“Ours is a world of extremes. The poorest 40 percent of the world population- the 2.5 billion people who live on less than $2 a day- account for five percent of global income, while the richest 10 percent account for 54 percent. Never before has the goal of abolishing poverty been within our reach: there are no longer any insurmountable technical, resource or logistical obstacles to achieving it. Yet, more than 800 million people suffer from hunger and malnutrition, 1.1. billion people do not have access to clean drinking water and, every hour, 1,200 children die from preventable diseases.”

(United Nations Development Report 2006)

Guatemala is a country of over 13 million inhabitants, with an estimated 75 percent living in poverty. An astonishing 24.3 percent of the population of Guatemala lives below US $2.00 a day. With no education and little economic opportunity, the impoverished people of Guatemala struggle to provide for the basic needs of their families.

As families experience poverty and the associated outcomes, such as malnutrition, the family becomes more likely to seek resources outside of their community. Hunger, malnutrition, and other economic hardships cause thousands of immigrants from Guatemala to enter the United States “illegally” every year in hope to secure a better life for themselves, and provide a better future for their families.

The Guatemalan Project offers these families an opportunity to stay together in their home country, and find success through education and small loans.