And the work begins... Community, Chiaj

The picture was literally taken from on top of a cliff. We had to climb down, cross that little plank you see there and then climb up another steep mountain to reach some of these homes.

Chiaj home.

One of the families interviewed, she has 7 children.

One of the poorest houses I whitnessed here in Chiaj. Here your can see the lack of walls, the open flame used to cook, the dirt floors, and sadly a little girl breathing in this air.

The outside of the house that was shown above.

Another example of what the kitchens look like here in Chiaj.

Starting this month I will be going around to 5 different communities around Santa Maria Chiquimula to conduct a census. The point of this census is to collect data on the living conditions in these poverty stricken communities and also to place on record where exactly these families live. The first community is called Chiaj (Chee-aah). There are about 40 families that live in this very remote part of Chiquimula. All of which are very poor. Thankfully, the municipalidad (town hall) has been gracious enough to provide transportation for myself, my counterpart and a representative from the muni that can help translate. Otherwise, we would be walking upwards of 8 hours to get to the community and back. And the sun is treacherous! It's not humid, it is just so hot. I am covered from head to toe so I don't literally bake in the sun (making sure I mention this so my mom doesn't worry). Also, to get to these houses you have to climb through the most interesting pathways... pathways carved out of the stone mountains, climbing up steep hills, walking through thick woods. It makes you wonder how these homes were built in the first place!

We still have about 8 more houses to cover and then we can start the selection process. I will be choosing 30 families in this community to give health talks once a month for close to a year to help educate them on health prevention. Ojala (God willing), I will be able to raise money for these families to build estufas mejoradas (better shoves) and the reason behind choosing only 30, not all the families want to participate and, more than 30 is too much for one person to train. Right now, with the exception of a few homes, all the families cook in an open flame inside their home. Due to this health hazard, there are a lot of respiratory illnesses especially in the young children that live within these homes and unfortunately some of these children die due to these preventable infectiones. Many of the homes we went to interview have upwards of 12 children living in a small, cramped, home made out of dirt and sheltered by laminated roofs. A lot of the children were very filthy, without shoes and were dressed in very tattered and worn-out clothes. Some of the families didn't even have bathrooms or running water.

I was very grateful to have my counterpart and the help from the muni because the people in these communities are very protected of their privacy and are very hesitant to give out information in fear that they are putting their family at risk. This past week has been a wonderful and sad experience. Knowing that in some way, small or big, I can help these families to the best of my ability and bring awareness to the poverty of Guatemala, but also the great sadness that there are people in this world that do live like this. So, I look foward to each day I can bring some sort of happiness to the poverished families of Santa Maria Chiquimula.

One community down, 4 more to go, 120 families that can be educated in health education and prevention. It puts a smile to my face :)