Where we work Guatemala Sample Clauses

Where we work Guatemala. ‌ Bordered by Mexico, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala is a Central American country roughly the size of Tennessee. With a population of approximately 10 million, Guatemala has a long history and vast culture stemming from the ancient Mayan civilization and leading up to the 36-year old civil war that ended in the mid-1990s. Today, Guatemala includes a broad demographic of Latino/Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and Spanish), whites of Spanish descent, and many indigenous people, both of Mayan and non-Mayan descent. Indigenous peoples fall into more than 21 different linguistic groups, with about 32% of the indigenous population speaking only a Mayan language and no Spanish. In Calhuitz. the indigenous language is called Chu’j. You will find that many people in Calhuitz do not speak any Spanish at all. Although progress in growth and development has been made since the end of Guatemala’s civil war, the economic and health conditions in Guatemala are still lagging. There has been a dramatic increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the past decade, yet even with a GDP per capita of $5000, almost three-fourths of the population lives in poverty conditions and unemployment remains around 37%. Overall, Guatemala is one of the ten poorest countries in Latin America and is the poorest country in the Northern Hemisphere after Haiti. In terms of healthcare, Guatemala has taken major strides in the last decades, especially in vaccine coverage. But there are still many areas of concern when it comes to the health of Guatemalans. On average, fifty-eight of every 1,000 children will die before the age of five. Many of these deaths are attributable to pneumonia, intestinal infections, and malnutrition. About twenty percent of the national population lacks access to potable drinking water. The populations that are the worst off are indigenous and rural people. Calhuitz is a rural village, located high in the northern mountains of Guatemala. *All data comes from PAHO’s Guatemala Health page. Calhuitz Village, Huehuetenango, Guatemala: Global H.E.E.D. interns will be working in the village of Calhuitz, which is located in the department of Huehuetenango (departments are equivalent to states). There are roughly 1,500 inhabitants in Calhuitz, many of whom are of Mayan descent. While most people in larger cities and towns speak Spanish, many in Calhuitz speak the dialect of Chu’j and may or may not know Spanish. Calhuitz remains a remote village ...