My housemate Claudia and reflections on wealth disparities

Perhaps the best thing this week is that I have found very good housing in the city, and that I have found my new friend and housemate, Claudia. We have done everything together, from running errands to get the house ready, going to el supermercado for food, to chasing down the trash collector.

Below is a picture of us at Centro's main park.

Me and Claudia

What I admire about Claudia is her patience and her good heart. Her patience is in communication with me as I brush up on rusty Spanish and her good heart for not taking the privileges that we have for granted. We have passed by many street sellers and beggars, and I got us into a pretty deep conversation about poverty here. On one hand, those who are rich will only get richer; very easily from buying and renting more houses, opening up new businesses and letting the properties and hiring others to do the work. On the other hand, those who have nothing will continue selling trinkets on the streets barely making ends meet, possibly unable to send their children through schools and so the generations of poverty reiterate. However, while there are a lot of corruption in México, the government does a good job in supporting its people in many ways. For instance, everyone has access to health insurance, and all public colleges and universities have many scholarships for students; Claudia herself as a student of UNAM, a top public school in México, can attest to this.

But I know and see, that it is very hard to get into those schools in the first place. My heart can't help but feel crushed by the forces of poverty and (often soft, but unmistakable) racism that continue to put down the Maya people. Literally. There is a the Casa de Montejo in the city that has the Spaniard conquistador Montejo who founded Mérida stepping down on heads/skulls of Maya people. See circled in green below. Because it is a historical building or perhaps because things haven't changed much, no one has demolished that feature.

La Casa de Montejo with Spaniard stepping on Maya heads : /

Only until about seven decades ago, the Spaniards used to enslave the Maya people on henequen plantations which supplied sturdy plant materials for ropes, clothes, etc. (does this ring a bell in US history anyone?). This industry soon became unprofitable after nylon was invented, and the Maya people are left with most of their land taken away. Now, I see forms of modern slavery in which mostly Mexicans with European descents have wealth; Maya people continue to serve them by being housekeepers, cleaners, cooks, handyman, etc. (and these are examples from my own eyes living in a modest house, of the many, owned by a wealthy Meridian.) Everyone else sells goods and other trinkets.

That is not to say that rich people are evil here. In fact, my house owner Rossana is quite nice; while offering me a ride to see a bit of Mérida downtown, she was touched when a man approached her about selling a stove for medical bills (or something of that nature). She said you can never know if those things are for real or if they are just telling stories, but she did ended up giving the man $200 pesos.

What I am saying is that the history context has set precedent for who will succeed economically in this society and who will not. With Cindy's work in Proyecto Itzaes, I've learned that there is some slow progress. That some Maya children from the villages have been able to attend university. However those examples are few and very extraordinary. Jessica, the student whom Cindy was referring to, woke up 4-5 am in the morning to help her mother set up shop and then took at least and hour or 2 hours long bus rides for schools. After housework and homework, she goes to bed after midnight, totalling only about 4 hours of sleep. Regularly : /

I was happy to hear that she is now an accountant with a respectable and good paying job. Proyecto Itzaes gives out scholarships as well and helped make it possible. I wonder if there is affirmative action where Mexican colleges and universities reach out to minorities such as Maya students and provide them the opportunities to succeed.

#disparities #Claudia #ProyectoItzaes #August