Welcome to Nueva Salud

Pilot Project

The current reality...

The village of San Antonio de la Nueva Esperanza—like a number of other in Northern Guatemala—was artificially created by the central government in 1998 at the end of the Guatemalan civil war. The authorities transplanted to this spot 2500 Maya of different groups, who had been hiding in the jungles. The village is totally isolated. When founded, it had no electricity or telephone contact with the outside world. However, upon their arrival six years ago, Greg Walton and his wife, Helaine, brought long distance telephone and email powered by a solar panel.

The typical family in San Antonio has eight to ten children, who live—along with the family's animals—in a small, one-room house made of timber. They cook inside the house over an open fire pit, which has no chimney. Outide they have a concrete sink, which receives fresh water from a mountaintop cistern; and they dig a hole in the ground to serve as a latrine.

The central government sends to the village crucial child and maternal inoculations. Furthermore, it provides the village with a nurse and "health promoters" with limited training, as well as some medications. But when a villager has symptoms, it provides no means to make diagnoses and match the medication to the problem.

In case of dire emergency, hospital care is reachable by private airplane—if the weather is clear and the $300 fare is available. Otherwise it's a matter of a long trip over the mountains and across rivers on unpaved roads—by foot, by mule, or by pick-up truck, when a truck is available.

Click here to see map of area.