Family and faith – the central pillars of society in Mexico

Felix Wittig, head of communications at Ungleich Besser Diversity Consulting, is experiencing the world’s diversity for himself during a six-month around-the-world sabbatical. Every month, he shares his experiences with EMEA Diversity readers. Mexico. Our six-month adventure begins. After a long flight and even longer security checks, we finally leave the Mexico City airport and hurl ourselves into the traffic-congested, 20 million strong urban jungle. You won’t find any traffic rules here. Two exceptions: “the first one there” and bigger cars have the right of way. Despite the chaos on the streets, police officers wielding bats and shrill whistles and wearing strange uniforms are an integral part of the landscape. They have the impossible job of controlling the traffic of a town that is in danger of drowning in a jumble of fumes and metal at every second – but something must be working because everyone reaches their destination.
The Mestize (descendants of Indians and Spanish) are the largest ethnic group in Mexico. So we were surprised by the number of billboards with European models smiling at us. The wealth of a particular district can be estimated by glancing at its inhabitants’ skin colour. An European look is considered to be exceptionally pretty and is seen as a sign of good descent. That’s why Mexicans of Spanish-origin dominate government and economy in this country.
From Mexico City, we headed towards the Indian village of Benito Juarez, which is situated in the mountains at an altitude of 3000 metres. The inhabitants gave us a warm welcome, warm food and a warm rooms where we could rest. The priest even stopped his catholic sermon in the small and provisory church to welcome us as friends. The gathered Indigenas nodded and smiled. They earn a living by doing fieldwork in a very outdated manner with hardly any working tools: skinny oxen plough the field; old women carry the harvest back to the village on their bent backs. But despite these hardships, we felt a big deal of human warmth. Only a couple of words in Spanish were enough to allow us greater contact with the people and an insight into their lives. Social differences are big; we found glaring poverty just outside the big tourist centres. Nonetheless people welcomed us with a great load of humanity. Faith is their central foundation and life focus. 95 per cent of the Mexican population is strictly Catholic. That’s why we find many well conserved and beautiful churches.
We now leave behind the first stop on our trip. Mexico presented itself as a colourful and multifaceted country where family and faith are central pillars uplifting the society. From Mexico, we head towards our next stop: Bolivia.