Our team has been under the guidance of two dynamic NGOs based in the Guatemala. They have made Guatemala arrangements, provided us advice, provided translators, taught with us, and they have become our friends. The two Guatemalan NGOs are Fundacion Herencia Viva and Wings.
We have also worked closely with two US non-profits: HELPS (stoves) and "Outreach Opportunities in Mission" (overall coordinator of our trip).
FUNDACION HERENCIA VIVA:
The Fundacion Herencia Viva is a new foundation based in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. The two women who direct this NGO are a dynamite duo: Carla Gonzales and Angie Mejia. They also have had an able translator for Quiche and an all-around helper in Thomasa.
The goal of this NGO is to provide health care guidance and educational help to communities in the Mayan highland area around Chichicastenango. We worked directly with and for them in organizing, setting up, running and teaching our women's health program and our health fairs. They also organized and chose the families who would receive help building the latrines, and they chose the families who received the kitchen stoves. Their goal is to form international, national, and local partnerships, and there are well on their way to developing a wonderfully successful NGO.
Carla, Angie, and Thomasa were with us every step of the way!
Their website is still in development stages, but look for it soon!
WINGS:
Our team also worked with Guatemalan-based "Wings," an NGO which creates opportunities for Guatemalan families to improve their lives by providing them with family planning education and access to reproductive health services.
Dorcas Arelí Yol Xon, family planning educator for WINGS, went with our team to Pocohil on March 15 where she worked with the Mayan women on issues related to reproduction: when to start child bearing, when to stop, appropriate spacing of children, birth control methods, and economic issues related to family planning.
Her method of teaching was a classic method used for largely non-literate audiences: the use of pictures to create discussion with the group, role playing, and short shots of information interspersed.
The women got it with every great example, with lots of laughs interspersed, but the best part was when Dorcas encouraged the older women, the mothers, and the mothers-in-law to help the younger people and families achieve family and economic goals by following sound family planning methods. It was an excellent training session, and we all learned more about making effective presentations to women in Guatemala.
To learn more about WINGS, please see their website: http://wingsguate.org/
HELPS:
HELPS is a US non-profit which designed, built, and sent the Onil kitchen stoves to Guatemala (see other blog entries for more info and pictures of the stoves).
According to their website, HELPS International, organized in 1984, is a "US 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that partners with individuals, businesses, corporations, local and national governments to alleviate poverty in Latin America. HELPS integrated programs include: medical care, education, community and economic development, and agricultural innovations in order to improve the quality of life for the indigenous people of Latin America."
With stove donations from Rochester, MN residents and residents from other locations in the US, our group was able to purchase 50 of the Onil stoves from HELPS, and they are a definite hit with the families who have received them! Check out the HELPS website at http://www.helpsintl.org/. And be sure to look at the other two relevant blog postings on this site.
OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES IN MISSION:
"Outreach Opportunities in Mission" was started by Kevin Schill, a United Methodist pastor whose heart is in service to others, as indicated by the goal of his non-profit: "Make a difference in your life by making a difference in the lives of others." According to his website, Kevin's non-profit offers "short-term volunteer service programs, including medical/public health, construction, and education, in a variety of domestic and international settings." His group also provides "cross-cultural education experiences and unique opportunities to learn from and about each other through sharing gifts of art and music."
Kevin was responsible for making all of the team arrangements for travel, housing, meals, and he and the Greenleafs coordinated with the three other non-profits our team worked with. The entire trip was excellently planned and executed!
For more information on any of these non-profits, please contact them directly or contact Suzanne Greenleaf at greenleaf.suzanne@gmail.com
(text by Julie Rodakowski; pictures by Susan Waughtal)
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