Year-End Update, and Going Forward in 2022
Another year has come and gone so quickly. With all the changes going on in the world, we want to keep you updated on some of the work Horizons of Friendship and its partners are doing to end poverty and injustice in Central America, Mexico, and Canada.
In Central America and Mexico
Our partners in Central America and Mexico continue in the fight to end poverty and injustice in their communities. At a macro-level, COVID-19 remains a great challenge for the region, as vaccination distribution and uptake continues to lag. In Guatemala for example, as of December 21, 2021 only 31% of the population has received a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine; only 25% of the population is fully vaccinated. There’s a lot of work left to be done in the campaign for full vaccination across the region.
In Mexico, our partner DESMI continues to work alongside Indigenous Mexicans (Tzotzil and Tzetzal groups) to support food security, providing seeds that community members use to grow foods right in their own communities. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, families have been reliant on these crops to feed their families and sustain their livelihoods.
Community members in Tumbalá, Chiapas harvesting frijoles (beans) for local consumption. Funded in part by Horizons.
After five years we have closed out the Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health project in Totonicapán, Guatemala with our local partner PIES de Occidente (PIES). This project was a massive undertaking and provided tremendous support to the local health systems in the fight to reduce maternal and infant mortality across Totonicapán. Moving forward, we are looking for opportunities to continue to support Totonicapán.
Our partnership with PIES is far from over. We recently announced the Safe Haven Project, an initiative that aims to support survivors of sexual violence and ending violence against children and youth in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Our partner PIES will be working alongside a young girls’ and adolescents Shelter in Quetzaltenango to improve the quality of care the Shelter provides to its client base. When Horizons of Friendship was first founded in the 1970s, it began working in orphanages and shelters. Almost 50 years later, we are returning to our roots as we look to support some of the most vulnerable populations during these challenging times.
Jumping down to Costa Rica, we are in the process of equipping a community with access to water in a remote village near Coronado, Puntarenas. We will have more information regarding this project in 2022.
Migrant Worker Outreach Program
As Fall quickly changed to Winter, our migrant worker friends here in Northumberland County have mostly all returned to Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico. We had a busy year supporting the health, legal, and social status of migrant workers here in Northumberland. In 2021, over 100 migrant workers benefited from Horizons of Friendship’s Migrant Worker Outreach Program, accessing free and confidential health, legal, and social services support, and free donations of care packages and essential goods like masks, hand sanitizer, and thermometers to keep them safe during these uncertain times.
For us, the highlight of 2021 was supporting a dedicated vaccination clinic for migrant workers right here in Northumberland with our partner, the Community Health Centres of Northumberland.
Looking ahead to 2022, we renew our commitment to supporting migrant workers in Northumberland County with our partners, the Northumberland Community Legal Centre and the Community Health Centres of Northumberland.
As we move into 2022, we no longer have funding from the Government of Canada. It will be a period of funding uncertainty for our organization. For this reason, now more than ever we need your support to fund our projects and programs both in Central America and Mexico and in Canada.