Welcome to Nueva Salud

The Need

The current reality...

Our mission targets thousands of neglected, impoverished people in Central America, South America and elsewhere.

Our first pilot project has focused on the village of San Antonio de la Nueva Esperanza in the mountains of Guatemala. This village, like a number of others in the region, was created by the central government in 1998 at the end of the Guatemalan civil war as a home for 2500 Maya of different groups who had been hiding in the jungle. The residents are indigenous Maya whose homes, beliefs, and practices have remained unchanged for centuries, and who have been untouched by contemporary civilization.

As in other comparable villages, the typical family in San Antonio has 8-10 children, who live — along with the family’s animals — in a small, one-room house made of timber. Traditionally they have cooked inside the house over a smoky open fire pit with no chimney. Outside they use a concrete sink, and traditionally they have dug a hole to serve as a latrine.

The majority of the illnesses, which afflict these people, are respiratory and gastro-intestinal. The illnesses are the result of smoke in the houses, poor sanitation, poor hygiene, and unclean water. Nueva Salud is attacking these problems.

Click here to see map of area.