Guatemala - Facts

Guatemala – Fast Facts

Food For The Poor has 47 projects either completed or underway in Guatemala. In addition, Goods In Kind container shipments to Guatemala include food, medicine, general healthcare items, and educational supplies. Key areas of focus are:

Providing safe, sturdy housing to the poor has been a priority. To date, 1,671 housing units have been built and 25 more are now under construction.
Food For The Poor sponsors four Angels Of Hope orphanages in Guatemala.
Due to rich and varied culture and environmental conditions, animal husbandry projects are also very successful. These projects assist men, women and children who now have new opportunities in these self-sustainable projects.
The tilapia projects have been very successful, resulting in a total of 30 in-ground ponds and 24 10-foot diameter concrete pools. Ten more ponds and 12 pools are under construction.
Various projects provide women with both immediate help and training to create a better future. These women learn new ways of earning income, as well as improving their quality of life and self-esteem. Women are taught to become dressmakers, bakers, handicraft designers and learn many other vocational skills.
Soy production factories are an innovative project designed to diminish malnutrition in remote areas where there are no other viable sources of nutrition. FFP will provide soy mills, with their respective stainless steel pots and burners, a solar water heater and soy grains so the beneficiaries can process the raw product and convert it into a source of natural protein. There are now 20 factories in full production.
The Chuilajú water development program in the Quetzaltenango area has helped more than 30 families that live on the mountain at an altitude of 8,000 feet above sea level. These families were without water and had to walk down the mountain for hours in the early morning to access municipal water sources in the city below. They would then carry back the water in containers on their heads up the steep and rocky mountain paths, sometimes in nearly freezing temperatures. After several trips down and up the mountain, they would then go down to the city garbage dump to work collecting recyclable items. Many no longer have to do this because they are able to earn a living by doing laundry.

Main projects and their categories:

Women’s Development

Orphanages

Feeding Centers

Animal Husbandry

Housing

Community Development

Corazon de Jesus Vocational Center
La Cienega Community Development
Santa Maria Community Center

Water Development

Education

Medical

Agriculture