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Sociological Aspects of Children in Guatemala |
OVERVIEW
Photography by:Alverta Lyn Dickey
Coutesy of
(Fotomaya.com)
Guatemala is a country filled with beautiful scenery and culture. Among all of this beauty lies a social problem that Guatemala is
working to correct. Civil war, natural disaster, and disease have left many children homeless. High levels of poverty are
also contributing to a growing population of street children. Guatemala faces many battles concerning "Street Children". Police abuse of these children is rampant.
Government agencies are working to create policies that will protect the rights of all children. These policies will help make education,
healthcare,and protection of human rights available to all. The street child population has grown to approximately 6,000. This may seem
like a small number compared to a population of over 14 million, but one child on the street is one too many. Non-profit organizations such as
Covenant House - Casa Alianza provide help to these children but they cannot solve this problem alone.
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Total Population |
14,280,596 |
| Age Structure: |
| 0-14 years |
42.6% |
| 15-64 years |
54% |
| 65 & Older |
3.3% |
| Birth Rate |
34.58 births/1000 people |
| Death Rate |
6.79 deaths/1000 people |
| Infant Mortality Rate |
36.91 deaths/1000 live births |
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Flag, Statistics, and Map courtesy of
CIA World Factbook.
Marc, Megan, Nicole, Jonah, & Serrina
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The purpose of this website is to inform viewers about the sociological aspects of children in Guatemala.
Megan Coleman, Serrina Duly, Nicole Freeland, Jonah Kane-West, and Marc McCloskey created this site as part of
a collaborative web project for their first year writing seminar "Children and Society" for our project
"Children Around the World". Professor April Brayfield
of Tulane University
taught this class.
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This is not a professional website. This site was compiled in less than a month as a final project for
our course. The information in this website is a combination of the profesional research we have cited and our own ideas.
Our research was limited to those documents printed in Western European format and the English language. The focus of
these data were on Street Children. We do not intend to imply that all children in Guatemala are treated badly.
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We would like to thank our consultant, Professor Jocelyn S. Viterna, whose
correspondence allowed us to gain a greater understanding
of children in Guatemala and Professor Brayfield for her help and patience
in the creation of this site.
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Last updated on December 07,2004