Our partnership with Mil Milagros

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Guatemalan government closed schools and non-essential business, suspended public transport, significantly reduced market hours, and enforced a strict curfew. While these measures were important to stop the spread of the virus, many Guatemalans are day workers who could not get paid their salaries if they did not work. This problem was exacerbated in our rural partner communities, where the majority of families already lived in poverty. Job insecurity and restrictions on movement reduced food security in communities where up to 70% of children were already malnourished. ‍In the best of times, it is difficult for these families to put food on the table. 

One Day’s Wages partnership with Mil Milagros provided emergency aid to over 8,000 Guatemalans who were struggling to make ends meet during the COVID-19 crisis. Mil Milagros  provided emergency food and essential hygiene supplies to all 1,605 children in their partner communities. They also worked to modify the educational components of their programs so that community members could receive all of their information digitally. Additionally, Mil Milagros staff produced and shared a video explaining COVID-19 in K’iche’, the native language in the partner communities.