Work, Play and Find New Meaning in the Guatemalan Highlands

Trip Dates:  July 29 - August 9, 2011

Orientation: Saturday, May 28 - 9AM to Noon

 

Looking for an exciting, meaningful adventure this summer? Join Xela Aid July 29-August 29, 2011 on our Summer 2011 Volunteer Vacation as we venture to the Guatemalan highlands to work and play in partnership with the Mám-speaking people of the San Martín Sacatepequez region.

 

No need to speak Spanish, or have special training: Volunteers will be trained to augment healthcare services offered year-round in Xela Aid's June Russel-Glennon Clinic, including optometry and other health services that may be added based on volunteer mix. We will be finishing work on the "Tesoros del Corazon" Marketplace, a new building from which weavers from Xela Aid's cooperative will give weaving demonstrations and sell their traditional weavings. 

 

For the first time ever, Xela Aid will support a spay and neuter clinic. And there will be plenty of interaction with children receiving Xela Aid PEX Educational Scholarships and studying in Xela Aid's Study Center, including a field trip to an exciting destination such as the beach or ecological park. AND, a variety of cultural activities are planned (depending on group size and desire). These include a volcano climb (moderate trail), volcanic hot baths, an experience of local music, salsa dancing, and weaving demonstrations.

 

Additional R&R will include four days and three nights of swimming, kayaking, and exploring various villages at world-class destination Lake Attitlan. If you're interested, don't wait to inquire as there is limited space which historically fills quickly! To view the trip's day calendar and application, click HERE. To reserve your space immediately while we review your application due with deposit postmarked MARCH 15, click HERE.   

Three young men beat the odds with Xela Aid support

Miguel Angel Rivera Lopez who had been in Xela Aid's PEX Educational Scholarship program since primary school, graduated last month with a degree in business administration. This was made possible thanks to the generosity of Kathy Morales who supported Miguel all the way through Escuela Nueva Nación, a technical school. Miguel and his family are sincerely grateful for the long-time assistance, which will give Miguel a number of opportunities to find work and improve his family's quality of life.

Miguel Lopez graduates with his very proud mother at his side, and brother at lef

Other recent graduates include Marvin Antonio Garcia Alvarado (College, B.S. Industrial Studies), thanks to the long-time support of Cynthia Miller.

Marco de León Xicará, sponsored by Pine Manor, has also graduated with a hard-won high school degree. Marco, father of five, has been working in a bank for many years as a janitor and after graduation, has begun work as a teller.

When Xela Aid came to the San Martín area in 1992, the average age at which young men left school was 9, after just three years in school. Xela Aid offers congratulations to these hardworking graduates who beat the odds and graduated from technical school and college. We also offer heartfelt thanks to these generous sponsors who gave the gift of education which will keep giving for a lifetime and beyond. 

Alicia Lucia de Leon Lopez has joined Xela Aid as a teacher in San Martín Tots Preschool, a joint project with SOSEP, the humanitarian project of the First Lady of Guatemala.  

Alicia is a student at a local university, and a certified teacher who demonstrates an exceptional talent for tutoring. She is studying for a second level of teaching credential to become the equivalent of a high school teacher. Alicia lives in San Martín Chiquito, and says she loves to work with young people.

Based on Alicia's qualifications, Xela Aid may seize the opportunity to resume literacy classes for women that would be taught by Alicia, and to harness her skills to tutor advanced students in the PEX program.

Welcome Alicia, and special thanks to Marisa Grimes

for her generosity that has made possible over the past two years focused teaching in the San Martín Tots Preschool.

Learn more about San Martin Tots Preschool. 

At San Martín Chiquito Elementary School, for years, children have been playing basketball using trash cans as make-shift hoops. Xela Aid Volunteer Katherine Sanchez donates her time teaching English at the school each week, and saw the need for something more fun than that.

Katherine and husband David Booker asked friends to contribute funds for the purchase and installation of basketball backboards and hoops, and this month, saw the project come to fruition.

Basketball hoops and backboards mean more fun!

Xela Aid Director Luis Enrique de León reports that the children are thrilled. "They have now formed teams and are constantly using the new court."

This month, Xela Aid augmented Katherine and David's efforts by donating funds for the children to have uniforms. In return, the children will spend four hours before receiving their uniforms cleaning the central park of San Martin Sacatepequez.

"The children are making an example for other children of the area," said Luis.

Several times each week, Katherine visits the school and donates her time to teach English.

"The children are quick to learn and are very excited to be speaking English," says Luis, adding that "In Guatemala, English is a very useful language to know." English is part of the high school curriculum.  

"Katherine's work gives these children a head start," he says.

Xela Aid salutes Katherine and David's ongoing support of the San Martin Chiquito Elementary School.

Luis Enrique de León (in blue, center), remembers Xela Aid construction of the first room of the school in 1992 visible in the background.

In 1992, Xela Aid Volunteers arrived at the small village of Loblatzan to find a handful of children trying to study in a dilapidated chicken coop, seated on stones and writing on planks of wood atop stones. With tears in their eyes, Xela Aid volunteers Rudy Vargas and Rick Cass filmed that sad state of education in that community, vowing to create a short video to raise funds and replace the structure. They did make the video (Xela Aid's introductory video, even today, at right). But it wasn't needed to fund  

Xela Aid - Projects for Self Rel

raise for this project, for just hours and a few phone calls later, generous friends had donated the $5000 Xela Aid needed to team with local citizens and raise a proper school.

Luis Enrique de León, then a friend to the project and now Xela Aid's director in Guatemala, quickly organized a committee of local leadership, and the project was underway. Just a week later, the first classroom of the Elementary School at Loblatzan was raised, and shortly after, in use.

"We organized the community who provided land and labor, and with the donations from our Xela Aid friends, we purchased materials and started the work side by side - Xela Aid volunteers working with local parents, the teacher, and even some of the young students themselves," Luis recalls.

In 2006, Xela Aid provided funds to add another classroom, made possible by the generosity of a single donor, Dr. Flora Johnson.

"Today, this school has eight rooms, eight teachers, and 300 students," Luis continued. "Since those days, the community has continued to have an organized committee that works to better living conditions for the community.  

"It is a community united, thanks in great part to Xela Aid."