The Eyes of Hunger

As I get ready to return to Guatemala, these are some of the children I will see and relate to. I will actually look in their eyes, not just see them from these pictures. They are real people suffering the real pain of not enough to eat. I need your help to help them. Please look in their eyes and see if they are telling you to help. I know when I see them again, that is what they will say to me.
Below are a couple of news articles on hunger and Guatemala.
To help you can push the donate button or write me at 20.vicki@gmail.com for an address to send a check. 100% goes to these and other children. We still need more sponsors for our mama/tot program. $20 a month for a year feeds and gives supplements to one mama and her infant and toddler children.





2011 to Bring a Hungrier Latin America
David Schreiner
January 7, 2011


Image by tpmartins.
A slew of natural disasters and climbing global food prices in 2010 have experts worried about the threats to food security 2011 could bring to Latin America. Fears of this kind are not new to the region, but one of the worst years for natural disasters in decades has made food security a more immediate concern for the many millions of people across Latin America vulnerable to variations in supplies of basic foods.

In the Western Hemisphere, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, and Venezuela top the list of countries confronting food scarcity problems. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that over the past 20 years more than one-fifth of both Bolivia’s and Guatemala’s population has suffered from undernourishment. In Haiti, more than half go with less food than they should, and exacerbating this problem are Haitian rice farmers, now leaving crops unharvested in areas thought to be effected by the recent cholera outbreak, despite efforts to educate growers about ensuring a safe harvest.

Meanwhile, the 2010 la niña climactic cycle brought heavy rains to Central America as well as Colombia and Venezuela, destroying crops and damaging agricultural infrastructure. This aggravated the food shortage in Guatemala, and flooding in Colombia and Venezuela created a shortage of rice and some vegetable products. With heavy la niña rains expected to continue into 2011, experts warn that acute food insecurity will increase in 2011, especially in Guatemala.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) held a seminar in November 2010 on rural poverty and climate change. It concluded that rural populations in tropical regions “are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change on agriculture.” A meeting on rural and agricultural development held in conjunction with the COP 16 in Cancun found that: “There is no climate security without food security and no food security without climate security.” However, a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggests that the share of Latin Americans suffering from food insecurity is getting smaller. To continue improving food supplies, the paper argues, international coordination must help the poorest countries increase crop yields. A stronger export sector, argues a similar report, will help prop up food supplies, as could responsible compensatory social policies.

Learn More:

HERE IS ANOTHER ARTICLE. THE MAYANS ARE THE PEOPLE WE HELP

Guatemala Food Security Outlook October 2010 through March 2011
Source: Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET)

Date: 30 Dec 2010

Full_Report (pdf* format - 342.8 Kbytes)

Key Messages

• Currently, the poorest households in the country's highlands suffer moderate food insecurity due to the spread of the annual lean season, as well as the consequences of this year's heavy rainy season. Poor households in the rest of the country suffer moderate insecurity, as some still depend on external help to fill their food requirements, after the impact of the heavy rains received during these last months.

• Levels of acute food insecurity in households located in the highlands will be moderate during the last quarter of the year, as they depend on external help to compensate a harvest 30 percent below normal and damages caused by the rainy season. This assistance will not be enough to cover food needs between January and March, so they will suffer high acute food insecurity.

• The poorest households in the east and in the coasts will face moderate food insecurity during the entire period of this outlook. A smaller first harvest in September/October, and with important losses during the second harvest in December, will considerably reduce their stocks. The start of the highest demand season for unskilled labor will improve their income, but they will still be insufficient to fill their food needs. They will depend on external assistance.

• Hurricane season ends in November, so there is still the possibility of a cyclonic event affecting the country.
Full_Report (pdf* format - 342.8 Kbytes)
(*) Get Adobe Acrobat Viewer (free) With the exception of public UN sources, reproduction or redistribution of the above text, in whole, part or in any form, requires the prior consent of the original source. The opinions expressed in the documents carried by this site are those of the authors and are not necessarily shared by UN OCHA or ReliefWeb.
Print E-mail Save Share
See all maps for this Emergency
By Emergency:
Hurricane Richard - Oct 2010
Tropical Storm Matthew - Sep 2010
By Country:
Guatemala
By Source:
Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET)
By Type:
Situation Reports

Advisories