Lessons on Poverty and Other Things I Learned in Guatemala

"Poverty occurs when people are caught in a complex web of broken relationships that do not work for the well being of the poor." —Jayakumar Christian

I hadn’t really thought of broken or dysfunctional relationships as a cause of material poverty but the truth of this statement was certainly evident in my recent visit to Guatemala with World Renew. There were 12 of us on the trip, 8 North Americans joined by 2 World Renew and 2 support staff in Guatemala. For 7 days, we visited NGO’s with whom World Renew was partnering and toured the rural villages around Lake Atitlán. The Guatemalan landscape is beautiful - rich with mountains, rivers, lakes, and a whopping 37 volcanoes. But this land with so much natural beauty is also a place where significant parts of the population, largely the rural Indigenous Maya people, experience high levels of material poverty and malnutrition.

While I don’t pretend to understand the complex reality of poverty, it seemed clear that a key contributor to poverty in Guatemala is a lack of access to or broken relationship with institutions of political and economic power. Of all the Latin American countries Guatemala has the highest rate of income inequality, with a poverty rate of over 57%. And while the Maya people make up about 70% of the population, they comprise only about 10% of elected government officials. Not surprisingly, most government resources and support go to the wealthier urban centres while the rural Indigenous communities struggle with access to basic healthcare, public safety services, economic opportunities, and education. There are a variety of reasons for this, many, like discrimination and exploitation, that are not so different from the reasons for such disparities in our own countries. But these realities ensure the perpetuation of cycles of poverty, malnutrition, and inequality. Which raises the question - where does one begin to try to address the problems and change the trajectory for the future?

Shame is what happens when someone gives your loved ones something you should have been able to provide yourself but can’t.

As our World Renew group met with people in the communities, listening to their stories and noting the limited resources, our immediate reaction was to want to address the needs. It would be so easy to rush in with gifts of food, knitted hats for newborns, school supplies and medical equipment. One click on our Amazon accounts could solve so many problems, or so we thought. But our World Renew guides gently reminded us that such gifts would not address the systemic and relational problems and would, in fact, generate other issues - dependency on charity and worse, a profound sense of shame.

Shame is the sign of another broken relationship, the relationship with oneself, that both results from and contributes to ongoing poverty. Shame is what emerges when you are disempowered and made to feel unworthy and inadequate. Shame is rooted in believing that there is something wrong with you as a person. Shame is what happens when someone gives your loved ones something you should have been able to provide yourself but can’t. And shame is incapacitating, deepening a sense of helplessness and worthlessness. Our impulse toward charity, while well-meant, threatened to further chip away at the humanity and dignity of those we sought to serve.

So what is the right approach to supporting systemically under-resourced communities? As we visited a variety of NGO’s that World Renew partners with, I was struck by and impressed with the many innovative programs that NGO’s had developed, providing skills and business training, offering microloans, school supplies and tutoring programs, developing community savings and loans programs, setting up health clinics and seed banks, and initiating community education programs. They offered a stunning array of opportunities designed to equip and empower people and communities in expanding their capacity to address the challenges of poverty themselves.

But what seemed clear to me is that none of these efforts would have been effective if the shame that comes with poverty, exploitation, and discrimination hadn’t been addressed first, if those participating in the programs didn’t believe in their own dignity, value, and worth, if they hadn’t come to see that the injustices that had been done to them and the resources that had been denied them did not define them or their future, if these NGO’s hadn’t also been intentional about addressing the fractured self that injustice had left in its wake. By providing the counseling needed to restore their belief that they are “uniquely and wonderfully made,” that they are made in the image of God and have knowledge, gifts, passions, and skills that would benefit their communities, these NGO’s are able to help people recognize the resources they already have and find ways to channel, enhance, and grow them.

Against all odds, in the face of tremendous hardship and unjust systems, we met people who were committed to pursuing healing for themselves and to participating in the healing of their communities.

The impact of this approach was immediately evident: we met women who showed us with immense pride beautiful articles of clothing, jewelry, and textiles that they had woven, embroidered and beaded for sale in the market. We heard the enthusiasm and love of a group of volunteers who freely gave of their time and had gone through extensive training to keep their community and the people in it safe. We saw women beam with joy as they received certificates in business programs that equipped them to launch their own microbusinesses. We interacted with two young girls with physical disabilities whose confidence and sense of worth was renewed as they embarked on their own business venture of making Jello snacks to sell to friends and others in the community. We met a doctor whose innovation and creative thinking was improving the health and quality of life of those in her community. And we sat with a teacher who had introduced principles of universal design into the school system to foster inclusive environments for those with disabilities. The resilience, creativity, persistence, hard work, and love we encountered in each of these people was nothing short of inspiring. Against all odds, in the face of tremendous hardship and unjust systems, we met people who were committed to pursuing healing for themselves and to participating in the healing of their communities. When we asked some of them why they did what they did, the common response was that they did it out of a love for God and a love for the people in their communities.

The problem of poverty seems overwhelming. But what we witnessed in Guatemala is how the repair and restoration of relationships - with oneself, with the community, with God, and with creation - can affect real change in the present and give hope for a different future. I returned home with a renewed commitment to the work of World Renew and the work they do to change the story of poverty. But I also found myself wondering - how have broken relationships resulted in material and other forms of poverty in our own communities? And what might we do to participate in the healing of those relationships to alleviate poverty here at home?