Comalapa by the numbers

• 2,104 meters above sea level.

• As of August 2019, 97% of the population was indigenous Kaqchikel Maya.

• 14 villages, 14 small extra-urban neighborhoods, and 4 urban zones.

• The mayor, democratically elected every four years, manages administration of the local government.

• Three religions: Catholicism, Protestantism and traditional Mayan.

• Two seasons: the dry season (November through April) and the rainy season (May through October). The average annual rainfall is 1,500 mm.

• The average annual temperature ranges from 14 to 22 degrees Celsius. Humidity is consistently between 70% and 80% (Melendez, 2011).

Socio Economic Diagnosis

In 2011, the University of San Carlos Economics Department, led by Professor Ramiro Meléndez, produced a report called Informe General: Diagnóstico Socioeconómico, Potencialidades Productivas y Propuestas de Inversión. (General Report: Socioeconomic Diagnosis, Productive Potentials and Investment Proposals.)

Although the report contained information already widely managed by the population in a macro way, it yielded concrete and surprising figures regarding the worrying but all-too-common health and environmental challenges of the Comalapan community, and cemented the approach we would later implement as our Education Model at Hero School, Centro Educativo Técnico Chixot (CETC).

Surveys

Conducted in collaboration with Engineers Without Borders

Engineers Without Borders, University of Minnesota Chapter, partnered with Long Way Home during ‘15-’16. They came to the village of Xiquin Sanahi and connected a local water spring to a faucet in each home in the community.

You can read the surveys of Comalapa & its surrounding villages here:

• "Urban" Comalapa

• Pavit

• Panimacac

• Simajuleu

• Xiquin Sanaii

To read more on San Juan Comalapa:

• Marroquin Melendez, Ramiro. Informe General. Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala, Facultad de Ciencias Economicas. (2011)

• Sanchez Rojas, Karin Magali. Capitulo 3, "Marco Contextual" (Contextual Information of Comalapa). Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala, Facultad de Arquitectura. (2008)

• Pluquet, Ophélie. "Long Way Home: Report Survey 2012" (2012)

• Quemé Barneod, Heidy Gabriela (2015) La Educación Superior Indígena como Proceso de Descolonización y Reivindicación de la Identidad Maya-Kaqchikel: El Estudio del caso de la Universidad Maya Kaqchikel en San Juan Comalapa. Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. (Español)