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EZRA MILLSTEIN PHOTOGRAPHY

Mercy Corps - Latin America

  • Sofia, 2, plays on a swing in a park Mercy Corps built in her community. These infrastructure projects — playgrounds, exercise areas, community centers — are part of Mercy Corps’ CONVIVIMOS program, which is working in Guatemala City’s most violent areas to promote cohesion and help people reclaim their communities. The spaces offer families important neutral territory in places otherwise driven by territory-based gang violence, and offer them the opportunity to experience and feel rooted in their communities in a more positive way.
  • Alejandra (green shirt, 5) and her sister Sofia (pink shirt, 2) play in a park Mercy Corps built in their community. These infrastructure projects — playgrounds, exercise areas, community centers — are part of Mercy Corps’ CONVIVIMOS program, which is working in Guatemala City’s most violent areas to promote cohesion and help people reclaim their communities. The spaces offer families important neutral territory in places otherwise driven by territory-based gang violence, and offer them the opportunity to experience and feel rooted in their communities in a more positive way.
  • Catarina Sanchez de León (second from left) at a meeting of her local savings and loan group. Her mother, Maria de León Santiago, lives with her children and grandchildren in a small community in Guatemala’s Western Highlands, an agricultural region characterized by underdevelopment, malnutrition, poverty and a lack of opportunity. She says the needs are immense here — water, sanitation, shelter, food, jobs, etc. — and she often struggles to support her family with farming and weaving. Because of this, migration is a fact of life for Maria — her husband leaves every year to work in a sugarcane plantation to earn money. It’s not what they want, she says, but it’s the only way they can feed their children. Maria has recently started saving for the first time ever through the “Communities Leading Development” program, which is implemented by local partners with technical support from Mercy Corps. The program aims to improve quality of life for families in 200 communities in the Western Highlands, in part by installing community savings and loans groups to build financial stability. Maria is the president of her savings and loan group, and she says she is focused solely on saving right now, so she can give her family a better life than she had growing up.
  • Maria de León Santiago lives with her children and grandchildren in a small community in Guatemala’s Western Highlands, an agricultural region characterized by underdevelopment, malnutrition, poverty and a lack of opportunity. She says the needs are immense here — water, sanitation, shelter, food, jobs, etc. — and she often struggles to support her family with farming and weaving. Because of this, migration is a fact of life for Maria — her husband leaves every year to work in a sugarcane plantation to earn money. It’s not what they want, she says, but it’s the only way they can feed their children. Maria has recently started saving for the first time ever through the “Communities Leading Development” program, which is implemented by local partners with technical support from Mercy Corps. The program aims to improve quality of life for families in 200 communities in the Western Highlands, in part by installing community savings and loans groups to build financial stability. Maria is the president of her savings and loan group, and she says she is focused solely on saving right now, so she can give her family a better life than she had growing up.
  • Juan Deleon Sanchez, 7 months. His grandmother, Maria de León Santiago, lives in a small community in Guatemala’s Western Highlands, an agricultural region characterized by underdevelopment, malnutrition, poverty and a lack of opportunity. She says the needs are immense here — water, sanitation, shelter, food, jobs, etc. — and she often struggles to support her family with farming and weaving. Because of this, migration is a fact of life for Maria — her husband leaves every year to work in a sugarcane plantation to earn money. It’s not what they want, she says, but it’s the only way they can feed their children. Maria has recently started saving for the first time ever through the “Communities Leading Development” program, which is implemented by local partners with technical support from Mercy Corps. The program aims to improve quality of life for families in 200 communities in the Western Highlands, in part by installing community savings and loans groups to build financial stability. Maria is the president of her savings and loan group, and she says she is focused solely on saving right now, so she can give her family a better life than she had growing up.
  • Heidy, 9, weaves on front of her family's home in a small community in Guatemala’s Western Highlands. It is an agricultural region characterized by underdevelopment, malnutrition, poverty and a lack of opportunity. Her grandmother, Maria de León Santiago, recently started saving for the first time ever through the “Communities Leading Development” program, which is implemented by local partners with technical support from Mercy Corps. The program aims to improve quality of life for families in 200 communities in the Western Highlands, in part by installing community savings and loans groups to build financial stability. Maria is the president of her savings and loan group, and she says she is focused solely on saving right now, so she can give her family a better life than she had growing up.
  • A church in the center of Acul. Much of Guatemala’s migration occurs out the Western Highlands, an agricultural region characterized by underdevelopment, malnutrition, poverty and a lack of opportunity, and where generations-long conflicts, largely over land and other resources, are holding back development. Mercy Corps' CLD program works to build community cohesion and empower people to work together to advocate for their own development projects, according to their needs.
  • Olga Lucretia Matzar, 18, holds dried corn in front of her family's home. We first met Olga in 2017 when she was a participant of Mercy Corps’ AgriJoven program, which works to prevent youth migration out of Guatemala’s Western Highlands. At that time, she had dropped out of school so she could work and help support her family, and had thought about migrating to the city for better opportunities.A year and a half later, Olga is more optimistic than ever that she can stay in her community and build a life. Through the program she learned farming techniques to help her parents improve their crops and triple the land they farm, and saved enough through her savings and loan group to return to school. She is now studying to be a teacher, and she wants to be a role model for other young people so they see opportunity in their community and choose not to migrate. Much of Guatemala’s migration occurs out the Western Highlands, an agricultural region characterized by underdevelopment, poverty and a lack of opportunity. AgriJoven provides youth with agricultural training and savings and loan groups, which offer them a chance to see a future in agriculture or invest in other ventures without having to leave home.
  • Families cross the Venezuela-Colombia border at Paraguachón, Colombia. The border is fluid, with people moving in both directions. Some Venezuelans enter Colombia for as little as a day — long enough to get one meal — up to several weeks or months, to work and stock up on supplies before returning home. Others arrive with suitcases and anything else they can carry, and may stay indefinitely. Colombians also enter Venezuela through this crossing, to purchase items that are still available at significantly cheaper prices there. In the week before this visit between 400 and 800 people crossed into Colombia every day through the crossing at Paraguachón, while around 200 crossed into Venezuela. These numbers don’t account for people crossing at any of the 200 illegal crossing sites in La Guajira. In total, more than 1 million Venezuelans have fled to Colombia, fleeing economic, governmental and social collapse that has plunged the majority of the population into poverty, joblessness and near starvation.
  • Ana Maria holds her 3 month-old daughter Fabiola. She was pregnant with Fabiola when the family received a cash disbursement from Mercy Corps, and the money allowed her to get medical care for the birth. They say they would have had no way to go to the hospital without the assistance. The family also purchased essential household items for their shelter. Ana Maria and her husband Jose Eduardo Monasterio Castañeda withstood the crisis in Venezuela for as long as they could, but when their situation grew so desperate that they were drinking glasses of water for dinner, they made the painful decision to leave their home and seek survival in Colombia. More than 1 million Venezuelans have fled to Colombia, fleeing economic, governmental and social collapse that has plunged the majority of the population into poverty, joblessness and near starvation. Many, like Jose and Ana Maria, are funneling into communities that already struggled with poverty and lack of opportunity, and resources are at a breaking point. Jose and Ana Maria now live with their five children in a small room at the back of another house along a busy street in Riohacha. They earn money selling small goods and mobile phone minutes on the street where they live, but the income is not enough, and Jose worries about his children’s future. Mercy Corps is distributing emergency cash to help vulnerable Venezuelans in Colombia meet their urgent needs, including food, medicine and shelter.
  • Eduard, 6. With his father Jose Eduardo Monasterio Castañeda, in front of their family's shack. Jose and his wife Ana Maria withstood the crisis in Venezuela for as long as they could, but when their situation grew so desperate that they were drinking glasses of water for dinner, they made the painful decision to leave their home and seek survival in Colombia. More than 1 million Venezuelans have fled to Colombia, fleeing economic, governmental and social collapse that has plunged the majority of the population into poverty, joblessness and near starvation. Many, like Jose and Ana Maria, are funneling into communities that already struggled with poverty and lack of opportunity, and resources are at a breaking point. Jose and Ana Maria now live with their five children in a small room at the back of another house along a busy street in Riohacha. They earn money selling small goods and mobile phone minutes on the street where they live, but the income is not enough and Jose worries about his children’s future. Mercy Corps is distributing emergency cash to help vulnerable Venezuelans in Colombia meet their urgent needs, including food, medicine and shelter. Ana Maria was pregnant with 3-month-old Fabiola when the family received their cash disbursement from Mercy Corps, and the money allowed her to get medical care for the birth. They say they would have had no way to go to the hospital without the assistance. The family also purchased essential household items for their shelter.
  • Paola, 9, lives with her four siblings and parents Jose Eduardo Monasterio Castañeda and Ana Maria. Jose and Ana Maria withstood the crisis in Venezuela for as long as they could, but when their situation grew so desperate that they were drinking glasses of water for dinner, they made the painful decision to leave their home and seek survival in Colombia. More than 1 million Venezuelans have fled to Colombia, fleeing economic, governmental and social collapse that has plunged the majority of the population into poverty, joblessness and near starvation. Many, like Jose and Ana Maria, are funneling into communities that already struggled with poverty and lack of opportunity, and resources are at a breaking point. Jose and Ana Maria now live with their five children in a small room at the back of another house along a busy street in Riohacha. They earn money selling small goods and mobile phone minutes on the street where they live, but the income is not enough and Jose worries about his children’s future. Mercy Corps is distributing emergency cash to help vulnerable Venezuelans in Colombia meet their urgent needs, including food, medicine and shelter. Ana Maria was pregnant with 3-month-old Fabiola when the family received their cash disbursement from Mercy Corps, and the money allowed her to get medical care for the birth. They say they would have had no way to go to the hospital without the assistance. The family also purchased essential household items for their shelter.
  • Eduard, 6, lies on a bed with his 3 month-old sister Fabiola in his family's shack. They live with their three siblings, and parents Jose Eduardo Monasterio Castañeda and Ana Maria. Jose and Ana Maria withstood the crisis in Venezuela for as long as they could, but when their situation grew so desperate that they were drinking glasses of water for dinner, they made the painful decision to leave their home and seek survival in Colombia. More than 1 million Venezuelans have fled to Colombia, fleeing economic, governmental and social collapse that has plunged the majority of the population into poverty, joblessness and near starvation. Many, like Jose and Ana Maria, are funneling into communities that already struggled with poverty and lack of opportunity, and resources are at a breaking point. Jose and Ana Maria now live with their five children in a small room at the back of another house along a busy street in Riohacha. They earn money selling small goods and mobile phone minutes on the street where they live, but the income is not enough and Jose worries about his children’s future. Mercy Corps is distributing emergency cash to help vulnerable Venezuelans in Colombia meet their urgent needs, including food, medicine and shelter. Ana Maria was pregnant with 3-month-old Fabiola when the family received their cash disbursement from Mercy Corps, and the money allowed her to get medical care for the birth. They say they would have had no way to go to the hospital without the assistance. The family also purchased essential household items for their shelter.
  • Neyis Mari Ilomèn, 51, lives with her husband and six children. Hurricane Matthew battered Ilè badly in 2016; some houses were destroyed, some crops were completely lost, and there there were many mudslides. Most of the households in the area suffered between 60-80% loss of their harvest from the storm.Mercy Corps lent her seeds, as well as money for other agricultural inputs. Our farmer association partners worked with Mercy Corps to design a response that would reinforce the long term capacity building we have been doing and not create dependency on handouts. Mercy Corps provided seeds to the partners, who in turn distributed them to the most vulnerable families, allowing them to replant during the next harvest season. In return, the farmers donated a portion of the seeds from their harvest to the farmer association. Mercy Corps procured silos so the seeds could be stored. This way, through the hurricane season this year, they have seeds in storage as a form of insurance. If they are not needed, the seeds can be sold to help fund the associations to continue providing training and credit to the farmers.
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