Donations

A few of you have asked about making donations while here in Guatemala. There are any number of good causes around, but I've picked a couple that are directly administered by myself or friends that I trust to make the best possible use of your support. I have very close knowledge of each of these projects. Each of these projects is administered by volunteers; thus there is no overhead.

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.

Vaccines

Some questions have come up recently about vaccinations - are they necessary to visit Guatemala?

This is a good question, and I will give you the short answer right up front - No.

I, who have now lived here for two and a half years, have been vaccinated against various illnesses. However, I don't think that you as a short-term tourist need to worry about this. Some of the most serious illnesses (malaria, dengue fever) only occur in low-lying hot jungles. Keep in mind that Lake Atitlán is not really tropical - it is at 5,000 feet elevation. When my parents came to visit, my dad did not get any vaccines and my mother got one or two, but she did so because we travelled to the Petén jungle on the trip.

Of course, if you are behind on your normal vaccinations, this would be a good opportunity to get yourself up to date; if you want to know anything more about the vaccinations I have received I'm happy to share that information.

Security in Guatemala

This is an important topic to breach considering Guatemala is, unfortunately, in the headlines quite a bit for insecurity issues. About two weeks ago the country elected a former general who has been suspected of war crimes in the '80s as President. This when 15 years ago the country was fed up with the military and drastically reduced its size. But today, the biggest problem the country faces is the crime that results from the fight over controlling the market for the U.S.' continuing appetite for illegal drugs from Colombia and other countries, and so the former general was elected.

Luckily for us,security risks are mitigable. As a Peace Corps Volunteer and now an officer of a U.N.-related agency, I have received security messages and trainings ad nauseum. And the lessons are simple for you all to follow:

1. Stay out of Guatemala City. Most of Guatemala is very calm; for example, where I live most people leave their doors unlocked all day. Lake Atitlan, thank God, is also safe. But the capital is another story. I've been the victim of two robberies on public transportation in the capital. I have to work in the capital quite often, but good news for you, there's no reason at all for you to be in Guatemala City as a short-term visitor except as a transit hub. We will take people directly from the airport in Guatemala City to Lake Atitlan, and as an alternative use Antigua (which is SO much nicer, with cheaper accomodations!) as a central hub. If you are planning to spend time in Guatemala City on your trip, please talk to me about it before reserving anything. Unless you think that you are going to get a huge craving for Quizno's or KFC while in-country, you can probably do without the visit.

2. Remember that in developing countries, not everybody has an iPhone or BlackBerry. I recently got a BlackBerry and just learned how handy they are, but in rural areas of developing countries, they stand out a lot. In Guatemala, few people have cell phone plans, so everybody buys the cell phone at its actual cost. An iPhone goes for $750 (the minimum monthly white-collar salary is $250 per month...) Don't go walking down busy streets with your head buried in the latest story from the New York Times.

3. We'll choose our public transportation use carefully. I am all about public transportation, as you all know, but here you do have to choose carefully. I'm sure many of you will want to take the famous "chicken buses" which I became very familiar with over 2 years as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Do it, but don't take a lot of valuables with you, and please don't go all the way to the capital. If you want to take a taxi, that's completely acceptable - they're way way way cheaper than in the States.

4. Don't go overboard on the alcohol, and don't be out alone late. Should be pretty self-explanatory. Peace Corps records show that a high percentage of security incidents involving Volunteers occurred when people were drinking, and at midnight or later.

Everything near the wedding site will be very safe and you won't have to worry at all. 99% of Guatemalans are the NICEST people you will ever meet, including my future in-laws, and you can predict where the 1% will be. Using common sense we will all have a very nice visit without any incidents. Any questions, feel free to ask me.