I had the honor a while a go to interpret for Nobel Peace Prize winner, Rigoberta Menchu, during an event held by Amnesty International in San Francisco. During the event she discussed her candidacy for President of Guatemala in the upcoming elections and her hopes to give voice to the historically marginalized indigenous communities in Guatemala and to end impunity to the civil war crimes that she herself witnessed.
I had been working around human rights issues in Guatemala for 2 years organizing delegations to Guatemala. In the process I understood more in depth the civil war, the marginalization of indigenous communities and their movement of resistance, so one can only imagine how mesmerized I was to hear her speak and translate those words to the audience. I was delighted yet petrified to not be able to convey the essence of her message. She truly speaks from the heart and in an almost poetic way. This is an experience I’ll never forget.
