Trash

As you can image there is a lot of trash everywhere on streets in Guatemala.  Sanitation-wise, it is a horrible situation. Until I rent a whole house myself I never realized how the government will not send a truck to college trash to houses that can’t afford to pay the fee.  So poor families have to leave trash in empty fields or streets at night. As a house owner in the States I realize that we also pay taxes for trash to be collected. But I doubt if the government would actually leave only my trash on a street if I can’t pay taxes.  As you can image, all the trash is creating a lot of problems with flies, germs, and viruses on the streets. In a country like Guatemala where the climate is very hot, people always walk around in their sandals and kids are playing without shoes sometimes (often times parents can’t afford buying shoes for them). There are broken beer bottles or much other stuff on the streets. If I were the president of Guatemala, the first job will be cleaning up the country by collecting all trash from all house, streets, and fields regardless the fact if people can afford to pay taxes or not.

walk at night #2

I saw an old old old lady on a street looking at me as I walked home.  She was a tiny person who looked like in her 80s. I don’t know if she has home or a family, but she was on the street sitting there alone.  She looked so thin and was very dirty.  I ended up going home, put some food in a Ziploc, and went back there for her.  She was afraid of me as I walked closer and accepted my food with a weak smile.

I am not sure if there is a nursing home in Guatemala, but I see a lot of old people on streets begging for money, sometimes with their grandchildren, but most of the times, alone.  I just hope they do have a family that they can go back to.  If not, what kind of life can they have at that age?

language

The kind of language I hear when the kids come to play is very interesting and bothers me to some degree as a teacher.  They really can’t make a single sentence without saying “b****” or *S***”. They are so used to hearing the language like that on streets that they think that’s normal.  I try to encourage them to speak better, but obviously a life time habit is not that easy to break.  After 2 months of effort, at least now they will cover their mouth and say “sorry”.  I guess I should be happy about seeing a bit of improvement…

Chores

The house that I live now has 5 rooms, kitchen, and 2 bathrooms.  The owner of the house is trying to rent all the rooms, but so far only and me and my friend live here.  I love the freedom that we have here.  For this freedom, we can invite the kids here to have an English class and all.  But this freedom comes with some responsibilities of clearing the whole house and other house chores.  Those chores can take a half a day without washing machine, a dryer, nor a dish washer. First of all, we have to go to a market 3-4 times a week since there is no refrigerator.  With the heat we get during the day, all food goes bad very quickly.  Washing clothes can be a big job really. For me it can take up to 1 hour just washing, and I get muscle pain on my arms afterwards. Of course before I wash my clothes I have to watch the weather.  If there is no sun, no washing.  After I wash my clothes, I have to stay at home to make sure that there is no rain. If rains, I have to take all my clothes inside.

I don’t know why, but I love living this way, very simple.  Yes, my body hurts from carrying vegetables from a market and walking home for 20 minutes or all the washing I have to do.  But we always have fresh food, and I think clothes get cleaner when you wash with hands. It’s just a good feeling when you finish washing and put them in the sun. I love the small of sun from blankets when I go to sleep too.  I just think that with all the convenience that we have we sometimes forgot that we are just a part of this nature, and we can’t live without soil, sun, and all the gift we get from nature.  Living this way makes me feel like I am going back to the basic, a part of nature.  I really doubt that I will continue washing my clothes with hands, but I am sure that I will always dry my clothes outside in the sun.

note

Just a bit of addition to the last posting.  There was a little boy who was at the next bed of my friend’s at the hospital.  He was very sick and had a high fever.  His mom was with him asking a doctor to take care of him.  The doctor simply told her that there is no medicine to take care of him to lower his fever.  So his mom would have to go a pharmacy and buy medicine on her own for the doctor to treat him.  It was difficult for me to process what was happening knowing that there is not enough medicine at a hospital.  It’s just a note that I wanted to add…

Hospital

I can’t believe it’s been only a week since I wrote my last blog.  I feel like it’s been a month. Well, I had a situation that one person I am very close to was taken to an emergency room 3 days ago.  He started to shake really badly due to some kind of nerve failure and stayed at the hospital all day.  It was my first experience going to a hospital in Guatemala, and it frustrated me so much. 

When I entered the emergency room, there were about 30 people waiting to be seen by a doctor, and all the doctors were either chatting on the hallway with their colleagues or reading newspaper.  I couldn’t believe that was the “emergency” room.  My friend started to shake so bad and his lips started to turn white.  He begged one of the doctors to take a look at him.  The doctor said he didn’t work on that floor and left.  So he begged another doctor who worked on that floor to help him.  He said he would come soon, but of course he kept chatting with another doctor.  So it was totally out of my character to do such a thing, but I entered the room where all the doctors were chatting and told them to stop chatting and work in English ( I was so mad that Spanish didn’t even come out).  If they don’t want to work, they shouldn’t be there. There are many people waiting while they were all waisting thier time. They told me to leave the hospital, which I was forced to after this. 

As I was waiting outside, one patient who was there when all that happened come outside and said that doctors left my friend suffering longer because they got mad about what I did, but eventually gave him an injection after his mom begging them to take care of him. He said that he was sorry that my friend had to suffer longer, but thanked me for saying what he always wanted to say every time he came to a hospital. When my friend came out from the hospital, he was laughing and told me that I nearly killed him by causing a problem with doctors and said hospitals are like this in Guatemala.  People have to beg to be seen by doctors.  Usually older doctors are better and more compassionate.

I believe that healthcare is a human right.  People have a right to be taken care of when they are sick.  It was a very frustrating experience and hope that it is NOT like in all other hospitals.

Rumor

There is a rumor that I heard about one of the friends of a person I know that he is getting ready to go to the States illegally.  He has 3 small children and can’t support his growing family with the money he makes as a shopkeeper of a small store he owns at the market. I don’t know if that’s true because I don’t know him personally. I see him working at the market, but I never spoke with him.   

People think that unemployment rate here in Guatemala now is about 30-40%  even though the government stated it is 3.2% in 2005 according to the CIA World Factbook.  I have to admit that things changed a lot since 2005, but there is no more recent information regarding Guatemalan unemployment rate.  So I can’t really post any accurate information.  But I know a husband of a family that I am close to works 6 days a week and makes about Q2000 ($270) per month.  This family rents a room, which costs them Q400 per month, and I assume the cost of food about Q1200 to Q1500 per month based on what I spend for food (I buy food at the market and cook for myself. Because people from the market always charge me more, I always go with my Guatemalan friends not to be overcharged!).  Public schools are supposed to be free, but students have to purchase uniforms, shoes, school supplies, books, and so on. This can add up to about Q1000 at the beginning of a school year and whatever the amount of money needed as a school year goes.  With this amount of money that he makes, if you didn’t inherit a house or a business from your parents which he didn’t, I don’t know what he is going to do if his baby gets sick. 

The idea that people get about going to the States is becoming easier for me to understand.  They are frustrated in being trapped in this poverty cycle.  They want to give their children good education and a safe home with walls.  The house that he rents has tin walls, which makes his house very cold at night.  I am not saying it is correct to enter another country illegally, but I started to think what I would do if I were born into a situation like this; being trapped in the poverty cycle.  What would you do if you were him?

walk on Sunday night

I had a little walk last night around the town.  It is usually not safe to walk around at night in Guatemala, but Antigua is an exception.  As long as you stick to the central part of city, you will be fine. 

I didn’t expect to see many familiar faces on streets at 9 pm, but many children were out still working.  Some of them are shining shoes, selling candy, and so on.  Based on the conversation I had with them, those kids make about 3-4 dollars per day working for 10-12 hours.  Of course being a kid, they are not constantly working.  They get distracted easily and start playing, but the fact that they are out on a street that late made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I hear that many drunken people steal money from these children on a street.   No wonder these kids fight in a second when they come to the practice and kind of language they use is very interesting too.  Well, they are the reason why I work.  They are important for me anyway….

rainy sunday

Sunday was all about raining all day.  It is supposed to be winter now even though it gets really hot during a day if sun is out. 

I was just informed by a family member of one of the boys that he was adopted.  It was actually worse than adopted.  His “uncle” works at the trash dumping site as you can see in my video.  His job is to collect any recyclable materials.  He found him there 14 years ago.  I am not sure if this boy is aware of the fact.  All we do is to play soccer and let them be what they are, just children,without worries and problems.

interesting conversation

I had a very interesting conversation with one of the Guatemalan ladies that I’ve known for a long time.  I was telling her how men and women should be equal and respect each other.  Then she goes, “whatever you believe is the way in your country.  Here is different.  Men get their ways most of the times and women suffer.  I work, feed my family, wash my husband’s clothes, cook for him, and still he gets mad at me often and sometimes he can be violent.”

What was frustrating with this conversation is how she simply accepts this.  I asked her why she doesn’t do anything about it.  She just says “that’s how it is. I just try to please him so that I won’t have problems.” Coming from Japan, I do understand the concept of it, but not doing anything… I don’t get it.  Maybe I am naïve. 

What I noticed here is a negative image of single mothers.  They pity children without fathers even though they have a wonderful mother and grandmother taking care of them.   Because of the fear of becoming a single mother, many women accept the fact that their husbands have another woman with children, can be violent, and don’t contribute financially.  I am not saying it is how it is for everybody, but I observed cases like this a lot in Guatemala.  And this attitude gets passed down to daughters, who often get married to a person who is similar to their fathers.   I strongly feel like education for women is very important in Guatemala.

Time flies!!

I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks already since I came here.  Really time flies!!  I am not so good with technology, but thanks to the class I am taking online right now, it taught me how to make a video and put it on Youtube.  When I do a project like this, I feel old.  Anyway, I did it!!  So here is the link if you are interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGsJ0_2qIc

Today I would like to talk about sad news I heard.  We had 2 children who used to come from the trash dumping site, which you can see in my video.  One of them committed suicide about a month ago.  He was an orphan and heavily addicted to drugs.  He was only 16. The other one is kind of lost in his life right now and again using drugs constantly.  He is 14, and these two grew up like brothers watching out for each other. They are very good kids who never received any chance in their lives.  I took them out to eat and told them to come to practice so that I can buy some food.  But growing up on streets, assimilating into the normal society might be difficult for them in a way I can’t imagine.