As we adapt to life with COVID-19 in Guatemala, we continue to advance our work fighting for women’s rights and supporting our partner communities. Thank you all for your support during this time.

Over the last month, we distributed 1,100 food packages across our partner communities who are still sheltering in place as the pandemic continues to affect Guatemala. With the help of our fantastic local staff and Community Advocates, we carefully distributed essential food and household items to families who are in precarious economic situations and need them most. The food packages feed a family of five for approximately one month. With your help, we were also able to distribute 4,500 masks, further protecting the health and safety of our partner communities. Thank you to all of our supporters who bought masks through our partnership with Humans in Action (click here to learn more).

In addition to the food packages and mask donations, WJI has partnered with other NGOs and community radios to broadcast information in the local Kaqchikel language about the virus, health promotion, and our new hotline for survivors of violence. We are also piloting longer-form radio programs that provide more detailed information about  violence against women and the increased risk that women face during the pandemic.

Due to COVID-related economic insecurity and the current lockdown, rates of violence against women and girls (VAWG) are expected to increase. In response, WJI is providing free legal and psychological counseling over the phone, ensuring that our support for survivors of violence can continue while our office remains closed.

If you would like to directly support WJI and our COVID relief work, you can do so here.

Finally, our thoughts are with all of you in the US. Just as WJI works to dismantle systems of racial oppression in Guatemala, WJI stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States with a shared belief that we must all take action to combat unjust institutions that have caused so much harm.