Spense Havlick: Guatemala, the ripples of poverty
Spense Havlick: Guatemala, the ripples of poverty
By Spense Havlick
Posted: 12/27/2014 06:18:24 PM MST | Updated: 119 min. ago
Have you ever wondered why people from Guatemala and other Central American countries try to find a better life in the United States? Recently I found part of the answer and it is heart-breaking.
About a dozen service workers from Boulder (sponsored by Kansas City-based Transformational Journeys) were tasked with building fuel-efficient stoves for poverty-stricken Mayan families that pick coffee as their main livelihood. The stoves are made from concrete blocks, scored and chiseled with machetes. A concrete pipe takes the smoke from a small, efficient firebox through the roof out of the home.
Typical rural dwellings in the Guatemalan highlands consist of one room with a three-stone fire on a dirt floor. A sheet of metal is placed on the stones to heat water and cook tortillas. The smoke fills the room and coats the walls and ceiling with black creosote. Damage to eyes and lungs from the constant smoke has serious health impacts.
In the last two years a fungus or botanical rust has destroyed up to forty percent of the coffee harvest in this region that has coffee as a singular crop. This has an economic impact on families who are no longer able to afford sending their children to school. Chronic poverty due to crop failure, lack of education and inadequate housing help to motivate people from Guatemala and other Central American countries to try to enter the United States.
More:
http://www.dailycamera.com/columnists/ci_27215887/spense-havlick-guatemala-ripples-poverty
