The Image of Strength

There are few photos that capture the essence of a Guatemalan mother more than this image taken by a COTA team member.
Children of the Americas has provided hundreds of donated surgeries and thousands of clinical visits/pharmaceuticals to rural Guatemalan women since we first started bringing our annual teams to this Central American country. By supporting the health care needs of Guatemalan mothers, we are enabling them to better care for their children.
On average, a rural housewife in this part of the world spends 10-14 hours a day providing for the needs of her family. The following is an excerpt from the 2003 report issued by USAID:

While Guatemala is the most populous Central American country (11 million) and largest economy (2000 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $19 billion), its largely rural, Mayan population lives in extremely difficult conditions. Distribution of land, income and other wealth is highly skewed toward a small percentage of Guatemala's Spanish-speaking population. An estimated 57% of Guatemalans live in poverty, and the roughly five million Mayans are isolated socially, economically, and politically due to geographic and language barriers as well as the lack of educational and economic opportunities. Overall, adult literacy is estimated at 65%, but literacy among Mayan women is estimated as low as 30%. Fewer than half of rural Guatemalans have access to running water, electricity reaches only a quarter, and only 16% have access to modern sanitary facilities. Infant, child, and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in Latin America, despite decreases in recent years. These indicators reflect the country's persistent under-investment in social services and basic rural infrastructure, as well as past practices of political and socioeconomic exclusion of the indigenous population.

COTA is making a difference in these statistics, one healthy mother at a time.