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 Since June 2002, Pop Wuj has offered a Medical Spanish Program for medical students, providers, public health professionals, and other healthcare practitioners (e.g., doctors, nurses, paramedics, midwifery, and physical therapists). For years they have attracted a growing number of healthcare students and professionals who would like to learn Medical Spanish. The Medical Spanish Program provides health and medical education as well as clinical experience in Guatemala.
One of the most important goals of Pop Wuj’s Medical Spanish Program is to increase students’ cultural competency in addition to their Spanish language skills. To deliver healthcare in a compassionate way, with the knowledge of the culture and history of the population one works with, is an essential value to Pop Wuj’s vision of the Medical Spanish Program.
This special program is offered all year round, beginning the first and third Monday of most months (check website for exact dates) and continues for at least four weeks. There are five core components to their program:
- 4h Daily – One-to-One Spanish Instruction with supplemental curriculum for medical Spanish
- 2-5h a Day – Participation in the Medical Spanish Program & Clinical experience in the Pop Wuj Clinic (suitable for elective rotation)
- Lectures targeting cultural competencies for one week in addition to the One-to-One Spanish Instruction
- Homestay with a Guatemalan family in a private room with three meals a day, safe drinking water and a hot shower
- Spanish School Activities (except transportation / entrance fees)
For more information, please visit the Pop-Wuj website, or Pop-Wuj Clinic Facebook page.
 ASELSI is a ministry located in the mountains of Chichicastenango. Their projects include:
A health-care ministry training local Mayans in pharmacy, physical therapy, eye care, nutrition, milk program and prayerful evangelism;
A leadership training center with extensions throughout Guatemala, Ecuador, Chiapas, Mexico and the United States;
Connecting medical, construction, teaching and evangelical teams from the United States with Guatemala; and
Transforming communities for the Glory of God. To learn more about ASELSI, please visit their website at ASELSI.org. or Skype at john.harveysr1.
 Sharing the Dream in Guatemala is a non-profit organization that promotes fair trade with cooperatives and small businesses in Guatemala. Sharing the Dream is working very hard so that through their work, families can afford to educate their children, provide health care, and promote healthy living in their own families.
In late June 2010, Sharing the Dream hosted a group that spent 10 days in Sololá studying fair trade and sustainability. The group visited numerous artisan cooperatives including the women of Flor de Campo who create beautiful weavings, and ARTESA, craftsmen that make three dimensional wooden carvings with small drawers hidden inside. To read more about their trip, read the group’s travel journals at Sharing the Dream’s website.
 ´The Gift of a Smile´, a project sponsored by TESS Unlimited, is devoted to nurturing patients with cleft lip and palate, beginning in the pre-operative phase via nutritional intervention and medication. Once the patient’s health is stabilized, TESS makes contact with the doctor who will perform the surgery. After the operation, they continue to follow up with the patients until they are completely ready to live a normal life.
The organization aims to be the bridge between patients and medical teams. In order for TESS Unlimited the help more children and even adults with surgeries on cleft lips and/or open pallets, they have set out to search for potential patients themselves. Especially in Western Guatemala (the Altiplano) you find many children born with some degree of lip deformity. There are also still many younger people and adults with “cleft lips” and/or open cleft pallets. Unfortunately, many are unaware that through a series of surgeries their lives could be drastically improved.
To learn more about ‘The Gift of a Smile’, visit the TESS Unlimited website, Facebook page, or Twitter page.
 Mayan Hope is a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing educational, nutritional, medical, ecological, and other needed services to indigenous families, villages, and abandoned or abused children of Guatemala and other Latin American nations. They are a direct and hands-on charitable organization meaning that, as such, they work in close cooperation and side-by-side with the people in the communities where projects are located.
Education: Education is the foundation and primary purpose of Mayan Hope. They believe that education holds the key to the future for all. At present Mayan Hope is working with these educational projects:
- Special Education
- Central Education Center
- Student Exchange and College Scholarships
Environment: Mayan Hope is currently working to develop several projects to help in the preservation of the environment and the betterment of the communities in the Guatemalan highlands:
- Paper Firebricks
- Solar Ovens
- Composting Toilets
Health: Mobile Medical Unit and Training – Through some local contacts with an American medical team – Bryan and Riechelle Buchanan, Mayan Hope brings a mobile medical and dental unit into the local villages to perform minor medical and dental care. More complex cases than what they are equipped to handle from the mobile unit are referred to the hospital or doctors in Nebaj for follow-up.
Nutrition: Estimates are as high as 60 percent of the Mayan population here in Guatemala suffers from anemia or lack of protein in their diets. As much as 65 percent of the typical diet is corn based. To keep them from crying, mothers often feed their children nothing but sugar water for lack of any other food in the house. Proper nutrition and improperly balanced diets are a major problem. One of the goals at Mayan Hope is to improve this situation as much as possible. The immediate project that they are working on is the establishment of a soy milk production facility using a device called a SoyCow or VitaCow. They hope to provide each of the children in their schools with a daily quantity of soy milk as well as the pregnant and lactating women in the villages. Any excess product would be packaged and sold as a low cost and nutritional substitute for traditional milk and would be especially beneficial for those who are lactose intolerant. The sale of excess milk and other products produced from this facility could not only provide funding for the free milk provided to school children and pregnant mothers but could also help fund the overall project.
Economic Development: Nearly everything that Mayan Hope does in some way relates to economic development of the area. All of their projects require the employment of teachers or various local staff to work on the project. However there are some projects that they are trying to develop that specifically relate to economic development. These include:
- Development of New Farm Crops
- Solar Bakery
To learn more about Mayan Hope, please visit their website.
 Ties to the World (“TTTW”) is a 501 (c)(3) not for profit organization founded in Northern California, by Ibis Schlesinger in November 2006. Their goal is to promote self-sustainable orphanages in Latin America and worldwide thus breaking the cycle of their dependence on charity.
Ties to the World wants abandoned children to have the tools they need to succeed as adults. They want to help orphaned and disadvantaged youth develop the academic, business, and interpersonal skills necessary to support themselves and their future families in their home countries.
TTTW’s strategy is bring together business and community leaders, service groups and philanthropic individuals, university students and young adults, foundations and investors from both the US and the host countries to work in partnership to discover and launch social-entrepreneurial ventures large enough to enable the orphanages to become self-sustaining.
To learn how they will achieve self sustainability for the orphanages they work with, click here to visit their website.
 ASSCA (Social Services Association – German Cooperative) is a non-profit institution that, through scientific cooperation has brought preventive and curative healthcare, along with other forms of development, to the neediest Guatemalan communities. These services have been delivered through the use of human capital and technology.
The vision of ASSCA is to become one of the most important development institutions in Guatemala; to contribute real, tangible support to Guatemalan communities; and to improve the quality of life of Guatemalans.
History: In 1996, a group of Guatemalan professionals met a German engineer, Elmar Stumpf, who was in the country studying Spanish. After a pleasant, lengthy conversation, they decided to collaborate with Mr. Stumpf on a health project for the neediest people living in and around Quetzaltenango. They first formed a general medicine clinic; and as time passed – and more needs were identified – they also created a dental clinic, a laboratory (for blood/cell/tissue testing), psychological office and a pharmacy.
Today, after 14 years of hard work, they continue to explore new projects and look for ways to support the people who need it most. Currently, they have one of the best equipped and staffed medical centers in the region. A high percentage of the patients are from rural areas and/or low-income families.
Services: Among the services they offer are: 2 general medicine clinics, 2 dental clinics, one biological (blood) laboratory, electrocardiograph (EKG), ultrasound, digital prescription, optometry and a pharmacy with high quality and low cost medicine.
This year they have expanded into a new, larger building to accommodate more patients. As mentioned above, ASSCA is a non-profit organization, and is funded through the donations of patients, partner associations and individual donors in Germany. In addition, all those who work for ASSCA in the clinics also make financial contributions in order to best serve the neediest individuals in and around Quetzaltenango.
To learn more about ASSCA, please visit their website (Spanish only).
 Heartbeat International is devoted to saving lives globally by providing cardiovascular implantable devices and treatment to the needy people of the world.
Heartbeat international is proud of the history and lineage whereby one person’s compassion for his fellow countryman ignited a chain of events that is now taking the form of a global movement. Twenty-five years ago Federico Alfaro, MD, a Guatemalan physician, was treating a seventeen-year-old patient. The boy had a heart condition cardiologists refer to as “heart block”, an affliction in which the heartbeat continually slows until one day the heart just stops pumping. The boy’s condition was curable. The problem was he was poor. Dr. Alfaro tried desperately to find financial assistance to provide the boy with the pacemaker he needed. But in the end he had to watch the boy die. He swore another countryman would not die because they could not afford a pacemaker. From that commitment grew Heartbeat International.
Heartbeat International saves lives by:
- Providing pacemakers, defibrillators, cardiac resynchronization devices and other cardiovascular therapeutic solutions;
- Providing all professional and medical services by doctors and hospitals at NO CHARGE to the patient;
- Providing continuing education programs to all healthcare professionals;
- Developing and providing education and prevention programs through strategic alliances to the general population;
- Providing services regardless of age, gender, religion, culture, or political persuasion;
- Utilizing a time tested and trusted method to fulfill their mission.
An estimated 1 to 3 million people die annually because they cannot afford a LIFESAVING PACEMAKER OPERATION! Thus, the need is greater than the ability to provide! But the problem will only increase as the populations they serve develop cardiovascular disease which is increasing at an alarming rate and is the number one cause of death worldwide.
Currently, Heartbeat International operates 43 Heart Centers in 22 countries, including Guatemala.
To learn more about the work of Heartbeat International, please visit their website.
 UPDATE: Everyone should check out Transitions’ great new website at www.transitionsfoundation.org.
Mobilization, health, rehabilitation, education, leadership…
The Transitions Foundation is committed to making a difference in the lives of Guatemalans who may otherwise have few opportunities to grow, to learn, and to become literate and productive contributors to their Guatemalan culture. They provide rehabilitation, vocational, and educational training to disabled persons through the services offered at Transitions’ training centers.
Program Objectives:
- To provide life-skills training and mobility devices for physically disabled Guatemalans;
- To offer outreach support and medical product availability to disabled persons;
- To operate one special education classroom within a local school in a rural community for physically and mentally disabled children;
- To operate an offset printing and graphics design enterprise, with ongoing disabled student training and employment opportunities, offering printing service available to the public;
- To operate a wheelchair fabrication facility, providing highly individualized wheelchairs and other therapeutic equipment, providing ongoing leadership and technical training; and
- To operate a prosthetic/orthotic clinic with ongoing training and services available to Guatemalans with disabilities.
Workshop: Transitions operates a well-equipped workshop where they manufacture new wheelchairs and repair or modify existing ones. This operation employs 11 technicians, the majority of which have disabilities, who build rugged chairs well suited for the tough terrain of Guatemala. They employ modern MIG welding and other fabrication techniques, and maintain computerized records on each client so they can respond quickly to needed changes or repairs. Funding for much of their equipment, tools, and materials has come from Rotary International Foundation Grants, coordinated by the Portland, Oregon Rotary Club, and many other donors. During 2008, their workshop provided over 100 new and refurbished wheelchairs.
Prosthetic/Orthotic Clinic: Transitions operates a clinic to provide services to children and adults who are in need of a prosthetic limb or an orthotic leg brace. Due to the high number of birth defects and accidents in Guatemala, there is a large demand and need for these services. They work with local Guatemalan certified technicians to evaluate and manufacture the limbs and leg braces their patients need. Patients fitted with their limb or brace can achieve increased mobility and opportunities in their lives.
Since 2002, Transitions has provided care and treatment for over 200 prosthetic and orthotic patients. Many of the patients are children or youth and require ongoing treatment and adjustments to their equipment. Due to the high costs of providing these special devices, new patients can only be helped when defined funding is available.
Training for life: Transitions Foundation provided direct general educational scholarships for 53 disabled people during the 2008 school year. This includes educational costs such as tuition, materials and transportation to and from school.
Special Ed: They also assist low-income, physically and mentally disabled children through one rural special education classroom directed by a qualified teacher and therapist. Special education students receive multi-sensorial exposure, fine and gross motor skill stimulation and academic tutoring. Classrooms are wheelchair accessible, and parents and family members are encouraged to become involved.
Transitions will host the MIT Mobility Lab, as they test out 30, specially designed wheelchairs.
To learn more about Transitions, please visit their website.
 New Life with Education, a school for children with special abilities, it is located in the village of Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala.
In January 2000 the school, Nueva Vida, was founded for those with different abilities who were not allowed into public schools. It started in one room with one Guatemalan teacher and eight students. Three of those students had spina bifida, the others with muscular dystrophy, autism, Down syndrome, mental retardation and dwarfism. They were all studying on a kindergarten or first grade level.
The school’s vision is for the children to see themselves in God’s eyes, to know He loves them and has a purpose for their lives and to help them obtain that purpose. They want them to become productive adults who have a strong personal relationship with Jesus Christ as their foundation.
New Life is a licensed primary school and now has grades pre-kinder through sixth. The children are out in the street headed to school instead of hidden in their homes. Some reasons for their impaired learning are severe hearing or vision deficits, learning disabilities, or attention disorders. They are placed in classes of not more than ten students per teacher, some classes as few as four. Due to the students’ varied abilities, in 2010 there will be 1 kindergarten, 2 first grades and 2 second grade classes. Any child who cannot gain an education in public school may attend New Life. Most graduates of sixth grade are continuing to study.
To learn more about New Life, please visit their website.
one kinder, 2 first & 2 second grades
 ConstruCasa is a non-profit organization offering basic housing to families living in extreme poverty. ConstruCasa always works in collaboration with local social organizations to identify families of exceptional need. Beneficiary families participate in the construction of their home and also pay back one fourth of the total cost of their house over four years. ConstruCasa collaborates with its partner organizations also in other construction projects and community service programs.
ConstruCasa’s mission is to improve the quality of life of the poorest families in Guatemala by providing housing and offering support programs. Additionally, ConstruCasa carries out other construction projects for the benefit of communities. They strive to accomplish their mission through:
- The construction of sustainable houses for poor families;
- Offering additional housing-related improvements including energy efficient stoves and water filters;
- Providing post-construction services including family new-home orientation and instruction, as well as maintenance;
- Cooperation with strategic partners in the areas of education, health-care and jobs programs;
- Consulting and supervision of community construction projects; and
- Encouraging participation of poor families in community affairs.
In March 2009 the completion of the construction of the 300th ConstruCasa house in Guatemala was celebrated in the presence of the Dutch ambassador, representatives of their social partner organizations, the construction workers, and supporters and friends.
To learn more about Constru Casa, please visit their website.
 The Friends of the Deaf, officially known as the Friends of People with Auditory Deficiencies, a non-profit 501(c) (3) tax exempt organization, founded in 2009, is dedicated to improving the lives of people with auditory deficiencies through their support of Las Voces del Silencio (LAVOSI).
LAVOSI is an educational project for the deaf in Guatemala; “where the voiceless have a voice and a choice!” Las Voces del Silencio (LAVOSI) is a new project in Guatemala dedicated to educating and training the deaf and their families. Their school is conveniently located in Antigua which has good access for the many deaf men, women and children in the surrounding area. They opened their doors for classes on January 25th and have enjoyed a steady growth of students as the word spreads through the community about this new school for the deaf.
- In Guatemala there are an estimated 100,000 to 500,000 men, women and children (out of a total population of about 14 million) with hearing deficiencies.
- The Guatemalan government does not have the resources to help fund organizations such as Las Voces del Silencio
- The public education system of Guatemala makes no provisions to address the needs of this group.
- The few private schools in the country cannot address the needs of a population this large.
LAVOSI has an outstanding staff of teachers all of whom communicate easily with the students using the Guatemalan Sign Language. From the moment their students enter their doors they find a beautiful, spacious facility and are greeted with the smiles and hugs that give them a sense of belonging that they don’t find in many other places. At LAVOSI the deaf and their families find a loving, caring and professional educational environment. Their services are free and open to all regardless of financial status, religious affiliation or social status. The sad fact is that the deaf are left out of society here. They are discriminated against and exploited. They find it almost impossible to find work, and when they do, they receive far less wages. The public schools make no provisions for deaf students. A typical class size in the public school system is 30 to 35 students, making it difficult for any student, much more so for a deaf child. They are left out and left behind! The few private schools for the deaf are mostly located in Guatemala City, which is too far away and too costly for the majority of people that need their services.
At LAVOSI they offer elementary classes (language, social studies, mathematics, sign language, etc.) to the deaf children Monday through Friday. They also offer vocational training in the basic and fine arts, Guatemalan crafts, manual arts, general homemaking, baking, culinary arts and basic and advanced computer training. Parents are encouraged to attend the Parent Information and Training classes on Saturdays. They are taught the Guatemalan Sign Language so that they can communicate more effectively. They are also taught that having a deaf child is a blessing and not something to grieve or something of which to be ashamed.
LAVOSI receives NO funding from the Guatemalan government, therefore only a few dollars a day can make a big difference in the services that they can provide. Learn more about opportunities to support LAVOSI.
You can learn more about the organization by visiting their website.
 The Rotary Club of Fort Collins teamed up with the Rotary Club of Cheyenne and the Rotary Club of Chiquimula de la Sierra, Guatemala to provide a computer lab for a school for deaf children in Zacapa, Guatemala. The Maria Teresa Ordonez School is the only school for deaf children in eastern Guatemala and serves over 75 children with impaired hearing and/or speech.
The facility was built largely on the efforts of Jorge and Reina Palma Zecena, members of the Rotary Club of Chiquimula, whose‘s son Jorgito is himself deaf. As there was no funding available to make modern learning tools available to these otherwise normal children, Anita, Jorgito’s sister and also a member of the RC of Chiquimula wondered if Rotary could help. In June of 2007, Anita met with Ft. Collins Rotarians Claude Piché, Chuck Rutenberg, Susie Ewing and Betty Brown and proposed a Matching Grant to equip the facility.
The opening ceremony for the computer lab took place in June of 2008 during the 2008 visit of Rotarians Ft. Collins.
The matching grant covered the purchase and installation of 12 computers and work stations, special software for teaching hearing-impaired children as well as an air conditioner for climate control in the lab.
This project will directly benefit the students of the school and indirectly benefit the families and communities of these youth. There is also potential to network these resources to other schools for deaf children in other parts of Guatemala.
For more information about this project, please click here.
 Kids Alive International is a Christian faith mission dedicated to rescuing orphans and vulnerable children – meeting their spiritual, physical, educational and emotional needs. Kids Alive provides children with the love and care every child deserves, and raises them to be contributing members of their society and witnesses to their family and community.
The Oasis: This residential care facility began in 1999 and has grown into a campus that currently has five completed homes, with one more home being built. The Oasis campus, located west of Guatemala City, includes a school, computer lab, offices, a library, a great hall, the children’s homes, two Independence Homes (for girls over 18, transitioning out of their care and into the community), and some staff housing including a guest house for Service Teams.
Eight to ten girls reside in each home with Guatemalan house parents. The majority of the 40 girls have been rescued by Guatemalan authorities out of abusive home-life situations. At The Oasis, these girls receive the spiritual, emotional and physical healing necessary to recover.
Source of Hope Care Center: The Source of Hope Care Center opened its doors in July, 2006, in the town of Zapote – a remote area where food, work, and education are scarce. This ministry is a partnership between Kids Alive and Iglesia Galilea, a local church. It began with forty preschoolers and has since grown to 100 children from preschool to fourth grade. Here they receive a solid education, health services and a nutrition program – often the only meals they receive each day. A new building has just been completed where they plan to expand to sixth grade and develop community outreach programs. Kids Alive and Iglesia Galilea are working to develop nutrition, education and discipleship programs for the children and their parents as they believe that the Gospel can transform this village.
To learn more about Kids Alive, please visit their website. Or click here for more information about forming a Medical Mission Team to help children. Latest news and updates can be followed on their Facebook page.
Las Manos de Christine works within impoverished communities to broaden opportunities for local children by providing English language instruction .
It is in its fourth year of operation and building new relationships with individuals and other charitable organizations. Currently, its primary relationship is with Camino Seguro, which both has helped Las Manos enormously in its developing years and seen great benefit from Las Manos’s involvement with it. In addition, this year sees Las Manos branching out on its first autonomous project in the rural village school of El Hato.
Charitable organizations running schools in developing countries face a wide range of obstacles when creating and maintaining an English program. For example, programs must be carefully designed to maximize student progress and teacher retention. It can be difficult to find qualified and experienced educators. Essential resources such as books, workbooks, and audio materials are expensive. Overcoming these problems and creating a sustainable program requires time, money, and experience.
Further, many organizations utilize volunteers as a significant part of their teaching staff. Volunteers, because of their passion and selfless efforts, are an excellent resource. Unfortunately, they are often untrained and normally stay for only a short period. The student-teacher relationship takes time and effort to build and constant rotation of teachers may result in a lack of consistency and progress in the classroom.
Las Manos provides English programs, resources, and trained teachers to non-profits and other groups who work with underprivileged children in an educational capacity. Tailored English programs are designed by education professionals, each class is assigned a permanent and experienced instructor, volunteers are integrated into the program to give direct assistance to individuals and the classes are taught with the latest teaching methods and using the most effective resources available.
To learn more about Las Manos, please visit their website.
Let’s Be Ready’s mission is to prepare at-risk Guatemalan children for the first-grade by establishing preschools and training preschool and first-grade teachers. Their vision is to break the cycle of poverty in Guatemala by reducing the high rate of drop-out and repetition of children in the first-grade. Their goal is to have 80% of their students successfully complete 6th grade—current national average is 20%. Their schools provide the students with a safe, clean place to play and learn. Parents are involved in the school so as to ensure both the support of their program and the commitment to their child’s on-going education.
Their methodology:
- They identify unemployed teachers who have been trained in the National Curriculum and who have the determination to start their own preschool.
- The teacher forms a partnership with a community who needs and wants a preschool.
- The community is required to provide the building for the school and the teacher must recruit parents willing to participate and volunteer.
- The teacher must also agree to be a demonstration school (i.e., they must share ideas and resources with other nearby schools) and they must agree to be accredited by the Department of Education.
- They find a sponsor to provide the teacher with financial support to cover their salary, training, equipment, materials and the cost of operating the school room.
- The teacher must attend their annual teacher-training program before opening their school.
- They require student attendance of 90%.
- They require 100% parent participation in school meetings and functions.
- The students’ readiness for the first-grade is assessed at the end of the year and the students are tracked through the completion of the 3rd grade.
Their teaching training program:
- They invite preschool and first-grade teachers from public and private schools in the communities in which they have established preschools to observe their classrooms.
- They require all of their preschool teachers to undertake a three-week teacher-training program before the beginning of each school year
- They also provide their teachers with mentoring throughout the school year.
Currently, Let’s Be Ready runs preschools in the following communities:
- San Pedro Las Huertas
- Colonia Hermano Pedro de Santa Ana
- San Juan del Obispo
- San Miguel Escobar
- San Juan Alotenango
- Santa Maria de Jesus
- Santo Domingo Xenacoj
- Aldea San Antonio de Santo Domingo Xenacoj
- Aldea El Rosario de Santo Domingo Xenacoj
- San Pablo La Laguna
- Chuisec
- Pacoj
- Tierra Colorado
- La Pila
Volunteers: They accept bilingual preschool teachers for assignments of at least 3 weeks and help them set up their lodging.
To learn more about Let’s Be Ready, please visit their website.
CasaSito increases educational opportunities in rural areas of Guatemala so that indigenous people living in poverty can attend school, receive quality instruction, and obtain the skills they need to improve their lives.
CasaSito has two approaches for addressing educational needs, depending on location. In the Department of Sacatepéquez, they offer scholarships and work closely with local learning centers to provide in-depth and extensive support for students and families. In more remote areas, they work with community leaders to provide support for more short-term projects, such as school construction, education material grants, and training workshops.
- Scholarship: The CasaSito scholarship program focuses on indigenous junior high and high school students of the Sacatepéquez area who have good grades, but are unable to continue their studies due to their economic circumstances. With this program, students may choose their school career as long as their choices are within their budget and their family financial situation.
- School materials and facilities: CasaSito assists six communities in developing the basic resources that they need to provide a solid education. CasaSito provides support for school buildings, teachers’ salaries, furniture and technical equipment that is needed for “Telesecundaria” (a form of long-distance education where students learn from videos). CasaSito also offers school materials such as books, notebooks, and writing utensils. In very rural communities, CasaSito is assisting to build and furnish dorm rooms for students who travel long distances to attend school.
- Food Programs: Students cannot focus in school if they are always hungry. Therefore, CasaSito supports cafeterias in four of its partner programs. These cafeterias not only help children to focus in school, they also provide at least one nutritious meal each day. (And provide employment for community members, usually women.)
- Adult Skill Training: Adhering to their belief that empowering women is one of the effective ways in development, CasaSito provides three communities with skill development programs. CasaSito has trained women in baking, sewing, jewelry making, farming and literacy.
- Library and Computer Labs: CasaSito supports library and computer labs in four of its partner programs. These labs allow students and community members access to a wide variety of knowledge. They also foster a love of learning and reading that students will hopefully carry with them even after they finish their schooling.
- Festivals: CasaSito believes that a well-rounded education includes a variety of extracurricular activities. Therefore, CasaSito holds small festivals for organizations who wish to improve their programs in art, music, athletics, and debate.
As a part of educational mission, CasaSito strives to improve the living condition of the families of rural areas of Guatemala to a level from which they can build their own future and better lives.
- Rainwater Catchment Tanks Construction Program: This program improves domestic water supplies for rural villagers in Guatemala, where besides the lack of clean drinking water, water for bathing is greatly restricted, especially in the dry season, causing skin and other health problems. Each tank can hold up to 6,000 liters of water, which if used properly will last 2-3 months of the dry season and offer clean water during the rainy season.
- Community health posts: They raise funds to help community health posts with equipment and medicine. They also look for associations and university volunteer programs to partner with local communities to improve the quality of health services and special projects such water quality control, medicinal herbal garden, workshops and intensive courses for health promoters.
- Emergency relief: They provide medical help and food supplies to communities and individuals who suffer from the lack of medical services or natural disasters. In 2005, CasaSito offered emergency food supplies to villages around the Tacaná area, which was very affected by Hurricane Stan. They often assist children and their families with medicine, hospital visits and emergency transport fees.
- Microfinance projects: They help associations to apply micro loans to equip their education centers and support mothers who are related to their partner associations to start small business in order to improve their income. One of the most important ingredients of social development in developing countries is the participation of volunteers. Every year, thousands of volunteers arrive in Guatemala and look for ways to help. However, not all of them have strong financial support and for those who stay in the Antigua area, the cost of living can be expensive.
Volunteers’ Program
- Volunteers: The Volunteer Program is very important to CasaSito. CasaSito relies on their volunteers for supporting their general education program. They teach classes, distribute materials, building tanks and centers. They contribute a great deal to the success of CasaSito and its partner communities.
- Volunteers’ House: The goal of the “Volunteers’ House Project” is to provide a comfortable and economical housing option for volunteers working in the Antigua area. The house is 7 blocks from Parque Central, near Parque San Sebastian. The minimum stay is two weeks and prices start at Q1000/month and depend on length of stay and whether you take a single or double room. The prices include use of a full kitchen, filtered water, coffee and tea, and unlimited access to a computer and high speed (wireless) internet.
For more information about CasaSito, please visit their website.
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