Guatemala – Not a Political Role Model

Guatemalan politics are a mess. It seems all but certain that their current President was involved in the murder of a prominent lawyer (who left a video to that effect). Law enforcement and the military are in his pocket, and it’s noteworthy to mention that several candidates in the election he won were murdered in the campaign.

One little background note: the government of Guatemala is much like our own in basic structure (three branches, similar roles). Keep in mind that they had a civil war that ended less than thirty years ago and may be headed for another one.

But enough about specifics that don’t affect the Stars ‘n Stripes in any way. Here’s something a little more relevant: they have universal health care. Having spent a grand total of two weeks in the country in my life, I think the amount I’ve heard about their situation (and I didn’t even know they had nationalized healthcare until the last part of this last trip) is pretty telling.

The most noteworthy story I’ve heard came from the English teacher at the school. He told us how his sister was hit by a drunk driver. The drunk was taken to the hospital, and she wasn’t. I do not know, specifically, why. The teacher tried calling an ambulance, but none would come. He had to take her to the hospital in a taxi, for crying out loud! And I would like to know why this other lady couldn’t afford a $40 sling with universal health care – I thought everything was free under such a plan!

And, like America, Guatemala has some sort of graduated tax system. Roughly forty percent of the population pays 100% of the taxes (except consumption taxes, which I’m sure they pay the overwhelming majority of). Now, I can’t blame their government for that, since a) their “poor” are really poor, unlike the American “poor” and b) it’d be nigh impossible to tax them because of chaotic living situations and such. But, still, something to think about.

Guatemala 2009

I just got back Saturday from a week-long trip to Guatemala. If you have a Facebook account, you can see some of the pictures here.

For those of you who are geography-challenged, Guatemala is a Central American, Spanish-speaking country west of Honduras and southeast of Mexico. It’s a volcanic, very mountainous country and is, of course, very poor, being a CA third-world country.

Just a little background on why I went, a general idea of what we did there, and then I’ll make a new post for the politics of it. A woman in my church works for American Airlines and ended up, essentially, in charge of deciding where to spend their charity money. She contacted our sister church in Guatemala City and discovered that a man there who works for HOPE Worldwide (a charity started by the organization our churches – and others – belonged to before the leadership disintegrated) started a school called Colegio HOPE (“colegio” is Spanish for elementary school) in the railroad track community. A quick blurb about that – some old railroad line stopped getting used a while back and squatters moved in. For many, many miles of track, there are small shacks (about 12′ x 12′) made of corrugated roofing material that serve as people’s homes. This is one of the poorest areas of urban Guatemala.

Anyway, he started the school, but needed help with it. Over the course of five years and roughly the same number of trips with volunteers from our church (although she has gone by herself more often, I am sure), we have helped, from donating financially to the school structure itself, to helping pay the teachers’ salaries (such as they are), to my dad (carpenter) repairing, then replacing, then extending the roof, to replacing doors, to painting the rooms/hallway. While there, of course, many of the volunteers discovered specific situations that they helped out with (for example, one Guatemalan lady was in need of a sling for her arm that cost about $40, of which she’d saved up about $10). The American Airlines lady, along with the local Rotary Club has started an organization called Friends of Guatemala just for this.

Anyway, my dad and I went with the last group (that’s when the roof got replaced), so I’ve been before (two years ago). I’m also minoring in Spanish and so was a pseudo-translator (one of the other volunteers is from Puerto Rico and is fluent). This time, the American Airlines, the Puerto Rican, my dad, my youngest sister, and a friend of ours her age from our church went. We spent Sunday (after church) participating in a parade and looking at the school. Monday-Wednesday, we worked on the school. Thursday, we went to the small town of Santiago about three hours away and crossed a massive lake to some village/town and did tourist stuff. Friday, we headed back towards Guatemala City and bought souvenirs and stayed at a hotel in Antigua (the biggest tourist town in Guatemala, I believe; not to be confused with the island of Antigua). Saturday morning we returned to Guatemala City and left.

Through a long and complex story I’m not going to begin to tell, my dad found out some friends of his were sponsoring a Guatemalan kid going to a school about five miles away from “our” school. That school (and it’s fellow) is in La Limonada (literally, “The Lemonade” – don’t ask me why, though the stream/sewer that runs through the middle does have the same general color as lemonade). La Limonada is the “hood” of Guatemala City, rivaling one other area as the roughest part of town. To give you an idea of what it can be like, we saw bullet holes in metal doors and a guy sitting in the “street” smoking pot, not bothering to hide it when we passed. Also, approximately 80% of all girls in that area suffer from sexual abuse. Anyway, we had a little money, some groceries, and some gifts from my dad’s friends to give to Ruben, the boy in La Limonada. We took the stuff to him on Wednesday morning, accompanied (for both safety and navigational reasons) by the lady who started both La Limonada schools (and was a very well-respected member of the community). The kid lives in a house roughly half again the size of a dorm room made of corrugated roofing metal

Finally – just for reference – the currency down there is the Quetzal (also the national bird). The plural is Quetzales. The exchange rate fluctuates some, but I exchanged my money at Q8.23 per dollar this trip (last time was Q7.5). A personal bottle of soda generally costs Q5 – Q7, so stuff is cheap down there. Fast food and gas are roughly the same price as here, but most other things are cheaper (we stayed in a 5-star hotel for about the price of an American motel).