Thoughts from Cuernavaca

Catholic New Times, June 6, 2004 by Leah Ko, Dennis Cho, Sonya Silva

The minimum wage in Mexico is $5.85 a day. Ontario's minimum wage is $7.15 per hour. In Ontario, you may be working at a retail store or fast food place or a summer camp, earning the minimum wage or more. In Mexico you could be working twelve-hour days !n harsh conditions earning barely enough to put meals on the table.

We Canadian students were given a day's wage and asked to go to the market and purchase staple ingredients for a single meal. The money was barely enough to buy beans, onions, milk, cooking oil and tortillas.

Although it was possible to buy the ingredients for one simple meal, food is not the only expenditure straining the household budget. A child's education is another challenge which confronts Mexicans. Tuition is free but a child must buy all the other necessities like books, materials, uniform and shoes.

Work which sustains a family is not the only obstacle parents must confront in providing for their children. Clean water is difficult to come by in Mexico. Drinking water is far from universally available and in many places the water is contaminated. Many rural Mexicans rely on the rainy season to replenish their cisterns and hope the water will last throughout the dry season.

It was obvious to us that the living conditions in Mexico fall far below the standards we Canadians are accustomed to. We were able to speak the warmhearted people living in the squatter settlement in Cuernavaca. They readily opened their homes and gave us a glimpse of their often-difficult lives. The poverty is real and children often skip school and venture out into the streets of Cuernevaca selling trinkets to earn a peso or two. This is the reality for ten million of the 34 million children under the age of 15 in Mexico.

Why is the plight of the Mexican people so grim? Human greed is one factor. Some international corporations have contributed to Mexico's slide into poverty. Under globalization, corporations take advantage of Mexico's cheap labour force, and exploit corrupt government policies.

On the final day of our trip we visited Marymount Catholic High School, a private school for affluent Mexicans. The students entered the guarded gate and walked into a world completely different from the rest of Cuernavaca. The campus was beautifully landscaped with outdoor classrooms, topnotch athletic facilities and a stunning courtyard with a decorative fountain and pool.

This is often the tourist's vision of Mexico. Many students at Marymount seem to share this same illusion. They don't know a place like La Estacion exists within their own city. They live sheltered lives in prosperity and have very little understanding of the realities of the poor in their own country. The students a t Marymount can be considered our counterparts-"First World" children living in a "Third World" country.

As equals we can ask ourselves, how much do we actually know about the plight of the poor in Canada?

Leah Ko, Dennis Cho and Sonya Silva are students at John Paul 11 high school in Toronto, who spent time in Cuernavaca.