Dear Readers,

Happy Monday to all, from bright and sunny Santiago Zamora (Guatemala). Our state of calamity has been going strong since March 9th and coronavirus is hitting Central America hard. Different countries are tackling it in ways that their governments see fit. We hear that the airports shall open in August, but that’s a projected date only and may change based on surges in cases. I will share a bit more about the countries that StoveTeam supports.

StoveTeam continues to provide emergency food aid to all factory workers and their families during COVID-19.

Guatemala jumped on the lockdown bandwagon quickly once the world realized that coronavirus would probably engulf the world with widespread agony. The president, Dr. Alejandro Giammattei, has the experience of being a firefighter and medic, and thus has led the country during the months of turmoil. He speaks nightly to explain the new statistics and what measures will follow. At present, masks in public are mandatory; we have a daily curfew that starts from 6:00pm to 5:00am the following day; and license plate circulation rules (odd and even days to exit by car). The rules are tight, but attempt to contain the spread and give hospitals a break from overwhelming patients needing care. As for the human side of the problem, people are struggling because there’s no public transport (which people use to get to work) and interdepartmental movement has been restricted in our area because we have a high amount of cases. Latin Americans subsist on a daily income to feed their families and survive, so without daily work … their model falls apart. I tell my parents routinely, “I feel safe here in Guatemala because the president is in control, with a medically-focused mind.”

Some stoves are still being delivered but factories are still closed for the most part.

I am in regular contact with all the factory owners to monitor when countries will reopen and learn of their needs during the pandemic. A report from a friend in Tegucigalpa, Honduras stated: “You should see the amount of people on the streets begging for food. We’re back in Phase 0 and only able to go grocery shopping once every two weeks.” As for El Salvador, the news has stated that economic reopening began on June 16, but the airport will not reopen until August. Gustavo Peña (the owner of our partner factory in El Salvador) has stated the reopening is slowly progressing at a snail’s pace. Nicaragua, on the contrary, is still up and running because their government has taken a very different stance toward the virus. Unfortunately the location of our partner factory in Estelí, Nicaragua is a hotbed for new coronavirus cases, but the government still has not aggressively implemented a lockdown scheme. There’s no telling who is right, or who made the best decisions - but we are all supporting one another to survive!

Hope you will continue reading my blog posts, and I vow to share more as it happens.

Alex Eaton

International Program Coordinator

StoveTeam International