La Bendición, Guatemala

About the Community: La Bendición is a community of about 500, made up almost entirely of people of Mayan descent who were forcibly displaced from their traditional home in the highlands in the wake of Guatemala’s civil war. In the early 2000s, they settled on a ruined coffee plantation in the municipality of Escuintla in the southern part of the country.

Source of income/industry: The community is rural and isolated. The villagers have made strides in restoring the ecology of the plantation, and are raising a variety of fruits and vegetables and coffee, and also raising some livestock. They make a small income from agriculture, but most of what they raise is for local consumption.

Community hardship(s): The lack of a good commercial crop or industry. Many of the younger generation have emigrated to the U.S., and send money home; others work in Guatemala’s cities and send money home. The community has strong governance, cooperative labor, and a vision for the future, but is desperately searching for a way to provide careers, income and a stable future for its next generation. It has access to water for consumption and irrigation but it lacks funds, materials, and expertise to repair and expand its infrastructure.

Past Projects: We have made four trips to La Bendición, and we have had success in completing several small to medium-sized projects:

• The repair of a reservoir and surrounding canals that store and supply the community's water.

• The construction of an irrigation system that supplies a community garden, and helps power a community corn grinding mill.

• Ending the need for open air cooking with the construction of an enclosed community kitchen that included supplying efficient and healthy wood burning stoves. The new stoves cut wood consumption to a third of prior use, helping lessen deforestation, and reducing smoke pollution to improve the lung health of the villagers.

Impact(s) of the projects: Daily life in the village has gotten less rigorous and healthier. The new stoves reduced smoke pollution and inhalation. The improved water storage and distribution has helped expand the village’s agricultural output. The increase has helped improve the local diet in quantity and diversity, and the combination of the new kitchen and increased food supply has allowed the village to begin operating a farmer’s market.

Future project(s): We had plans to build a covered walkway from the kitchen to its water supply and construct a dining area, and continue water infrastructure repairs and expansion. However, when the COVID pandemic hit, all was put on hold including the early planning for a sewage/wastewater system.

Funding Status: Because of our past success, and because EWB-Guatemala will no longer be supporting the geographical area in which La Bendición is located, we will receive funding support and guidance from Trees, Water & People.

What's next: When travel restrictions are lifted, a timetable can be created. Best case scenario is a resumption in early 2022.