Has someone from Buckingham being writing letters about Guatemala to their Conservative MP John Bercow? It's great to see his interest in Guatemala. He recently asked two questions in as many days in the House of Commons about the current situation in Guatemala with regards death squads and after hurricane Stan in October 2005.

Here is part of Gareth Thomas's (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for International Development) response on the situation in Guatemala after Stan.

A key reconstruction priority was ensuring access to safe reliable water, and much of the rehabilitation effort has focused on this. Waterborne disease remains a risk for affected communities and the Ministry of Health have been supported in the provision of transportation services, basic health kits including mosquito nets, and training for communities in health and nutrition awareness. Overall progress in reconstructing sanitation units has been slow, which in many cases has only reached 10 per cent. of target so far. However, some areas have benefited from intensive NGO efforts to ensure safe water, with as many as 10,000 water filters being provided and treatment plants in three municipalities. The installation of systems has been undertaken in close conjunction with local government authorities and communities to ensure sustainability.

Children have been badly affected by the hurricane the most, and those who remain in shelters will continue to receive psychological and educational support from rehabilitation partners. A continuing concern is the restoration of the livelihoods of the communities affected, either through agricultural support to those who returned to their homes, or through income generation opportunities for those who remain in shelters or have been relocated. DFID and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have been in discussions with the Guatemalan Government to assess how those worst affected by Stan can begin to rehabilitate their livelihoods."

This is a brief post to flag up examples of media coverage for the work of two development organisations who have been working in Guatemala in the aftermath of Hurricane Stan in October 2005.

The first example is from CAFOD who have been involved in various projects through partners on the ground in Guatemala. This is an article published in the Tablet is from CAFOD's Fiona Callister. She makes the interesting point that although here the disaster was forgotten quickly, solidarity has been impressively strong in Guatemala itself crossing the religious divide between Catholics and Protestants.

"For example in the diocese of Jalapa, which contains San Carlos, desperately poor parishioners collected an impressive $20,000 (£11,500) to help those affected by Stan. Even more remarkably, the decision was taken that, although their diocese had been brought to its knees by the hurricane, they would donate the money to another parish which they considered had been worse hit.

This solidarity has been a strong feature of the disaster response, with Churches organising themselves almost immediately to take it in turns to feed those who had lost everything. So the Pentecostal Church would find 100 eggs for breakfast, then the Catholic Church would provide lunch in the shelters and dinner would come courtesy of the Evangelicals.

Miguel Marroquin, the director of Cafod partner FGER Nahuala community radio, which has helped distribute blankets and food, said: “People who are already poor and have suffered themselves have responded one hundred per cent. It is very humbling and inspiring. There is a great sense of solidarity and unity. The age-old religious divisions have been transformed and everyone is pulling together. This is something we must build on.” "

Fiona Callister mentions CAFOD's lenten fundraising- one example is St Margaret's Church, Richmond, in the UK already mentioned on this blog last month. For more information on their 26th March event, see this post.

The other example is an article that appeared in AlertNet on the work of World Emergency Relief in supporting the rebuilding of houses in affected areas of Guatemala.

"WER has released funds to local partner agency, Cosecha Trust, to purchase land and materials to rebuild houses for families who were left homeless in the aftermath of the disaster. These new homes will provide housing for over 100 people in the town of Tecpan."