Hugo

Two years ago Rick started giving a monthly sum of money to the charity Action Aid. It was to sponsor a child in a country that needed sponsors the most, and when the information pack came through we were told that the child we were sponsoring was Hugo in a village called Chinatal in Guatemala.

When Rick and I had decided on Guatemala as our honeymoon destination we wrote to Action Aid to see if we’d be able to visit Hugo and his village, and after lots of correspondance, it was organised, and Karina, from Action Aid’s head office in Guatemala City and a man ( who’s name we never did catch!) who was in charge of one of the many organisations that Action Aid allocates money to to help local people with met us at our hotel in Tikal and drove us to Chinatal.

We drove for three and a half hours and then for another half an hour along a tiny dirt track that you’d never have thought led to a village of fifty families from the main road. Along the way we picked up people in the back of the pick-up truck and gave them a lift to the village, and very quickly word spread that there were visitors to the village, and by the time we arrived, there were lots of children and a few adults, along with the village leader waiting to say hello.

Everyone was very shy at first, including ourselves, and The Man introduced us and spoke about the village and the people who lived there and what the money given to them was spent on. I have to confess, I didn’t listen to every word as I’d already started playing with some of the braver children!

We finally met Hugo, who was very shy, and didn’t really seem to know what was going on, but who was an absolute treasure to meet, and who held Rick’s hand for the rest of our time there.

We were then taken to the school that Action Aid had help them to build, and then we were shown the sink that was given to them where they can wash their clothes when they can pump water from an underground source, with the use of a generator which again, Action Aid helped them get, but which they share with another village nearby.

We saw their one local store which seems to have been subsidised so that the prices are kept lower than that of stores elsewhere.

The village elder said thank you on behalf of the other people in the village for sending them money, and how much it meant to them, and then, all too soon we were back on our way.

On the way back we pulled off the main road once more and visited another community, where Action Aid’s help was helping them to build a new school building, so that the students could be thinned out, so that there weren’t three grades to a room.

We arrived in Flores, where we’d be staying for the night, completely shell shocked, and I still wasn’t able to pull all of the things I’d seen and all of the things I’d thought into a coherent train, and even though it’s still on my mind, I still can’t make head nor tail of what I’ve seen. The reasons are below.

All of the above is fact. But there are also other facts that we found out during the day. We found out that Karina, the lady from head office several hundred kilometers away, had flown in to meet us, instead of driving over like she’d originally planned. Aside from the obvious environmental issue, and the fact that she spoke with at length about the environmental issues that Guatemala faces, who paid for her flight to come and meet us? Could that money and would that money have been more worthwhile spent elsewhere? But, she said she had to be in the office the day before, and she was urgently needed in the office the next day, so the only way she could have met us was if she flew. How did she know that we wouldn’t be offended if she couldn’t meet us, and upon our return, wouldn’t cancel our direct debit?Even through all that, I can’t help but think whose money had been spent on her flights, and would that money have been better spent elsewhere?

Later on we found out that there were 60 employees in the Guatemalan head office alone, which seems a huge number of people when you consider the fact that a lot of Action Aid’s money and time is delegated to other, smaller agencies. But then, I don’t know the true extent of their workload, so I can hardly question that, and after all, the more people working, the better, surely?

We were given a fact file on Action Aid with current newsletters and facts about their work and Guatemala, which included the startling statistic that Guatemala’s GDP is just $59. That figure continued to roll around in my head for the rest of the day, a figure which we’d spent every night on our Eco-lodge hotel in Tikal.

The information pack also included the fact that Women’s rights were high on their agenda, as Guatemala is apparently far behind places like the UK with regards to women’s rights, as most girls don’t get educated, where boys get more of a chance, and the female role is still expected to be in the home. I don’t know if it’s because I have so many rights as a woman that I now take it for granted ( I’m sure I do), but should Action Aid’s work with women and teaching women be higher up on the agenda than drinking water? Or any continuous supply of water for that matter.

But Action Aid’s scheme seems more about educating the younger generation who will eventually shape their country, and while it seems unfair on the people that are suffering today, it makes for a more positive tomorrow.

Action Aid didn’t pay for Chinatal’s school to be built, or give them any funding for it, but they taught them how the government’s system works, and showed them how to appeal to the government for funding, which they got. As for the sink that they wash their clothes in when they have the water to do so- a sink?! Above having a doctor visit every week, or again, drinking water provided? But I found out that Action Aid gets the community to decide what their money is spent on, and they decided that they wanted a sink- however I do wonder if guidance was given, if they’d have made the same decision.

On the way back, we were taken to the local offices of the charity that helps Chinatal, to find some fairly run down looking offices. I did notice that their computers were of a very high spec, in fact, better than the ones I use in my office, and everyone had one, though it’s difficult to begrudge them this, as technology is important, but is it important to have the very best equipment available and did every person in the office need one? On the way out of town we were shown the new offices that were being built from scratch.

So having given myself some time to think, the only conclusion I can come to is this- I may not agree totally on the way our money is being spent, but it is slowly getting through to the people that matter, and we’ve been made aware of how important it is, and i’m aware it must have been a difficult thing for the village elder to have said as much. I’ve decided that the only way that we can make sure that Hugo’s village and others like his can get a better standard of living is to try and give a bit more. Hopefully once Action Aid and their related organisations are sorted more fully, more money will end up going to help them too.

When we get home we’ll be setting up another sponsorship scheme with Action Aid, and we’ll sponsor another child like Hugo, in another village like Chinatal, and the only question I need to ask now is- how do I decide which village in the world needs the money the most?