Poverty and Agriculture in Guatemala

By: Amanda DePerro

Produced & Edited By: Andrew Davis

In Guatemala, poverty and agriculture are a way of life. Throughout Guatemalan history, farmers have been marginalized to make room for big-name foreign corporations like the United Fruit Company. 

The effects are obvious today, as 70 percent of Guatemala’s poor population is made up of farmers, according to Kristin Lacy, CFO and coordinator of moderation and evaluation for Semilla Nueva, an organization dedicated to empowering farmers in Guatemala. To understand the plight of modern farmers in Guatemala, one must understand their history.

Semilla Nueva staff members in Guatemala city during a meeting
about the production, improvement and distribution of maize. © Semilla Nueva

A Troubled Past

Jacobo Árbenz, president of Guatemala from 1951 to 1954, was devoted to the agricultural state of Guatemala. However, his vision got in the way of the sprawling United Fruit Company, which was operating in many areas around Central America at the time, and was very profitable to the United States. The Central Intelligence Agency supported a coup d’état in Guatemala, and Árbenz was overthrown as threats of civil war emerged.

Small farmers are still feeling the consequences of that coup, as major companies are purchasing land that small farmers can no longer afford nor manage.

“The major problems with farmers and poverty is that land rights is a huge issue,” said Lacy. “Huge industries are buying a lot of land. Farmers don’t have any other option, their only asset they have is their land, so they have to sell it.”

The decline of private farmers has led many Guatemalans to turn away from agriculture in favor of more technological occupations.

“People who were farmers don’t want to be farmers anymore, they want to be tech guys. They think being a farmer is, like, being a poor person,” said Alexander Kronick, director of Caoba Farms, an organic farm in Antigua that produces food for Guatemala and connects nongovernment organizations, NGOs, with similar goals to one another.

Kronick contends that population growth in Guatemala has led to widespread pollution, which has led the population to become more aware of their environment.

Native farmers are being overrun by these corporations because of a lack of money, education and technology. They are unable to compete with massive businesses that can produce on a large scale.

“Most of smallholders’ agricultural activities are still traditional and manual, while continuing to use high amounts of chemicals,” said Joaquin Lozano, sub-regional coordinator and CPM of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Guatemala. “Agriculture is becoming less profitable for them, as they devote high resources to invest in a high-risk activity, more and more affected by climate change and natural disasters.”

Monsanto Law

Amidst the excitement of this year’s World Cup, Guatemalans were blindsided by the passage of a law that would potentially ruin smallholder farmers. The Law for the Protection of Plant Varieties, dubbed the “Monsanto Law,” would require the purchae of patents of certain seed varieties, patents that many small farmers in Guatemala could not afford.

“When people found out about it, the whole country kind of went berserk,” said Lacy. “Communities got together and put up roadblocks—they just stand in the highway and shut it down, which is pretty powerful.”

The law was rejected after the public outcry, but had the law succeeded in slipping past Guatemalans during the World Cup, it could have greatly damaged the agriculturally dependent country.

“It is not about being against GMO (genetically modified organisms) or not, it’s about seeking what is best for the countrymen,” said Juan Diego Chang, a physicist living in Guatemala City. “Many, many country people live from their own [sic] agriculture.”

Worms, distributed throughout the farm, inhibit healthy plant
growth at farms supported by Semilla Nueva. © Semilla Nueva 

The law would have hurt Caoba Farms, a large and successful farm dedicated to sustainability and the future of agriculture in Guatemala.

“In the long run it would make it more difficult to—there’s all sorts of new paperwork and registration to make the seeds more expensive, and it makes it harder for small farmers to come out,” said Kronick. “It’s just a way to control who can and can’t produce seeds. Basically, it’d make it more complicated and harder for the small agriculture guy to produce.”

Sustainable Farming

Many organizations, like Semilla Nueva and Caoba Farms, strive toward sustainability and the empowerment of small farmers through education and technological development. Since smallholder farmers don’t have access to resources including roads, it is difficult to compete with corporate-owned farms. This is amplified by the fact that many Guatemalan citizens are unable to read or write.

For Kronick, education is the key to the success of small farmers. Caoba Farms works with schools to teach agricultural education, and hopes to house students at the farm in the future.

“We’ll hopefully have a school of farming. We haven’t really gotten to that point yet,” said Kronick. “We’ll bring some people to the farm, house them, give them Spanish lessons. There are some people who have worked with us who don’t know how to read or write.”

Semilla Nueva uses a program named Farmer to Farmer to distribute technology that it tested on its own experimental farms. The technology can then be spread from farmer to farmer.

“We don’t want to hear that NGOs have to be here forever,” said Lacy. “Their money has flooded into the country, but it’s not really changing anything. So we’re really passionate about engaging with the state that can help carry out this agricultural development.”

According to Kronick, organic is the current trend. He hopes more people will embrace the possibilities that agriculture in Guatemala can offer.

“A lot of people are opening their eyes, and you can show them a lot of things,” he said. “Everything is a cycle—that’s what the Mayans said. It’s not a beginning, it’s not an end.”

Coaba Farms is nestled in the picturesque landscape of Antigua,
Guatemala. © Caoba Farms

Money Matters in Nigerian Education

By: Kayla Hardimon
Produced and edited by: Molly Nocheck

The idea of all students having an equal opportunity to acquire an education has been a common topic of discussion in the United States. The idea is that the amount of money that parents make, or the community that a child lives in should not determine whether or not a child receives a good education. In Nigeria, this same problem with educational inequity exists. Problems arise because of the country’s system of pay to play education.

Equal education for all is not a reality for students in Nigeria. The set up of Nigeria’s education system plays a major role in student success or failure. In Nigeria, students have three stages of education; primary, secondary, and tertiary. The primary and secondary stages last for 6 years each. In a student’s final year of primary school they will take what is called the Common Entrance Exam. This exam determines not only whether or not a student has successfully completed their primary schooling but also whether they will go on to secondary school. Secondary school entrance acceptance is based on the scores that students receive on their Common Entrance Exam.

If a student does not score at or above the cutoff score for a school, they will not be considered for admission. How prepared a student is for their common entrance exam depends on the quality of education the student receives.

The education system is separated into public and private schools. Both types of schools require payment for all aspects of education.

Nosike Agokei the managing director of MTI ELC in Nigeria, says that the biggest problem is the difference between public and private schools. He says that public schools in Nigeria are not properly funded and that the lack of infrastructure creates a system of improper schooling.

Many students do not have tables and chairs says Agokei, “If you can afford it you enjoy better quality.”

Private schooling in Nigeria provides better resources and materials to students.

“Unfortunately majority of Nigerian parents are not able to afford tuition in private schools and so they send their children to public schools,” says Bella Anne Chinwendu Ndubuisi, a worker in the public relations section of the United States Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.

The school that a Nigerian child attends is impacted by three things says Agokei; the perspective the parents have on education and the type of disciple they want their children’s school to have, the scores a child gets on the test, and how much money the parents have.

  Courtesy of Green Springs Schools.  Academic Fair Use.

“Private schools are better by and large,” says Agokei.

A child’s future in Nigeria begins with the location that they attend primary schooling. Tolu Adeusi, a consultant with TG March Nata Education an organization that helps students study abroad, says that he will not send his future children to public school in Nigeria because he believes that at public school they will be taught to be workers and they will not be taught math and other skills that they will need to succeed.

If a student’s family can afford to send them to a private primary school or a good federal government school, the child has a better chance at continuing on to secondary school.

A school’s ranking is based on how well the students do on the standardized exams. Mercedes Onyemenam, a Nigerian student studying at Case University, went to a top private school that used a British curriculum.

“We did a lot of practice questions, they really want every single person to understand what they’re saying, if one person doesn’t understand, they keep teaching the material. They drill it into your head.”

Damilola Darimola, a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Ohio University, was able to attend a strong public secondary school, the Federal Government College in Lagos Nigeria, he says that although it was public, it was not open to everyone. “Although it was a public school you still had to pay money,” said Darimola.

When speaking about public schools in Nigeria, Ndubuisi says that she was able to go to a public primary school at a time when the public school system was still strong, now, she says federal government schools have deviated from the “good old standards.”

She says that not all public schools are bad, but private schools are way better. The problem with attending a private school she says is that a student could get a college education in the United States with the tuition paid in some private primary schools.

 Courtesy of Action Aid Nigeria.  Academic Fair Use.

Government funding for schools is not high in Nigeria. Adeusi says that this is because “the government itself focuses on infrastructure not in connecting with the children.” This has left many public schools without the proper means to educate students, and other schools charging high prices for public education. Some students in Nigeria do not have access to education at all. Adeusi, an education consultant, says that in the Western part of Nigeria where many farming and rural areas exist, only 1 in 10 students go through proper education. “In other regions, it is less than one,” he says.

“We struggle to do everything for ourselves,” says Awana Adentux Isioma a student studying Modern Engineering at the Jo Marine Institute in Nigeria, “the government doesn’t provide.” Awele Nwankwo, a graduate of Plateau State Polytechnic University in Nigeria, says that without the help of his family in the United States he would not have had a proper education. Nwankwo’s immediate family did not have the money to pay for a good school.

Money is a driving factor for education in Nigeria. Parents who make enough money can send their children to any school that they choose, no matter what region the school is located in. Students who’s parents do not make a high enough salary are forced to attend schools with fewer resources and still obligated to pay in order to attend. No matter the quality of the education, it is not free. Money is determining the future for children in Nigeria rather than how much aptitude, drive, or determination the children possess.

Poverty in Remote Morocco Remains Untouched

By Rachel Ferchak

Edited by Gina Edwards

Nearly one decade ago, Carolyn Logan-Taylor traveled from her home in the United Kingdom to a remote village in the Tighza Valley, a region in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains between Marrakech and Ouarzazate. She witnessed a shocking way of life that was virtually unknown to her before her voyage.

“We went to visit a house … and the family there had 11 children. And it was very poor. There was no windows, no glass in the windows,” said Logan-Taylor, describing the scene. “There were flies everywhere. A baby was lying on the floor, and we just thought, ‘Oh my goodness. How can people actually live like this?’”

What was most surprising was not the way this family and the other villagers lived. It was that the people live happily.

“The people are all happy there, you never see a sad face,” Logan-Taylor continued. “They don’t have very much materially, but socially, they seem to be where we were years ago, when everybody was dependent on everybody else.”

Improving their lives

Logan-Taylor’s first experience in Morroco led her to make it her priority to improve the lives of the villagers “without changing them.”
Logan-Taylor continues to work in Morocco alongside her husband, Mohamed El Qasemy, a native of the Tighza Valley, to bring first aid and other developments to the village.

“We need some help from the outside, because we are really poor,” said El Qasemy. “[The government has done] nothing. That’s life over here in Morocco.”

The Moroccan government has met some of the village’s needs by providing a state-run school, a water tower and electricity. However, the Tighza Valley remains one of the few regions in Morocco that has not been touched by the National Initiative for Human Development (NIHD), a $2 billion program established by King Mohammed VI in May 2005. The goal of the program is to alleviate poverty and underdevelopment throughout the country, particularly for the rural and urban-poor populations.

“If you go to Morocco, you will see the first world living with the third world,” said Aziz Mekouar, Moroccan ambassador to the United States. “We have centers of poverty in the country either in the big cities or the rural areas. Even the [NIHD] is made to make sure that the economical development … will trickle down to the poorest people.”
The "success" of the NIHD

According to Mekouar, the NIHD has been successful, specifically in its reduction of poverty.

“The number of people living under the line of poverty was, I think, five years ago around 15 percent of the population of Morocco. It dropped down to 9 percent today,” he said. “And according to the indicators and the numbers … it seems that Morocco will be one of the few countries that will achieve the Millennium Goals — part of the Millennium Challenge Compact made between the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Morocco— by 2015.”

The MCC helps provide funding for countries to reduce poverty through growth. In 2007, Morocco made a compact with the MCC with the expectation of “[increasing] Morocco’s GDP by approximately $118 million annually and to benefit approximately 600,000 people directly and 3 million people indirectly over the Compact term,” states the MCC Executive Summary.

The $697.5 million from the U.S. is speculated to stimulate economic growth by investing in productivity in certain sectors and uncovering new employment opportunities in those sectors.

“It’s moving quite quickly, and I think it will be a beautiful program,” said Mekouar.

Many social welfare programs around the world contain problems, despite their positive aspects. The NIHD is no exception. However, there are efforts — such as the services Logan-Taylor and El Qasemy provide — to serve remote regions. Other organizations include Baraka Community Partnerships (BCP), based in the U.K., and Friendship Force International (FFI), based in Atlanta, Ga.

These organizations address various issues within the smaller communities and remote regions, like Tighza, such as lack of education, medical care and exposure.

Lotfi Lamrani, a Moroccan native, oversees the Azrou FFI sector, located in the center of the country, east of Casablanca. Lamrani works to bring foreign students into the country through an exchange program in order to engage elementary and secondary school students.

“It’s not only my job, it’s my mission in life,” said Lamrani, who focuses on bringing equality to the education of students and changing elementary students’ attitudes toward prioritizing their education and studies.
Overall, Lamrani is proud of the NIHD and pleased with the work it has accomplished, although the NIHD does not provide direct funding for the FFI. He said that the major problem in the NIHD is the “privilege of information.” Many remote regions, like Tighza, are so remote that information could take years to reach the population, Lamrani said. These regions cannot apply for funding or projects because they have not heard of them.

Andy McKee, project coordinator for BCP in Tighza, addressed the similar problem of “inaccessibility.”

“The poverty up there is greater than in most areas of Morocco,” McKee said. “I think because they’re right at the end of the road, they’re literally forgotten about. They’re tucked away and left to their own devices.”

According to McKee, the people are “victims of their own culture” and do not understand how they can do any better.
The 2008 Report on Human Development

The 2008 Report on Human Development (RHD), issued by the prime minister of Morocco and the National Human Development Observatory, explains both the progress and gaps of the NIHD in reaching the population.

The RHD addresses the major concerns of the rural regions. It states, “In matters of human development, three key areas in the rural world require attention, more specifically: education, health and the improvement of revenue.”
The report addresses these difficulties, as well as possible solutions, which include new forms of education for children, basic health communication and education and a re-development of agricultural practices. The full effects of the NIHD remain unknown, as the next report will be published within the next year.

Mumbai: A City of Extremes

By Rachel Ferchak, SUSI web manager

Immediately after I stepped off Lufthansa Flight 934 at midnight, the murky humidity hit me like a stone wall. That same humidity was incessant the entire week I was in Mumbai, India.

My first impressions of the city were those seen through the dusty windows of a 1970s bus, which took our group of Ohio University students an hour away to our clean, air-conditioned hostel in Mumbai Central.On the rickety bus ride through the city, we passed homes with tin roofs and walls made of billboard signs. There were families sleeping on concrete sidewalks with their only extra clothes hanging on thin lines of rope.

The faint smells transitioned from diesel fumes to dust, from manure to burning tires. But, as we neared the hostel, the city began to smell like smog and traffic. In fact, the weather for Mumbai often reads “smoke” or “haze” on weather.com.

After nearly 24 hours of travel, we had finally arrived.

Culture Shock

Mumbai is a city with two different worlds: extreme wealth and abject poverty. On one hand, it is home to the glitz and glamour of Bollywood. But on the other, Mumbai has nearly 1.2 million people living on 20 rupees per day, or less than 50 cents, according to The Times of India.
Many Americans don’t see the side of poverty that I witnessed in Mumbai. Everyday, I watched children playing in the chaotic streets, children who were dressed in outgrown, filthy T-shirts and shorts. Dirt and dust were the only things covering their delicate feet. Young children carried their infant siblings.

Everywhere I went, children held out their hands asking for money. The only English words they knew were “food” and “money.” Although we were told not to give the children money, we were told to treat them like children. We crouched to their level and asked them, “Aapka naam kya hai?” or “What is your name?” in Hindi.

The children would immediately respond by putting their hands down. Their faces lit up as they gave their names. Then, I would open a bag of Chickadees cheddar snack crackers and give it to them. And, usually, they smiled and walked away.

Nearly half of Mumbai’s estimated 20 million people live in slums or shantytowns. Entire families live in 9-by-9 spaces, which function as the kitchen, bedroom and living room. In terms of material possessions, these people have virtually northing. But, they do have community. They depend solely on each other for love and support, and they can relate to one another.

One evening, I walked through an alley by our hostel. Shanties aligned either side of the street. As I wandered down the street, families gathered for their evening meals, and children ran around playing with the other neighbor children. On a single mattress without shelter, one young woman read to her sleepy infant. A grandmother, mother and two children slept outdoors on a cot. It’s almost as if the people in the shantytown are tucked away in a completely different world. Upon exiting the street, sure enough, there stood the main road with an illuminated McDonald’s and three-story shopping mall.

The Taste of Mumbai

In India, it seems as though everything has a zip to it: omelets, plain rice, McDonald’s sandwiches, you name it. But one thing I found particularly odd was the masala soda and masala spice chai. Masala is generally a mix of cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and black pepper. So, I’m pretty sure you can imagine what masala soda would taste like. Many of us tasted the beverage, and we all had similar facial reactions. Our faces puckered up, and we struggled to swallow. The drink resembled carbonated salt water. One sip was enough for me.

Although many of the others on my trip were craving pizza by the end of our week, the food was one of the things I enjoyed most about India. But I tend to like strong flavors and spices. I’ve heard that most international food served in America is completely different from the native cuisine, but I did not sense much of a difference between American-Indian food and authentic Indian cuisine.

Because of religious restrictions, India is a vegetarian’s paradise. Restaurants are labeled either “veg” or “non-veg.” Even if the restaurant is “non-veg,” rest assured that there is always a vegetarian option. For example, I sampled the mildly spicy, lightly fried McVeggie at McDonald’s. Or at Kentucky Fried Chicken, the menu includes options such as the Veg Zinger, Veggie Snacker and Veg Rice and Strips.

A Change of Heart

Nervously, I followed a group of four women through narrow, damp alleys. Where am I? Fear and confusion started to set in. Those feelings increased with every step. The men who passed me stared, and I felt uneasy.

I was told prior to this walk, that I was going into one of the darkest areas of the city. And I sensed the weight of that darkness.

Ten minutes later, I, along with three other women from OU and four Indian women from the Mumbai Aruna Project, arrived at a run-down, four-story building. We walked through the doorway and could see nothing. My heart pounded. Our eyes struggled to adjust as we staggered up the filth-covered staircase. Then, finally, sunlight appeared from a room at the top of the steps.

The Indian women instructed us to take off our shoes, enter the illuminated room and sit on the large couch. We obeyed.

As we entered, ten Indian women — all of whom were between 14 and 25 years old — sat on the couches laughing, putting on makeup and styling their beautiful black hair. They are my age. My age.

With the help of the women with the Aruna Project, we were able to converse and interact with the girls. Their eyes sparkled as they laughed. But we knew that behind those young faces, there was something different about their lives. Something we, as American women, could not understand.

After saying our goodbyes, we entered another room. And that is where my heart sank. The girls in this room told us they were 15 years old, but they were obviously closer to 10. I can still see the face of one child with round glasses and pigtails. She could not have been older than nine. How could anyone do this to his or her child? I thought. Each of these girls sees an average of seven men every night. Prostitution is the only life they know.

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The majority of the women were sold into the slave trade by family members when they were between the ages of 7 and 11. These 40,000 women are forced to attend to the more than 300,000 men who go to the brothels every night.

The sexual slave trade is like a cell, the women at the Aruna Project told us. (Many of the women who work at the Aruna Project were once prostitutes, and they can speak from experience.) When these little girls first enter the brothels, they are kept in chains and not allowed to see the sunlight for a few years. During those years, the girls are psychologically and physically abused. They are beaten down so that when they are finally released from the chains, they will not want to leave. As the girls get older, they are given more “freedom,” but if they go outside the brothel, they are accompanied by a pimp. Eventually, they are allowed to travel by themselves; however, they must pay.

We often wonder, Why don’t they just run away? As a part of the psychological abuse, the women begin to believe that the life of prostitution and sexual abuse is better than life on the streets. To those women, life on the street means having no food, shelter or money, all while still being sexually abused.

But there is hope: the Aruna Project.

The Aruna Project is a Christian organization dedicated to the rescuing of women and children from the sexual slave trade. Because of the years of abuse these women endure, the Aruna Project must build relationships and trust with them. The Project offers counseling, health care and skills training so the women will be able to function independently in society. Since the organization started nearly ten years ago, it has rescued more than 150 women.

The Project not only rescues women, but it also reaches out to their children. Aruna has a partnership with the Salvation Army, which provides a home and schooling for the children of prostitutes. I had the chance to visit the Salvation Army and play with the children, ages five through 14, who study the core subjects, as well as English and the Bible. It warms my heart to know that these children are the future. Let’s just say that that was the best way to spend my last day in India, with hope.