When David Deegan arrived in Guatemala 15 years ago he had no idea that there was a civil war going on. The Dubliner came here as a lay missionary with Viatores Christi, hoping to learn Spanish and to help the community, but he ended up in the middle of one of Central America's many bloody conflicts.

''I rang the office and asked them if they realised I was in a warzone,'' David says. ''Their reaction was 'yeah, we heard something about that'. But there was a news blackout so the outside world didn't really know what was happening.'' In fact even the citizens of the capital, Guatemala City were unaware of the extent of the bloodshed happening around them, as the conflict was concentrated in the highlands where the indigenous Mayan people have been eking out a living as subsistence farmers since the 8th Century.

Majority

Indigenous groups actually make up the majority of the population in Guatemala. From the sites of the ancient Mayan ruins to the colourful handmade textiles, the indigenous people are the international face of Guatemala. Yet the ruling minority treat them with such disdain that there is almost an apartheid system in operation, with the indigenous living in mainly isolated highland villages with no access to education or health care, or even water and electricity. There they live their traditional way of life with their own ancient languages, form of dress, spirituality and culture.

(Pictured: Members of the Mayan community)

In the late 1970s a guerrilla movement developed in the highlands in opposition to military rule, and the indigenous community became caught in the middle. Some 440 villages were destroyed in massacres, around 200,000 people died and many more fled the country.

In 1995 David came to live in the city of Santa Cruz del Quiche in the El Quiche region which was hardest hit by the violence. He didn't see the violence first hand as the peace accords came into effect not long after he arrived, but he says the memories are still raw today. ''At first I became involved with the Widow's Associations and they used my house as a base during the trial of a civil patrol leader after the war. A group of 48 indigenous women gave testimony of rape at the trial. They would come back to the house completely exhausted and would cry for hours. It was the first time they had been able to let it out,'' he says.

Education

David asked the local community what he could do to help them and they replied that they wanted their children to be educated so that they could get out of poverty. ''Mayan youth are excluded from many opportunities to better their lives. Without a secondary school education or learning a trade, most young people have no choice,'' David says. ''Boys are forced to work the land which seldom provides enough to make ends meet. Girls are usually married at 14 and have children of their own at 16.''

David set up the Kano'J project to provide educational grants and living expenses for indigenous young people living in isolation to enable them to achieve a career. There are currently 16 students ranging in age from 11 to 23 living in two houses at the project, with David overseeing the boys' house and Nicole McArdle, a lay missionary from Carlow, in charge of the girls' house.

Life at the project is not an easy ride for the students, who are kept busy between their school work and chores. One of the rules of the house is that the boys must take part in the chores traditionally performed by women. The students cook and wash up together in teams, with meat as a treat only for the weekends thanks to a tight budget. They hand-wash their clothes in a river which is a 40 minute drive away, and maintain the houses and property including 120 lemon trees and a corn field. But Kano'J is very much run like a family home, and the students have a warm and affectionate relationship with each other and with the Irish volunteers. (Relationships between students are not permitted while they live at the project, but three couples have gotten married after graduating).

(Pictured: At work in the Kano'J project)

Traditional

The boys dress at the height of fashion, with gelled hair, ripped jeans and flashy runners. The girls on the other hand all dress in the traditional traje of colourful blouse and skirt which represents the village they come from. Tradition states that they cannot wear trousers or cut or dye their hair. ''It's not as restrictive as it seems,'' explains Nicole. ''The girls are proud of their tradition and only feel properly dressed when they are in their traje.'' The girl's own sense of proper femininity becomes evident when Josepha, pretty enough to be a model, takes in my t-shirt and jeans with a sympathetic look and asks me would I not like to grow my hair longer. I suddenly felt like a traitor to the female species for dressing like a man!

David explains that the students see themselves as Mayan, or Natural People in their own language. They are not Guatemalan - that was something imposed on them as much as the previous Spanish rule. As an example of this the project's Board of Directors made the decision not to celebrate Guatemalan Independence Day, but made the Mayan New Year a holiday.

Mayan spirituality is encouraged in the project and it sits side-by-side with Catholicism. Siincretismo is the phrase used to describe the merging of Mayan and Catholic beliefs, which has been accepted by the Church here. According to David is it often the Church which has come to the rescue to help the indigenous to maintain their traditions. For example when the bilingual teachers were evicted from the schools the Church helped them to set up their own schools.

Affecting

In recent years a new threat has been affecting the community with the emergence of American evangelical Churches, whose public address systems can be heard blaring throughout the countryside. ''The evangelical Churches tell the indigenous people that they have to stop wearing their traditional clothes and speaking that 'pagan' language,'' David says. ''They are very puritanical and restrictive, and I don't think they will make much headway into the community.''

After maintaining their language, spirituality and traditions through the massacres of the Conquistadores and years of civil war, it is difficult to imagine that anything could separate this proud people from their culture.

For more information on the Kano'J project or to make a donation contact davidmartindeegan@gmail.com or David Deegan, Apdo #007, Santa Cruz del Quche, El Quiche, Guatemala.