I’ve been in Guatemala for about a year and a half now. Yet, I still don’t know what it’s like
to be Guatemalan. I know only what
it’s like to be a white girl in a small indigenous village. I could live here my whole life and I
would still never be able to tell you how it is to be Guatemalan.
Still, my perspective has changed. I’m not the same person who left the States 18 months
ago. The following quote has
decorated my desktop for sometime because it rings so true:
“You will never be
completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be
elsewhere. That is the price you
pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”
-Miriam Adeney
I will never be completely home again not only because I will
miss those whom I have come to love so dearly here in Guatemala, but because my
perspective has changed. I
spent the first 21-years of my life in lily-white suburbia, but have now
created a home and a life in Latin America. My views on many issues will never again be seen through the
simple lens of my own upbringing.
That’s because I care about Guatemala. I don’t always like it, but I always
care about it. So, I was
pleasantly surprised to learn that the heart-wrenching news of child immigrants,
crossing the border without parents, was not only important to me, but also
headline news in America. Though I
may not completely understand either side’s view, my US Citizenship and time in
Guatemala has given me a unique perspective on this issue. Unfortunately, it hasn’t given me any
answers, but I thought it would be worthwhile to share with you my thoughts.
Parents in Guatemala want the best for their children, just
like parents in the United States.
So, what a twisted world it is when a parent believes their child is
better off without them in a foreign country than she is at home. I don’t think I could ever bring myself
to make this same decision, but I am also certain that I would never raise my
child in Guatemala, particularly a daughter. So, my unanswerable question is, “After seeing the realities
of childhood in Guatemala, how can I blame parents for looking out for their
children the best way they know how?”
Unfortunately, this is the best way many parents know how to
take care of their children. One
of the earliest and most disturbing things I learned about Guatemala is that
success here is defined by going to America. When you ask children what they want to do when they get
older, it is not unusual to hear them say they want to go to America. It is much more unusual to hear that
they want to move to the city to get a job, or be a doctor, or continue their
education past high school. It’s
as if the whole country has given up on itself. The only way they see to provide for their family and make
something of themselves is to leave Guatemala.
The widespread desire to immigrate to the US, either legally
or illegally, exists despite the well-known danger of the journey. It’s not unusual for a Guatemalan to
leave for the States and never be heard from again. It is a hazardous trip, but one many feel they must make in
order to make their life count.
Those who do make it to the States send back money, which
essentially supports the Guatemalan economy. They stay for as long as they can, because, if they are
illegal, once they leave they must make the very perilous journey again if they
wish to go back to the US. For
this reason, there are many father-less families in my small village, even
teenagers who have never met their father because he has been in the US their
whole life.
To make matters worse for Guatemala, the US makes it a
priority to send back the illegal immigrant criminals. Gang members and drug lords return to a
country with low literacy rates, ineffective law enforcement, high
unemployment, and many father-less children. I understand that the US can not be the world’s policeman
and the world’s warden, but by sending the worst criminals back to unstable
countries while keeping many of the same country’s most hard-working and
educated citizens, we are truly preventing any nation from “developing”. (If you know English in Guatemala,
chances are that you are fairly well educated.)
Like I said, living in Guatemala hasn’t provided any
answers. If anything, it’s made the
whole debate about what the US should be doing right now more confusing. However, it is clear that in the long
run the real way to reduce immigration is to help make Mexico and Central American countries
ones that their citizens want to stay in.
It’s a dark day in Guatemala. Last year, the country celebrated the conviction of Rios
Montt, the first leader to be convicted of genocide in his own country. However, the ruling was quickly
overturned for procedural reasons.
This May, the Guatemalan Congress passed a resolution denying the
occurrence of genocide in their country.
These events weigh heavily on a country still recovering from a
36-year-long civil war. The cruelty
of the war, which ended in 1996, left a legacy of violence, directly
contributing to many of the country’s current problems.
Sex slavery, drug routes, rape culture, murder with
impunity, inadequate educational institutions, and the inequitable fruit and
coffee industries are just some of the reasons I would not want my children to
live in Guatemala. All of these
things have worsened over the past few years in a country that is only a
three-hour flight from Miami.
Those of us in Guatemala are not surprised to see people leaving in
increasing numbers and if more Americans knew what was happening here, they
wouldn’t be surprised either.
Yet, the US can not play babysitter to thousands and
thousands of parent-less immigrant children.
So, as we search for solutions, I ask only that you learn
about why people are making what has to be one of the toughest decisions of
their life – sending their children on a dangerous journey to a different
country. Secondly, consider how immigration policy in the US affects these Latin American countries. In the end, their problems are truly our problems because
their citizens will continue to risk everything to leave until there is
opportunity at home.
