June 7, 2010 • 23 mins
Inspired by the Stuff You Should Know guys' recent podcasts on Cooperative for Education and breaking the cycle of poverty in Guatemala, Molly and Cristen explore why education is so important in Guatemala -- especially for girls.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff Mom Never Told You?
From House Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. This is Molly and I'm Kristin. Kristin, You
(00:20):
and I are just one of the mini podcasts in
the House Stuff Works family. There are many, indeed, you
should listen to all of them because they're all great. Um,
but we're gonna talk about one project of the Stuff
you Should Know podcast. Yes, Stuff you Should Know, hosted
by Josh and Chuck. They got back from Guatemala and
they just put out these two podcasts about their time
(00:42):
in Guatemala, what they saw, what they learned about the
situation in the area, and also the work of this organization, uh,
the Cooperative for Education, which we're gonna call co ED
for the rest of the podcast. UM. That's an organization
that works with children to give them the education that
they need to break out of the cyclop poverty. Right
because in the States, you know, we think it's pretty
(01:03):
common for you know, kid turns five, six, he goes
off to school and then eighteen years not eighteen years later,
you know, and then and then we go through school,
we graduate, go to college, whatever. It's a natural part
of life in the States for a lot of people
in Guatemala not the case. And so the work of
(01:24):
co ed is is very important to try to reach
out to these kids. Get them textbooks, get them libraries,
get them computers, all things that we take for granted
in the States. And Molly and I wanted to follow
up on the two really great podcasts that Josh and
Chuck just put out about UM their time in Guatemala
and the work that co ed is doing, because we
(01:45):
wanted to focus in on what's going on with the
girls in that country. And it really draws upon some
other podcasts we've done. Chris, We've done a lot of
podcasts that talk about how education is the key uh
for eliminating poverty and may developing countries, and I feel
like we've always sort of talked about that in the
abstract UM, and now we have this really great case
study we can look at in terms of Guatemala about
(02:07):
how you can really take a situation that's not great
for a lot of women and girls, give them the
education and see how those problems can change with education. Yeah,
and especially again like when when you when research shows
over and over again that when you really target girls
in the developing countries, it can have just enormous ripple
(02:30):
effects throughout the entire society Somali. Why don't we just
dig in a little bit too stats to give people
an overview of the situation for girls in Guatemala, Because
while education is not entirely accessible to both boys and girls,
for girls, it's a lot less common for them to
go to school and extremely uncommon for them to actually
(02:52):
finish school as we would think of in the States. Right,
So let's talk about you know, sort of let's get
the sad stuff out of the way, because as I think,
what happens in this country is you hear about all
these problems and you don't know how to address them,
and at the end will show you how you can
actually address them by helping girls get more education. So, um,
let's talk about the situation for women in Guatemala. Yeah,
(03:14):
so just in terms of education, Um, the average years
the kid will go to school who lives in a
rural indigenous indigenous community in Guatemala is only one point
two years for girls, and that's compared to eight years
for urban non indigenous males. UM and then in primary school.
It's actually one of the few countries in Latin America
(03:36):
where fewer girls will complete primary school than boys. And
part of this is just because parents sometimes can't afford
to send all of their children just school, so they'll
send the boys but not the girls. They might keep
the girls home to do the cooking, the cleaning, and
you know, they just don't realize that what they're doing
is they're sort of cutting off all the future money
(03:56):
making opportunities these girls might have. Exactly because UH statistics
has shown that the females who will complete a secondary
education will earn fifty more than they would with no education,
compared to males who complete secondary education would earn twenty
seven percent more than they would. So that's kind of
one example of why UH you hear over and over
(04:16):
and over again that educating girls yield such a greater investment,
not to say that boys don't need education as well,
but um, you know, you get more, you get more
r o I if you will return on investment. But
it's more than just money making. It also has a
tremendous impact on the health of a country. When a
woman only has limited access to education. Uh she has
(04:40):
a higher chance of dying in childbirth, her children have
a higher mortality rate when their children, and it affects
Guatemala's malnutrition rate, which is, you know, just awful in
comparison to the other Latin American countries. It's the worst
in Latin America and the fourth worst in the world.
And so this is another example of how when you
give a child education, they have more money to pay
(05:01):
for the food, to improve their health, to buy medicines,
things like that. It's it's more than just making sure
they're set up for a career. And I think it's
worth noting too, it's the malnutrition issue. Um even though
Guatemala is chronic malnutrition rate is the worst in Latin America,
it isn't because it is the poorest country. It's not
a per capita it is not actually the poorest country
(05:22):
in Latin America, but it has a worst malnutrition rate, which,
like you said, it ends up affecting these girls more
because it stands their growth more than boys, and then
of course will affect reproductive and maternal health. Uh So,
I think that that is one indicator of the complex
problem that that might be linked to education once again.
(05:42):
So now we talked about the parents pulling the children
out of school so that they can cook, clean and
sometimes you know, they just have to put them to work.
Guatemala has one of the highest rates of child labor
in the world. A number from UNSEEP shows the tw
children young people between the ages of seven and sixteen
are part of the country's labor. For worse, we're often
working in unsafe conditions. H So if you know, if
(06:04):
child labors are kind of certain of yours, it all
goes back to this idea of educating girls. And I
think only one thing that we haven't mentioned that might
also give people a better idea of of why the
social situation is going on and why there's such a
dire poverty and malnutrition. Guatemala was engaged in a thirty
six year civil war and UM the U N sponsored
(06:26):
Commission on Historical Clarification, estimated that as many as two
d thousand people were killed. And those numbers are even
spotty because a lot of people, UM were actually what's
called disappeared during the civil war, in which they you know,
just literally disappeared. I mean they were probably captured and killed.
But UM even still the country is kind of having
(06:51):
to dig its way back out of you know, I mean,
imagine almost forty years, four decades of civil war. I mean,
it's it's a pretty huge issue. And you know, Christy,
when I was reading about this civil war, UH, came
across something very heartbreaking, but certainly not limited to Guatemala
in any respect, is the use of rape and violence
against women as an instrument of war, as a way
(07:12):
to intimidate people in villages and to dominate the people
you're trying to, you know, fight. This idea of raping
the women and committing violence against them has continued to
this day. There have been high numbers of women murdered
every year since the civil war ended. And uh, it's
it's really a big problem, this violence against women. The
(07:33):
Guatemala Human Rights Commission traces it back to this war
in terms of sort of institutionalizing this idea that women
are your equal, that you don't have to treat them
with that sort of respect. And so I think that again,
you know, they've done these studies about educating girls for longer,
and when boys see girls in the classroom for longer,
they have more respect for them. So it's that might
(07:54):
seem like such a silly comparison to make, but just
by keeping a girl in school longer, you learn that
you know they're your equals in some respect. Well, and
I think that also brings up an important issue as well,
which is early marriage. Um. According to a two thousand
four UN report, twenty six percent of girls in Guatemala
between fifteen and nineteen years of age where either married, divorced,
(08:17):
or widowed. And the interesting thing is, according to the
country's family code, the minimum age for a girl to
get married is fourteen years and she has to have
parental consent if she's under eighteen, unless she has a
child or she's pregnant. And one thing kind of linked
to all of that is we found out that up
until two thousand six, a rapist could be exonerated if
(08:39):
he promised to marry his victim. Okay, so there we go,
unless she was under twelve years old. I mean, those
laws have been somewhat tightened since then. But um, kind
of like you said, I think that it feeds into
this cycle of devaluing women and violence against women because, um,
because the laws have been so loose, especially in terms
of uh prosecuting rapists and actually making it a punishable crime, right,
(09:05):
And so I think that's where we get stuck Christian
in this vicious circle, and that you know, women never
get that respect because they are you know, so devalued.
For example, sexual exploitation of girls. Sometimes it's the parents
selling their own daughters into this lifestyle because they need
the money and because you're raised to think that, you know,
the girl is not valuable for anything else. Right, especially
(09:27):
in um, the more urban centers in Guatemala, it's the
kind of child sex trafficking is more common. And according
to Unit stuff, a statistics that we got was an
estimated two thousand guatemal And children being sexually exploited and
the law has been doing little to protect them. So again,
just to hammer home this idea about educating girls, is
(09:48):
if the girls in school and has this promise of
having a career one day with the skill she's learning
in school, perhaps there's less of a chance that her
parents will feel the need to do this um. And
also then she too is saved from an early marriage
from having children very young because she's in school preparing
for her future career. Right. And uh, I mean obviously
(10:11):
at this point we've painted a pretty pretty grim picture
I think of of what's going on in Guatemala. But
just to reiterate what you've said, the kind of tangible
benefits you'll see from educating girls, and this is shown
in case study after case study, is that you have
reduced rates of fertility because, for instance, according to US
said UM, half of Guatemalan women have a child before
(10:33):
the age of nineteen and have two or more children
by their eighteenth birthday, and then by their early thirties,
many women have given birth to seven or eight children.
And if you're you're caring for a family of eight
or ten, you know, and when you're in dire poverty,
I mean, what are you going to do? Obviously, education
is probably gonna be one of your last resorts, especially
(10:55):
if you're in one of these rural indigenous communities where
you know, there's not a wool in every corner there.
It's not easy to get textbooks or get in front
of a computer. And so I think that's where we
can kind of come back to the importance of groups
like co ED that is filling that gap, that is
going in and and providing those resources for these people
(11:17):
who otherwise wouldn't have it because it's not going to
be a priority. The priority is, you know, putting food
on their table and somehow getting by from day to day.
So we've done a few podcasts are we'll talk about
all these problems and then we'll say education can fix this,
because it does X Y and Z. Now this X
Y and Z Molly that you're referring to comes from
USAID and it's pretty great stuff. I mean, studies have
(11:41):
shown that educating girls will improve the health and survival
rate of infants and children. Uh, it reduces the rate
of fertility and greater use of modern contraceptive methods. You
also obviously have higher rates of school attendance, attainment and
completion in the next generation. Like you said, we it's
all about breaking that the cycle, and the women are
(12:01):
keys to that because they have the most influenced over
their children in the home. UM. And then we also have,
as r Z our number four um the improvements in
the status of women within families, the local community, and
the political arena. So, I mean, it's just it's huge
ripple effects not only within these girls lives, but also
within their families, to the community, to the entire country.
(12:24):
So bearing in mind that that girls only get that
one point two years of education in Guatemala, let's talk
about how this organization co ED is going in and
trying to change that and keep the girls in school
and give them the resources they need to make money
for their families to break the cycle of poverty. Let's
talk specifically about how their programs accomplish that. Yeah, because
as Americans, we might think of we hear the mantra
(12:45):
of like, yeah, stay in school, you know, like it's
just something easy to do. But in Guatemala that is
that is much much easier said than done. So co
ED again, we learned about them through stuff. You should know.
They have these programs that prove education in the hopes
of them improving everything else, big ripple effect. Their main
(13:05):
programs are providing textbooks uh to middle schools in the
rural areas who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford them. Basically,
COED will go in and buy the textbooks and then
the students will pay small fees to use them, which
makes the program sustainable because in the community can go
and buy the next set of textbooks when they need it. Right,
Because I think we should point out to that the
country is so poor that they don't have some kind
(13:27):
of tax base that the government can go in and
pay for these books. And the same with the computer centers.
Uh COED will go in and buy computers so that
children can learn the skills are going to need in
this economy to have an entry level job which requires
computer use. Uh COED buys the computer and then the
students pay again a small fee that's affordable for them
(13:49):
to use the computers to learn basic you know, word processing, spreadsheets.
They provide scholarships for young people, and you know, we've
read a lot of antidotes about how co ED will
go to parents and say, you know, they the parents
might just want the scholarship for the boys, but they'll
show them, oh, you know, the girls need this scholarship.
And I think one thing we've got to talk about, Kristen,
because we've done so many podcasts about the books that
(14:11):
really influenced us when we were young girls, is this
culture of reading that co ED works to foster in
these small commutes, these girls who have never seen books,
which sounds so alien to us who have talked for
you know, hours about the Babysitters Club and Nancy, Drew
and Ramona and all that. They'll take sometimes those first
books that those girls ever see, and teach them, you know,
(14:31):
about a love of reading and build these little mini libraries.
And that, to me is sort of one of my
favorite aspects of what co Ed does, is fostering that
um love for knowledge and reading and these young girls.
And just as an example of how important it is
that co Ed goes in and really fosters that culture
of reading, Molly, like you said, one thing that they
(14:52):
have to do is actually teach the teachers how to
read the children. I mean, before Coed goes in there,
the teachers my just read a book aloud. But you know,
when you were a kid, like the the exciting part
about reading is following along and seeing the pictures and
really engaging with the story and the words on the
page and uh and the and the teachers weren't doing that,
(15:13):
you know, they weren't and and by not doing that,
it didn't really cultivate, you know, a kid's desire to read.
So that's one important thing too that that co Ed
goes in and actually demonstrates. And they'll also teach the
teachers how to use the textbooks because I think a
big problem in Guatemala has been that before the kids
got the textbooks, they all copied down notes in the blackboard.
(15:34):
There was no engagement with learning, and that's why, you know,
if the kid couldn't even stay there for financial reasons,
he would just drop out join a gang, which are
also big problem in Guatemala. So going in and teaching
a teacher how to use this textbook so that a
kid enjoys going to school and enjoys learning about things,
um is another vital service that they provide. Sounds like
COD could also do a lot of work in the
(15:55):
States in terms of teaching kids to read. Anyway, UM, Well,
just to give listeners to an idea of more of
an anecdotal idea of of how their programs have benefited
these schools, you know, because we've sort of been talking
in the abstract. UM, I'm going to share the story
of Juan Jose, who was a principal of middle school
(16:15):
in Guatemala. UM and when he started fifteen years ago,
the school that he worked at had twenty eight students
and only one of those was a girl. Because, like
we said, it's far less likely for a girl to
even go to school. And even if she goes to school,
she's not going to stay as long as boys in
her community. Um. So he said. Knowing that the health
and economic success of Guatemala communities were inextricably linked to
(16:38):
the education of its girls, Juan Jose really made it
his mission to try to get more girls into the school,
try to equalize the ratio of boys to girls in
the classrooms. And one thing that he had to do
was demonstrate to these girls parents that them leaving the
home and leaving the work that they would have to
do there and actually going to school would be beneficial
(16:58):
in the long run for the girls at home. And so,
first of all, he lobbied COED for books and computer
training at the school, so we had all these resources
to begin with. But then he also added a home
economics class and asked co ED for equipment such as
a refrigerator and sewing machine and mixers, um and that way,
by having those kind of resources, he could convince the
(17:19):
parents that the girls would be become better cooks and
would keep the house better. Since a lot of the
parents just didn't see any point in educating girls, like
why would they need why they need to read? Because
there were time would be better spent at home. Um
and uh, and the strategy worked. There now seventy over
seventy five students at the school and the number of
girls and boys is close to equal. And you know,
(17:41):
from a lot of stuff we talked about on the podcast,
like we might bristle at the thought of like, oh, well,
he's adding a home at class to to bring more
girls in, you know, teaching them to sew and cook
like that is this? Those are essential skills in this country.
And I think that it's you know, I think it
was a pretty pretty brilliant strategy on on his point
as well, to target those parents and convince them to
(18:01):
get the girls into the classrooms, because of course they
weren't just taking the whole net classes. They were all
by the way exactly exactly. So co ED has many
examples of of these sort of anecdotes on their site,
which is c O E d UC dot org. But
just to throw out some more statistics of how they're
(18:22):
evaluating their program, um if when the schools get the textbooks,
they're experiencing a sixty eight percent improvement and retention of
the information, sixty seven percent increase in attendance, and ninety
percent of those students indicate the books have a significant
positive impact on their ability to learn and retain information.
So just imagine like going to school and for the
first time having something to look at. Of course you're
(18:44):
gonna stay, of course you're gonna learn more. Of course
you're gonna see education for the first time. It's something
that's worth investing in. So um more anecdotes about about
the people experiencing that revelation are on their site, and personally,
it was pretty for me, it was enlightening to read
these anecdotes and to see these statistics because you know,
(19:04):
we take public education and textbooks and libraries and all
of the stuff for granted, and it seems like, you know,
kind of a no brainer, like oh yeah, I mean, sure,
provide provide textbooks for poor children. That's great, but no,
I mean, like, really, I do encourage you guys to
to check out the site, because, um it's it's pretty
(19:25):
powerful when you find out just what a single textbook
in the hands of a child can do. But then,
to take it back to the beginning of the podcast,
the whole reason we went through all those you know,
fairly dismal statistics is you can read that website and
just think about it in terms of a child, but
when you think about it in terms of a whole
culture of women that you can help by just by
giving a child a textbook. That's what's really remarkable to
(19:47):
me is again, you know, we've always said it several
times on this podcast in the abstract about how educating
women in the developing world has this huge impact on poverty.
But to read about coeds work and then to place
women sort of in the center of your thoughts as
you read it, and knowing that that textbook and the
scholarships that are available at co ED and that fostering
of a love of knowledge, when that can really change
(20:08):
a whole society's perception of women, that's a huge, huge thing, right,
And when the perception changes, you also see the tangible
effects in you know, the health of the community's violence
and communities, birthrates, maternal health, children, sell everything, you know.
I mean, it's there's really no no aspect that it
doesn't touch. So now, if you listen to Josh and
(20:31):
Chuck's podcast on their trip, and I encourage you to
do so so you can get more information on the
programs in the country. Um, you know that there's a
text campaign going on where if you text stuff to
two zero to to two, co ed gets a five
dollar donation. You can also make donations on their site,
which again a c O E d uc dot org.
(20:53):
And uh, you know, co ed is getting a tremendous
help from all the s Y s K fans and
we want to give them some help. So if you're
a fan of ours and you haven't donated yet, please
check out their site or text again the words stuff
s t U F F two q oh too to too.
You'll receive a text back asking you to confirm the
(21:15):
donation and simply reply with the word yes to complete
your donation. Messaging and data rates may apply. And remember
the campaign only runs through July Cermainly, since we've been
talking a lot about the power of reading in books,
I thought it would be good for our listener mail
segment to maybe share a couple of reading lists. Reading lists.
We've gotten so many, we love them, keep them coming. Yes, um,
(21:40):
and this one is from Angela and she is reading
right now Pride Prejudice in Zombies, which was very popular
last summer as well. She says after that I'll probably
move on to Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. She said, I
will also read books by Sherylyn Kenyon, Janet Ivanovich and
jennef for Cruzy. All right, and who was that ring
(22:02):
list from? This was from Angela. Okay, I've got one
from Lori, who says, based on your obvious love for
the Romana books, I want to raft men to you
for your summer reading list, Beverly Clary's two memoirs, The
Girl for Me, Mhill and My Own Two Feet. I
was delied to find out that some of my favorite
details from Clary's fiction came from our own experiences, such
as naming a doll Chevrolet. Beyond that, though, Clary was
(22:23):
very cool woman who had just as much funk as
her fictional heroines. So if you're looking for summer reading list,
The Growth, Meanhill, My Own Two Feet Alright. To cap
things off, I've got a reading list here from Jim
and he is going to read Collapse by Jared Diamond,
The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kenter, Men with the Golden
Torque by Simon R. Green, The Poisoner's Handbook by Debord Bloom,
(22:47):
and The God Engine by John's scalz The God Engines
sounds interesting interesting, so again, keep the summer ring list coming,
keep any emails coming to us at mom Stuff at
house stuff where dot com, and during the week you
can get in touch with us via our Twitter which
is at mom Stuff Podcast, for our Facebook which is
(23:08):
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(23:35):
by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are
you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff Mom Never Told You?
From House Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. This is Molly and I'm Kristin. Kristin, You
(00:20):
and I are just one of the mini podcasts in
the House Stuff Works family. There are many, indeed, you
should listen to all of them because they're all great. Um,
but we're gonna talk about one project of the Stuff
you Should Know podcast. Yes, Stuff you Should Know, hosted
by Josh and Chuck. They got back from Guatemala and
they just put out these two podcasts about their time
(00:42):
in Guatemala, what they saw, what they learned about the
situation in the area, and also the work of this organization, uh,
the Cooperative for Education, which we're gonna call co ED
for the rest of the podcast. UM. That's an organization
that works with children to give them the education that
they need to break out of the cyclop poverty. Right
because in the States, you know, we think it's pretty
(01:03):
common for you know, kid turns five, six, he goes
off to school and then eighteen years not eighteen years later,
you know, and then and then we go through school,
we graduate, go to college, whatever. It's a natural part
of life in the States for a lot of people
in Guatemala not the case. And so the work of
(01:24):
co ed is is very important to try to reach
out to these kids. Get them textbooks, get them libraries,
get them computers, all things that we take for granted
in the States. And Molly and I wanted to follow
up on the two really great podcasts that Josh and
Chuck just put out about UM their time in Guatemala
and the work that co ed is doing, because we
(01:45):
wanted to focus in on what's going on with the
girls in that country. And it really draws upon some
other podcasts we've done. Chris, We've done a lot of
podcasts that talk about how education is the key uh
for eliminating poverty and may developing countries, and I feel
like we've always sort of talked about that in the
abstract UM, and now we have this really great case
study we can look at in terms of Guatemala about
(02:07):
how you can really take a situation that's not great
for a lot of women and girls, give them the
education and see how those problems can change with education. Yeah,
and especially again like when when you when research shows
over and over again that when you really target girls
in the developing countries, it can have just enormous ripple
(02:30):
effects throughout the entire society Somali. Why don't we just
dig in a little bit too stats to give people
an overview of the situation for girls in Guatemala, Because
while education is not entirely accessible to both boys and girls,
for girls, it's a lot less common for them to
go to school and extremely uncommon for them to actually
(02:52):
finish school as we would think of in the States. Right,
So let's talk about you know, sort of let's get
the sad stuff out of the way, because as I think,
what happens in this country is you hear about all
these problems and you don't know how to address them,
and at the end will show you how you can
actually address them by helping girls get more education. So, um,
let's talk about the situation for women in Guatemala. Yeah,
(03:14):
so just in terms of education, Um, the average years
the kid will go to school who lives in a
rural indigenous indigenous community in Guatemala is only one point
two years for girls, and that's compared to eight years
for urban non indigenous males. UM and then in primary school.
It's actually one of the few countries in Latin America
(03:36):
where fewer girls will complete primary school than boys. And
part of this is just because parents sometimes can't afford
to send all of their children just school, so they'll
send the boys but not the girls. They might keep
the girls home to do the cooking, the cleaning, and
you know, they just don't realize that what they're doing
is they're sort of cutting off all the future money
(03:56):
making opportunities these girls might have. Exactly because UH statistics
has shown that the females who will complete a secondary
education will earn fifty more than they would with no education,
compared to males who complete secondary education would earn twenty
seven percent more than they would. So that's kind of
one example of why UH you hear over and over
(04:16):
and over again that educating girls yield such a greater investment,
not to say that boys don't need education as well,
but um, you know, you get more, you get more
r o I if you will return on investment. But
it's more than just money making. It also has a
tremendous impact on the health of a country. When a
woman only has limited access to education. Uh she has
(04:40):
a higher chance of dying in childbirth, her children have
a higher mortality rate when their children, and it affects
Guatemala's malnutrition rate, which is, you know, just awful in
comparison to the other Latin American countries. It's the worst
in Latin America and the fourth worst in the world.
And so this is another example of how when you
give a child education, they have more money to pay
(05:01):
for the food, to improve their health, to buy medicines,
things like that. It's it's more than just making sure
they're set up for a career. And I think it's
worth noting too, it's the malnutrition issue. Um even though
Guatemala is chronic malnutrition rate is the worst in Latin America,
it isn't because it is the poorest country. It's not
a per capita it is not actually the poorest country
(05:22):
in Latin America, but it has a worst malnutrition rate, which,
like you said, it ends up affecting these girls more
because it stands their growth more than boys, and then
of course will affect reproductive and maternal health. Uh So,
I think that that is one indicator of the complex
problem that that might be linked to education once again.
(05:42):
So now we talked about the parents pulling the children
out of school so that they can cook, clean and
sometimes you know, they just have to put them to work.
Guatemala has one of the highest rates of child labor
in the world. A number from UNSEEP shows the tw
children young people between the ages of seven and sixteen
are part of the country's labor. For worse, we're often
working in unsafe conditions. H So if you know, if
(06:04):
child labors are kind of certain of yours, it all
goes back to this idea of educating girls. And I
think only one thing that we haven't mentioned that might
also give people a better idea of of why the
social situation is going on and why there's such a
dire poverty and malnutrition. Guatemala was engaged in a thirty
six year civil war and UM the U N sponsored
(06:26):
Commission on Historical Clarification, estimated that as many as two
d thousand people were killed. And those numbers are even
spotty because a lot of people, UM were actually what's
called disappeared during the civil war, in which they you know,
just literally disappeared. I mean they were probably captured and killed.
But UM even still the country is kind of having
(06:51):
to dig its way back out of you know, I mean,
imagine almost forty years, four decades of civil war. I mean,
it's it's a pretty huge issue. And you know, Christy,
when I was reading about this civil war, UH, came
across something very heartbreaking, but certainly not limited to Guatemala
in any respect, is the use of rape and violence
against women as an instrument of war, as a way
(07:12):
to intimidate people in villages and to dominate the people
you're trying to, you know, fight. This idea of raping
the women and committing violence against them has continued to
this day. There have been high numbers of women murdered
every year since the civil war ended. And uh, it's
it's really a big problem, this violence against women. The
(07:33):
Guatemala Human Rights Commission traces it back to this war
in terms of sort of institutionalizing this idea that women
are your equal, that you don't have to treat them
with that sort of respect. And so I think that again,
you know, they've done these studies about educating girls for longer,
and when boys see girls in the classroom for longer,
they have more respect for them. So it's that might
(07:54):
seem like such a silly comparison to make, but just
by keeping a girl in school longer, you learn that
you know they're your equals in some respect. Well, and
I think that also brings up an important issue as well,
which is early marriage. Um. According to a two thousand
four UN report, twenty six percent of girls in Guatemala
between fifteen and nineteen years of age where either married, divorced,
(08:17):
or widowed. And the interesting thing is, according to the
country's family code, the minimum age for a girl to
get married is fourteen years and she has to have
parental consent if she's under eighteen, unless she has a
child or she's pregnant. And one thing kind of linked
to all of that is we found out that up
until two thousand six, a rapist could be exonerated if
(08:39):
he promised to marry his victim. Okay, so there we go,
unless she was under twelve years old. I mean, those
laws have been somewhat tightened since then. But um, kind
of like you said, I think that it feeds into
this cycle of devaluing women and violence against women because, um,
because the laws have been so loose, especially in terms
of uh prosecuting rapists and actually making it a punishable crime, right,
(09:05):
And so I think that's where we get stuck Christian
in this vicious circle, and that you know, women never
get that respect because they are you know, so devalued.
For example, sexual exploitation of girls. Sometimes it's the parents
selling their own daughters into this lifestyle because they need
the money and because you're raised to think that, you know,
the girl is not valuable for anything else. Right, especially
(09:27):
in um, the more urban centers in Guatemala, it's the
kind of child sex trafficking is more common. And according
to Unit stuff, a statistics that we got was an
estimated two thousand guatemal And children being sexually exploited and
the law has been doing little to protect them. So again,
just to hammer home this idea about educating girls, is
(09:48):
if the girls in school and has this promise of
having a career one day with the skill she's learning
in school, perhaps there's less of a chance that her
parents will feel the need to do this um. And
also then she too is saved from an early marriage
from having children very young because she's in school preparing
for her future career. Right. And uh, I mean obviously
(10:11):
at this point we've painted a pretty pretty grim picture
I think of of what's going on in Guatemala. But
just to reiterate what you've said, the kind of tangible
benefits you'll see from educating girls, and this is shown
in case study after case study, is that you have
reduced rates of fertility because, for instance, according to US
said UM, half of Guatemalan women have a child before
(10:33):
the age of nineteen and have two or more children
by their eighteenth birthday, and then by their early thirties,
many women have given birth to seven or eight children.
And if you're you're caring for a family of eight
or ten, you know, and when you're in dire poverty,
I mean, what are you going to do? Obviously, education
is probably gonna be one of your last resorts, especially
(10:55):
if you're in one of these rural indigenous communities where
you know, there's not a wool in every corner there.
It's not easy to get textbooks or get in front
of a computer. And so I think that's where we
can kind of come back to the importance of groups
like co ED that is filling that gap, that is
going in and and providing those resources for these people
(11:17):
who otherwise wouldn't have it because it's not going to
be a priority. The priority is, you know, putting food
on their table and somehow getting by from day to day.
So we've done a few podcasts are we'll talk about
all these problems and then we'll say education can fix this,
because it does X Y and Z. Now this X
Y and Z Molly that you're referring to comes from
USAID and it's pretty great stuff. I mean, studies have
(11:41):
shown that educating girls will improve the health and survival
rate of infants and children. Uh, it reduces the rate
of fertility and greater use of modern contraceptive methods. You
also obviously have higher rates of school attendance, attainment and
completion in the next generation. Like you said, we it's
all about breaking that the cycle, and the women are
(12:01):
keys to that because they have the most influenced over
their children in the home. UM. And then we also have,
as r Z our number four um the improvements in
the status of women within families, the local community, and
the political arena. So, I mean, it's just it's huge
ripple effects not only within these girls lives, but also
within their families, to the community, to the entire country.
(12:24):
So bearing in mind that that girls only get that
one point two years of education in Guatemala, let's talk
about how this organization co ED is going in and
trying to change that and keep the girls in school
and give them the resources they need to make money
for their families to break the cycle of poverty. Let's
talk specifically about how their programs accomplish that. Yeah, because
as Americans, we might think of we hear the mantra
(12:45):
of like, yeah, stay in school, you know, like it's
just something easy to do. But in Guatemala that is
that is much much easier said than done. So co
ED again, we learned about them through stuff. You should know.
They have these programs that prove education in the hopes
of them improving everything else, big ripple effect. Their main
(13:05):
programs are providing textbooks uh to middle schools in the
rural areas who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford them. Basically,
COED will go in and buy the textbooks and then
the students will pay small fees to use them, which
makes the program sustainable because in the community can go
and buy the next set of textbooks when they need it. Right,
Because I think we should point out to that the
country is so poor that they don't have some kind
(13:27):
of tax base that the government can go in and
pay for these books. And the same with the computer centers.
Uh COED will go in and buy computers so that
children can learn the skills are going to need in
this economy to have an entry level job which requires
computer use. Uh COED buys the computer and then the
students pay again a small fee that's affordable for them
(13:49):
to use the computers to learn basic you know, word processing, spreadsheets.
They provide scholarships for young people, and you know, we've
read a lot of antidotes about how co ED will
go to parents and say, you know, they the parents
might just want the scholarship for the boys, but they'll
show them, oh, you know, the girls need this scholarship.
And I think one thing we've got to talk about, Kristen,
because we've done so many podcasts about the books that
(14:11):
really influenced us when we were young girls, is this
culture of reading that co ED works to foster in
these small commutes, these girls who have never seen books,
which sounds so alien to us who have talked for
you know, hours about the Babysitters Club and Nancy, Drew
and Ramona and all that. They'll take sometimes those first
books that those girls ever see, and teach them, you know,
(14:31):
about a love of reading and build these little mini libraries.
And that, to me is sort of one of my
favorite aspects of what co Ed does, is fostering that
um love for knowledge and reading and these young girls.
And just as an example of how important it is
that co Ed goes in and really fosters that culture
of reading, Molly, like you said, one thing that they
(14:52):
have to do is actually teach the teachers how to
read the children. I mean, before Coed goes in there,
the teachers my just read a book aloud. But you know,
when you were a kid, like the the exciting part
about reading is following along and seeing the pictures and
really engaging with the story and the words on the
page and uh and the and the teachers weren't doing that,
(15:13):
you know, they weren't and and by not doing that,
it didn't really cultivate, you know, a kid's desire to read.
So that's one important thing too that that co Ed
goes in and actually demonstrates. And they'll also teach the
teachers how to use the textbooks because I think a
big problem in Guatemala has been that before the kids
got the textbooks, they all copied down notes in the blackboard.
(15:34):
There was no engagement with learning, and that's why, you know,
if the kid couldn't even stay there for financial reasons,
he would just drop out join a gang, which are
also big problem in Guatemala. So going in and teaching
a teacher how to use this textbook so that a
kid enjoys going to school and enjoys learning about things,
um is another vital service that they provide. Sounds like
COD could also do a lot of work in the
(15:55):
States in terms of teaching kids to read. Anyway, UM, Well,
just to give listeners to an idea of more of
an anecdotal idea of of how their programs have benefited
these schools, you know, because we've sort of been talking
in the abstract. UM, I'm going to share the story
of Juan Jose, who was a principal of middle school
(16:15):
in Guatemala. UM and when he started fifteen years ago,
the school that he worked at had twenty eight students
and only one of those was a girl. Because, like
we said, it's far less likely for a girl to
even go to school. And even if she goes to school,
she's not going to stay as long as boys in
her community. Um. So he said. Knowing that the health
and economic success of Guatemala communities were inextricably linked to
(16:38):
the education of its girls, Juan Jose really made it
his mission to try to get more girls into the school,
try to equalize the ratio of boys to girls in
the classrooms. And one thing that he had to do
was demonstrate to these girls parents that them leaving the
home and leaving the work that they would have to
do there and actually going to school would be beneficial
(16:58):
in the long run for the girls at home. And so,
first of all, he lobbied COED for books and computer
training at the school, so we had all these resources
to begin with. But then he also added a home
economics class and asked co ED for equipment such as
a refrigerator and sewing machine and mixers, um and that way,
by having those kind of resources, he could convince the
(17:19):
parents that the girls would be become better cooks and
would keep the house better. Since a lot of the
parents just didn't see any point in educating girls, like
why would they need why they need to read? Because
there were time would be better spent at home. Um
and uh, and the strategy worked. There now seventy over
seventy five students at the school and the number of
girls and boys is close to equal. And you know,
(17:41):
from a lot of stuff we talked about on the podcast,
like we might bristle at the thought of like, oh, well,
he's adding a home at class to to bring more
girls in, you know, teaching them to sew and cook
like that is this? Those are essential skills in this country.
And I think that it's you know, I think it
was a pretty pretty brilliant strategy on on his point
as well, to target those parents and convince them to
(18:01):
get the girls into the classrooms, because of course they
weren't just taking the whole net classes. They were all
by the way exactly exactly. So co ED has many
examples of of these sort of anecdotes on their site,
which is c O E d UC dot org. But
just to throw out some more statistics of how they're
(18:22):
evaluating their program, um if when the schools get the textbooks,
they're experiencing a sixty eight percent improvement and retention of
the information, sixty seven percent increase in attendance, and ninety
percent of those students indicate the books have a significant
positive impact on their ability to learn and retain information.
So just imagine like going to school and for the
first time having something to look at. Of course you're
(18:44):
gonna stay, of course you're gonna learn more. Of course
you're gonna see education for the first time. It's something
that's worth investing in. So um more anecdotes about about
the people experiencing that revelation are on their site, and personally,
it was pretty for me, it was enlightening to read
these anecdotes and to see these statistics because you know,
(19:04):
we take public education and textbooks and libraries and all
of the stuff for granted, and it seems like, you know,
kind of a no brainer, like oh yeah, I mean, sure,
provide provide textbooks for poor children. That's great, but no,
I mean, like, really, I do encourage you guys to
to check out the site, because, um it's it's pretty
(19:25):
powerful when you find out just what a single textbook
in the hands of a child can do. But then,
to take it back to the beginning of the podcast,
the whole reason we went through all those you know,
fairly dismal statistics is you can read that website and
just think about it in terms of a child, but
when you think about it in terms of a whole
culture of women that you can help by just by
giving a child a textbook. That's what's really remarkable to
(19:47):
me is again, you know, we've always said it several
times on this podcast in the abstract about how educating
women in the developing world has this huge impact on poverty.
But to read about coeds work and then to place
women sort of in the center of your thoughts as
you read it, and knowing that that textbook and the
scholarships that are available at co ED and that fostering
of a love of knowledge, when that can really change
(20:08):
a whole society's perception of women, that's a huge, huge thing, right,
And when the perception changes, you also see the tangible
effects in you know, the health of the community's violence
and communities, birthrates, maternal health, children, sell everything, you know.
I mean, it's there's really no no aspect that it
doesn't touch. So now, if you listen to Josh and
(20:31):
Chuck's podcast on their trip, and I encourage you to
do so so you can get more information on the
programs in the country. Um, you know that there's a
text campaign going on where if you text stuff to
two zero to to two, co ed gets a five
dollar donation. You can also make donations on their site,
which again a c O E d uc dot org.
(20:53):
And uh, you know, co ed is getting a tremendous
help from all the s Y s K fans and
we want to give them some help. So if you're
a fan of ours and you haven't donated yet, please
check out their site or text again the words stuff
s t U F F two q oh too to too.
You'll receive a text back asking you to confirm the
(21:15):
donation and simply reply with the word yes to complete
your donation. Messaging and data rates may apply. And remember
the campaign only runs through July Cermainly, since we've been
talking a lot about the power of reading in books,
I thought it would be good for our listener mail
segment to maybe share a couple of reading lists. Reading lists.
We've gotten so many, we love them, keep them coming. Yes, um,
(21:40):
and this one is from Angela and she is reading
right now Pride Prejudice in Zombies, which was very popular
last summer as well. She says after that I'll probably
move on to Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. She said, I
will also read books by Sherylyn Kenyon, Janet Ivanovich and
jennef for Cruzy. All right, and who was that ring
(22:02):
list from? This was from Angela. Okay, I've got one
from Lori, who says, based on your obvious love for
the Romana books, I want to raft men to you
for your summer reading list, Beverly Clary's two memoirs, The
Girl for Me, Mhill and My Own Two Feet. I
was delied to find out that some of my favorite
details from Clary's fiction came from our own experiences, such
as naming a doll Chevrolet. Beyond that, though, Clary was
(22:23):
very cool woman who had just as much funk as
her fictional heroines. So if you're looking for summer reading list,
The Growth, Meanhill, My Own Two Feet Alright. To cap
things off, I've got a reading list here from Jim
and he is going to read Collapse by Jared Diamond,
The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kenter, Men with the Golden
Torque by Simon R. Green, The Poisoner's Handbook by Debord Bloom,
(22:47):
and The God Engine by John's scalz The God Engines
sounds interesting interesting, so again, keep the summer ring list coming,
keep any emails coming to us at mom Stuff at
house stuff where dot com, and during the week you
can get in touch with us via our Twitter which
is at mom Stuff Podcast, for our Facebook which is
(23:08):
stuff Mom Never Told You, And during the week you
can also check out our blog also titled stuff I've
Never Told You at our website which is how stuff
Works dot com. For more on this and thousands of
other topics, is it how stuff works dot com. Want
more how stuff works, check out our blogs on the
how stuff works dot com home page. Brought to you
(23:35):
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