Guatemalan children live a life much different than children in the U.S. and Canada, facing trauma similar to children who live in countries rife with conflict. According to Al Jazeera, the country has one of the highest child homicide rates in the world with a murder rate 800 percent higher than the United States.
According to JW.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the schools contacted the organization since they are one of the few publishers of content in Quiché, an American Indian language spoken in the western highlands of the country.
Also, an official document from the Official Rural Coeducational Elementary School in Paraje Xepec, Professor Maria Cortez stated that the publications were requested “to rescue the values and moral principles that are much needed in society.”
The publications requested were My Book of Bible Stories in Quiché as well as Volume 1 and 2 of Questions Young People Ask-Answers that Work in Spanish. Approximately 3,500 copies were donated and parents were also given their own copies to enable them to help their children with assignments.
The Official Rural Coeducational Elementary School has also added the video The Prodigal Returns to the school curriculum.
Almost half of Guatemalans are Roman Catholic with about 25 to 40 percent of the population being Protestant. There are a little over 37,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Guatemala in 775 congregations.
