Guatemala: Shanna Larson

Shanna Larson

GWS 220W

2/6/12

Guatemala

            The Country of Guatemala will always be a place that is near and dear to my heart. In the summer of 2005 after my 8^th grade year of junior high I went to Guatemala with my youth group for a Mission Trip. I served at a small school in Santa Lucia Milpas Altas called Escula Vida y Esperanza (The School of Life and Hope).  I saw first-hand the poverty and devastation of this third world country. I will never forget the experience of seeing the people of Guatemala and how they could still be so happy and work so hard for what I thought was so little. I saw very young children selling jewelry on the streets wearing tattered clothing, and women with many young children living on the sides of the street. I am excited to learn more about Guatemala through this paper, and prepare myself for my trip back this coming May where I will volunteer at the same school again and hopefully help some families and gain understanding on what really matters in life, realizing that material things can not provide happiness. First, I will discuss some main statistics to better familiarize readers with the location and economic status of Guatemala. Then I will talk about the importance of relationships between parents, mainly mothers, and their children. Thirdly I will discuss the migration of men and how that effects the women and children of Guatemala. Next, some reasons for migration, and lastly the positive effects that have been found with migration. 

            First some general information to get started, Guatemala is a country located in Central America. According to the U.S. Department of State the country of Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America with a total population of 14.7 million people and an area of 108,890 sq. km., which is about the same size as the state of Tennessee. The capital of Guatemala is Guatemala City with a population of 2.5 million with half the population living in extreme poverty and having difficulty meeting basic nutritional needs. The primary language is Spanish ("Background note:guatemala," 2012).  In 1996 the U.S. Department of Labor recorded 54.8% of Adult Guatemalans as Literate (American Embassy: GUATEMALA, 1996), according to the U.S. department of State,  that number has now increased to 80.5% ("Background note:guatemala," 2012). Employment rates are low in comparison to other countries, 2.394 million men are employed and .922 million women. (1996). The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World also had a lot of information I found interesting. Guatemala has the highest rate of motherhood in all of the western world at 4-6 children per women. Because they are needed to help around the house less than 75% of girls who start primary school complete it (Seager, 2009).

            Researchers saw a need in Guatemala City to restore relationships between parents and children. Guatemala City has the highest rate of social violence in forms of riots and strikes there is  also constant financial insecurity and limited access to health and education.  Because of the poverty and devastation, a program was started in 2002 called Educando con Amor (EcA), meaning “Childbearing with love” (McMillan & Burton, 2009).  EcA was an eight session workshop for parents lasting roughly two and a half hours each over a five month time frame; the study was intended for both parents to attend but because the majority of fathers are working to support their families, more mothers attended the sessions. The sessions included group discussion, diagrammatic mapping of relationships, drama techniques and craft work. They discussed family, communication, self-esteem, how children learn to play, how to discipline, and positive reinforcement. During the fallow up which took place 16 months after the workshops were completed mothers reported the satisfaction of increased communication both verbal and physical with their children along with their partners and friends. Several women returned to school to continue their education to make a better life for their families, others enrolled in literacy classes, and four women decided to go back to work in low-paid jobs (2009). 

McMillan and Burton stated in the conclusion of their article that “For a change in the parent-child relationship to take place, parents need to understand the way in which external conditions affect their ability to care for children”. EcA did in fact arouse thoughtful reflection and move beyond the focus on their own lives, but to a wider social engagement. EcA also made it possible for parents to secure, or re-establish secure attachments with their children. The need for long-term support was evident for these parents and fallow up sessions still continue and resources such as counseling were made available to families. This program showed the importance of having parents be involved in children’s lives (McMillan & Burton, 2009). The same is true with education, for children to do good in school, parents and teachers need to come together to help students reach their highest potential. Studies have shown that when parents are involved in their child’s education that students perform better on exams, have higher homework completion, better attendance, an overall satisfaction of school, and retain more information over the summer months (Amatea, 2009).

            Men’s migration has had a huge impact on the lives of both the man and women in Guatemala. It is very uncommon for families to migrate together, this is a harsh reality for the women of Guatemala, whose husbands migrate for work leaving them and their children behind, sometimes for an indefinite period of time because it is uncommon for the men to be able to visit back home due to the expense of travel as well as militarization of the U.S. border (Menjivar & Agadjanian, 2007). The roots of migration link back years to the Cold War, and political events since. The U.S. is a desired location for immigrants, according to the 2000 census there was an estimated 487,288 foreign-born Guatemalans in the U.S. (Seager, 2009).

            Over the years crime in Guatemala has increased taken from the study Menjivar and Agadjanian “Violent crime, fueled by extreme poverty, inequality, and lack of effective law enforcement, is rampant in Guatemala, and crime against women in particular has escalated. Thus, Guatemalans from all backgrounds and with a wide range of educational levels have continued to emigrate”.  I think this quote has a lot of power in it, that until there is a change starting in Guatemala, people will continue to migrate to where they can feel safe and provide a better life for their families. Women who are left behind are sometimes forced to take up work outside the home. Most of these women work as teachers, street vendors, midwives, store clerks, domestics of doing fieldwork. The women reported the hardest thing about their husbands being away was the loneliness. They knew they were being supported being supported financially but some didn’t see that as worth the distance from their husband. In the recent years advances in technology has made it easier for husbands to stay in contact with their families back home. It is still a struggle because the lack of technology in Guatemala where fewer than 100 out of every 1,000 people have Internet (Seager, 2009). This also gives men the power because they are the ones who initiate the communication because it is cheaper to call from the U.S. (Menjivar & Agadjanian, 2007). 

Although there has been a lot of negative consequences to men's migration, there has been some positive research found in the women who stay behind while their husbands migrate to work. Studies have found that while the men are away wives gain dependence, become literate, more responsible for household care, less dependent on relatives, and more determined to improve their children’s care. Women feel like their husbands are there helping them parent even when they are absent from the home, one mother started that she was still threaten to “tell dad” about them misbehaving and he will give them their consequence over the phone or when he comes home next or just tell them he won’t bring them presents, then they behave (2007).

            In conclusion, I think it is important to remember that every culture is extremely different from our own, and that doesn’t make it better or worse. I think we can learn a lot from women around the world who work hard for the life they live. I know that I take for granted my freedom in America and the blessing of good education, health care, jobs, transportation, and women's equality. The opportunities we are given here in America is a great gift that we should come to recognize and be thankful for because there are so many people in this hurting world who go hungry, cold, and without shelter. The topics discussed were important for us here in the U.S. as well because research has proven the importance of relationships between parents and children in our own culture and how important that is for children's success (Menjivar & Agadjanian, 2007). Also to be empathetic for those migrants who are here without their families and the struggles they face being away from their spouses and children. 

CITATIONS:

Amatea, Ellen, S.  (2009). Building culturally responsive family-school relationships.  Upper Saddle River: Pearson. 

Foreign Labor Trends, U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of International Labor Affairs. (1996). American Embassy: GUATEMALA    

McMillan, A., & Burton, M. (2009). From parent education to collective action: ‘Childrearing with love’ in post-war Guatemala.    

            Journal Of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 19(3), 198-211.

Menjívar, C., & Agadjanian, V. (2007). Men's Migration and Women's Lives: Views from Rural Armenia and Guatemala. Social       

             Science Quarterly (Blackwell Publishing Limited), 88(5), 1243-1262.

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. (2012). Background note:guatemala

Seager, Joni. (2009). The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World.