• Send page

Guatemala: Community project mitigates impact of violence and poverty

05-06-2012 Photo gallery

Santa Isabel II, a housing project in Villanueva on the outskirts of Guatemala City, was built in the 1990s to accommodate people displaced by armed conflict. Its population quickly swelled and, as in many of the outlying projects, armed violence became a problem. Caught between violence and poverty, young people in particular lack the opportunities they need to better their lives.

  • Hip-hop class at the offices of the Guatemalan Red Cross project.
    • Hip-hop class at the offices of the Guatemalan Red Cross project. The Guatemalan Red Cross offers counselling, health workshops and fun, cultural activities. In 2011, over 1,000 young people were involved in the project in some way. To increase the young people's job opportunities, the ICRC provides funding for vocational courses. Sixty-five people are currently training as beauticians or car mechanics, and a further 120 will learn trades such as dressmaking and baking. In the following slides, we meet Moisés, Roxana and Darlyn, who are taking the course to become beauticians.
      © CICR / O. Moeckli
  • Moisés, 22, in a class for beauticians.
    • Moisés, 22, in a class for beauticians. Moisés left school at the age of 12, following a traumatic incident, and has since been living in isolation at home. “I'm scared of going out in case I'm attacked," he explains. When he turned 15, he started working and training as a cook. Hearing about the course for beauticians, he asked for a grant to be able to take part. “The course opened up doors for me,” he says. “I'd suffered for 10 years before finding the Red Cross. I hadn't spoken to anyone in years. Now, I'm in contact with people.”
      © CICR / O. Moeckli
    • Roxana, 21, is married and has a son. Her husband is unemployed so they rely on her father, who works in the United States, for support. “I'd always wanted to become a beautician as that’s what my mother used to be,” she says. “I also signed up for the course because it will help me in the long term and enable me to pay for my son's education," she adds. "What's more, I won't have to go out and risk my life to earn a living.”
      © ICRC / O. Moeckli
    • “I couldn't afford to study this year," says 15-year-old Darlyn. “So it was a blessing when the Red Cross gave me a grant to train as a beautician." She had always dreamed of becoming a beautician but thought it impossible. “I never told anyone about my ambition because courses were so expensive and my family simply didn't have the money.” The course has turned her life around. “Now I know I can make my dream come true, if I put my mind to it,” she says. “Before, I was very cut off from other people. Through the course, I've made friends and gained self-confidence."
      © ICRC / O. Moeckli
  • Darlyn habla con Soarih, psicóloga de la CRG.
    • Darlyn talks to Soarih, a psychologist from the Guatemalan Red Cross. A psychologist on the Red Cross team offers support to those who need it. Darlyn says that talking to her was a great help. “Last year, I was in a bad way,” she says. “I felt lonely and overwhelmingly sad, like an empty shell. I also had a lot of problems with my parents. The psychologist encouraged me to keep going, for the sake of my future. She helped me understand that you have to start doing things for yourself.”
      © ICRC / O. Moeckli
  • Darlyn en casa con su madre.
  • Darlyn hace manicura a un cliente.
  • Moisés con un cliente, en el salón que abrió en su casa.
  • Moisés empezó a dar clases de cocina a diez de las chicas del curso de belleza. “Primero van a hacer solo postres y pasteles. La idea es que los salgan a vender, para poder comprar el material para abrir un salón.

    Moisés has started giving cookery lessons to 10 of the girls on his beauty salon course.

    “We are just making desserts and cakes to begin with,” he says. “The idea is that they can go out and sell what they've made, earning the money they need to buy materials and open a salon. It's one of my dreams to help these girls,” he adds. “I want them to fight for their own salon!”

    When news got around that Moisés was giving cookery classes, several women from the neighbourhood asked if they could join in. He now has 20 students.

  • Moisés' father, a tailor, working in his shop.
  • Roxana out and about in Santa Isabel II.
  • Roxana at home with her son and mother
  • Roxana at home with her husband and son.

    • Related sections

    Guidelines for use