Here are some updates from the BBC, Guatemala Human Rights Watch and Rights Action. These highlight the need to recapitalize the agricultural sector in the Highlands.

GUATEMALA FACES HUNGER 'TIMEBOMB'
[Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4426240.stm. 2005/11/10]

Parts of Guatemala are facing a starvation "timebomb" in the aftermath of Hurricane Stan, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. Hundreds of people were buried by landslides after a week of intense rains in early October. But Trevor Rowe of the WFP says there are fears even more may die from malnutrition unless they get help soon. "We suspect that by the end of the year most people's food will have run out," he says. "We're talking about subsistence farmers, who live a hand-to-mouth existence."

AID SHORTAGE

Many farmers had lost many or all of their crops, or even lost their land altogether, he told the BBC News website. "There's concern they will be facing a severe hunger crisis" if international aid is not forthcoming, he added. The WFP has launched an appeal for $14.1m (£8m) to help feed 285,000 people over a six-month period. Mr Rowe said only $4.5m had been raised so far, from three countries: the US ($3.5m), Norway and Switzerland. "The severity of the hurricane hasn't been fully grasped yet," he said. "Compared to Hurricane Mitch [in 1998], the impact on Guatemala is much worse."

ANOTHER NIGER?

He said even before Stan arrived, Guatemala had chronic child malnutrition of 50%, with 80% in some areas. "The bottom line is that these people will not be in a position to cope by the end of the year. "Without the necessary food aid to help them these people are severely vulnerable. "What we want is to avoid what happened in Niger," he said, referring to the famine in West Africa that was predicted by the WFP and others, but only got international attention and donations when pictures of starving victims appeared on TV in July, when it was too late for many. The situation in Guatemala, he says, "is a timebomb waiting to go off... the fuse is lit".
===

[News as summarized by the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, www.ghrc-usa.org]

COMMUNITIES REMAIN WITHOUT AID

Although President Óscar Berger has declared an end to the emergency, communities throughout Guatemala continue to face the devastating effects of Tropical Storm Stan without government or international aid. "Nobody has come to see us here, not even the mayor or the media - nobody," said Abelardo Robledo Diaz, of Nueva Esperanza, San Marcos.
In Palo Blanco and Independencia, Ocós, San Marcos residents are still in dire need of clothes, provisions, heath care, and medicine. A group of volunteers who visited the area reported that children and adults have respiratory infections, fungus, and diarrhea. Local government officials have reported a severe shortage of clean water.
As of October 25, the National Coordinating Committee for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) counted 669 dead, 844 disappeared, 1,158 communities affected, and over 9,000 houses destroyed. . . .

CONRED'S WEAKNESSES EXPOSED

Experts and officials have criticized the National Coordinating Committee for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) for an inadequate warning system, a lack of prevention, and poor organization in confronting Tropical Storm Stan. Critics say CONRED failed to learn the lessons from Hurricane Mitch in 1998 that could have prevented the high mortality rate of Stan. . . . Sergio Cabañas, former undersecretary of CONRED, said that the communities themselves have been better organized than the emergency response organizations. "The aid flows only when . . . the population takes charge of the distribution. CONRED is only prepared for the emergency," he said.

LAND OCCUPATIONS AND PROTESTS EXPECTED

A study by the Secretary of Strategic Analysis (SAE) and the Ministry of the Interior predicts social unrest in the areas affected by Tropical Storm Stan, in the form of protests, roadblocks, and land occupations. They expect people to protest high gas prices and inadequate aid. The Guatemalan army has fifteen vehicles patrolling the highways and fifteen watch stations in order to maintain order in affected areas. . . .

EXHUMATIONS PLANNED IN PANABAJ

The Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG) plans to exhume the bodies buried in Panabaj, Sololá in a mudslide caused by Tropical Storm Stan on October 5. José Soasnávar, a forensic anthropology expert, maintained that the bodies could not stay where they were because families need to identify their relatives and give them a proper burial. The exhumations will allow the relatives to move through one stage of the grief. The anthropologists' have promoted the plan as a response to the families who have approached them, asking for help to recover the bodies of their loved ones. Soasnávar explained that exhumations do not present a health risk, according to the Pan-American Health Organization manual on the treatment of bodies in a disaster. On October 17, community members in Cua, San Marcos, asked Human Rights Procurator Sergio Morales to intervene so that the area would not be declared a mass cemetery.

POOREST MUNICIPALITIES WERE HARDEST HIT

Forty-one municipalities in the southwestern region identified by the Programming and Planning Secretariat (SEGEPLAN) as priorities in addressing extreme poverty are also among those most affected by Tropical Storm Stan. Hugo Beteta, head of SEGEPLAN, said a comparison of the maps of poverty and the areas affected by Stan reveals that most of the municipalities with the greatest vulnerability to hunger are also those hardest hit by Stan. In the departments of San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, and Sololá the percentage of people living in poverty ranges from seventy-eight to ninety-nine percent in some areas.


How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.
- George Washington Carver

from the Highland Support Project, Guatemala:

Hurricane Stan recovery report

Dear Friends,

Thanks again to everyone who has offered their prayers, good wishes, and helping hands to HSP during this busy time, as we work with our communities in Guatemala to respond to the devastation caused by Hurricane Stan, while continuing our transforming work with our women’s circles.

Several of you have sent emails in recent weeks expressing an interest in volunteering, and you have asked many questions about trip dates, collecting supplies, financial needs, etc. In an attempt to address your concerns and questions, we are sending you this update of our current response to Hurricane Stan, including our current needs:

• Financial Support:

Our greatest need continues to be for financial support. We are in desperate need for major contributions to our newly-established microlending fund to help the Maya people recapitalize their agriculture production, i.e. help cover lost investments and produce new crops, all of which were destroyed by Hurricane Stan. For example, those of you who worked in Chuicavioc will remember the beautiful flower crops, which are that community’s major source of income. All of the flowers were destroyed by the hurricane, and the women need immediate assistance to help plant new flowers. This will take time, and it will also take money, which they do not have since the sale of their flowers is what they rely on for income. The same can be said of vegetable crops, which provide both food and income to all of the communities with which we work.

In addition to accepting contributions to our microlending fund for agriculture recapitalization, we are also accepting donations for a tree fund to continue our reforestation project, the importance of which was made more apparent by the devastation from landslides caused by Hurricane Stan. The tree fund provides income to one of our women’s circles who collects and cares for old tree samples. It also provides income for the women who do the planting. This is both putting money into the local economy and helping to solve the environmental problem of deforestation, which is the root cause of landslides, contaminated water, and many other serious problems.

You may send your contributions to: Highland Support Project, P.O. Box 7185, Richmond, VA 23221. Please specify in the memo line of your check if you would like your contribution to go towards a specific project. If you do not specify how you would like the money spent, we will use it in the area of greatest need.

• Construction Teams:

We will be sending construction teams to Guatemala in January, February and March, leaving on the second Saturday of the month and returning on the third Saturday. We will be building homes for 56 families who lost their homes. If you would like to join one of these teams, please contact us and let us know which dates you are available.

• Stove Building and Reforestation Teams:

For over ten years HSP has been taking teams to the Guatemalan highlands to build stoves and plant trees. We will continue this important work, working directly with our women’s circles, and we will be taking teams down from January through the summer 2006. If your church or organization would like to form a team (10 or more people), or if you would like to join an existing team, please contact us and let us know which dates you are available.

• Supplies:

We will continue to accept vitamins, medicine, blankets and yarn to distribute to those affected by Hurricane Stan through Friday, November 25. You may bring any items you have collected to AlterNatives (our sister store in Richmond’s Cary Town), 3320 West Cary Street, 804-342-5886, anytime during working hours: Mon.-Sat. 10-6:00, Sun. 12-5:00.

• Scarves and Bags:

We hope to have scarves and bags, handmade by our Maya women’s circles, ready to sell in Virginia by the end of November. If you would like to have some of these items to sell at your church or organization, please let us know. Include the number that you think you can sell. We will contact you when they arrive.


Thank you again for your interest, your patience, and your support. We look forward to hearing from you again, and hope to work with you in the near future.

Sincerely,

Anita Mays
Program and Office Manager
Highland Support Project
P.O. Box 7185
Richmond, VA 23221
804.643.8635

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.

- George Washington Carver

Costa Rica News

Recently we were blessed at the UMVIM office to have a visit from Wil and Yolanda Bailey, coordinators for Costa Rica Mission Projects of the Methodist Church in Costa Rica.

They have been doing an outstanding job of receiving teams in the beautiful country of Costa Rica, and the feedback we have been getting from teams that have worked with them has been outstanding.

Their priority project for the coming year is the Methodist Camp K37, in the south of the country. The property has fallen into disrepair, and needs major renovation and construction. It will serve as a connecting point for the Methodist churches of the area as well as a camp for youth and spiritual retreats.

You can learn more about their work with the Christians of
Costa Rica at
http://www.costaricamissionprojects.com
/pages/1/index.htm
or email Wil at wil@costaricamissionprojects.com