One of the main accomplishments of this effort is that
women from the communities are been reinserted into the
productive and economic activities of TOTO.
Historically the Mayan culture never allowed women to be part
of any economic activity. According to their beliefs,
women were born to be housewives and mothers, if you ever
thought you were going to succeed in a market ruled by men,
think again.
To be honest with you it was a great experience for me to
realize that things are changing amazingly in Guatemala. I
strongly believe that my beautiful country needs a second
chance. So there she was (Lesbia) the manager of the
entire project sharing with Mr. Sakal about their plans
to cultivate and manufacture all these medicinal plants in the
different channels of distribution along the entire region of
Central America & Mexico.
It was an international business meeting, between a woman
from TOTONICAPAN Guatemala and a man from France, in
the middle of the forest, trying to settle opportunities,
strategies and next steps of this venture. Most of the
time, this kind of meeting take place in a fancy city, full of
noise and motion, in a fancy building full of technology,
laptops and cell phones ringing everywhere, in a fancy office
with leather chairs and beautiful paintings, but somehow this
meeting was more special and historic. It was in the middle of
an ancient forest hosted by a Mayan woman breaking down a wall
that had been unbreakable by many before her, representing her
entire community (103,000 people) and most important, she was
representing women (54% of the population). I was at the same
time overwhelmed and thankful with Mr. Sakal help and advice
to Lesbia in matters of developing business options and
opportunities.
I learned so many things from this experience. I
learned that even when you are a top executive from a
multimillion-dollar corporation, you can still be humble and
appreciative of everyone. I could tell Mr. Sakal was
simply representing his company’s values and beliefs and he
did a great job. I learned that it is ok for you to
share your knowledge and expertise. While all of this was
happening, we took a tour in to the forest. There is a
beautiful trail where you can only do one thing, turn off your
cell phone and forget about anything but only to enjoy the
forest and the so many pleasures it offers you. PURE OXYGEN
every step of the way.
After a 45-minute walk, we had lunch
with the rest of MABELI’s committee in a handmade forest
shack. The magic was there as we were enjoying a
Guatemalan barbecue lunch break together. I could tell that
the chemistry was there, the human chemistry. After
lunch we headed back to the city, as David and Mr. Sakal had
more meetings to attend, but I was coming back to the city
full of hope and excitement to see the next chapter of this
story.
[The
Latin Lovers]
