At a glance: Guatemala
Newsline
Fighting chronic malnutrition among impoverished children in Guatemala
SANTA LUCIA, Guatemala, 18 February 2009 – Santa Sebastiana Aguilar Pacheco understands the pain of hunger all too well. The 45-year-old woman lives with her elderly mother, husband and two children in a small house with a dirt floor. She earns her livelihood by raising rabbits and cleaning houses, taking home the equivalent of $1 dollar per day.
Preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Guatemala
ANTIGUA, Guatemala, 5 February 2009 – Odaliz Canrey is 19 and pregnant with her first child. Thanks to UNICEF, she’s getting tested for HIV. Although Guatemala has low HIV prevalence – less than 1 per cent of the adult population – Odaliz wants to be sure of her status.
Protecting girls from sexual exploitation in Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, 25 November 2008 – On the dark streets of the capital city of Guatemala, away from the main thoroughfares, young girls as sell their bodies for money. In hundreds of bars, brothels and hotels across the city, an estimated 2,000 children are being sexually exploited and the law has been doing little to protect them.
As severe floods engulf Central America, children are some of the worst affected
NEW YORK, USA, 29 October 2008 – Severe flooding caused by heavy rains during the past two weeks continues to engulf Central America, leaving dozens of people dead and affecting 410,000 – 70 per cent of them in Honduras.
Early education makes learning fun for indigenous children in Guatemala
QUICHE, Guatemala, 1 October 2007 – The classroom in the nursery school at Salquil Grande, one of 20 such schools located in the Ixil indigenous area of Quiché, is warmly decorated with bright colours, plenty of toys, drawings and bilingual posters in both the Ixil and Spanish languages. More important, it is filled with smiling children.
Women’s group fights malnutrition with knowledge in San Pablo La Laguna
SOLOLÁ, Guatemala, 18 September 2007 – In the small villages that dot the shores of Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan, there are few sources of income. The mostly indigenous population suffers from high levels of poverty, with women and children often stricken with poor health and chronic malnutrition as a result.
Youths find an alternative to gang violence in Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, 10 September 2007 – One of the main things most people know from news reports about Guatemala City is that it’s violent, that people are robbed by gangs, that murder is rampant.
Bilingual-intercultural education aims to keep indigenous girls and boys in school
PANAJACHEL, Guatemala, 29 August 2007 – Here on the shores of Guatemala’s beautiful Lake Atitlan, a group of educators, organizers and young people gathered earlier this month for the Forum on Bilingual-Intercultural Education.
‘Mirame’ book launch shines a light on challenges facing indigenous girls in Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala 22 August 2007 – Dora Alonzo, 15, was wearing a beautiful, hand-woven dress in yellow, pink and blue. “We’re girls – we like to play, we like to laugh, we like to sing, we like to enjoy life,” she said last week before a gathering of people, many of them young girls like her, at the Children’s Museum in Guatemala City.
A platform for young voices in the run-up to the Guatemalan elections
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, 25 July 2007 – In September, Guatemala will hold their national elections, bringing a new president to the Central American country. The citizens are abuzz with their opinions on the various candidates. Now, one group of Guatemalans that isn’t often recognized at election time – 13 to 17 year olds – are making sure their opinions are heard as well.
Joint nutrition initiative helps Guatemala’s poorest children
EL LIMAR, Guatemala, June 2006 – When her two severely undernourished daughters fell gravely ill, María Ángela Esquivel was forced to take them from her home to the Nutritional Recovery Centre in Jocotán – a three-mile journey through mountain trails – to save them from death.
Bettering children’s lives devastated by Hurricane Stan
NEW YORK, 12 October 2005 – UNICEF and partners are mobilizing international support to help the half a million children and their families across Central America and Mexico who have been made homeless by Hurricane Stan – the worst disaster ever to impact the region.
Nearly half a million displaced in flood-stricken Central America and Mexico – at least a third are children.
NEW YORK, 10 October, 2005 – Nearly half a million people have been displaced in flood-stricken Central America and Mexico – at least a third are children. The severe flooding and mudslides, brought on by Hurricane Stan’s heavy rainfall, continue to affect countries throughout Central America, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
