GT Week 4: Water Filters & Community Gardens

For the fourth week of our Giving Tuesday campaign we are talking about our water filters and community gardens projects.  With these programs we home to assist Guatemalan families who live in extreme poverty.

Water Filters

Over four million Guatemalans living in rural areas do not have access to potable water. And while five of the top twenty causes of death can be related to water contamination, only 3% of the population regularly uses water filters. It’s for this reason that Habitat Guatemala started the Clean Water Project, giving families in extreme poverty access to clean drinking water, and consequently, healthier lives.

Only 54% of Guatemalans have access to proper sanitation services. The remainder of the population uses poorly constructed latrines or nothing at all.

Community Gardens

Guatemala has the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world and the highest in Latin America—reaching up to 69% in poor, rural, indigenous areas. The problem, however, is not due to a lack of calories, but rather a deficiency in essential vitamins and nutrients that come from balanced diets.

To combat this dire situation, Habitat Guatemala uses community gardens to teach families about improved gardening techniques, vegetable varieties, water management and nutrition which they can then put into practice in their own family gardens.