Más diferencias

Before even reading this, head to www.justapparel.org. It´s the website of a nonprofit organization started by two friends of my roommate, both of whom live in Santiago de Atilan Guatemala. Just Apparel--and the women it works with--are half of what amounts to the largest study in contrast I´ve yet seen on this trip. The other half of that study are the expats who live along Lago Atilan, many of whom frequent La Posada, the hotel and restaurant I stayed at and at which Heidi and Ryan (the founders of Just Apparel) have been living for the past year.

Just Apparel sells hand embroidered clothing to big groups in the US. (Feel free to place big orders!) In doing so, they´re able to create a living wage job market for former residents of Panabaj, all the victims of a 2005 mudslide that completely razed the town, and all of whom currently live in the USAID tarps that they have called home for the past three years. Equally important, the women working with Just Apparel will be able to manage the profits from the endeavor through a sister NGO incorporated in Guatemala, creating social projects in their town. To me, Heidi and Ryan reflect the best of America: People willing to put themselves in a near impossible situation because of an intense desire to improve the world. And, the women they work with reflect the best of humanity: An ability to thrive and a desire to work for a better life, despite unfathomable odds and scores of implicit messages that scream they aren´t worth anything.

The contrast to all of this: The expats that inhabit the Posada. In the middle of Guatemala, surrounded by poverty, is an oasis where Americans can live like kings, staying in gorgeous bunagalows for $40 a night; having meals in a giant stone building with windows overlooking with lake; buying cocaine with little or no challenge; and being waited on, respected, and treated with the utmost courtesy by dilligent Guatemalteco waiters. All this, less than five minutes from a village flattened by mud and gifted tarps by USAID. I realize I have no right to pass judgment, but the fact that expats can live like kings (despite, I surmise, being completely unable to handle life in the US) thanks to an accident of skin color and a fortunate exchange rate--while Guatemaltecos are trapped in poverty--angers me quite a bit. Of course... I´m then reminded that the only reason I can travel here for a month is that I too have been gifted with a fortunate exchange rate and a wonderful accident of birth to a supportive family.

If you have a church, school, or group that needs shirts, skip the screen printing and get in touch with Just Apparel. The work is amazing. (And, it will help me assuage my terrible American guilt!)