There is a severe humanitarian crisis going on in regions of Guatemala. As I understand it, this has been largely caused by poor corn and bean yields in the annual crops. While to folks like me, commodity products greatly impact product costs and the like, this shows what they mean in human terms when poor crop and weather luck hits sustinence rural, agricultural communities. In the US, corn is running high of historical norms but well below the all-time highs seen last year, when a strong market caused product to be "less available" for some. It's running around $3.25 a bushel to be exact. I wonder how we could get some of it to Guatemala...
And please, let's keep this thread not adoption-related...
For the story: http://www.namnewsnetwork.org/v2/read.php?id=92239
Posted by Kevin at August 25, 2009 07:09 PMWondering if anyone knows any orginizations in these areas that are mentioned where we could send donations to? This is so sad.
Mary
Kevin,
Thanks for making us aware of this crisis. Do you know of any Humanitarian Aid Group that we could possibly contact in order to support the effort to help?
It just reminds me of post hurricane calls to action.
Posted by: Ana01 at August 26, 2009 07:11 AMPrensa Libre has posted several articles about malnourished children over the past couple of weeks. . . it is a heartbreaking situation. In some of these communities, less than 10% of their crops came in. The articles state that the Guate gov is going to distribute food / provide relief, but I have no idea if it is enough or if it will happen quickly enough. This is a heartbreaking situation.
Posted by: Krystal at August 26, 2009 08:13 AMHow about Unicef - maybe they could help - NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Chrissy at August 26, 2009 11:31 AMCFCA (www.cfcausa.org) or Christian Foundation for Children and Aging works throughout Guatemala and around the world. Though primarily a sponsorship program, it does have a special Food Assistance Fund. CFCA is a fantastic and effective organization and consistently gets the highest marks (from Charity Navigator) for it's fiscal responsibility and performance. Just one route that could be considered.
Posted by: Lilian at August 26, 2009 02:27 PMThe crisis has spread to other areas, including 3883 small villages in red alert and 195 in orange alert, affecting 3400 families in:
El Progresso
Zacapa
Chiquimulla
Jalapa
Jutiapa
Santa Rosa
Baja Verapaz
Please see title television coverage:
SEQUÍA Y CRISIS ALIMENTARIA EN EL PAIS
(Drought and Malnourishment crisis
in the country)
Link: http://www.telediario.com.gt/index.php?id=191&id_seccion=187&id_noticia=12651
Posted by: marie at August 26, 2009 02:39 PMYeah, where the heck is UNICEF now?
Posted by: Diana at August 26, 2009 10:05 PMHere is a link from The Atlantic to an August 26 article and video about the current food/malnutrition crisis.
When we visited my daughter's family this summer, I suspected that her brothers and sisters children were suffering from malnutrition. After watching the video, I know I was right.
Posted by: Elizabeth S. at August 27, 2009 10:09 AMMayan Families (www.mayanfamilies.org) provides assistance to families in the Lake Atitlan area. They are a wonderful group and can take donations to help families in that area
Posted by: sjbj at August 27, 2009 11:11 PMOrphans are affected too by the food crisis, if you want to support the orphans check out orphanresources.org Our family lives in Guatemala and have seen the work that this organization is doing in Guate, it is great.
Posted by: jane at August 30, 2009 08:52 PMThrough our NGO Water for the Americas, I've been working with several Rotary Clubs in Guatemala - those in Chiquimula and Gualan most recently - and there are numerous others in the the country, including the areas most affected by the food crisis. One way to help would be to get in touch with your local RC and try to have them work through the RCs in Guatemala. We've done water projects through the Guatemalan RCs and have seen 100% of our funds go toward the projects! I raised the idea today with a friend in the Chiquimula club and I can post an update when I hear back from them after they discuss what they could do with cash donated from here.
Posted by: Keith Thompson at September 4, 2009 04:34 PMThe food crisis in Guatemala made CNN world news today.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/09/09/guatemala.calamity/index.html
Posted by: Mary Ann at September 9, 2009 11:12 PMI work for a fertilizer company that has donated fertilizer and agronomy expertise in the past year or two to farmers in Guatemala with the help of an organization called HELPS International, this is the post on our company website:
http://www.mosaicco.com//where_we_give.htm
To reach HELPS International:
www.helpsintl.org
UNICEF is trying to send relief.
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/guatemala_31420.html
Posted by: Tonya at October 4, 2009 10:44 PM