My name is Juan Gabriel Saqui, I am 18 years old and I am currently attending Ecumenical Junior College in the Stann Creek District, also I am the few who were chosen to participate in the ‘Lens of Culture’ program. My first participant is my grandfather Mr. Pedro Saqui, he started by telling me that he never knew his father and was raised by his mother in his young life.
He tried attending school, but back then, “There was no money, and we were poor”, he said. He continued on to say that, his mother used to work for 75 cents so it was hard for him to continue to go to school. So, he stopped and began to do farming and help the older men in the village, “And that was how I learned my skills”, he said. When he was 16 his mother had passed away, “I was left alone”, he told me and after his mother had passed away he moved in with his aunt until he was 18.
When he was 18 he said he was too lonely and was ready for a partner, “and that was when I met your grandmother”, he said. After he met my grandmother he left the south and moved her to Maya Center Village where he is today. He also said that a lot has changed in the past and wished everything could have stayed the same. “Everything changes’, he told me. He also told me that the prices of goods back then had raised and that technology was not around and that, “everything was harder to do before than today”.
Lastly, he told me that he does not regret any of the things that he has done and accomplished all his life. And that is the story of my grandfather.
Juan Saqui – Lens of Culture Student
