1. El Shaddai Church Prayer Room - Esquipulas Palo Gordo, San Marcos. "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known" (Jeremiah 33:3). Prayer is fundamental practice for any Christian, the gateway to heaven, as some say, and a prerequisite for allowing the Holy Spirit to act in our lives and communities. The congregants of El Shaddai Church in Esquipulas Palo Gordo have a desire to pray, having taken to praying one hour daily in a group in different houses. However, in their own houses they are rarely able to pray. Like most Guatemalans, they almost all live in extended family situations in small or medium-size houses, meaning there is very little privacy within the home and little space where one can withdraw and have alone time with the Lord. This is further compounded for women, who make up the strong majority of the congregation and are tasked with doing manually all the "reproductive" work of taking care of home and family, having very little free time to themselves.
The church plans to construct a prayer room on the second floor of the current church building which will be open for all to enjoy time in peace and quiet with the Lord. The goal of the prayer room is to establish shifts of prayer so that there will be someone intercessing for the town's population 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Budget: Approximately Q. 25,000
2. Primavera Water Project - Esquipulas Palo Gordo, San Marcos. This is a project that I worked on while a Peace Corps Volunteer in my site but unfortunately could not finish. Caserío Primavera is a community of about 500 people located about 3 km away from the town center of Esquipulas Palo Gordo, where I live. During the wet season the inhabitants are able to catch rainwater for their daily needs, but during the six months of dry season (for instance, now) they have no water resources. Women must walk about 2 km downhill to fetch a jug of water in the closest running stream and then return uphill, a 400-meter (1,250-foot) elevation gain. In total, the process takes about 2 hours, leaves them extremely tired and gives them only as much water as they can carry.
In years past, the community had a functioning pumped water system, but disagreements with the neighboring community and technical problems sidelined the pump. Most families were having to pay from Q. 75 - 120 per month ($10-15) for their water service for 2 hours, twice a week. For comparison, this is equal to about two days' work in a community where very few people have stable jobs.
In the last few months of my Peace Corps service, I worked closely with the community in establishing a plan to restore service and improve the performance of the pump so that it could operate with less diesel fuel (and therefore save money). We established the plan but without full financial support, and some of the pledged support from the municipality didn't pan out when the mayor was not reelected.
The project has both financial and organizational needs. The technical assistance, monitoring and evaluation of the aid can be administered by yours truly or by my Peace Corps sitemate Emma. The financial needs, approximately, are the following:
Replacement of 2" captation tank exit sequence with 3" - Q.3,500
Professional cleaning, maintenance and repairs of pump - Q.10,000
Physical checks along the distribution line - Q. 1,500
Total = Q. 15,000
(All unskilled labor provided by the community).
3. Bottle School Canillá - Canillá, El Quiché.
Bottle schools are built on a simple idea - to turn waste into something that promotes development. In bottle buildings, used plastic bottles filled with other inorganic trash replace concrete block in the construction. In Guatemala, unfortunately, plastic trash is everywhere, causing not only eyesores in an otherwise beautiful country but polluting cropfields, rivers and streams. It is a source of a large number of health problems. While I was a volunteer, I was lucky enough to build two bottle buildings, and they were among the best things I did. (Here I am with my aunt in the half-finished school I worked on.)
In a rural community of Canillá, El Quiché the school to be built will fill a crucial educational need expanding access to primary education for those who do not have it.
Susan Alvarado, a Peace Corps Volunteer from Los Angeles and who lives in Canillá is managing this project. They are seeking the cooperation of Hug It Forward and local NGO's.
Budget TBD
The best way to make these donations depends on the amount:
1. For larger amounts, you can write me a check and I will make the corresponding deposit here in Guatemala, sending you the correct documents. A certain percentage is lost due to ATM fees or wire transfer fees.
2. For smaller amounts, cash in quetzales is the best option.
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