Cultures are so varied throughout
the world in so many aspects but one huge variable that changes drastically is
girls’ place in society and how they function with each other. On November 11th
The Mighty Fingers Facing Change team arrived in Quetzaltenango Guatemala to
get the project started. Throughout the four-day project I had the opportunity to
ask them questions about friendships in their country. Based on their
responses, Guatemala has many customs that seemed relatively relatable as a teenage
girl from the US. They also had a few that seemed very foreign. The questions
that were asked to each girl were:
1. What
do you and your friends like to do for fun?
2. How
do you choose who to be friends with?
3. When
girls have relationship problems/friendship difficulties/drama in your
country, what is it most often
about?
When a fifteen-year-old girl was asked,
“what do you and your friends do for fun?” she said that most everyone smokes
and drinks as teenagers. Smoking and drinking is illegal under the age of 18 in
Guatemala but the use of both is popular among minors.
“I try to
stay into good things, because many kids smoke and things like that.” The girl
said. The “good things” she was referring to was mainly education. Children
tend to have less of an opportunity to go to school in parts of Guatemala
because of the high child labor rate. Many young girls are working full time as
waitresses or selling goods on the streets to help support their families.
Something like this makes going to school nearly impossible.
In regard to the question
“how do you choose who to be friends with?” a girl
Said, “I see how they dress because
I don’t like girls who dress too crazy.” As simple as a piece of clothing may
seem it is used as a determining factor for friendships in many parts of the
world. Generally girls who spend less time on their appearance have less
friends. Even though many girls use appearance as their tool to choose friends
in Guatemala there are many who also just want to be friends based on personality
and similarities.
One
girl said, “I see how they act and express themselves.” When people grow up
this seems to be the more common way to choose friends, so some girls are just
one step ahead.
The
third question was, “When girls have relationship problems/friendship
difficulties/drama in your country, what is it most often about?” Many girls
agreed that the largest disagreement among Guatemalan youth girls was
determining the “leader” of their group. Much of their culture is built on
dominance. One person in each circle of the community must be at the top of
their group.
“When girls get in arguments it is
usually because one is jealous.” A girl explained. Girls get jealous of the
leader of their circle and will often try to rise above her. There is a quiet
but constant battle among friends as they all try to be the best.
Dominance, jealousy, friendships and
struggle are all key factors in all communities, it’s just the way we handle
these things that set us apart from each other. Studying these different
cultures is incredibly interesting to me and I am excited to see more.
No comments:
Post a Comment