Life in Guatemala

Today was a day where we saw and experienced what life is and isn´t for Guatemalans.  We met Maria, and her daughter Katherine, who had not had any food today, and whose house was muddy from the rain yesterday.  Maria´s husband left her and took her son with him, leaving Maria to fend for herself, her daughter, and her blind father.  She is not making it.  Often she does not have food.  She certainly has no medical care or retirement, only a mud hut with a small plot of corn.  Her house has a tin roof, with many openings so smoke can escape from the ever-present fire.  She is Mayan, and her one bit of hope for the future is that, as of now, her 12 year old daughter attends school.  She needs prayer and help.  We gave her a few gifts, and the daughter and mom were visibly moved.  But she needs long term help.  Her plot of land is enough to give her food for about one month a year.  Imagine if she had a larger plot to feed her family for a whole year?  This would cost about $1000.  A new house made of wood would cost $2000, so the family wouldn´t have to sleep in the mud.  Not much money to change a life.

We are having a lot of discussions about poverty, the role of the government, self-initiative, opportunity, education.  One person I asked, ¨what is the greatest need in Guatemala today?"  The answer is "lack of opportunity."  But the situation is getting better here.  Salomon and Mery say that more and more Mayan children are going to school, which was not the situation 30 years ago, as evidenced by Katherine.  She is on her way to a better life than her mother if she can keep up with her education.  The poor her are so much poorer than in the US, a point that rankles workers here, and flummoxes non-profits in the US.  What do you do with that information?

On the other side of life today, we swam in a pool, milked cows, took a crazy journey in a 4 wheel drive road up a ghastly mountain road, made tortillas, and had wonderful conversation!  I´m not sure I´ll post any pictures of everyone in the back of the pickup as we veered up sheer drop-offs!  But it was a blast and everyone had a great time!  The gals are making friends with young children everywhere as they are outgoing, bringing little gifts, and have a winsome playful spirit.  We took 3 of them on our mountain drive and got rained on, though we did have a significant cultural breakthrough by our sharing of One Direction songs underneath the tarp!