Guatemala

What is travel as a political act?

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.

After a very productive scouting trip in Ethiopia and Guatemala, I’m home again — and I’m already looking forward to going back. I’ll be there again in April with our crew, to film a one-hour public television special on the hows and whys of modern development aid.
 
My trip was made possible by many wonderful non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and I’d like to credit them now for their support and commitment to making our world a better place.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a great impact on Ethiopia. They were my primary “fixer” there, and Meron Semunegus, from their Addis Ababa office, was my guide. Gates is synonymous with smart development in Ethiopia — a country with a changing image, thanks to recent progress.

I’m a big fan of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), and part of the inspiration for this project came from David Beasley, the executive director of the WFP. A year ago, I had dinner with him in Rome, where he oversees the distribution of UN funds to fight hunger, and his passion for this challenge was contagious. On this trip, I visited WFP health posts in southern Ethiopia and Guatemala. In Guatemala, I worked with the director of the WFP there, Laura Melo.

In Ethiopia, I visited a village in the Tigray region supported by A Glimmer of Hope, which provided many vivid examples of how to help people help themselves. And we visited with Bete Demeke, who heads up Project Mercy — an NGO that’s innovating winning ways to stoke development.

In Guatemala, I hired Augsburg College’s Center for Global Education and Experience (my alma mater in Central American educational tourism) to provide me with essentially a private tour. CGEE’s Guatemala Site Coordinator, Fidel Xinico Tum, was my primary guide there. We met with Nate Bacon, of InnerCHANGE, to learn about Guatemalan gangs and life in a Guatemala City barrio, and Karen Larson of Friendship Bridge took us to see their microloan and women’s empowerment work at Lake Atitlán.

I spent a very busy day in Huehuetenango with the Guatemala director of Project Concern International, Pascale Wagner, seeing the impressive work they do — and another experience-filled day in Nebaj with Chris Megargee, seeing the inspirational work of Agros International in three communities (El Paraíso, La Esperanza, and Cajixay).

Every day on this trip, I met people whose mission is to help struggling people lift their lives out of poverty. And I flew home excited to make a TV special that shows that the battle against extreme poverty is a battle worth fighting — and it’s a battle we can win. Stay tuned.

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Thank you for joining me over the past few weeks as I’ve traveled through Ethiopia and Guatemala. Together, we’ve learned about the root causes of hunger and extreme poverty — and the power of smart development to create a better, more stable world. Judging from your comments, I know many of you were inspired to ask, “How can I help make a difference?” Here’s your answer: Every Christmas, our traveling community comes together to raise money for Bread for the World, an organization that helps hungry people both at home and abroad.

This year, as our government considers drastic cuts in aid to hungry people, our community’s holiday tradition feels especially important. I’d love your help in empowering Bread to speak up for hungry people in the halls of Congress. This is advocacy (like lobbying — but for what I consider a very good and important cause: explaining to our elected representatives how their legislation impacts hungry people). When it comes to fighting hunger, I believe Bread’s advocacy work gets me the most bang possible for my charitable buck. That’s why I’ve been an enthusiastic supporter of their work for 30 years.

My challenge: This year, we are going to raise a million dollars. Here’s how it works: You make a $100 gift to Bread for the World. I’ll match your donation 2-to-1 (contributing $200 for each $100 given), up to $700,000 — and send you my European Christmas gift pack or my Complete Collection DVD Box Set as a thank you. If I can inspire 3,333 of you to join me in this initiative, we’ll hit our million-dollar goal!

I see Bread for the World not as a charity, but as a service. Our support can help Bread help millions of struggling people in our country and around the world. Go to www.ricksteves.com/bread to get on board — and please let your loved ones know about this challenge, too. Imagine: As an extended family of caring (and traveling) people, together we can empower Bread for the World’s work with $1,000,000. That will put a special dose of love into this holiday season.