Rick Steves’ Travel Blog

I’m in the jungles of northern Guatemala, scouting for a new public television special about world hunger — and I’m learning that extreme poverty is often rooted in conflict.

Today, Agros International brought me to a cemetery that was filled with tombs dating from 1981 and 1982 — an especially violent period of Guatemala’s civil war, when the government massacred thousands of indigenous civilians. Walking through this poignant cemetery, hearing survivors tell stories of lost loved ones who were struggling for a little corn and a few beans, I felt the scars of that tragic time.

When I traveled through Central America back in 1988, a favorite song was Jackson Browne’s “Lives in the Balance.” Listening to it again, the lyrics — so painfully true back then for me — still pack a punch:

I’ve been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you’ve seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the T.V.
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can’t take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can’t even say the names

They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us everything from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they’re never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

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Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day; give him a chance to take his goat to the love shack, and his family will have fresh milk forever more.

I’m in Guatemala, scouting for a new public television special about hunger, hope, and development. And I just found another example of an NGO making a big difference. Agros International uses a smart approach to development that results in healthy, self-sustaining communities — and by sharing know-how and capital here in the northwestern highlands of Guatemala, they have kickstarted a local business and helped villagers supplement a simple diet with dairy.

Exploring this humble yet thriving enterprise, I saw a vivid example of the vast potential in turning loose the pent-up energy of countries south of our border. Standing among those goats, I saw what can happen when you mix together a little American brain power, love, and money. That used to be the American model, and the American inspiration — but today, fear has got our goat.

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I’m in Guatemala, scouting for a new public television special about development aid. Looking for vivid, slice-of-life ways to illustrate the points I make in the script, I’ve visited many families. And today, I hit the script-writing jackpot. I was introduced to an industrious teacher and his wife, a hardworking farmer, by Agros International, an NGO that helps families attain economic self-sufficiency and own their land.

Join me on a little tour a household that has all the elements of a nice home in the poor world. I found this family particularly inspiring.

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I just took my first ride in a helicopter. While it was pretty expensive ($3,000 for three rides), we decided to travel like the Guatemalan elites for the last part of our journey, to reach the most remote communities on our itinerary and still have a little time to explore. A 45-minute hop in a chopper saved us ten arduous hours on windy mountain roads. Our skilled pilot masterfully flew around clouds, snuck over saddles just before they were socked in, and slipped up one canyon and down the next beneath the encroaching whiteouts, eventually getting to our destination in the remote Huehuetenango region, in the highlands of western Guatemala.

The ride came with some political insight. Check this out.

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We now know that smart nutrition (not just “enough calories”) in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life is critical for brain development. A child who isn’t nourished adequately during this period will be “stunted” and never reach their full potential. It’s devastating for a family to watch this happen — and there are implications for the broader society, as well. From a purely economic point of view, that person will become a drain on that society’s economy for decades, rather than a contributor.

While this presents an economic and educational challenge, that challenge is easily met — and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is helping lead the charge. I was honored to join the director of the WFP in Guatemala, Laura Melo, as she visited a community mothers’ meeting. Guatemala has the worst stunting problem in our hemisphere, but with smart development — in this case, investment in “human capital” — that is changing.

Many Americans know only one thing about the United Nations: They hate it. What I’d give to have those people stand here with me and witness the value of this smart and practical work.

(We visited a similar WFP health post in Ethiopia last week. You can watch a video from that visit here.)