Living in such wild affluence as we do in the USA, it’s hard to imagine the world norms. More than 700 million people are in extreme poverty, trying to live on less than $2 a day. I don’t want to romanticize poverty — but I was struck by this humble home and wanted to share it with you. Moving out of “extreme poverty” and into just “poverty” comes with a concrete floor, electricity, water, an efficient fireplace, and a little dignity. Take a look.
I’m here with my crew, filming an upcoming special called “Ethiopia, Guatemala, Hunger, and Hope.” It will air this November on public television across the US. Stay tuned for more.
Join me in the highlands of Guatemala at about 10,000 feet above sea level for some thin-air thoughts about what Guatemala and Bolivia have in common. Is it just a coincidence that the most indigenous countries in our hemisphere are also at some of the highest altitudes — and among the poorest?
I’m here with my crew, filming an upcoming special called “Ethiopia, Guatemala, Hunger, and Hope.” It will air this November on public television across the US. Stay tuned for more.
I’m kicking off my 2019 travels with the first of 100 posts from the road. Right now, we’re in Guatemala, filming an upcoming special called “Ethiopia, Guatemala, Hunger, and Hope.” And this little clip celebrates how farmers who used to do subsistence farming, just growing corn in an attempt to feed their families, are now diversifying for the global market. These sugar peas are destined for London, and these farmers are destined to do some banking.
I’ll be posting almost daily now for the next four months or so, as I travel from Guatemala to Ethiopia to Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, and more. So, be sure to let your traveling friends know — because we’re in for some great travels, and everyone’s invited.
I’m in Guatemala, filming a new one-hour public television special about world hunger — and learning about extreme poverty and smart development.
On Friday, the news broke that President Trump plans to cut development and humanitarian assistance to three Central American countries, including Guatemala. This news has been heartbreaking and, frankly, baffling. If your motivation is to slow migration from Central America to the US, then development, jobs, and hope are the best medicine — and US aid is a great investment.
Here in Guatemala, I’ve been studying exactly that. Aid is not only desperately needed here, but also, quite simply, smart. The people I’ve met here love their country. They want to work hard and export the fruits of their labor. If they made the treacherous trip to the US, it would only be out of desperation.
Cutting US aid to Central America will slow development, and the result will be more refugees at our border…not fewer. If you’re worried about our southern border, smart aid is a smart investment.
I had so much fun with writer Sam Anderson while he was working on his profile of me for The New York Times Magazine.
The following passage, in particular, made me smile — and I thought I would reshare the little video that Sam refers to in his piece:
The town car crawled toward a shabby metal hulk spanning the East River.
‘Wow!’ Steves said. ‘Is that the Brooklyn Bridge?’
It was almost the opposite of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most recognizable structures in the world: a stretched stone cathedral. This was its unloved upriver cousin, a tangle of discolored metal, vibrating with cars, perpetually under construction. The driver told Steves that it was the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge — or, as most New Yorkers still thought of it, the 59th Street Bridge.
This revelation only increased Steves’s wonder.
‘The 59th Street Bridge!’ he said. ‘That’s one of my favorite songs!’
With buoyant enthusiasm, Steves started to sing Simon and Garfunkel’s classic 1966 tune ‘The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy).’
‘Slow down, you move too fast,’ he sang. ‘You got to make the mornin’ last — just — kickin’ down the cobblestones. … ‘
The car hit traffic and lurched to a stop. Steves paused to scan the street outside. ‘Where are the cobblestones?’ he asked. Then he refocused. He finished the song with a flourish: ‘Lookin’ for fun and feelin’ — GROOOVYYYYYY!’
There was a silence in the car.
‘Can you imagine those two guys walking around right here?’ Steves said. ‘Just feeling groovy? Gosh, that’s cool.’
Steves pulled out his phone and, for his online fans, recorded a video of himself singing ‘The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy).’
‘It’s fun to be in New York City,’ he signed off. ‘Happy travels!’
There was another silence in the car, this one longer.
‘You know,’ the driver said finally, ‘you’re not very different than you are on your show.’
