Interview with Helen Woodcock

Q Why did you want to volunteer for PBI?

The main reason I wanted to volunteer for PBI was that it seemed like the most useful thing to do with my passport. The impact that northern countries like ours have globally is in general pretty negative in my opinion: from selling arms to dictators, to wars over weapons of mass destruction, to generally imposing our own point of view and lifestyle on others. I feel that the mandate of PBI – opening space for local people to continue their work- is a way of trying to do something positive in this context. It recognises that people who live in a situation are likely to know what needs doing and the most effective way of doing it.

 Q Why do you think protective accompaniment works?

I think protective accompaniment works because it is a global concept that doesn´t just rely on the physical presence of a foreigner. It is about informing all parties in the situation who we are and why we are here. Transparency, honesty and openness ensures non-partisanship and is crucial to PBI’s work. Also, like I said before, it´s about creating a space for people to do the work that they feel needs doing, and not about coming here and telling people what to do.

 Q What did you get out of being a volunteer?

There are lots of things that I got out of being a volunteer with PBI Guatemala. I got the opportunity to meet and work with a wide range of interesting and inspiring people, and to see the world from a completely different angle.

The process of deciding whether to work with somebody and starting to accompany them was a really interesting process for me. This included going to a new area, meeting with all the authorities that we could fit in over one and a half days, and then meeting the organisation. In this particular case we decided to accompany the organisation, meaning that we moved into someone´s family home, staying with them for 24 hours a day. Another accompaniment that sticks in my mind is an inhumation – the burial of 46 bodies (well skeletons) that had been discovered in clandestine graves. It was such a personal moment, people identifying the belongings of loved ones who had been taken away from them 20 years ago, yet people really wanted us to be there. The event lasted three days, with the identification of clothes and various Mayan ceremonies and Catholic masses. It was a mixture between a great sadness of the pain a community and country has suffered and the feeling that at last people could give their relatives the burial they wanted and needed to give them. It felt like a real honour to be there.