Friday Hannah, Jana, Laura, and I went to the coffee farm with our school. There I learned how pathetic dancers the Mayans were, I learned about the Mayan customs, I learned how to grow coffee, and I learned how very little the coffee farmers/workers earn. I was shocked to hear that the people who gather coffee beans all day long every day earn about 60Q a week (the equivalent of less than $8.00).
That afternoon I was discussing this with my teacher, Magaly, and the information about Guatemala kept getting more disheartening and hopeless. Only 60% of Guatemalans are educated at all, and about 20% graduate from high school. Poverty is very real here. Parents have many children, but they cannot provide for them all. So, the children have to quit school and help the family by working (selling things, or helping in the house). So many children are not in schools, and without education, they too, will raise a family that they cannot support. So, their children will have to work instead of attending school. And the cycle continues in a long downward spiral.
Plus, the education in Guatemala is the second worst in the world (Haiti has the worst education system). In public schools there are more than forty children per teacher. The teachers are paid Q 2,000 every month (less than $260). There is no way to provide for a family with that tiny salary! One person could barely survive off of that! The schools are disgusting, filthy, and poor learning environments. The private schools still have forty children per teacher, and the education is a little better- but not much. The teachers are still underpaid, and there aren’t good materials for teaching.
Crime is out of control in Guatemala. Because people are uneducated, they cannot get good jobs. Because they don’t have jobs, they need money. So, they mug people and steal. They join gangs, they rob, they murder. (FYI, Antigua is the safest city in Guatemala, so I’m okay. Tourism is the main industry here, so the police are everywhere protecting the tourists)
Last week a little girl came to the coffee shop where Jana and I were studying. She asked if she could have the rest of Jana’s drink. There wasn’t even 1/5 of the drink left. It’s just so sad. She wasn’t asking for money, or selling anything, she simply wanted to fill her tummy with something.
Here I am, at a loss of what to do. Do I support the children who are selling goods for their family? Will one customer make any difference in their lives? Because I want to encourage education, I don’t want to buy from them (they should be in school- not on the streets selling). But, they can’t get an education unless their family income increases. I realize that one “poor” college student cannot change the lives of all of the illiterate/uneducated people in Guatemala in one month. But, I sure do wish that I could! A smile or kind word doesn’t make any difference in the life of a hungry child.
2 comments:
(this is erin)oh my Caryn, I completely understand the dilema. It is the most heart wrenching thing to see hungry children, who despite what you do will still be hungry tomorrow. I say...support them - buy something if you can. I support education but atleast if you support the business there is a chance their bellies can be full tomorrow. Things like this that make me feel so selfish for being an American.
It is always hard to know how to help in these situations -- certainly there is no easy answer. But, you can make a difference by telling their stories, by reminding us all of our responsibility to make the life of a child, whether in Antigua or anywhere that poverty exists (that means anywhere!), better by providing hope, by encouraging education, by showing compassion to those it is easier to ignore, or by countless other means. A hungry child needs food and drink, but do not underestimate the power of a smile or kind word as well.
-Randy
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