American website Cultural Survival reports an initiative we can proudly support: the launching of Radio Ixchel, a new station broadcasting in the kaqchikel language from Sumpango in Guatemala. Founder Xunic Anselmo decided to create it in order to make up for the absence of Kaqchikels on Guatemalan waves. This community, with whom we are now familiar since Sorosoro has filmed it in 2009, lives in the central highlands of the country.

Let us remember that the Kaqchikel language is an Amerindian language belonging to the Quichean-Mamean branch of Mayan languages. The number of speakers is estimated at 450,000 out of a total population of 800,000 souls.

This radio station run by 16 volunteers and broadcasting daily between 6am and 10pm draws it name from Ixchel, Sumpango’s patron and goddess of water and fertility in Mayan mythology. Operating with a monthly budget of $250, it is funded with donations from local businesses and organizations in exchange for airtime.

One can listen to educational programmes, and call-in sessions for teens.

Of all community radio stations in Guatemala, Ixchel has the highest percentage of female participation, a point highlighted by its founder. Women are otherwise often kept out of the media. Rigoberta Gonzales, who runs a program on women’s rights, explains that she can reach out to women in town and discuss sensitive issues, something which would have been impossible just a few years ago.

There is however a small downside to this: community radio stations are not entirely legal in Guatemala, and Ixchel Radio has once been raided by the national police and forced to shut down. The station finally resumed airing thanks to the overwhelming support of the whole kaqchikel community.

Read more on Cultural Survival’s website

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