Lehman’s Country Life

Bezaleel means “under the shadow of God” and is the name of a school in Guatemala where Galen Lehman did volunteer work in July, 2008. #1 in a series of posts on what he learned there.

Our first stop in Guatemala was an orientation at the offices of the Mennonite Central Committee in Guatemala City.

There the whole group was stunned into silent attention by our local host, who announced with feeling, “Guatemala is a racist, sexist, classist society. You will see it everywhere you turn.”

Racist, she said, because while only about 30 percent of the population is “Ladino” (of Spanish descent), Ladinos control virtually everything. Guatemalans of indigenous descent (who North Americans would probably call “Indian”) can be easily identified by their non-European facial features. Generations of undernourishment have made them up to a foot shorter than everyone else in Guatemala. They are allowed to hold only low-paying manual labor and farming jobs. (The minimum wage in Guatemala is $4/day and is often ignored.)

Classist because just two percent of the population holds 92 percent of the land (and intends to keep it that way). We were told that there is virtually no middle class. The poor are very poor and have no way to advance. They have been pushed out of the fertile coastal plantation areas and onto the steep slopes of the central mountains. Higher education, freedom of choice and the ability to move on to better economic opportunities are severely limited.
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