Guatemala has one of the highest poverty rates in the world, primarily due to its unequal distribution of wealth. The wealthiest 10% own nearly 50% of the national wealth and the poorest 10% own less than 1% of the national wealth. Approximately 60% of the population between 6 and 18 years live in extreme poverty (Ezine Mark Study, 2018). Services, such as health and education, are not reaching the poorest and most in need.
Many of the Q’eqchi populations live mostly in remote villages in mountain jungles and forests in the Alta Verapaz region. We work in 210 villages in which 92% of the population is living in extreme poverty and extreme malnutrition. Infant and maternal mortality are common.
When their region’s coffee industry collapsed in the early 2000s, most highland Q’eqchi’ people were left with subsistence farming of corn as their only source of food. Many illnesses and fatalities could be quite easily prevented, but in the often-inaccessible mountainous villages, nutrition, health services, and basic education are scarce to non-existent.