Story number 3 for 17 Jul 2003

(Guatemala)–Even as CAM International’s Guatemalan radio ministry celebrates a half century of broadcasting, there are challenges they still face. CAM’s Steve Sywulka says one of the biggest stems from government regulations that forced them to install multiple repeaters. That led to this problem: “There are a large number of illegal stations. We call them ‘pirate’ stations, many of which are ‘evangelical’, and again, it’s this matter of teaching. It gives a black eye to the Gospel. There are actually several hundred of these all over the country; they interfere with us all over the country.” Sywulka says the difficulty has not caused them to lose focus, though. “We broadcast in four Mayan languages, as well as Spanish and some English. We also have two daughter stations that broadcast almost completely in other Mayan languages. So, we’re covering about 12 to 14 Mayan languages. The Mayans make up about half the population, divided into 23 different language groups. Obviously, reaching them in their own languages is very important.”