How Dangerous Is It To Be A Woman In Guatemala?

Gender-based hate crime affects women across the globe: an average of 66,000 women are killed each year.
By May of 2021, there had already been 159 femicides and 20,000 violence complaints filed in Guatemala; in 2020 the number of violent deaths among women reached 457 as well as 43,482 complaints. Finding Freedom through Friendship is not a stranger to Guatemalan women who have been victims of domestic violence. It is strongly suspected that these types of crimes are vastly underreported.

What chance of a viable future do children have when being raised in a violent household?

Our program is dedicated to supplying the necessary means for women to successfully support
themselves and their children in a violence-free environment.
Rebeca (named changed, for security purposes), a thirty-year-old mother of four had been abused for over a decade until she could no longer bear the anguish she and her children were going through. Rebeca sought refuge in her brother’s household, but he soon grew tired of the children. Currently,
she is living with her parents, sharing half a room with her children. Nineteen people live in
the two-room house. Rebeca works when she can, cleaning dishes or clothes for $2.00 to $3.00 a day.
She wishes to work more but she’s unable to, as there is no one to watch the children.

Using a holistic approach allows FFF to address these women in their entirety; physical
and mental health, education, sustainability, and quality of life. Food donations, educational
scholarships, lodging, healthcare, and microbusiness training are just a few necessary assets in
the personal growth and healing of Rebeca and her family. Fulfilling emergent basic needs for our participants allows battered women relief from staying in a domestic situation so that their children can be housed and fed. Food donations, education scholarships, and housing are the three key ingredients that a woman in distress without financial means needs in order to leave an abusive partner.

FFF believes in the right to food, shelter, education, and a violence-free household. Finding Freedom through Friendship will uplift Rebeca and her children just as they have for many other families: our first monthly food delivery to the family will start this week. Recovering from a decade of physical and mental abuse will be a long and arduous journey for Rebeca. Our Guatemalan facilitators, board members, and supporters will be behind her efforts to regain a solid footing to move forward in a positive direction.

Nowak , Mattias. “Femicide: A Global Problem (Research Note 14).” Small Arms Survey, Feb.
2012, https://www.smallarmssurvey.org/resource/femicide-global-problem-research-note-14.
Santamaría, Asier Vera. “#Tengomiedo: A Rallying Cry to End Violence against Women in
Guatemala.” EL PAÍS English Edition, 5 May 2021,
https://english.elpais.com/usa/2021-05-05/tengomiedo-a-rallying-cry-to-end-violence-against-wo
men-in-guatemala.html.