Pollution and Poverty: Thorn In the Side OF Lake Atitlan

Root causes must be weeded out before real solutions can be found

By Greg Szymanski, JD
March 29, 2010

Modern western civilization has always been a big thorn in the side of indigenous cultures.

The Mayans of Guatemala are no exception.

When the west rubbed against most indigenous people in North, South and Central America, the indigenous people were rubbed out.

The Native American population map, enclosed in this article, is a perfect example of the “rubbing out” of the more than 150 cultures and Native American nations that existed before the arrival of west.

With each culture and nation, existed a language, a way of life and a spiritual belief system.

Now we see few native languages spoken, a way of life long forgotten and a spirtual belief system lost in the craziness of million dollar church steeples and Hollywood evangelistic TV shows.

The same type of westernization has occurred to the Mayans in Guatemala.

The only difference it is a poorer version of what goes on in the United States.

But the same “rubbing out’ of a once proud culture and people is still taking place to the Mayans today.

Facts tell us this and there is no getting around it, no rationalizing the fact westernization of both the United States and Guatemala have meant the possibility of extinction of both the Mayans and the Native Americans.

In Guatemala thee are roughly 13 million people, seven million being indigenous.

Poverty among the indigenous population is staggering.

On a recent local blog post translated from Spanish, here are a few words about poverty in Guatemala.

There was an article about Map International and their efforts to provide vitamins and medicines to the poor of Guatemala. According to the article ‘half of all the country’s children younger than 5 – more than 1 million boys and girls – suffer from chronic malnutrition. It is the highest malnourishment rate in Latin America. And it is the sixth-highest rate in the world.’

With the rising prices the malnutrition will surely escalate and as food and daily living expenses rise there will be more and more children whose parents are unable to send them to school. Education And More steps in to help fill that need!

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