“IT is now hotter and we have more droughts. Then it starts to rain, and it won't stop raining. A more intense rain, more frequently. It affects our crops. When there's drought our crops die. And then when it starts raining it also kills all our crops. We don't know what to do anymore. I'm afraid that my children will suffer and won’t be able to go to school.” This is the situation facing Ilma Modesta Quib Coc and her family from La Paz community in Guatemala. It sums up the massive challenges facing her community and many like them in the Central American country.
Ilma, her husband Julio and their four children feature on this Lent’s Trócaire Box. The Lenten Appeal this year is highlighting the direct and indirect consequences resulting from climate change that are having a profoundly negative effect on the lives of millions of people in Guatemala and right across the developing world.
Right now, communities in Guatemala are grappling with the devastating effects of climate change. The erratic weather patterns caused by climate change are increasing the months of drought, hurricanes and relentless floods which are destroying crops and homes. The loss of income is exacerbating the cycle of poverty with life-changing consequences which include a lack of access to nutritious food, reduced educational opportunities for children and ultimately families being pushed further into poverty.
The Lenten Appeal centres around the story of the family and the small community of La Paz in central Guatemala. Ilma and Julio have four children and depend on farming to feed themselves and earn an income. Like many families and communities Trócaire works with, they are experiencing increasingly erratic weather patterns due to climate change. This is having life-changing consequences on their livelihoods, wellbeing and future.
‘La Paz’ means peace and there is a strong sense of community in this rural village. Like others in the community, Ilma and Julio grow cardamon and corn and depend on selling cardamon to provide for their children. The family used to plant crops twice a year but now only plant once a year because of the extreme weather conditions.
A recent drought devastated their cardamon crop and for the first time Julio has had to find a job selling mangoes in nearby Cobán to support his family. Flooding has also affected their home and livelihood. Other men in La Paz have also had to go elsewhere to work on farms or ranches to support their families.
Particularly bad flooding in 2020 due to hurricanes Eta and Iota destroyed Ilma and Julio’s crops. The family were cut off from the rest of the community and had to take refuge on higher ground to save their lives. The community shared their food and supported the family and others affected. Ilma’s daughter Deborah, who was only four months old at the time, had diarrhea and vomiting which lasted for a week. They were unable to take her to a health post as they were cut off by the flooding. The community feels that excessive rain coincides with getting sick.
Miriam (12) recalls the hurricanes. She said, “We didn't have any classes because the teacher was not able to come to the community and we didn't have any food. But we were able to get food from neighbours. We waited a month for the water to go down.”
After these hurricanes the family and community took part in Trócaire’s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Early Warning System (EWS) training and moved to higher, safer ground. Since then they have been safe from flooding but not from the extreme weather that hurricanes and storms can bring.
Their children’s education is one of Ilma and Julio’s biggest worries. They attend a primary school in the community and their eldest child, 12-year-old Miriam, is due to go to secondary school in Cobán this year, around an hours journey away by bus. It costs just under £5 a week for the bus but as climate change is now affecting how much money Ilma and Julio can earn they can’t afford the fare for Miriam.
Ilma said, “I worry that we are not going to have the money for the children to go to secondary school. I'm afraid that my children’s education will suffer because of the weather.”
This Lent, please help Ilma's family and communities in Guatemala who are impacted by the devastating effects of climate change. Donate now so that they can continue farming, protect their homes from flooding, make a fair living from their crops, send their children to school and become more resilient to the devastating impacts of climate change.
To find out more about Trócaire’s Lenten Appeal or to make a donation visit www.trocaire.org
