Posted on 03/21/2017 11:57:28 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Brightly painted murals on high walls look down on the foreign tourists, NGO volunteers and Guatemalan nationals seated around heavy wooden outdoor tables at the Café Red Kat in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala's second largest city. On the face of it, Red Kat is just one more restaurant in the historic center of this growing metropolis. But in reality, this establishment — a restaurant and cultural center — is a social experiment in sustainable economic development created by Guatemalan migrants returned from the United States.
The idea for this unique café originated eight years ago when a group of homesick Guatemalan immigrants living in the United States got together in a park in Central Park to talk about coming home, and to dream about not having to leave.
"We have the right to dream," says one of these immigrants, Willie Barreno, who had left Guatemala as a former guerrilla fighter, and who co-founded the organization that began Café Red Kat. "Everyone wants to go up to the U.S.A., thinking they can find an American Dream," he says. "We were there. And now we're back. We want to tell the people here, especially the young people — stay. Stay and realize your Guatemalan Dream. Our Guatemalan Dream."
More than 50,000 Guatemalans have been deported back to their country from the United States in each of the last two years, and as the Trump administration tightens up immigration regulations, many in Guatemala expect many more deportations. The migrants at Café Red Kat say their project and those like them need more resources to meet the growing need for re-integrating those being returned to Central America.
"Guatemalans are good workers, " says Ubaldo Ramirez, "but we need to be "consistente para seguir adelante" — we need steady support to keep moving forward."
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Illegal aliens going back home...
Its a good thing...
“Stay and realize your Guatemalan Dream”
PLEASE!
So much Trump winning!! This is just what people should do, stay legal in their own countries and pursue their dreams there. Then IF they still want to come to the USA and can do so legally to make contributions here, fine. Otherwise, stay legal at home and do something worthwhile with your lives.
Muy bueno
Imagine that - Guatemalans can actually succeed and prosper in their OWN country??
Sorry, Democrats, Its sad to hear it, but they won’t become your new welfare-state customers and Democrat voters....
Some of America’s greatest export ..are its ideas.
...”but we need to be “consistente para seguir adelante” — we need steady support to keep moving forward.”
They didn’t learn much from American entrepreneurialism. Nobody “gives” you support. You take a risk, work hard & sometimes succeed, sometimes fail. But it’s up to YOU.
HALLELUJAH!!!!!
They finally figured out that they can improve their own countries.
Please God, let the idea catch.
There are lots of Guatemalans in this area - one that has done yard work for me several times over the years (Mario, he’s legal) has two sons (anchor babies) that have both dropped out of high school (no GED, either) and are also doing landscaping (poorly, since one broke my weedburner). Not exactly what most second generation immigrants aspire to, if you ask me. Mario owns three rental houses in Guatemala, by the way.
Good they can go back and take their 19 year old 9th grader rapists along with them
This is a very comforting read and I’m very happy for these people...I hope they make good use of all the construction and landscaping skills they learnt here...
I think that when some of these people have been here long enough, they can see what is possible, and return with new ideas and a new mindset. I believe that reseeding their countries with the knowhow of how to succeed will help lift and prosper their countries. Deportation may seem horrible for some, but I think in the long run it can be a blessing to their homelands.
This is great news!
PFPOFL (Ping for posting on Facebook later)
Best wishes to them in making Guatemala a better place for themselves and their compatriots.
“-—— seated around heavy wooden outdoor tables at the Café Red Kat in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second largest city”
Quetzaltenango has a lot of language schools where Spanish is taught to people from other nations.
.
When President Trump said “Make America Great Again,” apparently he was referring to the entire hemisphere.
That's right! You're Guatemalan ... stay there and Make Guatemala Great Again. Your mission, should you choose to accept it (and you apparently have), is to make Guatemala a great place to BE, not a great place to be FROM. You do that, and we all win.
Guatemalan Dream, El Salvadoran Dream, Honduran Dream, Mexican Dream.
As long as you do your dreaming in your own country.
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