Guatemala

=Guatemala=

Size of an average family.
 In Guatemala people tend to live in nuclear families (Dennis) and the fertility rate was given as 4.1 children per woman in 2008 (UNICEF) but is now given as 3.36 children per woman by the CIA (The World Factbook). This means that we can assume that each family in a Guatemalian village is made up of one man, one woman and 3.36 children (obviously this is not a realistic number of children, but can be used for now).Therefore the total number of people we would expect to be living in a village of 50 families is 50*(1+1+3.36) = 50*5.36 = 268 people. It is probably a bit too specific to build a water and grain storage facility to cater for 268 people, and the town would most likely want to cater for growth, so lets assume that the population of the town is 300 people.

Water and Food Needs of an Average Family
 Guatemalans eat a diet generally high in corn supplemented with meats and vegetables (Dennis). Given that some people will be employed in areas that require intense labour, and that others will be children that do not require much food we can assume that the daily energy intake for each person living in the village is 8700 kJ (Healthy Food Guide) and we can also assume that the food they store must be able to feed them in the eventuality that they are cut off from other food sources. One 237mL cup of dry corn contains 608 Calories (Corn Nutrition Facts). 608 Calories is approximately 2544 Kilojoules, meaning that to feed one person for one day on corn alone, we would require 8700/2544 cups of corn, which is approximately 3.42 cups per person per day. In mL this is 3.42*237 mL = 810 mL of corn, per person per day. Given that we have made over estimations consistently in these calculations it is probably reasonable to round this number to 800 mL of corn per day or 0.8 L. This brings the total grain needs of a family to 5.36*0.8 which is about 4.3 L of corn per day.

 The Mayo Clinic suggests that, in terms of water intake, approximately 2 L of water should be consumed by each person per day. In addition water will be needed for cooking and cleaning. We could assume that each litre of corn will require a litre of water for cooking and that perhaps a mid sized (10 L) bucket of water will be needed by the household for cleaning, watering of garden and other tasks. The total water intake then will be 2*5.63 + 10 + 4.3 = 25.56 L of water per family per day. As we have again allocated adult sized amounts of water to children, we can safely round this to 25 L per family per day.

Geography and Weather


http://www.sweetmarias.com/coffee.central.guatemala.php

 Guatemala has four different geographical regions. The coasts and rivers and plateaus are generally accessible to some degree but the interior contains high mountains, some with continued volcanic activity. Guatemala suffers from occasional volcanic eruptions and hurricanes (Kurian). The real threat from the weather however is the El Niño effect which is a weather pattern occurring every two to seven years. In 2009 UNICEF reported that "There are now an estimated 54,000 families at extremely high risk of food and nutrition insecurity, and a further 400,000 families estimated to be at high risk. The effects of El Niño are expected to escalate and last beyond the northern hemisphere winter season (March/April 2010), and make 2010 the warmest year ever in the region." UNICEF (2) reported that the food shortage was occurring generally in what they term the "dry corridor" - a strip of land running east - west through the provinces of Jutiapa, Santa Rosa, Zacapa, Chiquimula, El Progreso and Baja Verapa. These provinces also had issues with reliable, clean water supplies.

Political and military
Guatemala is a democratic nation governed by a president (Rahe). Despite its seemingly democratic stance though, Guatemalans still fear the police and army, partly due to the recent civil war and partly due to alleged attacks by police and the military upon citizens and the homeless. The indigenous Mayan people, women, and children are most at risk from violence in Guatemala (Kurian). A group attempting to build a storage facility in rural Guatemala would need to be well informed of any dangers posed by the military, police or any other group.

Designs of storage facilities
//**Note from Ms Brown**: I'm not doing this one for you as it is not country specific. Look up "Water Tank" and "Silo" //

Works Cited Dennis, Matthew, ed. "Guatemala: Culture and Lifestyle." World //Geography and Culture Online//. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. .

"Guatemala." //CIA - The World Factbook.// Central Intelligence Agency USA, Oct. 2010. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. .

Kurian, George Thomas, ed. "Guatemala: Geographical Features." //World Geography and Culture Online//. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.fofweb.com /activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE39&Geography.aspx&iPin= M0019783&SingleRecord=True>.

"Nutritional Value of Corn, Corn Nutrition, Corn Nutrition Facts." //Whole Grains, Cooking With Whole Grains, Healthy Food Recipes//. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.versagrain.com/nutritional-value-of-corn.html>.

"Nutrition and Healthy Eating." //MayoClinic.com//. Mayo Clinic. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283>.

"Nutrition Information — Healthy Food Guide — About Us." //Healthy Food Guide//. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/about-us/nutrition-information>.

Rahe, Michael. "Guatemala: Government Overview." //World Geography and Culture Online//. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE39&Government.aspx&iPin= M0019783&SingleRecord=True>.

UNICEF. "Guatemala Immediate Needs Document." //At a Glance: Guatemala//. UNICEF. Web. 18 Oct. 2010.


 * Note from Ms. Surridge:** The Works Cited is mostly correctly formatted. However, wikispaces has some limitations. In a wordprocessed document, it should be double-spaced. Also, each hanging line (every line after the first one of any entry) should be indented 5 spaces.