Development and Identity of Guatemalan Refugee Children in Mexico: Conditions and Options for Support Interventions

Abstract

The study describes current conditions of Guatemalan refugee children living in shelter camps in the Mexican southeastern states of Chiapas, Campeche and Quintana-Roo. Aspects of children's refugee life in Mexico City are also described. Analysis includes historic and contextual aspects of Guatemalan refuge in Mexico since the eighties: counter- insurgent wars, fleeing, arrival in Mexico, psychosocial and traumatic experiences, problems and expectations emerging from the prospect of returning to Guatemala and consequences of the Chiapas armed conflict. More specifically, the study analyses such issues as health and nutrition, and especially education. Analyses compare the camps' school systems and additional support actions based on training programs for "community promoters. " Trainees are both adults and children, and program activities include the promotion of cultural identity, therapeutic work on traumatic experiences, coping with the challenge of returning to Guatemala en masse, and treating or preventing other psychological complaints.