Are There Alternatives to Migration?

Flower production project in Guatemala

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By Adriana Koehn, Connecting Peoples Coordinator, MCC Guatemala. Here she reflects on the “Alternatives to Migration Learning Tour” of MCC workers, Board Members, and constituents, Oct 1-13, 2012 in Guatemala and Mexico.

About one million Guatemalans currently work in the US, and thousands cross Mexico each year in an attempt to do the same. They send home between 1-2 Billion dollars each year to their families.

Is it possible to find alternatives to such a complex issue as migration?  As the immigration debate continues in North America and thousands of Latin American migrants continue to find their way there, the need for local, healthy, and sustainable alternatives becomes increasingly important.

When visiting projects in San Marcos, Guatemala, where small community cooperatives are producing trout and growing flowers, one starts to get a glimpse as to what these alternatives could look like.  There is work to be done and hope in doing it: story after story shared about how things have changed in the communities and how husbands and fathers are no longer forced to leave their homes in order to provide for their families.  It’s encouraging and inspiring, and makes us feel like we are doing good work here.

Yet, at the same time there are feelings of frustration, even anger, at the inequality and exploitation that we see.  The conflict between privilege and poverty and the overwhelming complexity of all these issues leaves us, as people from the US and Canada, feeling inadequate and ultimately, responsible.

Learning Tour participants visit the Shelter of the Good Shepard for migrants who are injured riding on the tops of trains in Mexico.

This, in short, is what the Alternatives to Migration Learning Tour participants were struggling with in their final debriefing held last month – an overwhelming mix of complicated emotions, thoughts, and unanswered questions that are a common part of these experiences – and the part that I believe, marks us to the point that we cannot forget, leaving us responsible to act.  That action of course will take many different paths, and it itself will most likely lead us to more questions:  “How can we know that a “real difference” is being made?  How does change actually occur?” 

Realistically, we may never have the answers to all of these questions, but the importance of asking them and working to find solutions cannot be overlooked.  In the end, one might just find that the solution lies in a few fish ponds and rose gardens in the rugged mountains of San Marcos.