“We thank the donors of the people of the United States who supported us for a few months. Here the families were happy. ”

Jorge Ordoñes (JO)

The community of Las Tunas is located in San Pedro Jocopilas, Quiché. It is located south of the department and belongs to the dry corridor of the country. For several years, its inhabitants are suffering the consequences of climate change. 2019 has been particularly dry, according to Florencia Azañón (FA), a 66-year-old grandmother, who has seen how it is increasingly difficult to harvest the corn and beans that feed the families of the community.

“This year, the truth is that there was no water. We don't have much corn; He didn't give enough… The beans want enough water, but since there is no water now, we are scrubbed, because there has not been enough harvest ”(FA).

Jorge Ordoñez, a father of three minors, says that the families planted in the first months of the year, hoping that when the rainy season arrived their crops would give them enough to survive the rest of 2019, but the rain never It arrived and most of the crops were lost.

“Those who sowed in March achieved, perhaps, 35 or 40% of their crops. As we sowed in April, the most we achieved was 10 or 5%. Some lost everything, not even the seed could be recovered ”(JO).

Without the expected production, families need money to be able to buy the food that the soil did not grant them, but there are also no jobs to generate the required income. Sometimes, the people of the community manage to go to work in a plot of another municipality, but it is not the most frequent.

“They pay 40 quetzales a day, but know how often they get their work day. It is not daily ”(FA).

The lack of jobs in the town forces residents to look for opportunities outside. Some are going to live in the capital, others to neighboring municipalities and, most families, move for a few months to other departments, to be employed in the cutting of cane and coffee.

“Here we are all farmers and since it didn't rain, there is nowhere to go to work… There are people who emigrate to cut coffee. They go to the coast, right? to make a living to support the family. ”

“There is no corn anymore, you don't have  anything to eat anymore. Then, they go out there just to win some food. They hold a few months, earn some money to continue living ”(JO).

Upon realizing the situation in which the community was, the PRYSA Program, of Save The Children, opened a humanitarian aid fund to collaborate with 47 families for 8 months. The support consisted of transferring 470 quetzals to each family, with children, who were in a situation of vulnerability.

Doña Florencia was one of the beneficiaries. His family is made up of 9 people; her husband, her son, her daughter, her daughter-in-law and her grandchildren. The cash transfers they received served to buy fruits, vegetables, incaparin (soy and corn drink, vitamin), oatmeal, rice, meat, etc.

"Previously we did not have that ability to buy that, because there is no work and no money" (JO).

Accompanied by financial support, families received training to optimize resources and make healthy recipes that help them to nourish themselves better, with the products that are within their reach.

“You learned a lot, right? Chipilin-style tamalitos were prepared, with carrots ... These are things that one has at hand and does not know how to prepare ”(JO).

The beneficiaries also participated in training activities associated with household hygiene and water and food treatment to prevent diseases.

“There the program contributed a lot, because not only that we have no ratatouille and we did not boil our agüita; children get sick, it gives them a stomachache. At the end of where does the resource come from? It's complicated. So, they are simple and simple questions, but one has to do it ”(JO).

According to Don Jorge, the training was not limited solely to the care of the home, but the families were trained to cope with the crises caused by droughts. So they taught courses to:

• prepare compost,

• make ditches to collect water,

• develop strategies for soil moisture conservation,

• learn techniques to prepare pesticides, fungicides, etc.

The work methodology was that the Save the Children technicians trained a team of promoters, members of the same community, who organized groups to replicate the workshops with the rest of the families. In addition, accompaniment was offered for planting other varieties of beans and corn (which are more adapted to dry climates), in 5 demonstration plots.

Another action that was implemented, to palliate the effects of the crisis, was economic and technical support so that families could install a small poultry farm. They received a transfer to buy 6 chicks, as well as sheet and mesh for a 4X3 meter pen, with 4 divisions. They were also trained to vaccinate birds and to install feeders and drinking troughs.

“First they are chicks, then they are going to be chickens and roosters right? In the end there will be eggs and meat, that's the idea ”(JO).