Volunteering in Guatemala: Entremundos- a volunteer placement program

1. Who are you and how did you get interested in Guatemala?
My name is Jocelyn Bates and I am the managing director of the NGO EntreMundos in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. I first came to Guatemala 5 years ago for a break after a job managing educational projects in Belize, and I never left!

2. How did you get in contact with EntreMundos?
I found out about the organization during my first few years working in Quetzaltenango as they produce a free magazine and offer conferences and workshops to NGOs but I first starting working with the organization in 2009 when I volunteered to organize a forum for environmental NGOs.

3. What is EntreMundos’ goal in their community?
EntreMundos strives to connect NGOs and grassroots organizations with
resources. These resources can be human resources such as connecting
them with volunteers who can assist them, but we also offer low cost capacity building workshops and computer courses to NGO and community group members, the idea being that we can help to strengthen the organizations and empower their members develop effective projects to help their communities. We also produce a bimonthly and completely bilingual free magazine designed to raise awareness about human rights and development issues.

4. Where are you located?
We are located in the city of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second biggest city, but the groups we work with are all around the country.

5. How could future volunteers get involved?
We offer a volunteer placement service for people interested in getting out and assisting the NGOs and grassroots organizations of Guatemala. Our database contains the contact details of 120 organizations looking for assitance and is free to access at www.entremundos.org. If you are interested in setting up your volunteer placement in advance and require our assistance, we offer a service doing just that for a donation of $40. We also offer assistance with setting up learning and volunteering trips for groups too.

6. What is one experience that you remember the most?
There have been so many great experiences during my time here, but one image I think I will always take with me is that of seeing a group of 30 Guatemalan NGO and community group members at a workshop, intent on
improving their organizations through gaining skills, each one of them completely dedicated to their work of helping and improving the neediest Guatemalan communities.

7. What is something you learned from volunteering in Guatemala?
Always be patient and flexible and it’s important to keep a sense of humour!

8. What advice would you give someone wanting to volunteer with your
organization?
Be realistic about your expectations for volunteering. Use your skills wisely and be honest about what you can offer to an organization. Never make promises of things you can’t deliver and be realistic about your language skills – very few people speak English here! If you really commit yourself to the volunteer work you will be amazed at the real difference you can make to an organization or group, and you will no doubt have some amazing stories to tell too.

9. Do you have any extra thoughts you'd like to share?
Guatemala is the not the highly dangerous country you have heard
about. It is unlikely you will come into contact with any violence worse than petty theft (this is a developing country after all). You just need to take the same precautions you would when traveling in any major city. The majority of Guatemalans are incredibly welcoming and warm to foreign visitors and if you take that ‘risk’ of coming here, you will find a beautiful and unique country but one that is in much need of assistance.

Jocelyn Bates
Directora

Entremundos
6a Calle 7-31, Zona 1
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.
(502) 7761-2179
(502) 4228 3816
http://www.entremundos.org

Volunteering in Guatemala: Education and More- Solola

Many people want to get involved with volunteering in Guatemala, but know little about the organizations available or what those organizations do. This is one in a series of interviews with amazing volunteer organizations in Guatemala.

Karen Pickett (pictured below, right) is the director of Education and More, a Fair Trade Federation non-profit group dedicated to getting weaving by Guatemalan women of the Solola region exposure, income and education for their family.

1. Who are you and how did you get interested in Guatemala? My
initial visit to Guatemala was with a mission team to help build
houses and when I met some women weavers and got to know them it got
me interested in helping them sell their handcrafts and weavings.
Education And More was born as a result and is a Christian, Fair
Trade nonprofit, registered in the United States as a 501c3
nonprofit organization.

2. How did you get in contact with or start Education and More? I am
the founder / Director of E&M and started the organization in 2006
to help the women artisans I had met sell their weavings and to help
them educate their children.

3. What is Education and More's goal in their Guatemalan community? Our primary mission is two fold -- educating children and helping women earn a
fair wage so they can help to support their families. We feel that
as we help artisan groups sell their handcrafts and weavings the
dollars brought into communities has a ripple effect in the whole
community. Education helps the entire community whether it is the
young children finally able to go to school or young adults
returning to school to learn a skill or get a university degree.
We work with churches through our sponsorship program to give
educational opportunities to students of all ages -- pre-primary
through University and even technical, vocational schooling. The
sales of the handcrafts also helps the families in the ability to
educate their children, to give better nutrition to their family
because of the fair wages they receive, and business and vocational
skills through technical education for the women artisans.

4. Where are you located? We work with artisan groups and churches
in the Solola department and have recently expanded and we are
beginning to work with poorer groups in the Queche department of
Guatemala.

5. What is one experience that you remember the most? When one of
our women artisans started crying as she was trying to thank us for
all the help we give them in earning money to help their families.
The artisans are just so very thankful for all the help Education
And More gives to them and their families. It is very humbling!

6. What is something you learned from volunteering in Guatemala?
People are the same the world over; women are uniquely capable of
understanding each other even through the language barriers and
cultural differences.

7. How could future volunteers get involved? We are looking for
volunteers to help us in a variety of ways: hosting Fair Trade
bazaars at their church, school or home; helping us with our
Facebook pages and other online media, spreading the word about our
work and mission, designing new handcrafts, speaking to schools,
college groups, churches about E&M and our mission. There are many
ways we need volunteers to help!

8. What advice would you give someone wanting to volunteer with your
organization? We need passionate volunteers who are interested in
Fair Trade, education and helping to reduce the poverty in
Guatemala! We need your help and need your skills to grow the
organization! We are expanding into some poorer regions of the
Queche department of Guatemala and need more sales of the handcrafts
to help more women. Once you get involved and eventually go to
Guatemala and meet our artisans your life will never be the same.
We invite you to contact us for opportunities to volunteer with the
organization.

9. Do you have any extra thoughts you'd like to share? Education
And More is very passionate about helping not only the artisans but
their entire families and communities and we have developed programs
to do that. Programs such as: educational opportunities for women,
sewing centers for vocational training for women, educational
opportunities for adults returning to school and children; micro
enterprise help and micro-credit loans, business training,
development and technical assistance, spiritual development through
the Christian Education classes in churches. Our partnership with
local churches gives the sponsored students a community within the
body of Christ so they can grow spiritually as well as in body and
mind.
We are a screened member of the Fair Trade Federation and work with
artisan groups to help women and their families. Fair Trade gives
the artisans a fair wage plus many other benefits for them and their
families.

Thanks!

Karen Pickett, Director
Education And More
P.O. Box 201
Burlingame, KS 66413
http://www.educationandmore.org

Blog -- http://educationandmore.wordpress.com/

You can also contact Education and More on Facebook.

Guatemalan Mothers and Mother's Day

If you are a mother in the States, Happy Mother's Day to you today! If you would like to claim another day to celebrate, you can celebrate Guatemalan Mother's Day with us Tuesday, May 10, 2011!

Where do Guatemalan's take their mom's out for Mother's Day? Many, many Guatemalans that I know take their mother's out to Pollo Campero, the nations favorite chicken restaurant. (Not all mom's go there, but I'm always surprised at the amount I hear of who do. :)) Mother’s Day is celebrated on May 10th in Guatemala, and working mothers have the day off.

Many women, however, will not take that day to celebrate and won't have time to rest. According to Guatemala.adoptionblogs.com:

"Guatemalan women are among the poorest of Central America. Yes, there are wealthy mothers living in gated communities, driven around by chauffeurs with armed security guards protecting them, their homes and their children. They are part of the small minority that controls the majority of wealth in Guatemala, and for the most part do not act particularly interested in the plight of the indigenous population unless they are giving lip service to dignitaries of foreign countries.

The majority of the population of Guatemala (76%) lives on $2.00 a day. The infant mortality rate is 45/1000 children per year and the under five years of age mortality rate is 56/1000 children per year. Although the maternal mortality rate is being reduced, it is still very high: 240/100,000 per live births. Guatemalan women have a life expectancy of 66 years, but if they are part of the native population, it is a mere 44. With only one doctor per 2,356 people, and an even poorer ratio in the outlying and mountainous regions, some women will not see a doctor in their lifetime."

There are many, many things that need to improve, both with women and in general in Guatemala. There are many aid groups from around the world, many from the U.S. who have different forms of aid for the people here. How about supporting one of them for Mother's Day this year and helping take a small bit of the load off of a Guatemalan mother's shoulders?

Some reliable in-country programs we trust include:
Mayanfamilies.org
Un Techo Para Mi Pais
Casa Guatemala
Education and More
Refuge International