LIFE IN SAN JUAN LA LAGUNA
- Jul 19
- 2 min read
Sunday, July 19
Today's Journey
Today the team will travel by lancha to the nearby community of San Juan La Laguna. They will hike to the Mirador Kaqasiiwaan for a view of Lake Atitlán, tour the community's murals, watch the local Ajpopab' Tz'utujil team practice the traditional Maya ball game, and visit an artists' cooperative featuring the work of 26 painters in the costumbrista style.
Why This Matters
Today's journey offers an opportunity to experience the history, traditions, and creativity of the Tz'utujil Maya community.
The murals, traditional Maya ball game, and artists' cooperative each tell part of the community's story, preserving cultural identity and passing it from one generation to the next. By taking time to learn from these expressions of community life, our team is reminded that mission begins with respect for the people, history, and traditions that make each place unique.
Today's meditation also reflects on the realities many Guatemalans face, including poverty, educational barriers, and the resilience of Indigenous communities. It invites us to see every person we meet with "generous, neighborly eyes" and to "listen with our hearts and speak with our hands."
Reflection
Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
Guatemala is one of the 36 countries that account for 90 percent of stunting in the world. The chronic malnutrition rate for children under 5 is 49.8 percent, the highest in the region and the sixth highest in the world. Chronic malnutrition in indigenous areas is 69.5 percent. Fifty-three percent of the population lives in poverty, and 13 percent in extreme poverty. The most vulnerable groups are indigenous women, girls and boys living in the highlands and the “dry corridor” (a semi-arid zone in northern Guatemala with periods of droughts, degraded soils and low agricultural yields).
Threats to Food Security
• Climate Change, recurring floods, and drought
• Difficult access to food and safe water
• Subsistence farming
• Chronic deprivation of the socially vulnerable
• Low sanitation levels
• Low education levels
Almost half the population cannot afford the cost of the basic food basket. As a result, the prevalence of stunting (impaired development due to malnutrition) in children under 5 is one of the highest in the world – and the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean.
A multi-ethnic country with a rich cultural heritage, Guatemala is a country where poverty affects people disproportionately in terms of food insecurity, nutrition, health and education.
Guatemala is among the ten countries in the world most vulnerable to disasters and climate emergencies: over the past three years, extended dry seasons have had a severely damaging impact on the livelihoods of subsistence farmers, who rely on rain-fed agriculture – especially in the Dry Corridor (a tropical dry forest region on the Pacific Coast of Central America).
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