Anybody want to help start a charity?

Ok so in case you didn’t hear the restaurant idea has been canned. It so happens that the city would require building modifications to the tune of $20,000 and since I don’t have a large inheritance from a far off uncle to spend frivolously I’m going to put that idea on the shelf for a while; and pick up another one.
I’ve been thinking abou this for a while and I’ll have a little free time next semester so I think I’m going to run with it. I’ve taken a few classes and read some books on economic development and poverty (See the article http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/64611 ). It turns out poverty is a very tough thing, there are no easy answers, and economic development is a young field of scholarship (really only since WWII), but it’s not like you can just give up. What I am interested in is charitable funding. The US donates about 2.2% of GDP per year to charity, a grand total of 295 Billion dollars (1). Just think if the US was committed to an idea like tithing; that would equal over 1.2 Trillion dollars per year, or about $166/yr for each of the 6 billion people on earth (not bad considering half of us live on less than $2 a day)2. So the question for me is how do you increase charitable giving in the US?
Individual donations account for 83% of the US charitable donations (Mega gifts like what Buffet and Gates give account for just more than 1%)3. The rest of the charity is divided among government, businesses, and corporations. What surprises me about this breakdown is that more than 50% of the world’s wealth is found in corporations (4). I’m still studying up on this so perhaps this conclusion is premature but it seems like businesses and corporations could and should give more. That’s what I want to address, so here’s the rough idea of what I have in mind:

1. The problem with many charities is that they depend too much on one time donations, that just doesn’t cut it, what you really need is a cash flow. Therefore we design a system in which businesses volunteer a percentage of their net revenue or profit, maybe one, two, or five percent, whatever they decide.
2. There needs to be some type of justification for businesses, otherwise this is only a tax which will be passed onto the consumer. The justification I’m thinking of depends on the implicit contract every business makes with any customer (you know, I give you money and you give me some kind of service or good). Why couldn’t you include in that contract the agreement that by keeping them in business they make the community better? It’s been done before (5), it’s called 'cause marketing,' and it has worked well the few times it’s been implemented. What we do is give the business stickers or something to put on their windows which say something like “Ask us about Business Giving Back,” and then a big fat number which is the percentage they give. Inside the business you have some type of pamphlet to give out which explains what exactly Business Giving Back is, and a small sheet of paper which lists the causes the business is supporting (now that’s good PR).
3. Another problem is that money gets put in the wrong places. Does it really matter how much money we throw at poverty if people still stay poor and disadvantaged? Therefore you need a group of people who can evaluate the charities and only allow the business to put money in charities which are approved. Now here in Provo you have about 50,000 budding young college students a great number of whom are studying economics, finance, marketing, international development, etc… We need a group of people who are qualified to create criteria and evaluate charities; we also need a group of people to market this to the public and companies. If we get these people together throw up a website we’d be in business (of sorts)!

Ok so this is still premature, I’m going to consult with some old professors, and I still have a lot of research to do. But what do you think? Am I off my rocker? Will this work? Is there already someone else out there doing this? I would love to have any input I can get!

New Post Coming....

Due to high public demand the blog is back! A weekly entry coming soon.

Water fight

So I decided to start a waterfight with my brothers the other day. It was a lot of fun. Apparently water fights aren't too common here in Guatemala. It was a new experience for my brothers, but they caught on quick; and my youngest brother Omar added his own twist to activity by urinating on his brother Chejo at the end!

El Salvador Trip!!!!

I cannot remember the last time I had a more enjoyable vacation! Last week we all went to Sunzal El Salvador, a small village near La Libertad. It is really small but has one of the best surfing beaches in the world (top ten… according to the pamphlet they gave us). Anyways we found this sweet hotel for $8.66 a night! It was so nice for eight bucks!! We had a balcony right over a river and about 50 yards or so from the beach. The owner has this monkey who’s always coming around.
Most of my time was spent chilling out in hammocks they had all around the hotel, eating at these amazingly good and cheap restaurants, and lying on the beach! I also rented a surf board and learned how to surf!! Oh man it was so much fun; I got up my first try with out any lessons or anything! I think that I definitely want to go to law school in Southern California now. I could get used to surfing on a regular basis!!
While there we also became very good friends with some Europeans who were at the same hotel. There was Paul from England, Paul from Germany, and Sandro and Sebastian from Switzerland. On multiple occasions during the week we sat around with them at our hotel, at restaurants, and on the beach talking about a great deal of different topics; religion, politics, and life in general. We spent the nights playing English card games, Mafia, a game they thoroughly enjoyed, and jamming out to a cheap little guitar Matt (another student with us) bought! I had some really cool conversations with them, definitely broadened my perspective on a lot of things. I don’t think they had met many Mormons in their life, but I think we left a pretty good impression on them. I really enjoyed how open minded they were about whatever it is we talked about, opened minded but at the same time frank; which is very refreshing.
Also while in El Salvador I shaved… I’ve been growing my beard out for the last two months. Ok Mom, calm down! It was for my personal safety, I mean if you have the choice to rob two people and one of them has a big ol’ beard and the other is abiding by BYU’s grooming standards, who are you going to rob? Exactly! I’m glad to see we see eye to eye on this. I’m putting up pics on facebook so if anyone’s interested in seeing it, just have Rachel or Jessica sign on and show you.

El Salvador Trip!!!!

I cannot remember the last time I had a more enjoyable vacation! Last week we all went to Sunzal El Salvador, a small village near La Libertad. It is really small but has one of the best surfing beaches in the world (top ten… according to the pamphlet they gave us). Anyways we found this sweet hotel for $8.66 a night! It was so nice for eight bucks!! We had a balcony right over a river and about 50 yards or so from the beach. The owner has this monkey who’s always coming around.
Most of my time was spent chilling out in hammocks they had all around the hotel, eating at these amazingly good and cheap restaurants, and lying on the beach! I also rented a surf board and learned how to surf!! Oh man it was so much fun; I got up my first try with out any lessons or anything! I think that I definitely want to go to law school in Southern California now. I could get used to surfing on a regular basis!!
While there we also became very good friends with some Europeans who were at the same hotel. There was Paul from England, Paul from Germany, and Sandro and Sebastian from Switzerland. On multiple occasions during the week we sat around with them at our hotel, at restaurants, and on the beach talking about a great deal of different topics; religion, politics, and life in general. We spent the nights playing English card games, Mafia, a game they thoroughly enjoyed, and jamming out to a cheap little guitar Matt (another student with us) bought! I had some really cool conversations with them, definitely broadened my perspective on a lot of things. I don’t think they had met many Mormons in their life, but I think we left a pretty good impression on them. I really enjoyed how open minded they were about whatever it is we talked about, opened minded but at the same time frank; which is very refreshing.
Also while in El Salvador I shaved… I’ve been growing my beard out for the last two months. Ok Mom, calm down! It was for my personal safety, I mean if you have the choice to rob two people and one of them has a big ol’ beard and the other is abiding by BYU’s grooming standards, who are you going to rob? Exactly! I’m glad to see we see eye to eye on this. I’m putting up pics on facebook so if anyone’s interested in seeing it, just have Rachel or Jessica sign on and show you.

A typical day in Guatemala

Today was a normal day not overly exciting. I woke up at about 6:30, laid in bed daydreaming until 7:00, at which point I got up to study K’iche for a half an hour before I ate breakfast with my family. I’m not really a morning person so breakfast usually is eaten slow, slow enough to allow me to wake up all the way. My parents wake up at around 4:30 to start running the corn mill, which is right next to our house and which occasionally wakes me up earlier.
Breakfast like all meals and drinks is served hot. The food is really simple; sometimes we just have a pair of hard boiled eggs; luckily we can load up on tortillas to make up for any lack of food. This morning we ate a type of vegetable soup with a small piece of meat. We are usually served one of two types of drinks Pinol, or Atole (and on a rare occasion we have a cup of milk). Pinol is a like a type of herbal tea, and Atole is a sweet drink made by mixing corn dough in water and adding sugar. It’s been hard for me to adjust to simple tasting food; I can’t even describe how much I’ve been craving a fast food value meal! Even when compared with the food I ate while in Mexico this food is still very simple.
It is interesting to make the comparison of Guatemala with Mexico, because I always thought that Mexico was really poor, but being here and reflecting back on the economic situation in Mexico I realize that as bad as Mexico is it’s considerably better off than Guatemala. You can tell just by looking at the diet of the people here. My father on a good day will earn about $3.50 from his mill. He also works at a school watching the main gate so the students don’t leave every other week, but I’m not sure how much he makes there. Having me here certainly helps the economic situation for the family; all of the BYU students pay about 30 dollars a week for room and board (200 Quetzals).
After breakfast I wash my dirty clothes by hand, a very laborious activity. Luckily however I’m a veteran at washing clothes by hand, and received plenty of practice on my mission. I only wash clothes once a week, and when I finished today I went and studied until lunch. I’m getting exposed to all the major Latin American Authors from the Spanish conquest to the present day, and looking for Pre-Colombian indigenous influence. I’m also reading various translations and original texts of Pre-Colombian texts.
We eat lunch around 1:00 pm and as soon as I’m finished I hit the books again. This time I review the materials I have on narratology, which is the main thrust of my Honors Thesis (A narratological analysis of the premier Pre-Colombian Maya literary text). In case you’re unfamiliar with narratology it examines the broad structure of stories, and how they’re told. After I study for a little while I head out to meet with some people from the community to do some interviews and to practice my K’iche. I’m trying to get as many interviews as I can, to record people in the community telling stories. I’ll save an explanation of the purposes of these interviews in my research for another blog entry.
Today like every other day it rains in the afternoon. Instead of having a four seasons here there are only two, rainy season and dry season. It’s not overly warm because we are in the highlands I’m actually not very sure what the exact elevation here is but I’m pretty sure it’s higher than Utah, and it counteracts being as far south as we are. By about 6:00 I’m back home and today I’m going to watch some soccer, it’s the American Cup right now, and US just lost their first game to Argentina, but Mexico beat Brazil so I’m still feeling pretty good. I really like Soccer a lot!! It’s a sweet sport; I really need to go see Real Salt Lake. I actually watch the soccer games on a channel that is broadcast from Logan and Salt Lake (I think it’s the Univision Spanish channel there), I’m not sure quite how that all works but during the breaks I watch all these commercials intended for the Latin population in Utah!! They actually always make me really homesick, which is something I never thought a Wells Fargo commercial could do.

WWF thriving in Guatemala

So here in Guatemala professional wrestling is huge! It’s kind of the cool thing for the teenage boys to wear these black WWF t-shirts with their favorite wrestler on it. So besides learning a lot about indigenous literature I’ve also been able to get caught up on the latest happenings in the WWF. In fact in case anyone was wondering The Edge defeated Battista for the heavyweight title last Saturday night (I watched it with my little brothers, it was pretty amazing…). In the WWF there’s this wrestler named The Great Kali, he’s like 7 feet tall and he doesn’t speak English very well. So somehow the neighborhood kids made the comparison with me; which makes sense, I’m taller than everyone here and I don’t speak K’iche very well. So my new nickname is “El Gran Kali!” and all the kids cheer me on when I go down the street, it’s been a really interesting experience for me, so don’t be surprised if I show up at the Airport in August wearing all WWF attire…
Or if I body slam Pace during a barbecue or something. Oh which reminds me, Pace we need to go out to visit the Terribilini’s when I get back, I would like to challenge you to a showdown on the floating trampoline! I’m just letting you know now so that you can start training, you’re going to need it.

Too Many Jessicas!

So it turns out that Rachel, my girlfriend, and I both have little sisters named Jessica. This has caused many misunderstandings, and awkward situations (e.g. When Bro. Terribillini read my sister’s comments and was wondering why Jessica, his daughter, was telling me that she loved me). Therefore I have devised a solution to the problem, we rename both of them. We just need some suggestions on possible names for each one any suggestions? Please keep suggested names under six syllables.

Sweet Dance Moves

Sweet New Website
So check is this internet address www.mccullochs.info/blog/mcvideos, it has these sweet dance videos (e.g. terribilini girls)! I’ve been watching a lot lately so that I can… learn the dance moves. Oh and the dancers look pretty good too, don’t you think Pace?

Important Announcement:

Well today it happened again and this time I wasn’t asleep! That’s right this blog has additional validity because it is written by an earthquake survivor (Has Mcblog gone through any earthquakes? Didn’t think so)! Today at approximately 3:24 in the afternoon I was walking down the street to buy a some bread, the glazed kind with little sugar crystals sprinkled on top from the bakery; when suddenly I noticed the telephone wires shaking, I also heard what sounded like wind, yet I felt no breeze (dramatic pause); that’s when I realized I was experiencing an earthquake! Not to worry though! I didn’t panic because I realized I was in the safest spot possible (In the middle of the street away from any large buildings, or dangerous animals). Ok, perhaps this sounds a little too much like Dwight Schrute (a little over dramatic), but it was sweet! When I realized what was happening I stopped and just felt the ground bounce up and down. I’m going to check the newspaper tomorrow to see how severe it was! So yeah, I feel much cooler. I think now I can relate much better to Lindsey and Andy who lived through, experienced, excuse me, survived hurricane Katrina, you’re just never the same after you’ve overcome a natural disaster (spoken while staring off into the distance).
Ha ha! now I’m sounding like Micheal Scott, oh man I really miss The Office.

Does anyone know anything about BYU and UVSC track teams?

So it turns out my little brother is kind of a track star. He ran on the Guatemalan youth national team and was the champion for Central America in the 3k, he’s 16 now and his fastest time for the 3k is 8:45, he also runs the 5k but it’s not his best event his best time is 15:35. That seems really fast to me, Rachel you should find out what the times are for UVSC, and BYU track members who run the 3k, I’m just curious.

June 13, 2007

I have never been more tempted to be a vegan than this morning when I was served cow feet for breakfast. As I tried to eat them, I was reminded of this book I once read from a hari krishna I met in Mexico no less (In case you don't know they don't eat cows because they believe that they are reincarnations of humans), and surprisingly the teachings in that book seemed considerably more appealing! Speaking of food I made breakfast for my family last week, here's the journal entry in case you were interested on how it turned out.

Wednesday June 6, 2007
Today I woke up early in the morning and prepared breakfast for my family! It was pretty exciting! I started by mixing up some Oatmeal. After that I made the batter for the Pancakes. Finally I cut up the potatoes for the hash browns and got cooking. It was a little different using a wood stove, but I got used to it. My family was really excited to watch me juggle all three dishes at about the same time. I first served them a dish of oatmeal, they really liked it. I think they really liked the fact that I served it with milk because they don’t eat milk very often (I’ve never eaten it with my family, surprisingly enough I think it’s a luxury item around here). Then I whipped up a bunch of hash browns for everyone. They weren’t quite sure how to react to them and most everyone used their hands to eat it instead of their spoons (we don’t have forks). They liked all the food up to this point (or at least that’s what they told me), but judging by their facial expressions I think they really loved the pancakes. Maple Syrup is super expensive here so I served them with strawberry jam. I felt bad when that the batter ran out so quickly but everyone got to try some and they were very excited!
After finishing the father told me repeated times, “if we were to eat like this for 15 days we would soon be like Matt (Matt is another student here who’s a little more heavy set; my family has given him the nickname “baaq,” which is k’iche for skinny!). After breakfast I went to play basketball with the oldest of my little brothers Xuan, and Luis Miguel. It’s pretty fun playing basketball here because the locals really like it but they’re not real good and they’re much more impressed with my moves than most people back home. I’m feeling really good right now about this whole experience; it’s just a good time away for me. I’m really learning to value what I have, including economic possibilities, family, and educational opportunities. I’m also able to spend a good amount of time reading some really good books and to think very deeply about what I am reading and how it concerns these people that I am interacting with each day. I am also being able to give the deep thought which my Honors thesis requires. All of this I can accomplish without feeling rushed or pressured to do, it’s like a study vacation abroad! I love it; I just wish Rachel was here, of course if that was the case I would not get too much studying done!

“Men do less than they ought unless they do all they can.” –Thomas Carlyle

June 8, 2007
So this morning there was a small earthquake here! Unfortunately I was asleep when it happened so I missed it!! I was really bummed out when I found out I missed it, hopefully there will be another one when I’m awake, a small one of course just so that I can tell people what it’s like to be in an earthquake and then its cool. You see Jason is like my mentor and he taught me how to talk about things so that people think you’re really cool. The conversation goes something like this:

Me (when anyone in the conversation brings up anything even remotely similar to an earthquake): Oh yeah, earthquakes feel really weird, I remember when I was in one it was kind of scary.
Other person: You were in an earthquake!?
Me: Oh yeah! I don’t know if I told you that, but I was in Guatemala for the summer and anyways there was an earthquake, it was crazy.
Other person: Oh wow that’s amazing!
Me (really humble): oh yeah well it’s not really that big of a deal, I mean I guess they only happen to people like once in a lifetime, but whatever, I guess I was just lucky like that!

I’ve seen Jason use this formula a 1000 different times talking about anything he thinks is cool. The key he’s shown me is in a phrase like, “Oh I don’t know if you knew this… but etc…” If you can’t think of any cool thing that’s happened to you can always just use the default phrase, “I don’t know if you knew this but I’m kind of a big deal… People know me.” And if you use the two in conjunction, the combination is deadly! Sorry Jason I don’t mean to be telling your secrets I just wanted to increase the traffic to my blog and I know that this is a sure way to do it!

23 The number of separate indigenous languages spoken in Guatemala
1,000,000 The approximate number of K’iche speakers worldwide
25 BYU football’s preseason ranking according to the Sporting News
7.56 The number of Quetzals that equal 1 dollar
7 The amount of money in dollars my little brother earns for a days work
as a tuktuk driver (A Tuk Tuk is a little three wheeler motorcycle taxi
thing)
1 The number of times I’ve bathed in the last week (It’s not my fault mom
I just have to wait until my family uses the tuj that’s the only chance I
get!)
1.28 The amount of money, in dollars, it costs for a huge 72 pack of Can o
Can’s (The Guatemalan version of Oreo)
67 The number of days till I come home (Rachel I don’t know if your busy
but could you come pick me up from the airport?)

Making a Difference

Tuesday June 5, 2007
Ok so a few announcements, first I think that I’ll be coming home a week early this summer… It’s the reunion, I can’t miss it, yeah I really want to be back for that, and there may be a few other reasons, motives, explanations, raison d’être, people, friends, a girl. But yeah the point is I’m coming home seven days early... Well, actually that’s the only announcement I have.
I appreciate all the responses on stuff I can do to help the people out down here. My favorite suggestion was from Robert who offered to donate his truck and have Jessica drive it down the Pan-American highway to donate to the community. Robert I am fully supportive of that idea, I think that it would be a great experience for Jessica! And because it might be a little dangerous she should probably take Rachel with her, and a gun. So there you go, Jess and Rach I’ll be waiting for you guys within the next week (Rachel it might be a good idea to borrow your dad’s Tom Tom. (Mom, a Tom Tom is a GPS device like what Grandpa and Grandma have in their car)).
In the meantime I have been flossing with my lil’ brothers everyday, I’m trying to think of ways to motivate them, but so far have only thought to offer them gum for each day they do it and tell them that if they floss girls will like them more because their breath won’t stink. Both of them have stains already on their teeth, and their only 11, and 8. I don’t know if a tooth stains like that can be removed or if some people are just more predisposed to that (Mom, Brother Terribilini do you know anything about that?). I also will be going to a High School here every Thursday to teach English, I’m really excited for that and I start next week. I’ll still think of other ways and as always I’m very much open to suggestions.
In thinking about helping to make a difference, I’ve reflected a lot on a few conversations I’ve had recently, most notably with a few European students who are here working in an orphanage, and my buddy Dave Lindes a Latin American studies major. One problem that Latin America has is that even the people who dedicate their lives to studying it look down on it. When you tell someone you are majoring in Eastern European studies, people think something like, “oh wow, that’s cool, they have a rich culture, great fine arts etc…” There’s a respect, and honor given to the people and place. However when you tell someone you’re majoring in Latin American studies they think something like, “Oh those poor people you’re going to go help them lift themselves up by their bootstraps, and make quilts for them etc…” While this is a noble thought it is also demeaning to the people you “want to help,” and it presupposes that you are so much better than they are, which is kind of prideful. It turns out that a lot of teenagers in Europe take a one to two year break after High School to be able to travel to some part of the world, but they don’t go thinking they are going to go save the world, rather they go with the mentality that they may have things that other countries don’t have but that there are also many things that they can learn from other countries. It’s an attitude which is slightly different than many Americans and it is more respectful of the people they are going to live with. Now there are many things that I think are really wrong with the majority of Europe’s mind set, (don’t get me started on Euro-trash tourists, or socialism), but I like that idea of people travelling with this mindset, it puts the traveler and the native on a more even plain, in which both can benefit from the reciprocity of the interaction, rather than the conception of the benevolent traveler coming and granting a gift to the poor downtrodden native. After all part of teaching a man to fish is giving him the self confidence to stand on his own, and go out and catch those fish! So yeah sorry if that was overly philosophical, but it’s important.
That’s all I’ve got for now. I like my family here a lot, tomorrow I’m cooking breakfast! My family has never eaten Hash Browns before, and my youngest brothers have never had Pancakes, or Oatmeal! I’m pretty excited we’ll see how it goes! Good luck with everything and as my good friend Stephan likes to say “The Church is true and the book is blue!” ha ha ha! I love that quote! Much love and I’ll see y’all later.

p.s. (Jessica [my sister, although this could probably apply to the other Jessica as well] my oldest brother Xuan Carlos wants to marry you… That’s not going to be a problem is it? Ok great!)

Jessica (my sister) don't read this

May 30, 2007

Well, we have an etymologist in our group here and she’s really interested in all the different bugs here. It’s been really nice because she’s been able to help all of us deal with the different problems that all the different insects can present, like fleas (I’ve had much better luck with fleas than some of the others here in the group). But one thing that she told us to do is to try and leave spiders alone that we find in our rooms because they will protect us from the bugs which are more likely to cause us problems. So there’s two spiders that live in my room and I tried to have a new attitude towards them, so I allowed them to live in my room on the condition that they keep all the kissing bugs, fleas, bed bugs, mosquitos, and other small animals which like to suck my blood under control, and I’m glad to say that they have been very good tenets, and my bug bites have been few and far between; it’s totally a win-win situation, they get food, and I don’t get bitten!, I like to think of them as my arachnid allies. Here’s a picture of the one, the other one’s a little camera shy so we’ll have to see about that picture later.

Bad News

So as everyone is aware my article was published last week in the Daily Universe, well today I went to Google and searched my name to find the article and see if it was the first thing to pop up. Well, turns out there’s a criminal in Arizona whose name also happens to be Dustin Draper, needless to say I was appalled! This imposter is hogging all the potential fame I could be getting each time Dustin Draper is typed into Google! So I need each of you to type my name into google and go click on my news article. I figure that if each one of us does this five times… a day, then I will shortly be on top. In fact why don’t each of you just set my article link as your homepage! Yes that way every time you get on the internet you can join the effort to depose this so called “Dustin Draper.” Thank you, thank you very much.

May 24, 2007

Today was a very good day for me! I really liked it in fact! I woke up really early and went to this absolutely beautiful overlook of the Lake Atitlan! We are a five minute walk from so many beautiful views of that lake, which is the largest lake in Guatemala, I would say it’s probably a little bit larger than Utah Lake? I’m not sure though, but it’s magnificent, especially surrounded by so many volcanoes.
I came back extremely tired. I tried to work on the reading I wanted to get done for the day but everything seemed to take much longer than normal just because I had woken up so early (I woke up at five). I did get to go to the internet and check out a few things, like the letter that Rachel’s mother wrote me!!!!!! It was such a good letter, she thanked me for the “best thank you note I (Jean) have ever read!” Ha ha! Eat it Pace!! Even so, I was still a little bummed out because my Jazz are down two games to none to the Spurs. So I tried to work all day long but everything just took way too long! Then I was going through my papers and I realized that there were two more books that I forgot to bring with me!! It’s so annoying! This realization lead me to start thinking about the prudence of coming all the way to this country way out of my way to do some type of study I’m not even sure about. “Oh man, maybe I just shouldn’t have come here,” I thought. Similar thoughts ensued such as, “Why couldn’t you just graduate the normal easy way like all the other students? What about all your friends who are making all this money this summer doing who knows what?” I think everything was intensified by how much I miss Rachel. Nevertheless I made myself just continue to work, and stay as focused as I could.
Later in the afternoon my little brothers came home, Omar, and Sergio. I noticed that our mom was hauling these jugs of water from down the street to our house because we ran out of water, so I went to help her out, and Sergio followed. Carrying so much water was really good for me, the exercise refreshed me. Then after that I bought some cookies and I came home and told my lil’ brothers that if they would brush their teeth twice a day and floss every day I would give them a treat (today I gave them cookies, but from now on, it’s sugar free gum). That was really good! They were really excited, except that they still don’t really know what flossing is or how it works, but we’re going to practice everyday. So there you go mom, don’t worry about me flossing, I’m all over it. All of this while probably boring to you made things go a little better and then Miguel came home.
I had been studying my K’iche and I have this system set up where I split up my K’iche study into three segments and he was curious so I explained. He stopped me midway through my explanation to call his older son into the room, then he began the typical dad talk, “you see son, you need to …” Then he said to me, “You’re really smart.” Not wanting to mislead him I was quickly to explain, “No not really, but I’ve learned pretty well how to work hard, and that’s what has helped me the most.” So from here our conversation ended up being a inquiry session on my philosophy in life, which sounded a lot like a missionary discussion. I extemporaneously explained the way I did things, I told him that I still have a long way to go but I try to be humble, pray for God’s help in everything I do, and then work, work, work. It was funny because less than an hour before I pitied what I considered my own sad state was and now here I was an upstart motivational speaker! I don’t think what I said was anything overly profound but while explaining it I started realizing why it was such a good idea to come here. This family has such good children but they are so poor, I think the mother is illiterate, and I know the father didn’t make it past the third grade. This is a good place where I am, and I feel like what I’m doing here really does matter!.

Sweet new anouncement!

Hey I don't know if any of you checked out the daily universe lately but they published an article I wrote to the Daily Universe last thursday!! Oh you don't get the daily universe well you can probably just google me and it will pop up, or go to byunewsnet.com

Act Local Think Global

Well last fall I took a Developmental Economics class last fall, and now here I am living with the people who the class was focused on. It’s funny but everything I learned in that class kind of takes on a different meaning being here with this family. It’s no longer some abstract calculus equation to be derived, but it’s the reality that the great majority of humanity deals with each day. The family is so curious about all the “amazing” technological things that I have. My computer that has always been too slow for me, my camera cell phone that I always complain about not having all the features I wish it had, and my camera, the one that I settled on because I couldn’t afford more megapixels. I kind of wish I could hide it all from everyone here, and maybe it would have been better had I left everything behind. I feel bad about ever complaining about everything I ever had. I have never seen a family living in such humble circumstances than this family of whom I am now apart of. A four room home to house a mother, father, and four sons, no shower just a tuj, which is a primitive kind of sauna, and a latrine is what they have here in their home. The father commented to me yesterday that he has never driven before and he would like to learn how. Wow, I feel really guilty.
Why is it that by crossing a small strip of land we call the border and we are opened up to so many more opportunities to earn so much more economically? It’s almost immoral that we are born into so much more and we work so little for what we have while people here have to work their whole life just to get by, is it that we understand how to use capitalism to our advantage? Is it that the economic rules we have set up function better? Is it the repressive effects of Globalization? Or perhaps that Protestant work ethic? I’ve always been interested in economic development in third world countries but I think being in these circumstances brings new gravity to the subject.
Therefore, yesterday I began to think about what way I could make a meaningful contribution to this family and to the community, a way to reciprocate the help that they are giving me with my studies and research. I don’t want to just throw money at the issue to ease my conscience I want to give something which will actually help the people out. I tried to remember all I had learned in Macyntire’s Developmental Economics class. The problem is that when you closely study the history of Economic Development you are faced with so many failed attempts to help third world countries, sprinkled with a few treasured successes, the German and Japanese Miracles, and a few Asian economies. I’m not sure if we have found any simple magical solution we can simply apply then add water. Maybe my contribution could be some material things, increasing the capital of the family, maybe what is needed is a development of human capital, by means of me teaching them something which would help them out. The only problem with both of these ideas is that being a young student I don’t really have the means to give what I would consider a necessary material donation, also my small amount of knowledge concerning the universe consists mostly of information revolving around literature and the humanities, hardly anything which would help this family or the community in the way I would like to. I guess I’m still not sure, any suggestions? (dj_draper05@yahoo.com), one thing that I realize though is how meaningless all the material things we have are. There is a beauty in the simplicity of life here that escapes most of American society. This family is happy, and they are not always thinking about the fastest way they can get ahead in life, they don’t have a lot but they enjoy each day and they enjoy each other, and that is something to be admired, something I need to learn how to do better, because it’s really not that easy and my experience tells me it takes work, the art of being happy, I guess in the end that’s what we’re all about. Well that’s all I’ve got for now I hope you enjoyed. Next step, listen to Jack Johnson, Gone.

May 22, Santa Clara de la Laguna

Well here's my first entry from Guatemala I hope you enjoy:

Guatemala is such a beautiful country. Yesterday I made it to the little village where I will be staying. It was a beautiful experience coming here! This place is enchanted! The road which comes to the town winds through these steep canyon walls. The mountains are covered in many different types of trees. It reminds me of Jurassic Park, its beautiful! I know that I was impressed with Xela last week, but Santa Clara where I live surpasses all previous impressions I have had of Guatemala. I’m not sure exactly what it is about this place. It isn’t only the land itself but also the people, I have never seen a more humble people, the town seems almost untouched by foreigners. When we walk through the streets, this is very much apparent; everyone stares at us as if we were aliens. The people are not completely cut off from visitors from other countries since the village is located off a road which connects the Pan American Highway with the Lake Atitlan and the pacific coast in western Guatemala. I doubt I will soon forget how it was I felt coming and meeting my family. Miguel is my father and I have four brothers! Ha! What I always wanted brothers! And the family really treats me like family. They were very emphatic insisting that I was their brother, when I asked the father how many children he had, he said, “I had four, now I have five!” My mother is a sweet little K’iche woman who doesn’t know any Spanish any better than many Americans know Spanish (A few words here and there is all, plus words k'iche has borrowed from spanish)! K’iche is the primary language spoken here, although there are people who also speak Caqchikel, and Tzutujil. There is a little river which separates Santa Clara from Santa Maria La Visitacion where there are three other BYU students.
There aren’t any missionaries nearby, which surprises me because the church could easily have a decent branch or two in these communities and within a few years a chapel as well! I don’t know though maybe we’re going to be laying some groundwork here in our studies. Although we are strictly prohibited from preaching or anything, people are certainly going to find out that we’re LDS, which may be very beneficial when the missionaries do come. Quick comment on Guatemala and religion, there are a lot of Evangelical Churches here! Much different from Mexico, in Mexico it seemed like there were about the same amount of Evangelicals, Mormons, and JW’s; however, in Guatemala there are a lot more Evangelical churches although they are small, there is also a large LDS population here and JW’s? I still haven’t seen any, interesting.
Ok so I’m writing this on my laptop in my room, there aren’t any lights in this room and the only light that I have is from my computer, and a bug just crawled across my computer which kind of makes me feel uneasy (We've heard some pretty gross stories about bugs here) so I’ll make sure to put on plenty of repellant before I go to bed. My dad Miguel is going to get a light put in here this week which will be really nice. My family is so cool, my brothers are 8, 11, 14, and 16 years old. They are so cool! Everything in this home is so simple, it’s humbling to see but I think there is a beauty to it that escapes American society. Next to the home is a Corn Mill that Miguel owns. It’s a simple operation but it brings in enough money for the family to get by. The second oldest son drives around a “tuk tuk,” which is like this three wheeled covered motorcycle it's way cool, they’re used as taxis here. This brings in a little extra income for the family and he’s still able to fit in school. The mom takes care of the house and cooks and helps when she’s needed in the Mill. Also we don’t have a shower! Which might get really annoying later! Instead this family like many others in the community use a “tuj” I won’t explain anything more than saying that it’s a simple type of sauna (look it up online if you want to know anything else). I still haven’t used it yet but I will tomorrow, as well as twice a week for the duration of the next three months! I think this will give me a new appreciation for showers! We also just have a little wood burning stove to cook food on! It’s great, wood-fired meals taste good! Especially wood fired tortillas! I kind of feel like I’m going to be camping out the next three months, which sounds like fun, right? I hope it works out alright!
The people here are very curious to see these white people in their communities. They are very surprised when they see us walking down the street and even more surprised when we say, “Xeq’ij,” good afternoon in K’iche. I love it here! I know it’s not going to be easy living here and that there are going to be challenges but I think that this will be an experience unlike any I have ever had before and something which few people unfortunately never do! In America we sometimes think that we are so superior to people in other countries and cultures that we think of any travel abroad as a service we do for those people we visit as if we are there to grace another country with our presence while recognizing how much superior our own country, our own paradigm, and our own way of life is. Oh how shortsighted this self conception is. We, yes us great Americans have so much to learn from our brothers here in Guatemala and in all sorts of other places around the world. If only we would broaden our perspective a little more and if only we could see ourselves as members of a greater international family. We like to say God Bless America, but why can’t we sometimes say, “God Bless the World!”