Capital: Guatemala City
Area: 108,889 km²
Population: 12.3 million (July 2006)
Ethnic groups: Spanish descent, Mayan descent
Official language(s): Spanish
Religion(s): Roman Catholic, Protestant, Mayan
Currency: 1 Guatemalan quetzal = 100 centavos
SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
An earthquake hit Guatemala in February 1976. It claimed more than 20,000 lives. The indigenous town of San Juan Sacatepéquez, about 30 kilometres from the capital, Guatemala City, was almost totally destroyed. As a result, many children lost their families. This natural disaster was the reason why SOS-Kinderdorf International decided they had to act straight away. Hermann Gmeiner, the founder of the SOS Children's Villages, personally sent Luise Sinnhuber to Guatemala as the organisation's representative. Here she was to give immediate assistance to the town and to take the first steps towards the construction of an SOS Children's Village. With the remarkable help of group of local workers she was able to build an SOS Children's Village out of pre-fabricated houses in just four months. The needy children were able to find safety in a family here. In the mid 1990's, SOS Children's Village San Juan Sacatepéquez was closed down and SOS Children's Village San Cristóbal took its place. An SOS Social Centre is currently being run on the site of the former SOS Children's Village.
Guatemala's difficult socio-economic situation, brought about by the military dictatorship and years of civil war, has had particular affect on the large families and single-mothers in the country. This made the construction of further SOS Children's Village Facilities necessary over the past years.
In 2005 SOS Children’s Villages started to operate Family Strengthening Programmes, which enable children who are at risk of losing the care of their family to grow within a caring family environment. To achieve this, SOS Children’s Villages works directly with families and communities to empower them to effectively protect and care for their children, in cooperation with local authorities and other service providers.
At present there are in Guatemala five SOS Children's Villages, five SOS Youth Facilities, one SOS Vocational Training Centre and twelve SOS Social Centres.
Website of SOS Children's Villages Guatemala(available in spanish)