Mirna

I have to say that I think I won the jackpot with the teacher that I received.  Her name is Mirna, and not only is she very sweet and nice, she is incredibly funny.  I take classes from 8:00 am until noon, and then I break for an hour and a half lunch.  I return from 1:30 until 4:00 in the afternoon.  Besides learning new tenses in which to conjugate verbs and new vocabulary, we practice talking almost all day.  That is over 6 hours of one-on-one talking, and so she knows everything about me and my life.  We've talked about my past jobs, family, friends, places I've visited, things I bought, things I wear, what I ate, where I went...todo!  It's necessary, and in the same regard, I know a lot about her life and family.  For instance, I know that she is in her early 40's, has 2 kids (18 and 10...2 different fathers), has never been married or owned a car, and she lives with her parents, a sister and her daughter, granddaughter, and one on the way, her brother, his wife, and their 2 kids.  They live in a house smaller than the size of my apartment.  In addition to being a Spanish teacher full-time (if there are enough students, that is to say), she is a real estate agent.  She doesn't own a computer, and she makes about Q2,000 per month ($250).  Her 18-year old son is trying to get into a university, but it is difficult because the public universities have extremely high admission standards because they are very inexpensive, and even possibly free.  She does not receive any child support from either father because there seemed to have been a law here where if the father doesn't accept the last name of the baby, then technically it is lawfully not his responsibility.  I'm only in my second week, so I will admit that pieces of this may have been lost in translation.  It just seems incomprehensible that these men can get away with it, but asi es la vida aqui.

As I sit here and reflect on my teacher and her situation, it is easy for me to say that she made her own choices, and therefore, she should lie in the bed that she made.  Did I mention that she used to own her own school, but after 9/11 happened, and Americans and Europeans stopped traveling, her business dried up.  There were no tourists wanting to learn Spanish.  There were no tourists period.  Then shortly after, a Guatemalan bank failed, and there is no such thing as FDIC insurance.  She lost her life's savings, which at the time was about $2,000.  That was a fortune to her.  There really isn't much of a public school system, and therefore most families, even the poor ones, must pay for private schools.  I'm beginning to realize that the real solution to her problems and the problems of millions of other people here in Guatemala is access to education.  From pre-school on, we learn the importance of personal hygiene (dental hygiene is especially lacking here), why it's necessary to recycle, the importance of saving money and how to do it, how to prevent unplanned pregnancies, and thousands of other things that we take for granted.  Common sense is not all that common when you visit a country that doesn't have an established education system. 

It's kind of fitting that the first time I visited Guatemala and fell in love with the people and the country was when I came here on a Rotary trip to help support a school founded in the jungle of the east coast of Guatemala called Ak' Tenamit.  I continued to support this school because its mission was congruent with who I am as a person and what I believe.  They have been receiving recognition from all over the world for the work that they have accomplished, but Guatemala is in need of 30 more Ak' Tenamits at least.  To learn more about this school and its needs, feel free to visit them at www.aktenamit.org.  This isn't an organization that gives away anything.  They teach children to help themselves, and it is only this kind of education that will ever help a people raise their standard of living.

Anyway, if any of you have an old laptop that you don't need anymore, or feel compelled to help in a different way, check out Ak' Tenamit.  Anyway, thanks to those who are still reading.  Talk to you all mas tarde.