Advocacy Update - January 2010

Final day in Guatemala City

Saturday, January 30, 2010
Our last day in Guatemala City we held a Forum of all the agencies we had visited throughout the week. The room was a bit tense at times, with differing views expressed; however, there was a strong feeling in the room that the government needs reform, and it should begin with the formation of a Ministry of Housing. It is the one issue all sides agree upon. Beyond this there is a bill that is before the congress that the nonprofit housing agencies are in full support of, which is #38-69. It is a holistic approach to the housing issues. What we do feel we have accomplished while here in Guatemala is relationship-building between agencies and Habitat Guatemala. We will be following up to ensure that the relationships continue to prosper.

After leaving Guatemala City we arrived in the beautiful city of Antigua! We are spending our last day-and-a-half as tourists in this amazing colonial town with cobble stone streets and brightly colored buildings. We made a quick trip to the local artesian market and had a lesson in negotiating prices. I think I’m getting the hang of it, but I have to admit that I don’t like bartering. I also had the opportunity to hold the most beautiful baby girl fully dressed in pink while her mother sold me a baby sling for the baby I am expecting in July. I did pay too much, but I feel that it was totally worth it. The rest of my purchases were more reasonable.

View all of our photos from the trip at http://bit.ly/8qRili
Trista Matascastillo, Community Relations Sr Associate
Photo Copyright Habitat for Humanity International/Ezra Millstein

Advocacy Continues--Thursday's meetings

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Today we had a very aggressive itinerary—4 meetings back to back, scattered throughout the city with Guatemalan agencies involved in housing issues. We left the hotel at 8:30am to meet with representatives from FOGUAVI, the Communication Ministry and UDEVIPO. Several of Habitat Guatemala’s Board members joined us for this meeting and we were glad they did.

FOGUAVI and the Communications Ministry are responsible for, among other things, managing the upkeep of roads, airports, ports, and housing. As we soon realized, this is a lot of responsibility for one agency and that is indeed what they alluded to during the meeting. They talked about the importance of creating a cabinet level ministry of housing that will be able to dedicate more time and resources to the housing issues in Guatemala. This is something that is currently being discussed by the federal government in Guatemala (a bill has been introduced in congress that would create such a position) and seems to have the support of most people we talked with over the past week.

View our pictures on Flickr at http://bit.ly/8qRili
Trista Matascastillo, Community Relations Sr Associate
Photo Copyright Habitat for Humanity International/Ezra Millstein

Advocacy Begins

Wednesday, January 27, 2010
We left our friends in Zacapa early this morning and made our way back to Guatemala City to begin our meetings with Non Government Agencies (NGOs) and Government Agencies. This is the part of the trip that we take what we have experienced and learned and find out what the agencies are doing about the issues and what work still needs to be done.

Because everywhere we travel in the city we have a police escort complete with lights and sirens we seem to get places quicker than necessary. We were nearly an hour early for our first meeting so had the unique opportunity to see a few sights in the city. We took a driving tour past the National Cathedral, and the Justice Department and to Central Park. The police were even patient enough to let us get out for a few minutes, despite how nervous they seemed. There is some risk being in the center of the city as a group of Americans and the last thing anyone wants is for us to be a victim of crime.

View our pictures on Flickr at http://bit.ly/8qRili
Trista Matascastillo, Community Relations Sr Associate

Huite, Zacapa, Guatemala Take 2

Tuesday, January 26, 2010
For those of you who have volunteered with Habitat before you know intimately how I am feeling physically today—sore back, sore quads, sore forearms, sore shoulders (it might be easier to list the parts that are not sore). Regardless, the idea of staying behind and resting never crossed my mind. We have work to do and our homeowners were waiting.

As we arrived on site, we saw that progress had been made over night on the houses we were building (the masons stayed until 6pm and arrived at 7am….definitely making us feel guilty). Today was more of the same as yesterday—shoveling dirt, moving block, mixing concrete, and sweating, A LOT!

View our pictures on Flickr at http://bit.ly/8qRili
Jeff Smith

First day on the build site, Huite, Zacapa Guatemala

Monday, January 25, 2010
Today was our first day on site of the Habitat colony in Huite, Zacapa Guatemala. We traveled into the small colony via a very rural road through a series of small villages. When we arrived we were greeted by our homeowners, both single mothers of 2 children each, and the masons and local volunteers, many of them children.

The site is on a piece of land that was generously donated by a Foundation. In the end the land will hold 72 Habitat homes. Many of which will be owned by single mothers. The average family size in Guatemala is 5-6 children. Many mothers are single due to fathers leaving to find work elsewhere.

We began working on our assigned tasks as everyone else had already been working for a couple hours upon our arrival. Jeff Smith, my fellow blogger, jumped onto the task of back filling the foundation. In Guatemala that means he was digging piles of a clay/rock mixture into a wheelbarrow and hauling it into the house and leveling it off with his shovel. I can honestly; say I am grateful at this moment to be pregnant and that out of my limits. It was 90 degrees and sunny with only the occasional cloud or breeze for relief from the heat. Jeff certainly earned his keep today.

View our pictures on Flickr at http://bit.ly/8qRili
Trista Matascastillo, Community Relations Sr Associate

Touring the Slums of Guatemala City

Saturday, January 23, 2010
Today was our tour of a local slum in an area called Villa Nueva in Guatemala City. In keeping with Latin American tradition, our 8am scheduled tour started around 9ish. We were picked up in a mini-bus (along with our 15 policemen as our security escorts) and we were off. As we followed the windy and narrow road on our way to the slum, we were joined by several community leaders who began giving us a first-hand account of the current conditions of the residents of Villa Nueva.

When we arrived in the municipality of Villa Nueva we were met by others of the community who added to the history of Villa Nueva and spoke of the struggles they have endured just to retain their inhabited plots of land.

As we started walking through the sandy, dusty roads, I was overwhelmed by the intense odor and the steady stream of water running along the left side of the road. I asked if it rained recently (which judging by the amount of dust in the air was a stupid question) to which they said “no”. They explained that the water running alongside the road was raw sewage—there is no other sewage system to speak of.

View our pictures on Flickr at http://bit.ly/8qRili
Jeff Smith
Photo copyright Habitat for Humanity International/Ezra Millstein

We have arrived in Guatemala!

Friday, January 22, 2010
I can't imagine a better welcome to Guatemala than the beautiful sunshine that we had today. We arrived safely and processed through customs with ease in the Capital of Guatemala, Guatemala City. It was about 80 degrees when we arrived and the sun was shining! What a nice change from our Minnesota weather.

We easily linked up with the rest of our group and quickly found a connection to each other...we were all HUNGRY. So off to a Taco house we went. Not your ordinary Taco House. The Taco's are simple meat and cheese on small corn tortillas accompanied by all the fixings on the side. Yum! We washed them down with the traditional Guatemalan Drink called Horchata. Its a kind of cold sweet drink made from rice flour and lots of sugar spiced with cinnamon. Very refreshing and addictive.

Photo copyright Habitat for Humanity International/Ezra Millstein

Getting ready for the Advocacy Trip

Wednesday, January 20, 2010
As I sit here about 48 hours before the Habitat for Humanity International Build Louder Trip to Guatemala, I have to admit, I am a bit apprehensive. I have been to Latin America numerous times (once to Guatemala), I speak Spanish well enough to get myself in to trouble, and I have led five Habitat Global Village Trips in the past. So what is the source of my apprehension, you ask? I have never been on a Habitat for Humanity Advocacy Trip before. Not that Advocacy is a scary subject, but I am more of a “get things done” kind of person. I much prefer being outside taking action, than sitting around a table talking about solutions. But, I also realize that in order for there to be things for me to “get done”, meetings like the ones we will be having in Guatemala need to happen first.

Last year Habitat International led their first Advocacy trip to Honduras. The trip included tours of slums in Tegucigalpa, meetings with Honduran housing officials, and even a meeting with the Vice President of the country (the President had planned on attending but was preoccupied with the earthquake that shook the country while the group was visiting). Although we won’t have a meeting with the president of Guatemala, we do have meetings with housing officials in the Guatemalan government, non-government organizations (NGOs), and other housing advocates in Guatemala.

Jeff Smith, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
Photo copyright Habitat for Humanity International/Ezra Millstein

Housing Advocacy Blog kick off

Friday, January 15, 2010
Welcome to TCHFH’s brand new Housing Advocacy blog! Here you can follow TCHFH’s Advocacy Team as we work to educate policy makers and change public opinion about affordable housing both locally, nationally, and internationally.

Earlier this fall two TCHFH staff members were selected to participate in Habitat International’s Build Louder Advocacy trip to Guatemala—departing on January 22^nd, 2010. This trip is a mix between a traditional Habitat Global Village trip (www.habitat.org/gv) and a Habitat Advocacy trip. On this trip we will learn about secure tenure (see definition below), work on a Habitat construction site, meet with government officials and local non-government agencies (NGOs), and visit informal settlements (aka slums).

What is secure tenure?

Secure tenure is the ability to live in a place without fear of eviction. Secure tenure can increase economic growth, address inequalities and reduce poverty in developing countries. It can provide opportunities for investment and the accumulation of wealth. In some cases, it can encourage business development.

Secure tenure is about more than just economic assets. Secure tenure can also provide a source of identity, status and political power and serve as a basis for the pursuit and acquisition of other rights.

More than 80 percent of the world’s population does not have legal documentation of their property rights. Twenty percent struggle on a daily basis to stay in houses or on the land where they live. This lack of holding landed property, or insecure tenure, often lies at the heart of poverty housing. Insecure tenure deprives the poor of even the most basic physical, economic and psychological security.

Please check back later next week as we update our progress on this trip.