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 Curamericas Global partners with underserved communities to make measurable and sustainable improvements in their health and wellbeing. Since 1983, they have been working to reduce infant, child, and maternal mortality rates in regions that lack basic health services. They also organize short-term volunteer trips to their project sites in Guatemala, Bolivia, Haiti and Liberia, where their local partners are in need of both medical and non-medical volunteers.
Since 2003, Curamericas Global has been working with their local partner organization, Curamericas-Guatemala, to reduce infant and child mortality rates, along with maternal deaths, in rural Mayan communities in the country’s northwest region.
Curamericas-Guatemala’s program is located in the Department of Huehuetenango, a remote area in the mountains frequently called the “Triangle of Death” because it has the highest infant mortality and malnutrition rates in the country. Within their project area, 68% of children under the age of 3 are malnourished and 1 in 250 pregnancies result in death. (In the US the rate is 1 in 12,500).
Curamericas Global’s National Program Director, Dr. Mario Valdez, is the only medical doctor for the more than 66,000 people living this area. Their nurses and community health workers provide basic care, health education and outreach, vaccinations, vitamins, and other vital services to mothers and families, mostly through home visits.
Through Dr. Mario and his staff’s dedication, today almost 90% of the children have received lifesaving vaccinations.
One dream that has become a reality in this region is the Calhuitz Maternity Center (La Casa Materna). The Calhuitz Maternity Center was constructed under the combined efforts of Curamericas international volunteers and local community members. It is a center for childbirth, pre-natal care, and women’s health.
The local traditional birth attendants (called comadronas) are spreading the word about the Center to encourage mothers to utilize the facility. The comadronas will attend births at the Center under the supervision of a medical professional, and both mothers and comadronas will have access to education and support. After only one year in operation, the number of women giving birth in the facility is 30% and all obstetric emergencies have been promptly responded to, with no deaths among mothers or children.
To learn more about Curamericas work in Guatemala, 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.
Roselyn Costantino, Associate Professor of Spanish and Women’s Studies at Pennsylvania State University Altoona, has received a Fulbright Scholar Award for Spring Semester 2011 to do research in Guatemala and to lecture at the Universidad Del Valle Guatemala, Department of Anthropology.
During the six-month award, Costantino will conduct qualitative research on the internal organizational dynamics of civic organizations founded and led by women since the end of the Guatemala civil war in 1996; document alliance building and female agency development by non-governmental women’s organizations that provide leadership training, health care, and other services to Mayan women and non-indigenous women in the Western Highlands; and lecture at the Universidad del Valle Guatemala Department of Anthropology on Latin American feminist theory and methodology. This research forms part of a larger project on violence against women and femicide in Guatemala, topics on which Costantino has lectured and published in the U.S. and internationally.
Dr. Roselyn Costantino received her M.A. from Montclair State University (1988) in Spanish Peninsular Literature with a focus on 19th-century Spanish and Latin American narrative, and her Ph.D. from Arizona State University (1992) in Spanish with specialization in Latin American theatre and narrative; Latin American Studies; and Women’s Studies.
Her areas of specialization include Feminist Theory and Gender Studies; Performance Studies; Social Justice and Violence Against Women; Latin American Women Writers, Playwrights, and Performance Artists; Latin American Studies. She is a member of the Altoona College Arts and Humanities and Integrative Arts faculty; Women’s Studies Faculty; and the University Graduate faculty. She is coordinator of Women’s Studies
To read more about Dr. Costantino, and to see a list of her publications, please visit her Penn State webpage. An excerpt and link to her article, “FEMICIDE, IMPUNITY, AND CITIZENSHIP: The Old and New in the Struggle for Justice in Guatemala” can be found here. You can read more about her recent Fulbright, by clicking here.
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.
 Partnership in Women’s Ministries (PWM) is a partnership of ministries serving abused and abandoned women in Guatemala. This partnership comes to fill a huge void in Guatemala, where women lack total control of their lives, and are powerlessly subjected to lives of misery. These women, who are lacking resources and education, are desperately trying to survive and provide for their families. Tragically, they are all too often bound by violent relationships with abusive men.
PWM works with various ministries and organizations to provide multifaceted services to these women, including temporary shelter, counseling, legal services, discipleship, job training, and small business loans.
Their first shelter, El Refugio, (The Refuge) officially opened its doors for ministry on June 1, 2008, and their first client arrived two days later. Eunice and her three children, (Brian, Jasmine and Christian) were welcomed into the shelter with loving arms. Eunice had experienced abuse on almost every level for over the past six years. She shared that she felt isolated with nowhere to turn until her sister told her about PWM. Eunice and her children stayed with PWM for three weeks while restraining orders were processed by their director/attorney, Pamela, and plans were made for Eunice and the children to move to Solola with extended family. Pamela participated in this process as well, helping extended family understand that violence is not tolerable. She also met with local police to make them aware of the situation and the existence of the restraining order. Finally, she worked with Eunice to begin work baking ham and cheese croissants to earn an income.
PWM’s goal is to assist women and children in the physical, emotional, and spiritual healing necessary for them to re-enter society prepared to meet the needs of their families.
- COUNSELING is available for the women and children from a trained Guatemalan Christian counselor who meets weekly with each woman both individually and in a group setting.
- DISCIPLESHIP/MENTORING is provided by their in-house staff and discipleship teachers. The women and children receive optional classes and daily training in the areas of biblical teaching and Christian living, parenting, and healthy relationships.
- CHILDREN’S EDUCATION is provided. PWM pays expenses for the children to attend a nearby school and offer educational opportunities in the shelter.
- ADULT EDUCATION AND TRAINING is offered to the women. They offer assistance in job training, literacy training, and skill teaching, and seek to expand this area of service in the future.
- PHYSICAL CARE is provided to the women and children through shelter, food and clothing as well as meeting their basic medical and dental needs. Due to poverty, most of the women and children in their care have never been to a dentist and have had very limited medical care. Many have never owned a toothbrush and suffer from poor nutrition.
- FOLLOW UP AND SUPPORT is currently given to the families on a limited basis as they return to their communities. At this time PWM is able to maintain contact to make sure that the women are not falling back into abusive situations. PWM’s desire, with additional staffing is to provide more extensive follow up as they continue to encourage physical, emotional and spiritual development for these families, as well as additional training such as handling finances, encouraging children’s education, and goal setting.
To learn more about PWM, please visit their website.
 Safe Homes for Children is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation set up to support Casa de Sion, an orphanage in Los Robles near Panajachel. On 17 acres of farmland, they have a 2500 sq. ft. building that is used for their orphanage. They take street children as well as children whose parents cannot afford to feed or clothe them. Their goal is to nurse these wounded children to physical, psychological and spiritual health. They attend church and are enrolled in school. They would like to give these children an opportunity to succeed in life.
In addition to the orphanage, they work with individuals in the community. They offer a lunch program three days a week to the 75 elementary school children next door. After lunch, those children study with a teacher provided by Safe Homes for 3 hours. The group also offers student scholarships for children in the community who would not be able to go to school otherwise.
They have a formula program for 30 infants and an Incaparina program for 275 children. They have many more children that want and need to be on their feeding program, but they had to limit it because of finances. Recently, they broke ground on a medical clinic with birthing rooms, which will serve the resident children, and the community. Safe Homes partners with an American NGO, Pan en la Boca.
To learn more about this group, 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.
 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.
 On the shores of Lake Atitlan in the southern highlands of Guatemala, surrounded by volcanoes is nestled Santiago Atitlan, a small indigenous T’zutujil Mayan community. This village of 43,000 residents represents one of the largest Mayan indigenous communities in the Americas. In past five years, devastating natural disasters compounded the bleak pre-existing educational and economic realities of the community and threaten its viability. In 2005, mudslides following Hurricane Stan buried the pillars of this community –the school and hospital—along with scores of homes and residents, parents and children. Four years later, nearly one third of the families still live in plastic tent shelters without clean water, proper nutrition, adequate healthcare or educational opportunities for their children. Nearly half of Santiago Atitlan’s women remain illiterate.
Pueblo a Pueblo was formed to respond to the situation in Santiago Atitlan and other villages like it. Their aim is to contribute to building sustainable, viable and healthy indigenous communities in Guatemala. Their projects are developed in close collaboration with the local partners to respond to their most pressing needs.
Each project is designed to build the capacity of the community to thrive on its own while achieving health, nutrition, and educational opportunities for the children and their families. They help provide the tools so that rather than being forced into a life of poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition, the children and their families can choose how to live their lives. They acknowledge that they cannot solve problems of poverty alone but only through teamwork and mutual partnerships.
Pueblo a Pueblo supports the following key programs:
Child Education Sponsorship Program
The majority of indigenous Guatemalan families cannot afford to send their children to school or to provide them with healthcare. Sponsorship of a child who is attending the Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta Cantón Panabaj in Santiago Atitlan ensures that she/he will receive an education, have the school supplies and books she/he needs and receive proper healthcare — routine care, immunizations and emergency care. Both education and good health will greatly improve your sponsored child’s chance of breaking the cycle of poverty and enjoying a successful future. Cost: $25/month or $300/year.
Mother-Infant Sponsorship Program
In Santiago Atitlán, 190 of every 100,000 pregnancies result in the mother’s death due to complications and 37 of every 1,000 children die at birth. When you sponsor a pregnant Mayan woman and her unborn child, you will ensure that she will receive life-saving medical care throughout her pregnancy and for three months postpartum. When your sponsored child is born she/he will begin life with an advantage that most Guatemalan infants do not have – comprehensive prenatal and postnatal care. In addition, the mother you sponsor will receive training in first aid, nutrition, infant resuscitation, and preventative care. Cost: $25/month or $300/year.
Elementary School Libraries
School libraries are virtually nonexistent in rural Guatemala. Children’s books are luxury items and there is no way for children to explore independent learning, to fill their intellectual curiosity, and develop a passion for reading. Teachers lack the expertise and resources to establish libraries. As a result, even if children have acquired reading skills, they have nothing to read. Pueblo a Pueblo’s most recent project involves developing and furnishing a library for the Panabaj and Chuk Muk Elementary School s. This project is being supported by a partnership between Pueblo a Pueblo , the Panabaj and Chuk Muk Municipal Elementary School s of Santiago Atitlan, the community, and its families. They all work together to ensure greater local responsibility for education and literacy.
Panabaj School Lunch Program
Guatemala has one of the worst nutritional conditions in Latin America (UNICEF 2008) 67% of indigenous Guatemalan children suffer from chronic malnutrition. Chronic malnutrition in mothers results in low birth weight children putting them at an early disadvantage. For three years Pueblo a Pueblo has provided a school lunch program for the 500 primary school children attending the Panabaj School — often times their only nutritious meal of the day. Better nutrition has resulted in improved health and a better attitude towards learning. It has kept the children in school, reduced their visits to the hospital and increased their well being.
Widows Housing Program
Due to the generous support of the Cole Family Foundation, they are able to facilitate the purchase of land and construction of permanent homes for widows in the Panabaj neighborhood. These women lost their husbands in the 2005 mudslides. Children from these families attend the Panabaj Municipal Elementary School and take part in their education sponsorship program.
To learn more about Pueblo a Pueblo, please visit their website.
 Sharing the Dream in Guatemala is a non-profit organization that promotes fair trade with cooperatives and small businesses in Guatemala. They are committed to providing fair wages and employment opportunities to low-income artisans, which will result in creating sustainable markets for their products. Their craft products are handmade by Mayan artisans using many traditional techniques. Purchasing these crafts not only provides work for these artisans, but the profits go to support community development projects in Guatemala.
Friends of Sharing the Dream is a 501(c)3 organization which accepts donations to be used for projects helping the artisans and their families.
A purchase of a beautiful work of art not only provides work for the artisan who made it, but the profits from the sale will go to community projects like the following:
- Providing financial help to the orphanage Casa Guatemala located in the jungle
- Providing educational scholarships for Guatemalan women and children
- Buying school supplies for Mayan children in the mountains
- Sponsoring over 65 elders in Santiago Atitlan with meals and medical care
- Building weaving centers and providing clean water for areas in Comotancillo
- Helping sustain several rural schools
- Establishing workshops and help for over 50 cooperatives/small businesses
Most of the people involved with Sharing the Dream are volunteers.
For more information about Sharing the Dream, please visit their website. For information on a great way to volunteer without ever leaving your hometown, click here.
 Chi Chi Amor is a for-profit, ecologically conscientious small business that creates beautiful children’s clothing integrating Mayan textiles with contemporary “western” fashion. As cultural anthropologists, Danielle O’Connor and Shari Feldman are compelled by a profound desire to share the history, compromised present, and unknown future of the Mayan weaving tradition.
Although they take great care to ensure that Chi Chi Amor kids look adorable in this bright and cheerful clothing, it is equally important to them that patrons understand that a child who is wearing a pair of Chi Chi Amor pants, for example, is wearing something that tells a story about the ancient and contemporary indigenous Mayan people. Many of their items are made from pieces of recycled/repurposed Guatemalan “huipil” and “corte”, the traditional shirt and skirt worn by indigenous Mayan women of Guatemala and Mexico. The huipil and corte are woven on a back-strap loom which can take anywhere from 3 months to 1 year to produce one completed textile. They (Danielle and Shari) collaborate directly with several Guatemalan Mayan artisans to find the textiles in the second-hand markets that are used to make many Chi Chi Amor garments and accessories. They also work directly with their Mayan partners to make collective decisions on design ideas, and how the various items might be improved or changed.
The owners take great care to assure that all of their Guatemalan collaborators will be paid for their work according to the prices they set for themselves. With each visit to Guatemala, Danielle and Shari continue to build a foundation of trust to ensure that all Chi Chi Amor contributors are compensated for their artistry, and will be recognized (by name, if desired) for their input on design and artistic creation.
In addition to creating a sustainable and unique market for traditional Mayan weavings, the company works directly with an organization, Pueblo a Pueblo, to sponsor a child’s healthcare and education. Additionally, Danielle and Shari work with their clothing producers individually; bringing them requested items such as durable backpacks for their school-aged children, and school supplies.
The owners are also currently raising money for the woman who dyes many of their items with natural dyes, and her collective; as she works to expand her business.
To learn more about Chi Chi Amor, please visit their website, or blog.
 Porch de Salomon is a response to God calling a family into a life of love and service in Panajachel, Guatemala, by developing a multi-faceted ministry to reach not only the large population of expatriates, but to help mobilize the volunteer teams and individuals who come to minister to the indigenous population as well.
Solomon’s Porch Coffeehouse
This important part of their ministry serves the “Anglo” expatriates and world tourists who seek adventure, meaning and more in Panajachel. There is a strong need for accessible, culturally-current ministry in this place of spiritual darkness. Their facility serves coffee, food, live music and cinema, and hosts their weekly worship gathering as well as school and community functions.
Needs-Based Street Ministries
God’s vision has them reaching out to the many children and adults selling handicrafts to the tourists and eking out a meager existence at best. They help meet basic needs and provide a free weekly movie and snack outreach program.
Mission Team Support
They recruit, deploy, and provide local logistical support for short-term mission teams serving the impoverished indigenous Mayan people of the Lake Atitlan Basin.
Individual Missionary Support
They host and deploy individual volunteers who are called to front-line global mission work. They offer an exciting, yet “safe,” place of discovery for persons seeking direction or definition of their spiritual gifts.
Catalyst for Individual and Congregational Transformation
One of their passions is to help American seekers and believers transform (per Romans 12:2-3) into fully-devoted followers of Christ and to lovingly encourage and challenge American congregations to transform from maintenance to mission, local and global.
To learn more about Salomon’s Porch, visit their website.
MayaWorks is a 501(c)3 non-profit that markets the work of Maya artisans who otherwise have no outlet for their handiwork. As a proud member of the Fair Trade Federation, MayaWorks pays artisans at prices they set, provides technical assistance and educational opportunities and meets other Fair Trade criteria.
What makes MayaWorks Unique: MayaWorks is much more than just an outlet for Mayan products. The commitment of MayaWorks-U.S. and MayaWorks-Guatemala to the economic development of women and girls goes far beyond the exchange of money for goods made in Guatemala. MayaWorks believes that community development happens through the economic development of women who otherwise have limited ways to participate or contribute to the economic stability of their families. Giving women an opportunity to earn an income from their skills gives them self-confidence and hope for themselves, their children, their family and their village.
MayaWorks provides opportunity and financial support for artisans to gain business and leadership skills. Through meetings and workshops,  sponsored or paid for by MayaWorks, artisans build their business expertise. MayaWorks is committed to the promotion of information about Guatemala through regular communication with volunteers and distribution of information at sales of MayaWorks products. Through MayaWorks tours, U.S. women are introduced to the Mayan women who create the products sold in the U.S. In the hearing of the life stories of the Guatemalan women and visiting in their villages and homes, American women strengthen their commitment and return home to promote MayaWorks with increased passion and dedication.
How We Sell the Work of MayaWorks Artisans: MayaWorks products are primarily distributed and sold throughout the United States by a vast network of volunteer sellers. These volunteers have sales in their churches, schools, community craft fairs and in their homes. Many of their products are also sold in shops and to individuals online who believe in and promote the Fair Trade policies.
Scholarships: MayaWorks believes the education of young Mayan girls is critical to the economic development of communities. These young women will become the primary caretakers of the next generation, making decisions about the education and health care of their children and the future of their families. Currently MayaWorks provides scholarships to 125 girls in Comalapa, Santiago Atitlan, Xetonox, Agua Caliente, and San Marcos La Laguna. These young women have expressed the desire to become doctors, nurses, teachers, and businesswomen. MayaWorks is committed to providing some support as long as these future leaders are in school.
Microloans: Microloans are helping the families of MayaWorks’ artisans to improve their day-to-day life. Small loans help buy pigs and chickens, bulls and strawberries, avocados and sewing machines. The artisan with a microloan can expand the family income in a significant way. This often means a woman can stay at home with her children while she weaves. Microloans can change what food makes up the family’s daily diet. Children can stay in school and not be needed to supplement the family income. Microloans encourage an entrepreneurial spirit and create some surprising results.
To learn more about MayaWorks, please visit their website.
Strengthening Guatemalan families through reproductive health.
WINGS’ Mission is to create opportunities for Guatemalan families to improve their lives by providing them with family planning education and access to reproductive health services. WINGS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible in the United States.
WINGS’ Programs: To address this need, WINGS implements a range of programs, which provide the following services:
- Subsidies for short- and long-term family planning methods for men and women who cannot afford them;
- Reproductive health and family planning education for men, women and adolescents;
- Cervical cancer screening and treatment;
- Advocacy to improve public health services;
- Training for other organizations on reproductive health and program development.
WINGS’ History: WINGS was founded in 1999 by Sue Patterson, a retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer who lives in Guatemala. Sue was inspired to create WINGS when a friend called asking for financial help to provide seven women, each of whom had at least eight children, with voluntary tubal ligations. Moved by the women’s desire to take charge of their reproductive lives and better provide for their existing children, Sue solicited donations from her friends. Surprised by their generous response, which amounted to over $4,000 in donations from the initial plea, Sue established WINGS in order to continue helping Guatemalans plan their families.
Over 80% of WINGS’ revenues go directly to their programs. Here are some of the ways that their donations are put to use:
- $15 covers the cost of a tubal ligation;
- $25 protects a woman from unwanted pregnancies for up to 5 years using Jadelle, a reversible implant;
- $50 provides all educational materials to train 10 men in reproductive health and family planning through our WINGS for Men program;
- $100 trains a youth peer educator to provide sexual and reproductive health information to adolescents in the community;
- $250 provides a year’s worth of protection from unwanted pregnancies for 95 couples;
- $500 provides cervical cancer detection and treatment for 35 women.
To learn more about WINGS, please visit their website.
 Hijas™ takes its name from the Spanish word for “daughters,” the demographic they seek to empower through a series of programs designed to provide both immediate and long-term relief. The residents of the Marta and Maria Orphanage in Jalapa, Guatemala come from various family situations, from girls who have lost both of their parents, to girls whose families can no longer financially support them, to girls who have been removed from abusive and potentially dangerous homes.
These girls, who can no longer depend on their families, must learn to depend on themselves. Their goal is to provide an education that allows them to develop the skills necessary to gain confidence, sustain an income and — most importantly — achieve independence. The approach that Hijas™ takes is twofold: first, to teach the girls the hands-on skills of sewing and jewelry making; second, to work with them to create and implement successful business models for selling their own products. By educating these young women at Marta and Maria, they intend to both give them the possibility of providing for their immediate needs of food and clean water, and help break the cycle of poverty and neglect into which they were born, providing for their futures.
The obstacles facing the girls at Marta and Maria are numerous. They confront both daily challenges such as obtaining nutritious food, clean water, and finding safe, reliable transportation to school, as well as the larger reality of widespread poverty. At Marta and Maria, the majority of the food — primarily rice and beans — is provided through donations. A few fresh vegetables are provided by a garden tended by the girls, and they get milk when the orphanage can afford it. Tortillas are made onsite for every meal in a small shack behind the dormitory. The balanced diet, so important to young girls, is made nearly impossible by the financial constraints under which Marta and Maria operates.
They traveled to Jalapa in July to focus on training a specific group of young women to become teachers for the sewing and jewelry projects. They will also be working with them to create and implement successful business models for selling their own products. To continue their goal of providing for the immediate needs of the orphanage, including healthy and safe food preparation and a safe place to play, members of the HEAR Foundation as well as other volunteers will be accompanying their team in November of 2009 to build a new playground and tortilla shed/kitchen for the orphanage.
To learn more about Hijas, please visit their website.
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