Ideas Brewing in Guatemala

These migrants know the road northward is treacherous. They risk losing their lives, their children, their life savings, and navigating a legal system so complicated they’d have better odds winning the lottery— all to join the shadowy workforce that fills America’s hotel kitchens, farm fields, and slaughterhouses.

But the flow doesn’t subside.

In April alone, nearly 100,000 people were apprehended at the border. But a closer look reveals some unexpected trends. No longer primarily males traveling alone, according to USA Today, “through August of [2019], the Border Patrol apprehended 457,871 migrants arriving as ‘family units’… a 406% increase compared to family unit apprehensions during the same period the previous year.”

Even more interesting, migrant families from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador made up almost 92% of the total.

What’s with these families, I wondered? And what’s so unique about these countries?

According to photojournalist Fred Ramos of El Salvadoran investigative site El Faro, while headlines focus on gangs and violence, the reasons people flee also include the region’s longstanding political, social, and environmental crises. In places where “the wealthy and politically connected openly flout laws”, cartels wield power over entire districts, and a lack of agricultural infrastructure has left farmers at the mercy of devastating droughts, “people leave for one reason, or all the reasons at once…. but it’s not just simply because some gang wants to kill them.”

Curious how these governments got so corrupt, I spent hours combing through years of news reports— but it wasn’t until I dusted off my world history textbook that the dots finally started to connect.

Since the early 1900s— after helping end Spain’s 500-year domination of Central and South America— the US happily spent the next century filling the void by putting American business interests ahead of anything that might possibly get in the way. From Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, all the way through the rest of the Americas, the US government used its muscle to prop up oligarchs and dictators, support political coups, install corrupt leaders, and crush popular uprisings— all to make sure we got a steady supply of bananas at the best possible price.

Why citizens of these countries no longer trusted their governments to look out for them was suddenly a no-brainer. Everyone involved was a byproduct of a self-serving US foreign policy. Every caravan was a “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” surrender of power. Every cartel merely karma evening the score. The problem is, once we feel we have nothing left to lose, there’s no wall long or high enough to stop us. Even the ancient Chinese wall-builders learned gatekeepers could be bought for a high enough price.

If we’re going to fix what is broken, we’re going to need some more creative options on the table— but the real question is why would the young people of this region fight for their homeland when all around them are adults giving up and heading out?

Guatemala is now the single largest source of migrants attempting to enter the United States— with more than 250,000 reaching the border over the past nine months and the highest numbers of unaccompanied children— but the irony is that Guatemalan kids are descendants of the Mayan kingdom; a civilization so ingenious they created powerful cities, built pyramids, invented a writing system, and even mapped astronomy... all before the invention of the wheel for God’s sake. And more palaces are being unearthed even today.

As naïve as it seemed, I wondered what might happen if these kids understood the greatness they had in their own DNA. What if they had the encouragement to discover new economic pathways and see the hope in themselves and their communities before they surrendered to join the next caravan north?

They were already risk-takers. Instead of waiting for top down policy change, what if we could help them spot the opportunities within the problems from the ground up, and groom a generation of entrepreneurs who could take life’s proverbial lemons and open a limonada con soda empire.

Over a few beers, my GSD colleague Andy Zweber and I put our heads together in search of inspiration. The secret of the GSD methodology involves never overthinking anything too much to stop you from taking action— and beer always seems to enhance creativity and optimism.

Of course, normal people can’t just take off for Guatemala to go searching for answers, so thankfully there’s nothing normal about Andy. By the last round he was ready to head south.

Proving that the GSD methodology is a powerful thing, within weeks of arriving in Guatemala Andy had networked his way to Juan Pablo Romero Fuentes— rebel, social activist, and founder of Los Patojos school in Jocotenango.

Growing up in Guatemala, Juan Pablo watched many of his peers succumb to drugs, gangs and crime, and was well-aware of the pull of migration. So, in true GSD form, he started inviting at-risk kids from the streets to his parents' middle-class house where they could discover their dreams and ideas in a save haven. Proving that sometimes the tiniest seeds of action can grow into mighty oaks of change, he began with art projects, dancing, theater, photography and performance art. The more kids that showed up, the more the energy built, until finally he attracted the attention of international donors who helped him build a real school.

Ten years later, “Los Patojos,” meaning “the little ones,” had become a bona fide school and holistic learning center that tapped into all sides of young peoples’ psyches.

Teachers show how to bake bread, plant a garden, frame a building, and checkmate a chess opponent, as well as think critically about news headlines and current events. Leadership seminars cover social, political and cultural issues, the importance of moral courage, and ways to reduce violence.

These kids are realizing they can transform their surroundings without migrating across borders. Already, the Los Patojos students have opened a functioning bakery, farm, cafe, and restaurant— social enterprises whose proceeds will fund the school’s operations and expansion with a goal of 100 schools across Guatemala.

Juan Pablo was an hombre after our own hearts. To help achieve his vision, Andy joined the volunteer staff with the mission of developing GSD’s first Central American initiative, the Empresario program— also known as Phase One. Together with Michi, Angel, Josue, and Daniella— a team of 14-year old-go-getters. Since September, the Empresarios have become a miniature business school where students study great entrepreneurs from Thomas Edison to Steven Jobs. “Along with principles of product pricing, logos, target marketing, and brand awareness,” Andy reported, “they are learning to think differently, to see problems as opportunities, and to sharpen their entrepreneurial acumen in ways that don’t require investment startup capital.” In just two months, the Empresarios have been earning money building websites and developing Facebook ads for a video production company.

Soon, it was time for Phase Two.

According to the GSD methodology, if money was their fuel, cultural connection would be their navigation system. Phase Two would expand their minds to the world around them, connect them to something larger than themselves, and channel their inner greatness needed to sustain them for the longer haul ahead.

So, in November I joined Andy in Guatemala where we created a six-day, mind-stretching, business-school-on-wheels. We began by visiting Iximche where their Mayan ancestors built palaces, pyramids, and ancient kingdoms before the idea of America even existed.

We toured the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to see world renowned discoveries and engineering accomplishments.

We studied Guatemala’s role in the global coffee community— investigating the entire production chain from touring a plantation with a local farmer to learning roasting techniques to detecting floral notes and aromas at a cupping workshop.

We attended a private entrepreneurship class at prestigious Francisco Marroquin University where the Empresarios spent the day rubbing elbows with professors and b-school co-eds delighted to help their teenage countrymates hone their entrepreneurial vision.

We explored Guatemala’s lucrative travel industry, interviewed entrepreneurs, and ad agency executives who assured the Empresarios that the grass was not just green north of the border, and that here too were opportunities to build a productive life.

We visited the Museum of Modern Art to uncover the ideas and perspectives of great Guatemalan thinkers.

Day by day, as we drained them physically, we filled them emotionally, intellectually, spiritually.  We debriefed, reflected, and connected themes of what Guatemala could be and their roles in creating it. Most importantly, we taught them to look people in the eye and give everyone they meet the “Empresario power handshake” and million-dollar smile.

On the final day, we hiked to the top of Volcan de Pacaya, to gaze far and wide over their country and take in life from a new point of view. “We’ve always looked at the foreigners as better than us and we were below them. We needed to come to these places to remind ourselves that we come from greatness. We have the creativity to create our own great future.” Guatemala was no longer a place they wanted to leave— it was their civilization. Their home. Their future. Their launch pad for Phase Three.

They were ready to GSD (Get Stuff Done).