[Peace] update on and help for Guatemala

[Peter Rohloff]

Dear Friends and Colleagues at AWARE

It has been quite a while since I wrote to this list, but I am doing so now on a sunny afternoon in Santiago Sacatepéquez, Guatemala after a busy day of community organizing.  I would like to update you on the situation in Guatemala and to ask once again for your support. 

As you know, Wuqu’ Kawoq is a health organization that I founded while a graduate student at the University of Illinois and a member of AWARE. In fact, many AWARE members’ insights into politics, global flows of trade and violence, and progressive community organizing played a role in my own development as a physician and activist and therefore indirectly in the development of my work in Guatemala. 

Wuqu’ Kawoq is unique among Guatemalan health organizations in that our primary commitment is to the democratic process, to community-based development, and to the respect of indigenous cultures. To this date we remain the only organization in Guatemala to offer a majority of programs and services in Mayan languages rather than Spanish. 

Recently, the health situation in Guatemala has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. The global financial crisis has reached all corners of the globe, including Guatemala. This manifests as rising transportation and food costs and crushing unemployment. Practically for Wuqu’ Kawoq, with our focus on maternal and child health, this means that we are seeing an overwhelming number of starving children and seriously ill women of child-bearing years. As just one example, in each of the rural villages where we offer services, the child malnutrition rate approaches 90%. Additionally, the Ministry of Public Health’s successful outsourcing to the private sector of virtually all rural health care services means that rural Guatemalans no longer have any public sector option, however historically dysfunctional, to which to turn. 

Guatemala’s health crisis is also a crisis for us at Wuqu’ Kawoq. The rapidly increasing volume of vulnerable patients is stretching uncomfortably our capacity to provide the high-quality primary care and nutritional interventions that we prioritize.

With this as background, I would like to ask each of you for your collaboration in two ways, as you are able. First, might you take the time to spread word about our organization to a few friends and colleagues, even if just simply by providing a link to our website (www.wuqukawoq.org)?  Secondly, might you consider making a donation yourself? Your donation of $25, $50, or $100—or indeed any amount—is welcome in these times of global crisis and will assist us in our efforts to save and improve the lives of Guatemalans. You can make a secure donation online by visiting our website (www.wuqukawoq.org) and clicking on the “Make a Donation” tab. 

Thank you for your consideration and support, 

Peter Rohloff MD PhD
Medical Director
Wuqu’ Kawoq 
peter at wuqukawoq.org

P.S. – If you have not yet seen them, please check out the global competency videos produced by the American Council on Education here http://www.usglobalcompetence.org/ in which Wuqu’ Kawoq figures prominently. 



---------------------------------

Peter Rohloff, MD PhD

Executive Director, Wuqu' Kawoq S.A.
Fellow, Medical Scholars Program, UIUC

cel (Guatemala) 011-502-52435550/011-502-540018007
www.wuqukawoq.org

"strengthening Mayan language and medicine"





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