Coronavirus pandemic robs Guatemalan youth of jobs, education and food
WFP cash transfers lighten the burden for the families of 100 young people in rehabilitation programme
Written by Alejandra Samayoa
(*Names have been changed for privacy and security reasons)
In Guatemala, no one is safe from the effects of coronavirus — and young people are no exception. On top of the health risks it poses, the pandemic is taking away their opportunities to get an education and to find jobs to support their families.
Things are particularly difficult for young people living in poverty or extreme poverty in so-called ‘red zones’ containing criminal gangs, or in remote communities, as they try to rebuild their lives after crime and in the face of poverty through social rehabilitation programmes.
Given their heightened vulnerability, the World Food Programme (WFP) is providing assistance to 100 people aged 13 to 23 who have been in trouble with the law and are currently subject to supervision, and those who have just completed their sentences. Each has received two cash transfers of US$75.
Ruth Guevara, a social worker with the Presidency’s Social Welfare Department — WFP’s partner in this initiative — says the transfers are helping people’s rehabilitation and resocialization.
“We know this is helping stop them from breaking the law again,” he says. “We know sometimes the reason for a crime is the lack of economic resources, the need of an income. All participants responded positively and are following instructions. Seeing their photos with the food they were able to buy was a great satisfaction.”
Isabel Rocío, 17, lives with her mother, sister, grandfather, uncle, nephews and nieces in San Miguel Petapa, just outside Guatemala City. “I had found a job to help my mother out, but when this [the pandemic] all started, I did not get the call,” she explains. “My grandad used to sell stuff on the streets but he can no longer go out. Now I am at home, helping my mother with the housework.”
Knowing she was going to receive cash was a great relief for Isabel Rocío. “There were so many things we did not have money to buy,” she says. “This helped greatly: we could buy food, and gas to cook it.”
According to Guevara, most of the younger recipients of the assistance did not work but had been about to enrol in school. Of the older ones, some had odd jobs on building sites, in bakeries, picking fruit on farms or loading and offloading trucks.
Gabriel is 19 and lives in the village of Nuevo San Carlos, in Quetzaltenango department, five hours away from the capital. He lives with his mum and five siblings, four of whom are under 18.
Gabriel used to work as a farm hand and was also enrolled in a literacy programme. The pandemic put a stop to it all. “It is very difficult to find any job,” Gabriel says. “We thank God this money came as we could buy food and stuff for the house.”
The first cash transfer in June allowed young men and women like Gabriel and Isabel Rocío to face the crisis and lockdown, and to ease their return to family life.
Part of the process was ensuring the youths had all the necessary paperwork before they went to the bank to receive the transfer. Not all had internet access since it is expensive, so had to borrow phones to send in their documents. Some parents with mobile phones had to learn about WhatsApp to communicate and send papers.
“I was very happy to be part of this process because these youths live in extreme poverty, in houses made of metal sheets with earth floors,” says social worker Herlinda Gálvez Villatoro from Coatepeque. Her caseload includes 44 youths from rural communities in the departments of San Marcos, Quetzaltenango and Retalhuleu, in southwestern Guatemala.
“This assistance allowed their families breathe a sigh of relief as they could put food on the table every day.”
