Welcome to My House :
Indigenous village San Antonio Palopó sits on the steep banks of Lake Atitlan, the nation’s popular tourist destination located at 40 miles east of Guatemala City. United Nations reports that 80 % of indigenous population in Guatemala are living in poverty, compare to 40 % in the non-indigenous population in the nation.
Poverty plagues many
indigenous with low level of living condition. Average houses are made
of cane, mud and tin sheeting and the floor is dirt. Many lack of access
to clean water, sanitation facilities, stoves as well as necessary
furniture such as bed and mattress.
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Josue, 13, sleeps in the corner of kitchen with his young brother in the small bed made with cement for legs and wood for the board without mattress. Josue appears to be slow in mental development, however his parents have not been able to seek medical attention for him.
The family was badly affected by the storm Agatha in 2010. The father Francisco has been having dificulties to find a job and secure money for food and necessary as most of the field that he used to work was washed by the storm. A madslide filled the house with mad and took out their patio during the storm. Although the house is in dangerous location, the family has no other place to relocate.
His parents did not have the opportunity to go to school and both don’t know how to read and write. Thirty-five-year old mother of Josue is currently expecting her 5th child.
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Three years old Wendy Lucrecia, left, and two years old Roxana, sleep on a straw mat on the dirt floor with their parents in one-room home made of cane and mad. Although their father, Fernando, 21, works as a day labor and earn $20 a week, and Juana, 20, works at home weaving to sell, their income is not enough for all costs. After paying necessities, including $10 rent per months and electricity, the family often does not have enough food to eat.
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Gustavo Angel lives in a one-room house with hismother. As the father of Gustavohas another family, he does not provide any help to Gustavo and his motherManuela. Twenty eight years old Manuela works with handcrafts and earns $6per week but her income does not enough to cover their expenses. The house the two live in is a part ofManuela’s brother’s property. There is no electricity and the two sleep on theplastic sheet on the dirt floor.
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The family of Edger Antonio, 4, lost their home in the devastating mudslides during Agatha in 2010 and currently lives in a small one-room home made of wooden boards with aluminum roof and dirt floor.
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Maria Cristina:
Three years old Maria Cristina, middle, shares one bed with her parents and her 3 siblings.
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Francisca Perez in the 7 x 6 square feet kitchen where she cooks with an open fire on the ground. Eye and other health problems caused by the smoke out of open are not uncommon in Guatemala. Francisca, mother of 4, did not have the opportunity to go to the school and only speak Katchequel.
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