(Front of Card:)

(The following poem is on the inside upper half of the card:)

Our Mother... Our Sister

Can you imagine how far it had to travel...
how long it's taken for that ray of sunlight to paint your face,
your sorrow, your love that way?

Gentle woman, beautiful child,
what pain you have felt... the loneliness you've endured...
the violence that you've known. 
How you have grieved for the blood that has been shed,
for the innocence stolen away,
for the hopelessness that now consumes your soul.

Forgive me that I do not do more, do not know the best ways,
am not sensitive or humble enough.
Show me, teach me, be One with me
my beloved Mother, my Sister, my Friend.

(The bottom half of the card is blank)

(The back of the card has the following description):

In 1999, the United Nations Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH) released a report documenting human rights violations in Guatemala during its 36-year internal war. This report charges the Guatemalan government with waging a campaign of "genocide" against the indigenous population, and cites the Guatemalan army as being responsible for 93 percent of the more than 200,000 deaths and "disappearances" during the war.

The report also cites the US Army School of the Americas (SOA) as having "had a significant bearing on human rights violations during the armed conflict."

The aggressive plot of the government against the indigenous population included the massacre of entire communities, resulting in the complete elimination and massacre of at least 626 communities. The vast majority of those tortured and killed were Mayan.

SOA Watch is an organization which educates the public and Congress about atrocities committed by graduates of the School of the Americas, located at Ft. Benning, GA. Supported by millions of U.S. tax payer dollars, the SOA trains hundreds of soldiers each year. Many of these soldiers have been responsible for some of the worst human rights violations in our hemisphere, including the massacre of over 900 civilians at El Mozote; the execution of six Jesuit priests; the assassination of Archbishop Romero and Bishop Juan Gerardi, and the brutal rape and murder of 4 U.S. churchwomen.

We need your voice to help end the violence and to close this "School of Assassins." Please contact your representatives and ask them to cut funding to the SOA! Call: the Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121; or Write: The Honorable (name), US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.

For more information contact SOA Watch/NE: (215) 473-2162 or
visit: www.soawne.org

(Photo "Mayan Blessing" & Poetry by Linda Panetta)