
2021
From October 2020 through June 2021, low case numbers and eased restrictions in Guatemala allowed ALDEA’s sister organization ABPD to resume most of our regular in-person development work. With safety protocols in place, they worked with socially distanced groups of 10 or fewer participants, putting in extra hours to train a higher number of smaller groups.
Unfortunately, by the end of June a new delta-variant fueled wave of cases had begun in Guatemala, including the rural villages where we work, and we made the difficult decision to suspend most of our in-person programming to help keep our staff and community partners safe. We also adopted a policy of no official ALDEA travel to Guatemala and no visitors to ABPD. As of late September, daily case numbers remain high, and it seems an untold number of cases and deaths are going unreported. Public hospitals have been filled past capacity for weeks, and COVID tests are expensive and hard to come by for many. The country’s vaccination rollout continues to progress in fits and starts, with ongoing confusion around eligibility and availability of first and second doses. As of September 27, just 13% of the population has been fully vaccinated.