reaction was: He is a high-ranking government employee who is standing next to me! I don't live like this, I'm no more than them, but they live like this. You come from the government, you are almost a god. They're very grateful and they tell you. In a community, I was told: “How good, you do it with maya! Others have come, they have done so in Spanish, and we have understood them nothing!” They feel that you're like them and that you're with them.

He has been working on Yuuyum radio since 2015. They emit 80% in Maya and 20% in Spanish. What did you create for?

In the past there was a Community radio station, but the government had to withdraw the aid and shut it down. The initial idea was to replace him and the main objective was simply to inform him of the month of May. However, the objectives have changed. We have detected that we are losing Maya and in addition to being informed about the month of May we have other goals such as teaching the language on the radio and prestigious it. It is very common to say that it does not serve at all, that it is ugly. If you're heard in the city, you'll easily be told that you're poor, ignorant or Hindu. Maya speakers have internalized everything because of the treatment of people of higher economic level. However, I cannot demonize all those who have that economic level. I teach in a private school of this kind of students, and some value people a lot.

What do they say about this?

In some tests, I always ask you: Why do people stop speaking their language? Some have put themselves in the place of others and have written: We discriminate against them.

Discriminate against them and stop transmitting the language to parents.

Why teach, no? They'll discriminate against the child, they'll treat him badly, they'll close his doors. Maybe even my parents didn't teach me the lesson for these things. I understood that my parents were afraid of not going to school, but I don't know if there was much more behind that.