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 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.
 CHOICE Humanitarian is ending poverty by focusing on sustainable village development. Our goal is to connect motivated villages to resources and tools to change their lives. By building skills, capacities and leadership of the villagers – the entire community brings itself out of the cycle of poverty.CHOICE, which stands for Center for Humanitarian Outreach and Inter-Cultural Exchange, was started in 1982 by Dr. Tim Evans. Having returned from living in the Altiplano of Bolivia for 2 years, Dr. Evans had made a personal commitment to go back and help the Andean people. What started as the Children’s Andean Foundation, has grown, expanded and matured into the organization it is today – serving Kenya, Nepal, Guatemala, Bolivia and Mexico.
To follow CHOICE’s projects in Guatemala, please visit their blog. To read about the addition of two ambulances, headed to Alta Verapaz, please see this article. To find more information about CHOICE, 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.
 Nest is a nonprofit organization that empowers female artists and artisans around the world. Using a unique combination of interest-free microfinance loans, mentoring from established designers, as well as a market in which to sell their crafts, Nest helps its loan recipients create successful small businesses. Nest instills pride of ownership, preserves ancient artistic traditions and successfully moves women from poverty to self-sufficiency.
To address some limitations to microfinance, Nest has developed a new way to assist women; they call it “microbarter.” They provide women, or cooperatives of women, with loans that allow them to purchase the supplies, training, bazaar space or raw materials needed to make their crafts. However, rather than requiring repayment in cash, they encourage women to repay their loans in product, which they would market and sell in the United States. These beautifully crafted pieces are available on their website under “Shop Loan Recipients” and at selected retail outlets.
Nest microbartering has many benefits. One, it encourages women to develop businesses using skills they already possess. Two, it supports ancient artistic traditions. Three, Nest does much more than lend money. Through their mentoring by established designers, their financial and business curriculum, their western marketplace and their wrap-around services, they fully support women as they move from poverty to self-sufficiency. Fourth, they provide you, the consumer, with expertly handcrafted merchandise from around the world.
According to a May 17, 2010 press release, “Lord & Taylor, together with UNICEF and FEED Projects, is selling an exclusive “FEED 1 Guatemala” pouch and “FEED 3 Guatemala” tote. Purchase a FEED bag from Lord & Taylor and FEED will provide nutrients for one or three children for a year respectively through UNICEF’s nutrition programs in Guatemala. Look great and feel great by getting your bag today either online or at a Lord & Taylor store!
The FEED Guatemala bags are handmade by Nest, a nonprofit organization that empowers female artists and artisans around the world. The Guatemalan Nest artisans used their traditional Ikat fabrics to make the fun and handy “FEED 1 Guatemala” zippered pouch and the sturdy and sizable “FEED 3 Guatemala” tote bag. The variety of colors and woven patterns reflects the vibrant Guatemalan culture and gives each customer an array of colors and patterns to choose from. Purchase of the bags celebrates the traditional crafts of Guatemala and supports women artisans, while also generating funding to help UNICEF provide micronutrient supplements to children so they grow up stronger, healthier and better equipped to move beyond extreme poverty.”
To learn more about Nest, please visit their website. To read the press release in its entirety, please click here.
A Thread of Hope is a fair trade web store featuring items from Guatemala. Eliza Strode, the owner, is a clinical social worker who went to Guatemala in 1997 to learn Spanish. Previously a food co-op manager in Cambridge, MA, she visited a number of artisans’ cooperatives in Guatemala. Eliza started selling Fairly-Traded products from Guatemala in 2001. She has spent three to four months per year since 2007 in Guatemala working on a volunteer basis providing technical assistance to Asociacion Maya de Desarrollo in Solola and other groups, and networking with other cooperatives, groups, and Fair Traders.
A Thread of Hope’s partners include the following groups:
Asociacion Maya de Dessarrollo, Sololá is a worker cooperative of 180 women backstrap-loom weavers located in the highlands of Solola Guatemala.
Cooperativa San Antonio Palopo Co-op: A Thread of Hope buys some of its cotton scarves from this cooperative of men and women weavers on Lake Atitlan. The men weave using foot looms, and the women weave using backstrap looms and foot looms.
Creaciones Chonita employs a group of widows and young women in Santiago Atitlan to make beautiful beaded jewelry. When the group makes a profit, they save part of the money in a scholarship fund for the education of theirchildren. They also give basic living supplies to the elderly widows, and support the medical expenses of all members as needed.
Dunitz: Nancy Dunitz works with women around Lake Atitlan to create innovative designs in beaded and macramé jewelry. The beaders are treated with respect and work in a safe and clean environment. In addition, women with children to care for can work in their homes. Nancy supports and contributes to “Pueblo a Pueblo”, a community based charity that funds the local hospital and aids in other grass root projects. This organization has been instrumental in helping many people after the devastation caused by Hurricane Stan in October 2005.
La Casa Guatemala: Since 1995, La Casa Guatemala has been exporting Guatemalan handcrafted products. Working with artisan communities around the country, their goal is to generate sustainable, optimum-income-producing crafts production, including new opportunities for existing artisan groups and training for incipient groups.
Mayan Hands: Mayan Hands is a Fair Trade organization founded in 1989. They work with ten groups (about 230 women) who live in rural communities in the highlands of Guatemala. Mayan Hands works with the women on designing products that are marketable in the US. They also offer opportunities to the weavers in many areas, including scholarships and school supplies for their children, home improvements, micro-lending, training in new skills and techniques, as well as classes in gender awareness, domestic violence, conflict resolution, and herbal medicine. To learn more about Mayan hands click here.
Ruth and Noemi: This group began as a widows and orphans group. They started with a grant to buy 100 chickens. With the surplus money from selling eggs, they bought thread and started to weave. A local minister was a part-time tailor and he taught the boys to sew after school and the project grew out of this. UPAVIM and now A Thread of Hope help them to get their products to the US where they can get a fair wage for what they make.
Senovia began a beaded jewelry business to employ 22 women in Santiago Atitlan. She has a knack for creating beautiful designs.
UPAVIM (Unidas Para Vivir Mejor – United for a Better Life) is a cooperative of about 80 women who live in marginalized communities on the outskirts of Guatemala City. UPAVIM began making simple crafts to help pay for the Healthy Babies program in 1991. Since then, the craft program has developed into a successful export business that won a national prize in 2001 for non-traditional textile exporting. The profits from craft sales finance daycare, Montessori preschool, the K-6 school, and partially subsidize the pharmacy and medical clinic, including a prenatal clinic and healthy babies program. UPAVIM also provides about 435 scholarships and a tutoring center. With the goals of making all of their community programs sustainable from additional income generating projects, UPAVIM is in the process of constructing the “Annex,” a second-four story building that houses various projects, including a soy milk production facility, a bakery, store, and an internet/computer/typewriting school.
Women of Panabaj: This is a cooperative of weavers, embroiderers, and beaded jewelry makers affected by the mudslide that covered the town of Panabaj after Hurricane Stan in October 2005. The women weave thick material on small foot looms, and then make them into wallets, bags, guitar straps, and clerical stoles.
To learn more about A Thread of Hope and its Guatemalan partners click here.
 The University of Washington Guatemala Project (UWGP) is a group of University of Washington students and recent alumni working to provide scholarships and vocational training for their peers in Guatemala. Their project is jointly designed and supported by UW students/alumni and the Movimiento de Trabajadores Campesinos (MTC), a non-governmental organization based in San Marcos, Guatemala.
This project, organized entirely at the initiative of students in the UW’s 2005, 2006, and 2007 Exploration Seminars and Study Abroad trips to Guatemala, aims to support primary and secondary education in Guatemala’s coffee-growing communities through a sustained commitment to youth empowerment.
Ongoing and Past Projects:
- Vocational Training Center: In 2008, the MTC requested funding to support a Vocational Training Center, rather than the scholarships that were funded the previous year, so that they could reach more youth. The Vocational Center hired Professor Baudilio Israel Recinos de Leon to oversee the vocational training and activities. Between July and December of 2008, the vocational center ran four main workshops: Cutting and Sewing, Carpentry, Computer Classes, and Beauty Culture – all taught by certified professionals. The courses were designed to serve 120 children and youth, but due to a high interest in the programs, 164 children and youth were served – 88 young women and 76 young men.
- Youth Leader Scholarships: Students were chosen by the MTC in Guatemala. Each of six regional associations received an equal share of funds and selected one or more students from their region. Scholarships could be applied to formal schooling, as well as learning useful crafts like weaving. The primary selection criterion was how much leadership the youth had demonstrated within the MTC–for example, leadership of a regional Youth Council or Women’s Council.
To learn more about UWGP, please see 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.
 Comunidad Nueva Alianza is an organic coffee and macadamia plantation owned and operated by a cooperative of forty Guatemalan families, located in a sub-tropical area 1000 meters above sea level 45 minutes north of the coastal town of Retalhuleu. The community is nestled amongst a 300 acre plantation of organic coffee and macadamia trees where large tracts of natural tropical forest have been preserved as well.
Their cooperative works according to the principles of Direct Democracy and currently boasts within its organizational structure a Women’s Committee, an Education Committee, and a Board of Directors dedicated to ensuring that all workers have equal rights.
Since receiving legal title in late 2004, they have initiated many projects to generate income to pay off the outstanding debt for their land and to improve the health, education, and living conditions within the community.
- Organic Coffee and Macadamia Plantation: They are currently growing, maintaining, and processing certified organic coffee and macadamia nuts. Although their processes meet the strict requirements for fair trade, they do not yet have official certification. They are currently pursuing certification and hope to be certified this year.
- Ecotourism: The community offers many attractions for tourists such as: a hike to two beautiful waterfalls, a tour of their community projects, including the biodiesel and coffee processing plants, and information about their edible and medicinal plants. Also, from the hotel, there are spectacular views of the active volcano Santiaguito and sunsets over the Pacific Ocean.
- Micro Hydroelectric Plant and Biodiesel Project: Isolated from the main electricity grid, they have been forced to find creative solutions for their energy needs. They have opted for environmentally sustainable projects to provide their office, homes, and various processing plants with power. Their micro hydroelectric plant utilizes the natural springs on the property and provides the entire community with electricity.
- Agua Pura Alianza: Taking advantage of natural springs within the community, they are selling purified water in towns and cities nearby. Their process is environmentally friendly and they are competing with other large, national producers based on the high quality of their water source and purification standards.
- Bamboo Furniture and Arts and Crafts Workshop: In-line with rest of their projects, construction with bamboo is environmentally friendly because bamboo regenerates very quickly and does not require much land to grow. The workshop produces items such as: bookshelves, dinner tables, reclining chairs, large and small mirrors, and custom-made requests as well.
Volunteering: Volunteers are welcomed and appreciated at Nueva Alianza. There is no minimum time period to volunteer or minimum level of Spanish, though some Spanish ability is helpful. Volunteering in Nueva Alianza gives you the opportunity to learn about the everyday life of Guatemalan agricultural workers.
To learn more about Nueva Alianza, please visit their website.
Only A Child maintains a shelter and a carpentry shop for former street youth in Guatemala City, but the shelter is far more than just a place to sleep. The shelter provides its residents with a genuine home and a surrogate family in which the kids are taught accountability and responsibility. They must contribute time and effort daily toward meeting the needs of the family. In return, it gives them something to belong to, a place where they are respected and cared for, a place where they can grow and develop an identity complete with confidence and self-esteem.
The project houses 10-12 young adults. All of them work, and many of them work in Only A Child’s carpentry shop, where program participants produce finely crafted cedar boxes. Like the shelter, the shop serves a higher purpose. The youngsters who work in the shop produce objects of real beauty, helping to support the program that nurtures them. By working to develop a skill, they learn that they are capable of succeeding in life, once given the opportunity. With time they are able to see themselves in a different light, as valued and productive members of their society.
To further complete their preparation, and maximize their chances to leave the streets once and for all, Only A Child sends its program participants to high-quality independent schools. This represents for many, the chance to realize a life-long dream “to fill a desk at school,” better themselves and one day become someone.
To learn more about Only A Child, please visit their website.
 Long Way Home’s (LWH) mission as a 501(c)(3) is to break the cycle of poverty among youth in developing communities by creating educational opportunities, cultivating civic interaction, and encouraging healthy lifestyles.
Education, Employment, and Breaking the Cycle of Poverty:
The intergenerational benefits of the opportunities provided by education have broken the cycle of dependency and poverty in many areas of the world, and have a tremendous opportunity to do so in rural Guatemala. Currently a majority of people in San Juan Comalapa subsistence farm for a living, which does not supply them with all of their basic needs. Long Way Home has dedicated itself to building a school in this town to bring education and job training to the people of this Mayan community. The education will in turn help them find employment.
San Juan Comalapa also has a garbage problem that can cause illness and disease. By using alternative construction techniques with materials that would otherwise be burned or enter the water supply, Long Way Home has created a solution for part of this dilemma. Through education, employment, and health the people of San Juan Comalapa have the power to increase the quality of life for generations to come.
To the community, they promise:
- To provide a safe environment for education and recreation;
- To bring and share innovative ideas in the areas of appropriate technology, education, and micro-enterprise;
- To train others to be development workers; and
- To be good stewards of the environment.
To the volunteers, they promise:
- To provide the opportunity to work hard, to learn, and to understand a unique culture.
To their supporters/contributors, they promise:
- To operate a lean organization that puts their contributions to the best possible uses in accordance with their mission; and
- To maintain accountability and transparency with all project financing.
To follow LWH’s construction progress, please visit this blog. To learn more about LWH, please visit their website, or Facebook fan page.
Our friends at As Green As It Gets published some great articles in its February newsletter. See the excerpts below, and click here to read the entire thing!
Our Lendees Are Now Lenders: The coffee farmers have historically been the biggest recipient of our small business loans. Some of the more established farmers have reached a point where they are financially stable enough to be lenders. The farmers’ collective loaned cash to the community to create 18 new home stays in San Miguel Escobar. This started with seed money from As Green As It Gets, but is now managed and financed entirely by the community…
Effort Beyond Charity: Two of our girls were exhausted—the desperate screaming of chickens being plucked had awoken them at 5 a.m. Another had biting ants swarm up her pant leg. The blisters I got from the machetes and hoes were bleeding freely. All in all, we found out very quickly that life at Columbia had not necessarily prepared us for the hard existence of the coffee farmers of Guatemala. However, according to Timoteo Minas, one of our host farmers from our eight-day trip this winter break, coffee farmers are far better off now than they were five years ago, when they began working with As Green As It Gets…
Addressing the Link Between Poverty and Deforestation: Deep in the middle of the Guatemalan jungle is the Ixcan community – displaced by the army during the civil war, neglected by the government and forgotten by society. Taming the forest is the only way that they have been able to survive. They have already lost 1,200 hectares of rainforest to slash and burn agriculture. Without your help they will lose the remaining part of their rainforest in 10 years…
Click here to read the rest of the February newsletter.
The Valhalla Project is a Guatemala based organization that seeks to reverse global warming, assist indigenous people in developing self-sustaining agriculture, and educate the public about the environment. They accomplish this mission by planting trees. The Valhalla project introduces ungrafted Macadamia seedlings to indigenous people as an alternative to slash and burn agriculture, which contributes to global warming.
The mission of the Valhalla Project includes:
- Global reforestation of open genetic macadamia nut trees;
- Marketing and sales of natural foods and natural skin care products;
- Promotion of sustainable agriculture for farmers worldwide;
- Job creation through local production and processing; and
- Green investment opportunities in eco-entrepreneurship.
1972, Lawrence Gottschamer was retired in the line of duty as a Fireman in Redwood City, CA, prior to serving in the army during the Viet Nam war. In 1975 he was asked to go to Costa Rica to farm 100 acres of macadamia nut trees. His mentor at that time, Mr. Edelberto Camacho, from the Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agricolas in Turrialba, Costa Rica, was and is still well known in the industry. He spent countless hours in private consultation with Mr. Camacho and numerous other professors discussing all phases of agriculture particularly the macadamia tree. While in Costa Rica, Lawrence started the first private nursery in Turrialba. In Costa Rica, he had the chance to meet with experts coming from Hawaii, as the Costa Rican macadamia industry was modeled using Hawaiian methods. As it turned out, the macadamia agro-industry in Costa Rica fell short of commercial expectations because conventional Hawaiian clones were used in the plantations. It was always apparent to Lawrence Gottschamer that locally developed varieties adapted to local climate work much better.
When Lawrence Gottschamer finished his work in Costa Rica he decided to go to Guatemala, where he met his future wife, Emilia Aguirre, a Guatemalan lady with a deep passion for mother nature, with a strong desire to do anything to protect the environment; since that time they have been working together, side by side, for their sustainable agriculture project. He continued his work with macadamia. He built several small macadamia-processing plants for the private sector, and was one of the founders of “Voit, Juarez, and Gottschamer, Consultants” an agro-industrial consulting company.
In 1985 Lawrence and Emilia founded the Experimental Station Valhalla. Its pursuits were and continue to be ecological. With the gene bank in hand they pursued a genetically diverse high carbon dioxide and water exchange capacity tree which is competitive and superior to the grafted or cloned trees available at that time. Their purpose was to use the technology to provide the indigenous communities with a substitute for their current practices of slash and burn agriculture. Finally there was proof that there is a tremendous future for the private sector in the eco-development industry. At Valhalla, they have developed seedling trees whose economic performance is considered at least as good as the best of today’s grafted material.
To learn more about Valhalla, please visit their website.
 Teaching children to dream is the first step in their believing in a future.
Fotokids was founded by ex-Reuters photographer, Nancy McGirr in 1991, with 6 children from the City’s vast garbage dump. Over the years, the organization has grown to include both rural poor and urban gang areas. Fotokids, including an environmental photo project in Honduras, now serves130 children from 6 distinct communities. Students are given educational scholarships covering primary school through university.
Although documentary photography remains the focus of the project, our Fotokids graduates teach the younger students digital imaging, graphic design, and video.
Besides empowering children to learn a unique set of job skills, self-esteem, leadership and the opportunity to continue their education, many have traveled the world to attend Fotokids exhibitions or give workshops in over a dozen countries.
The student design studio and individual students have worked for the United Nations, director George Lucas, Hispanic TV, designed books and teach for the Guatemalan Ministry of education and published Out of the Dump, Writing and Photography by Children of Guatemala.
Their photography has been exhibited in London, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Medellin, Seville, New York, Washington DC, Houston, Sao Paolo, Caracas, and Paris.
To learn more about Fotokids, please visit their website.
 The mission of The Aid & Education Project is to promote education in indigenous communities in Guatemala. Their primary program for promoting education in Guatemala is to offer scholarships to deserving students. They also have programs to promote computer literacy, to teach English, and to preserve the local culture. Additionally, there are special programs for women and girls.
The mission of the Scholarship Program is to help students get in school, stay in school, and succeed in school. This starts with giving a poor student material aid: paying for most of their school fees, school supplies, school uniforms and other basic school clothing. Secondly, and often just as important, they help create an environment that leads to success. They offer classes during the school vacation. They provide access to computers and the internet. And when volunteers are available, they offer English Classes. Through their Health Program, they provide free medical visits for routine childhood health problems. As deemed necessary by local directors, they make sure that students get eye and ear exams.
They are investors in the future of the children in their program. Like any good investor, they only make investments that are likely to yield a good return. For them, a good return is a literate adult who can attain financial self-sufficiency. A good return is a skilled worker or professional who without their program could never have developed their talents.
They are not in the business of giving money to poor people. In order to stay in their program a student must make concrete steps toward self-sufficiency and toward developing their own future; otherwise, they can be dropped from the program.
To learn more about this group, please visit their website.
 Inteligencia Móvil Internacional de Guatemala or “IMI Guatemala” is a non-profit association that seeks to help people with disabilities in Guatemala by providing low cost and locally assembled wheelchairs.
HISTORY: IMI Guatemala is the pilot project of the U.S. non-profit Intelligent Mobility International, or “IMI. The idea started from a collaboration with students from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and students from Rafael Landivar University in Guatemala City. After a great first 10 weeks, the group grew to include students from another California based university, the Art Center College of Design, and soon after launched IMI.
As the first in-country subsidiary of IMI, IMI Guatemala creates a local presence, allowing for the best possible manufacturing, user feedback and appropriate design in the creation of low cost mobility devices including their first product, an award winning appropriate wheelchair. IMI and IMI Guatemala work together to create and develop an affordable, ergonomic, durable and low cost wheelchair, designed and assembled with wheelchair users from partner Transitions of Guatemala.
VISION: IMI believes that supplying mobility can change lives. With the help of low cost, appropriate mobility devices, those with limited resources can regain mobility and live an active and productive life. Their task is to empower people with disabilities who are living in both urban and isolated rural areas to have the tools to become reintegrated with their communities.
MISSION: To partner with local designers and in-country disability NGOs throughout the world to produce low cost mobility devices, supply training, and offer job opportunities. Every detail of their wheelchair design accounts for the developing world environment for which it was made.
To effect any lasting change in the developing world your product must integrate the following elements: Cost, Quality, and Sustainability. Their wheelchair accounts for all of them:
- X-brace: The function of the X-brace is to collapse the wheelchair so that it takes up less volume for storage and travel. Functionally, the X-brace supports and aligns the two sides of the wheelchair and distributes the forces to its structural members. Their unique design collapses the chair over 1/3rd of its width without compromising strength and at a minimal added cost.
- Footrest: The footrests have been designed to support the users’ legs and lower body while using the chair. In order to fully accommodate the needs of multiple disabilities the footrest position can be easily adjusted to maximize support. This design allows for the frame to collapse using an inexpensive and highly durable system.
- Tires: The terrain in the developing world is rugged and the infrastructure is not accommodating for conventional wheelchair tires. Mountain bike tires are ideal for this environment. Conventional wheelchair wheels have significantly less contact area than mountain bike tires and often little or no tread. Conventional wheels are more likely to get stuck, prematurely wear, and can even endanger the user. In addition to the improved safety and functionality benefits, the tires allow for an air filled ride by absorbing significantly more shock than conventional tires.
- Casters: The caster assemblies are an integral component of the wheelchair and serve multiple functions. The primary function of the casters is to distribute the force exerted on the front of the chair to the ground without compromising the wheelchair’s ability to turn. Their casters are capable of rotating 360 degrees in a smooth, uniform fashion under all user environments- while the chair is moving, stationary, and under considerable force. Furthermore their casters are unique in that their height can be adjusted to customize the angle of inclination of the seat. Integrating this angle adjustment feature allows IMI to further customize the wheelchair for specific end user needs.
To learn more about the work of IMI, please visit their website.
 Hope Haven International Ministries (HHIM) reaches beyond the borders of our nation by extending mercy to people with disabilities around the world. This is accomplished by working closely with relief and development organizations, mission groups and individuals in various countries.
In the early 1990’s, Hope Haven, headquartered out of Rock Valley, Iowa (USA), had an opportunity to get a first-hand look at the living conditions that persons with disabilities experience in foreign countries. Through this experience, a formal proposal regarding Hope Haven developing an international ministry was approved by Hope Haven’s Board of Trustees in 1993 and thus was the beginning of HHIM. Since then, we have expanded our Iowa based ministry to 9 other satellite shops located in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota, as well as two international shops located in Guatemala and Romania. HHIM rebuilds donated wheelchairs, as well as manufactures the Hope Haven KidChair in both Iowa and Guatemala, and delivers them to people in need around the world.
Mission of Hope Haven International Ministries: The mission of Hope Haven International Ministries is to assist persons with disabilities to reach their potential. This purpose is accomplished by providing support for the development of opportunities for improving the economic and social welfare and independence of people with disabilities within countries and cultures throughout the world. This ministry, as with all of Hope Haven’s services, is “a ministry of Christian mercy based on the conviction that God’s Word speaks to and directs all of life.”
Hope Haven Guatemala: In the summer of 2008, Hope Haven’s Director of Operations moved to Guatemala to live full time and operate a new wheelchair manufacturing facility. Hope Haven is now employing wheelchair users and caretakers in this new shop. People are learning new job skills and making a standard wage, so that they are now able to provide for their families and learn new trade skills.
This shop is specializing in manufacturing the KidChair. After challenging the students of Dordt College, located in NW Iowa, to design a pediatric wheelchair to meet the specific needs of a disabled child living in a Third World country, the Hope Haven KidChair was born. With ongoing modifications and additions, as a result of continuous input from Engineers, Rehab Technicians, Therapists and families, The Hope Haven KidChair has evolved into a system which meets the needs of almost any child who requires wheelchair mobility while living in a demanding Third World environment.
Now manufactured in La Antigua, Guatemala the Hope Haven KidChair is being build by Guatemalans with disabilities. These wheelchairs from the Hope Haven Guatemala factory are given free of charge to children with disabilities in Guatemala, Mexico and Central America thanks to foundations, service clubs, churches and individuals that cover the $180 sponsorship per wheelchair.
To learn more about this group, please visit its general website, Guatemalan website (in Spanish), or view a video of the workers in Guatemala.
 Miracles in Action is a Florida based, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that serves poor indigenous communities in Guatemala. Their team of volunteers seeks out underserved pockets of need in rural Guatemala and they research projects that focus on education, vocational training, and sustainable development. “Miracles” board then selects those projects that achieve long-term results, improve quality of life, and allow truly impoverished people to help themselves.
Supporting Guatemalan Cottage Industry: Because they are a volunteer organization, 100% of all donations go directly to their projects. Administrative expenses are funded by the sale of handicrafts produced in Guatemala’s cottage industry. Additionally, the sale of handicrafts provides the Mayan women an opportunity to earn an income from their home while taking care of their children. If not for the handicraft industry, these women would need to work hard labor in the fields picking coffee and corn for 12 hour shifts away from home.
Projects: Their goal is to make a lasting impact on the lives of the poorest of the poor. Here are some of the ways they strive to make a difference:
- Schools and Libraries: Education is the answer to poverty, but it is often out of reach for the poor. “Miracles” buys the building materials and partners with villagers who provide the construction labor to build their own school.
- Offering Vocational Training: “Miracles” has funded sewing, carpentry, and handicraft training programs where poor people learn trades for better futures.
- Student Scholarships: The group sponsors scholarships to primary, basico, and diversicado schools for poor students from rural, mountain areas. Schools are not free in Guatemala — sponsorship pays for tuition, uniform, books, supplies, student follow-up , and sometimes transportation or housing.
- Bringing Water to Villages, Changing Lives: Clean, safe drinking water is a basic human right. Miracles In Action sponsors water systems that bring a water pipe to each home, improving hygiene and quality of life.
- Water Filters: One of the leading causes of death in young children is dehydration and diarrhea from drinking dirty water with parasites and bacteria. Water filters save the lives of children.
- Sponsoring Stoves – Saving Trees, Lungs and Lives: Most Guatemalan Mayan families cook on open fires inside their homes. New safe, vented stoves are designed to use less wood, resulting in less clear cutting of the rainforest. Smoke gets ventilated out of the house and the design prevents children from being seriously burned.
- Teacher Training Program: Miracles in Action has developed a teacher resource center in Patzun area, and plans to use the center as a model for other areas. Teachers can check out educational materials like flash cards, puzzles, story books, transparencies and overhead projectors, CDs with children’s music and stories, etc. Training workshops are offered live over the internet from US teachers to rural Guatemalan teachers using the center.
To learn more about this group, please visit their website.
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