July 2008

Dear Friends,

It has been an active summer for Gloria and me.

Although our work is directly with the indigenous population, primarily the Kekchi, we worked with three U.S. groups during June and July, ending with a meeting in the United States of those groups that have partnerships with the Kekchi. This indigenous group lives in the north of Guatemala in the departments of Alta and Baja Verapaz, Petén, Izabál, and a small part of Quiche.

U.S. groups arrive wanting to make a difference in the lives of the people here. They achieve this—but it is a daunting task. The relationship between poverty and education has been demonstrated: in order to rise above poverty and the deprived life that follows, it is necessary to become educated. Yet the value of an education is learned; without being taught the value of an education, it is difficult for them to see it.

Groups from the States arrive and are struck by the conditions in which people live and the conditions of the schools that attend them. Teachers are very young and have at most a high school education. Books and materials are in short supply, and the teachers instruct in the manner they have been taught, which is primarily rote memorization: the teacher writes the lessons on a white board and the kids copy what is on the board into their notebooks. There’s little discussion, and few questions are asked. We visited a village school and found everyone proud of the new desks they had recently received. The visitors sat in the desks, but they slowly sank into the mud floor, tipping some of the visitors into the sludge and muck. In another village, the teacher reported his biggest problem was that the kids don’t respect him and are disruptive. Although he was teaching primary school many of his students were 14-16 years of age. Blending those with the younger kids posed a problem for everyone.

The statistics are equally disheartening: only 30 percent of kids between the ages of 13-15 study at the middle school level; only 10 percent of those between 16-18 study in high school; only 1.4 percent study at the university level; 80 percent of secondary education is private and out of financial reach for most indigenous people. The employment statistics are frightening: 52 percent of the economically active people are unemployed while 66 percent of the economically active people between 15-17 seek work in other countries. Encouraging young people and their families to sit in class in face of these numbers begs the question of how they will earn enough money to survive. With the cost of living advancing at 15 percent this year, kids are expected to work to help the family. It is a Catch 22 situation—study and earn nothing or work and learn nothing—and the situation continues in a vicious circle.

Recently, a desperate group of indigenous invaded the protected park at El Mirador in the Petén and cut down 100 acres of trees and burned another 2500 acres to clear land so they could plant their corn and beans. Just as the Amazon basin is under attack by people and some poachers who take advantage of the situation, so too the Petén is under attack. If the government were to intervene to stop this loss, they would appear to be attacking the poor themselves. This is, in fact, the case in some areas in Guatemala.

Helping indigenous people to have a real chance at a productive future rather than offering a palliative that satisfies only a few for a day or two is the hope of the groups who make frequent trips to Guatemala.

Our years in Guatemala have taught us that often people from the United States do not like to hear of the difficulties that continue but prefer hearing of the successes they have had. These are all very important things; they make us aware of the work that awaits us, but they are not isolated situations. Those things that build community—that engage the indigenous in learning to care for themselves, that cause them to rely on one another, that cause them to make demands of their government and not the U.S. visitors—are more difficult, long-term, and do not easily lend themselves to promotion back home. The fact it is difficult should not dissuade anyone from undertaking any part of it. All of it leads to the glory of God and teaches us the truths of our faith.

O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek; you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed.
Ps.10: 17-18

Gloria and Roger Marriott

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 258