Photo © Irra Lipke Studios www.irralipkestudios.com for Agros International
Indigenous Guatemalans have some of the highest rates of illiteracy, infant mortality, and malnutrition in Central America. Life expectancy is short and their crime rates are high. Rural Guatemalan farmers, who are mainly Mayan, were given the least fertile land following a 36 year long civil war. Life expectancy has dropped to 63 years of age for men, and 69 years of age for women. The majority of their children will not have the chance to make it that long due to malnutrition; children in Guatemala die within their first year of life.
I am traveling to the remote Guatemalan villages in the Ixil Triangle and Jaibalito/Chichicastenango regions from July 23- August 3, 2010 with a team of citizen journalists and Salaam Garage, a humanitarian media organization. I will create stories that will demonstrate how much work the partnering NGO- Agros International has been achieving. My work will show how much Agros is empowering and improving the lives of rural Guatemalan families.
