As I begin my second week, I am reflecting on the poverty that I have seen. According to CIDA 29% of Guamaltecans live below the poverty line. Even in the tourist haven of Pana the poverty is in your face if you care to open your eyes and it is profound. People make do with very very little; wood stoves outside with a pila to wash their clothes. Perhaps a room for the bed and a kitchen that most likely would not have a refrigerator or even running water. And everything is so hard to keep clean - not because people do not want clean or because they are not clean but because of the costs of the amenities that allow things to be kept clean.
I had a chance to listen to a Mom of four, with tears in her eyes, as she talked about the education she so desperately wants and can not afford. The costs - only about $70 per month for tuition and then books, uniform and computer access in addition. It seems incredible to me that in our world of plenty in the North this can be real. Its complicated of course as there are kids, and internet access and all the realities of a home and parents in school and then finding work once the programs is completed.
I have also heard lots about how aid for some has become a path to a victim mentality. This only points to how important it is that what aid is provided provides for receipt in a frame of self repect, self reliance and collaboration!
Lots of sobering realities. Hasta luego, Colleen
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