December 2020, Newsletter
Dear Friends and Donors,
2020 began as planned. By March, GHA was finishing it’s 47th house construction and was supporting the education of 50 students, from primary grades and into university. Then Covid hit. Transportation within Guatemala came to a halt, materials for building could not be obtained, classes became remote, and we had to roll with the new reality. Quarantining was much more strict there than in the US, which may account for Guatemala’s dramatically lower rates of infection. That said, there have been cases and deaths in the communities we serve. Our Social Worker, Cecilia Batz Bizarro, herself was weeks in recovery. The toll from work loss on families has been daunting. Remittances from ‘away’ abruptly tumbled. September saw some openings, but without tourism much of the economy is still on hold. Transportation has begun to move, but the cost of a fare is 2 to 3 times what it was previously while at the same time wages have dropped.
line up for GHA provisions
Malnutrition in Guatemala, already the most pervasive in Latin America, has more than doubled during the pandemic.
We are fortunate to have an incredible team steering GHA, our Director Madai Yojcom and Social Worker Cecy. In April they switched their efforts to humanitarian aid and addressing food insecurity in their own hometowns of San Juan and San Pedro, since traveling to even adjacent communities was prohibited. All told, they delivered 1340 bundles of food, each to sustain a family of 4 for 2 weeks. In doing so, they generated income for the local farmers. The community garden GHA helped create pre-covid became bountiful at just the right time. We are proud that with their keen understanding of the local communities, our staff was able to guide 2 other great international nonprofits, Water4Life and Global Pediatric Alliance, in delivering their aid where most needed.
The Community garden in Pasajquim
mentoring
With the schools closed, the 11 university students sponsored by GHA were able to continue their studies remotely. So, too, some of the kids in upper grades. But the younger kids, without internet and with mostly illiterate parents, have really struggled and lost ground. As soon as the country began to reopen, and even as schools remained closed, GHA hired mentors and began tutoring these kids 2 hours twice a week each to help them get up to speed.
We have also restarted workshops with the incredibly motivated moms of our sponsored students. They choose to learn to make soap, a hot commodity during covid times and also a product that they hope will generate income when tourism resumes.
October 7th brought another unforeseen disaster in the form of a massive boulder that rolled nearly a km down the steep, rain-soaked side of Lago de Atitlan`s caldera and into the town of San Marcos. 4 members of one family died, 10 homes were destroyed and 200 families were evacuated from their homes for fear of more rocks letting loose. Our team evaluated the needs of those families and again applied itself to humanitarian aid, this time in the form of providing clothing for families who were displaced or lost everything. Credit also goes to the many local volunteers that Madai has been able to rally to help with both the clothing and food distributions. She really makes our outreach a community empowering effort.
GHA’s super team: Social Worker Cecy on Left, and Director Madai
As GHA moves into 2021, we expect to continue shifting our focus increasingly towards Education, supporting more students and their families in ways that will impact future generations. GHA is able to serve these communities only because of our generous donors. We thank you.
As always, the founding family pays all overhead costs so donations directly support our programs.
GHA is a 501c3 nonprofit
guatemala housing alliancePO Box 131Bow, WA 98232