She thought she was going to die in Guatemala. Now she has written a book about the ordeal. Debra Gish made international headlines in December 2014 when she was captured in an abusive display of authority by local police upon returning from a mission in Honduras to her village in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. She was arrested for a terrible crime she did not commit; she spent several days trying to prove her innocence. Originally, she wrote the story in her journal to process her own healing, yet later realized that her story needed to go public, – both to prevent this from happening to other innocent people, and to shine the light on her case to help expose, repair, and improve weak systems in Guatemala. Debra will share some lived examples of our April theme: resistance & justice from her harrowing experience.

An inspiring author, Debra published her first, acclaimed memoir, Displaced: A Perilous True Story of an Expatriate Working to Right Wrongs from the Past. Her poetry appears in Best American Poets and she’s managing editor and author of Crone Chronicles 20-20: Intimately Inspiring Glimpses into the Lives of Wise Women 52+. Copies of her books are on sale today.