Guatemala

I’m scouting for a new one-hour public television special about hunger, poverty, and hope — and Guatemala is a great place to learn about development.

Near the dreamy Lake Atitlán, I traveled to a little village with Friendship Bridge, an American NGO dedicated to helping local women help themselves through microlending. And I saw what happens when hardworking people, struggling in the poor world, get a little capital to start a business. Within months, they are typically up and running, and able pay off their loans (usually a couple hundred dollars). That money can then be recycled to another entrepreneur, kick-starting another family business. The mark of success for a caring organization like Friendship Bridge is how many former clients they have — now debt-free and independent, thanks to that microloan.

In this clip, we see examples of microlending, diversity farming, and the value of education and child nutrition — as well as the importance of remittances, which are sent home from migrant workers doing work in the USA that wealthy Americans don’t want to do. Development requires lots of moving parts and lots of caring people.

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It was a long, long flight (three, actually) from Addis Ababa to Guatemala City. And today, I begin part two of my TV scouting trip through Ethiopia and Guatemala. I’m here to learn — and to find vivid ways to teach, through travel, the basics of smart and modern development for our upcoming public television special about global poverty.

I’m learning how we’ll overcome extreme poverty and world hunger in our lifetime, and why that’s a worthy goal. One thing is clear: Poor countries want to work hard and export goods, and playing ball competitively in the global economy is a key part of that. That’s why the nicest road in Guatemala is the one that leads to the port.

In this country, sugar is a big deal and a huge employer. Several sugar mills have formed a group that works together, in order to competitively sell their sugar around the world. And they are also committed to a program, called Fundazucar, which takes care of their hard-laboring workers and the environment. Here’s a peek at one very sweet warehouse.

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