Guatemala is located in Central America and is slightly smaller than Pennsylvania. The country has long been the hub of Mayan civilization with half its population being direct descendants of the Maya. Due to unequal distribution of wealth and rapid population growth within the nation, Guatemala has one of the highest poverty rates in Latin America. Many families struggle to provide for their basic needs and cannot afford school expenses. A terrible civil war from 1960 to 1996 left many children orphaned and abandoned. More recently, the causes have been high rates of substance abuse, neglect, abandonment, and teenage pregnancies.