Buoyed by some responses to our post about stove building, and seeing as we have had time to let things settle in our heads in our first day at Atitlan, I thought I should write a serious post about what we have learned about the realities of life here in Guatemala. This is by no means complete, as we don't live here and have really only had a little more than 3 weeks, but I feel it is important to let everyone know what we have seen, heard, and read while we have been here.
The majority of people are poor
That statement alone is probably not all that surprising, so let's put it in perspective. 82% of the population is considered poor and 29% of the population is considered extremely poor, meaning they live on less than a dollar a day. On less than a dollar a day, many families simply cannot feed everyone every day. Imagine all the people that you know and then think of roughly a third of them eating less than once a day. It's heartbreaking.
Even if you had a paying job in Guatemala, the minimum wage is 46 Quetzals a day which is roughly $7 a day. If you were trying to support 2 or 3 kids on $7 a day, things get pretty hairy.
There are some extremely wealthy, powerful people
There is 2% of the population that owns a majority of the land and business interests in Guatemala. A lot of those businesses are virtually monopolies, which allows them to generally operate as they please within Guatemala. For instance, even though there is a minimum wage of a paltry $7 a day, many of these employers can get away with paying less because, really, where else are people going to work? There are not nearly enough jobs to go around here, leaving many people to be forced to earn half the minimum wage.
The Government has consitently failed the people
Government and corruption tend to go on in every country, but the amount of corruption and bad decisions over the years in Guatemala has been astounding. From selling the Yucatan for arms (and losing the first and last battle), to the deliberate overthrow of Guatemalan's government by the CIA (influenced by the United Fruit Company), to today where the newly elected president appointed a governor to Quetzaltenango province who wasn't even running, the goverment seems to consistently fail the people. There was also a 40 year civil war, which generally didn't help out economic matters.
Banks consistently fail
This is one that surprised me the most. More than once, banks in Guatemala have gone out of business, the bank president flees the country, and everyone loses all of the money that they have saved. For some people, it was 40 years of savings! I have had a bank account since I was 15 and have always felt good knowing that someone else was holding on to my money for me. In Guatemala, a lot of people simply don't trust banks anymore because of the repeated failures.
If you were Guatemalan...
Let's say you came from a middle class family and you graduated college. So, the government that you elect keeps failing you, you have an education but there is no one to employ you (there are limited opportunities for an educated workforce), so what do you do?
You could try to start a business, but putting money in our taking money from a bank is sketchy, so getting the capital to start one is difficuilt. Even if you stored your money in your house, burgleries are not unheard of and you stand the chance of losing all of your money (I know someone whos house has been robbed 3 times). You could try to learn another trade, but what's the point when there's no real opportunity to us it?
Herein lies the problem. There are plenty of smart, talented, educated people in Guatemala, but there is literally no outlet for them in which to use their talents. This is a constant theme that I get from the people we have talked to, and I can imagine it is extremely frustrating.
Inevitably, a lot of people end up doing...
Illeagal Immigration
To get a legal visa for travel to the US costs $100, plus mounds of documentation, and they you aren't even guaranteed to get it ($100 is only an application fee). I'm not even sure about work visas, as it seems pretty difficult to get a travel visa, I can imagine how difficuilt it is for a work visa.
So, you can't find a job, a legal visa is too expensive or they keep denying you, what do you do? A lot of people turn to immigrating illeagally to the US to work meanial jobs and send the money back home. From seeing the effects of this first hand (decent houses with some land) it looks like a pretty attractive offer.
A house from US money sent back:
The prospect is so enticing, that people literally kill themselves trying to do it. In other words, people are risking their lives to work in the US. Nearly everyone here has a family member or neighbor that is in the US working now or tried to go. To risk your life to try to cross through Mexico into the US costs 40,000 Quetzales (about $5300, which is typically payed back after working enough in the states), a really large amount of money here. The money goes to a "coyote" in Mexico who smuggles people through the desert and over the border. It´s not rare to hear this didn´t go well.
Those that make it across the border often leave family, often wives and children behind. Many stay loyal to their goal of sending money back once or twice a month to give their family a decent lifestyle. We heard many stories from people who after a year or two in the states the workers forget about their families and the money stops coming, and there´s one less person to help make ends meet.
What´s Left?
Many don´t have the money to immigrate to the US, and we´ve seen many entrepernuiral spririts selling anything they can get their hands on to any captive audience - often buses, tourists, etc. People have tried to sell us everything from sour candy worms to coloring books to the carefully weaved story about the "orphenage" they work at.
Despite all this, the people work hard and Guatemalans are a beautiful, happy people despite the extreme hardships they´ve endured.
If you were in their situation, what would you do?
We're silly and adventurous, computer geeks and yoga peeps.
February 23, 2008
Carrie Lynn
I really think that you should write a book!! Your writing really paints a strong picture in my head about what you are thinking and experiencing. Thank you so much for sharing and letting us learn and enjoy your wonderful, eye-opening trip with you! Love from Chicago!
Your buddy,
Carrie
February 23, 2008
Uncle Michael
Take care......
February 25, 2008
Kyle
February 24, 2008
Auntie Donna
February 24, 2008
mom
February 25, 2008
Uncle Bob
February 25, 2008
Bessie
February 25, 2008
Josey
February 27, 2008
Bessie
Doing this work and meeting these people was very eye-opening. I struggle with my views on illegal immigration and all the ways it effecs law abiding Americans, the US economy and the economies of the nations the citizens leave and sometimes support. All I can say is that it´s amazing what people will do when they are struggling to meet their basic needs.
February 25, 2008
Uncle Bob
February 25, 2008
Kyle
February 25, 2008
Den Sue Czurylo
February 25, 2008
Kyle
That said, I think we do need to help with the situation down here, but the US hasn't really had a great history of helping nations like Guatemala. We've overthrown their government, help fund civil wars, and pressured them into NAFTA which has brought the prices of their exports way down. We generally do things in our best interests, not the interests of others.
February 26, 2008
Uncle Bob