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Where we work

Guatemala

Facts about Guatemala

Population: 18,3 million
Area: 108,890km.sq
Climate: Tropical
Capital: Guatemala City
Currency: Quetzal
People: 56% Ladino (Mixed Race/Spanish) and European Descent, 42% Mayan, other indigenous 2%
Main Languages: Spanish plus 23 other Indigenous Languages
Religion: 97% Christian (38% Protestant/Evangelical), 3% Mayan

Geography and climate

Guatemala contains huge and varied natural beauty: volcanoes, lakes, jungles and wetlands. It has a coast on the Pacific Ocean as well as the Caribbean Sea – but the majority of the population lives in the mountain range that transects the country. Its main economic activity is agriculture – growing maize, bananas, coffee and sugar cane.

Much of the population are affected by the uncertainties of agricultural production – as well as by the natural disasters that affect the country. Guatemala lies within an earthquake zone, and is hit by hurricanes annually causing destructive flooding and mudslides.

Politics and economics

Guatemala is noted for the beauty of its forests, lagoons, biodiversity, and UN heritage site at Antigua. Alongside this panorama, the heritage of a recent, bloody past and a continuous awareness of the sinister presence of organised crime and street level violence creates an underlying climate of fear which mars the otherwise ambient quality of life.

Statistics vary, but it is alleged that more than 200,000 people – most of them innocent civilians – were killed or ‘disappeared’ in the civil war that ended in 1996. The bases of rebel activity were mainly in the poor, rural areas, and hundreds of villages were razed; most of their inhabitants massacred and often tortured.

Rigoberta Menchú Tum became widely known as a leading advocate of the rights of indigenous peoples, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.

People and society

Two million people live in the capital Guatemala City. About half of the population is indigenous, the rest being Ladino (a mix of people of indigenous and European descent). The majority of the indigenous population are Maya (with over 20 language groups). Despite promises within the peace agreement there is still a large amount of discrimination against indigenous groups.

Religion and the church

Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, but evangelical churches have grown in the last 30 years to represent 30-40 per cent of the population. Much of this growth has been within the Pentecostal churches. A number of neo-pentecostal ‘mega-churches’ are active in Guatemala City.

Ancient Mayan beliefs and rituals (ancestor worship and animistic beliefs) are still prevalent in rural indigenous areas, sometimes alongside or mixed with Roman Catholicism.
Latin Link members are working in theological education and social work with children at risk and on the streets - street children are a great cause for concern in Guatemala City.

Current and ongoing needs are for help with children’s projects and homes, medical personnel, youth and student workers, theological education with a focus on integral mission, discipleship and English teachers.

More challenging and difficult areas are prison chaplaincy, ministry with gang members, education and church planting projects in poor and dangerous areas of the capital, and pioneer student workers to extend Christian witness in regional university bases.

There is a need for community development in rural areas: people to train others in how the church can be an agent of change in the local community and society.

Meet our team in Guatemala

Mission opportunities in Guatemala

Latin Link is looking for people who are keen to be part of, and contribute to, the development of a growing multi-national team. We’re seeking people with a vision to help churches see themselves as agents of change to bring about community transformation; people willing to live simply and to share their lives with Guatemalans.

To find out more about mission in Guatemala, please browse our opportunities or contact us.

Care and Social Action

Guatemala (Guatemala City)

Work with male adults who are recovering from alcohol and drug addiction in a “Teen Challenge” home.

Care and Social Action

Guatemala

Work in a ministry with children and their mothers who live on the rubbish dump.

Guatemala (Zaragoza)

To work with Educando Para la Vida (Education for Life) in Zaragoza, a small rural town, supporting an after school education project, as well as teach English.

Care and Social Action

Guatemala

To work in a children’s home for children from various challenging backgrounds (sexual abuse, abandonment, living on the street, trafficking).

Care and Social Action

Guatemala

To work with a school for children with Down's Syndrome.

Care and Social Action

Guatemala

To work with Fuerza de los Fragiles – an organisation of young adults with special needs.

Education and Training

Guatemala

To provide biblical teaching and spiritual support to the young people in a college in Chimaltenango.

Evangelism

Guatemala

To support a local church in its local outreach.

Development

Guatemala

To work alongside community health projects in rural indigenous areas of Guatemala.

Care and Social Action

Guatemala (Guatemala City)

To work alongside a team of chaplains ministering to active gang members incarcerated in several different prisons.