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Country: GUATEMALA
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Program description: |
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Work in an orphanage, teach english, work as a teaching assistant, on health projects, on women projects, volunteer in conservation and reforestation, help out at a women's correction center, teach adult education, and enjoy a mini-adventure.
This Volunteer Guatemala Program provides opportunities for volunteers to teach English or work as a teacher's aid in classes for young girls in a primary school in the city of Quetzaltenango. The academic year is approximately 10 months, from January to October of each year. Classes are offered from 7:45 AM to 12:30 PM, from Monday through Friday.
In the Guatemala teaching project, volunteers will work with young girls as teacher's aides to assist with the learning process in first and second grade classrooms, which are overpopulated. Support is also offered to fifth and sixth grade classes in social studies, with volunteers offering presentations such as a description of a European country, its culture, language, government, money, history, industrial and agricultural production, etc. Children in third and fourth grades are also offered enrichment in the form of sports clinics, theatre, group dynamics, etc. The goals of this project include:
Assisting teachers with classes of over 50 students
Personalizing the educational programs of students with social problems
Providing volunteers with the didactic material necessary for them to most effectively complete their work
Facilitating cultural interchange between Quiché speaking Mayans and other cultures
Nowhere will the need for your skills, patience, and caring be more evident than with this project. Make an impact on the education and lives of these children!
These Guatemala volunteer projects are located in the department of Quetzaltenango. Please note that specific placement details will be based on the volunteer's background, education, experience, and Spanish fluency.
Orphanage Work:
Contribute your talents, your love, and your hard work in the fight to give these children a brighter outlook and a future that holds hope instead of misery. This Volunteer Guatemala project provides a secure shelter off the streets for impoverished, abandoned or orphaned children, and an atmosphere of caring and trust. Through this program, children also receive an education, and thus a real chance for a productive, happy life as an adult.
Volunteer duties include teaching the children English, helping them with homework, and leading them in games and creative activities. Basic care for the children (preparing them for school in the morning, etc.) and other tasks around the center (cooking, washing clothes) would also be needed.
These Guatemala volunteer projects are located in the department of Quetzaltenango, in the rural areas outside the city.
English Teaching:
This Volunteer Guatemala Program provides opportunities for volunteers to teach English or work as a teacher's aid in classes for young girls in a primary school in the city of Quetzaltenango. The academic year is approximately 10 months, from January to October of each year. Classes are offered from 7:45 AM to 12:30 PM, from Monday through Friday.
In the Guatemala teaching project, volunteers will work with young girls as teacher's aides to assist with the learning process in first and second grade classrooms, which are overpopulated. Support is also offered to fifth and sixth grade classes in social studies, with volunteers offering presentations such as a description of a European country, its culture, language, government, money, history, industrial and agricultural production, etc. Children in third and fourth grades are also offered enrichment in the form of sports clinics, theatre, group dynamics, etc. The goals of this project include:
Assisting teachers with classes of over 50 students
Personalizing the educational programs of students with social problems
Providing volunteers with the didactic material necessary for them to most effectively complete their work
Facilitating cultural interchange between Quiché speaking Mayans and other cultures
Nowhere will the need for your skills, patience, and caring be more evident than with this project. Make an impact on the education and lives of these children!
These Guatemala volunteer projects are located in the department of Quetzaltenango. Please note that specific placement details will be based on the volunteer's background, education, experience, and Spanish fluency.
Work as a Teaching Assistant:The Volunteer Guatemala Program offers this outstanding opportunity for volunteers to assist with classes of primary students in a rural indigenous village. The school is located in a mountain village called Buena Vista, Los Corrales, Cabricán and the volunteer will have a unique opportunity to participate in one of Guatemala's model bilingual schools. More than 650,000 Guatemalans speak the Mayan language of Mam as their first language and in the 16 years that our partner organization has worked in Cabricán this school has evolved from an underground, unrecognised institution into a model for the entire country.
The project consists of an Official Rural Coeducational School named B'E (road or way in Mam), which provides education in two languages: Mam, the language of the community, and Spanish. Classes are provided to children of Mayan culture and heritage, between 5 and 13 years of age, including pre-primary and primary (through grade 6) grades. The academic year is approximately 10 months, from January to October of each year. Classes are offered from 7:45 AM to 12:30 PM, from Monday through Friday.
The school is located in a very rural village in Guatemala and the volunteer will live with a local family, sharing with them and eating typical foods like tortillas, tamales, beans, rice and simple chicken meals.
This Guatemala volunteer project is located in the department of Quetzaltenango. It is important that volunteers speak Spanish very fluently for this placement.and natural beauty, both of the people and the landscape.
Health Projects:
Especially in rural areas in Guatemala, there are few health care facilities and even fewer people who are aware of health problems and basic health care solutions. The majority of people are treated in the overburdened public hospitals, as access to larger, better-equipped hospitals is limited to the wealthy and to major cities.
These health care projects in the Guatemala volunteer program give volunteers a truer understanding of the issues and challenges of health care in Guatemala. Our partner in Guatemala runs a small clinic in a rural village just outside of the city of Quetzaltenango. Volunteers built the clinic in 1999 and now a doctor and nurse paid by our partner open the clinic in the mornings from Monday to Friday in service of the community.
Volunteer work will vary depending in the skills and interests if the volunteer. Volunteers may be called upon for tasks ranging from observation to assistance to carrying out procedures as a qualified health professional. Volunteer tasks may range from taking blood pressures and temperatures to performing first aid and distributing medicines. In addition, there is an opportunity not only to participate in, but also plan and carry out mini health campaigns or conferences in the community and primary schools. These campaigns involve topics of: health education, basic prevention, nutrition, and sanitation.
Another option is working in the General Hospital in the city of Quetzaltenango. Volunteer tasks are similar to those listed above.
These Guatemala volunteer projects are located in the department of Quetzaltenango.
Medical volunteers must have some proof of qualification as a health professional, medical student, or nurse, such as an identification card or certificate of course completion.
Work in Artisan Groups (Women's Projects):
Providing a fresh start for many Mayan communities after a devastating 36-year civil war, this Volunteer Guatemala project is helping families in these communities become self-sufficient and productive. These towns had for generations struggled to gain recognition of and respect for their rights.
The project works with two groups in different communities which are populated largely by women: Chirijox and Chuacruz in the department of Sololá, and an artisan family in Momostenango in the department of Totonicapán. With the awareness that education is the major weapon against lack of development, the program focuses on literacy training, agriculture and artisan markets. Groups are offered assistance in opening new markets for th sale and promotion of their products, not only at the national level but internationally as well. As a result, sales increase and at the same time the women are able to improve the economic situation of their families.
Volunteers in Guatemala can participate in several areas of this project: maintaining sales in existing markets; opening new markets - both national and international; providing training in literacy and adult education; improving weaving techniques; improving product marketing, and thereby increasing the income of participating women, their families and their communities; and reducing the high rate of illiteracy in the country through an aggressive literacy training program, thus promoting development at the local level.
Preventative Centre for Women- Adult Education and Support:
This Guatemala volunteer project is not for everybody. But if you are strong-minded woman and willing to reach out to other women whose mistakes have placed them apart from normal Guatemalen society, then this project needs you.
The Preventative Center for Women in the city of Quetzaltenango houses women accused of various offenses who are detained pending trial and sentencing. If convicted and sentenced they are transferred to another prison to serve their sentences. Our partner in Guatemala has developed an adult education program for the unfortunate women in this center.
In addition, there is an educational program for the children of the women who in many cases have to stay with their mothers in the prison because there are no other relatives who can care for them.
This Guatemala volunteer program directly attacks some of the social problems inherent in this type of prison system, including lack of education, recreation, and family support, and low self-esteem among the inmates. Volunteers will carry out tasks to meet the project objectives, which include:
Increasing educational opportunities for the inmates
Promoting activities devoted to improved use of time
Offering concrete solutions to the problems that the inmates face
Improving the quality of life of the inmates and their children
Promoting recreational activities for the inmates
Offering activities that help to improve the self-esteem and socialization of the inmates
This Guatemala volunteer project is located in the department of Quetzaltenango.
*Volunteers must be mature individuals to work in this project; female volunteers only.
Conservation and Reforestation Project:
The Volunteer Guatemala Program provides opportunities for volunteers to be part of a reforestation program that has been in progress since 1989. Our partner organization in Guatemala has been allotted land by the Guatemalan government for this restoration project. Volunteers care for the forest and the land, demonstrating the benefits of conservation and good stewardship.
The project's main facility is a forest nursery, located in the Labor San Antonio in Quetzaltenango's Zone 9, about two kilometers from the center of the city. The project's mission is to raise two hundred thousand trees of local species such as alder, cypress, pine, and eucalyptus every year.
Nursery tasks include seed collection, preparation of the soil, individually bagging each seedling and transplanting the seedlings to the forest. Further, the seedlings are maintained through irrigation and fertilization, until the seedlings can survive in the mountains without special projection. On average, trees are maintained for a total of 5 years.
Volunteer work in this project will vary depending on the time of year. This Guatemala volunteer project is located in the department of Quetzaltenango.
Mini Adventure Guatemala- 2 weeks
Quetzaltenango is a city of about 150,000 in the highlands of Guatemala, a city where Mayan and Latino families meet and interact daily. It is a center of commerce and there you will find some of the most colourful markets in the world. In this Volunteer Guatemala project, Global Crossroad provides a unique opportunity to participate in two local projects: volunteer with at-risk or orphaned children and work in a reforestation project. Two of the most important items for the future of our planet are our children and the environment. In this Mini-Adventure/volunteer in Guatemala project, volunteers will work with at-risk children and with the environment while living with local families.
In between volunteer work, Global Crossroad takes you on two 2-day discover Guatemala Tours, to discover why Guatemala is famous for its Mayan culture and natural beauty, both of the people and the landscape.
PROGRAM OUTLINES
Day 1: Volunteers will arrive to Quetzaltenango. Introductions will be held with the staff and the host family; volunteers will spend the rest of the day with their host families.
Orientation of Global Crossroad at the Quetzaltenango office. Orientation covers environmental issues (1-hour guest lecture), field conditions, host family or anticipated living conditions, safety issues, climate expectations, working projects, and related topics.
Day 2: Our leaders will take you for a visit of the reforestation project and to begin work.
Day 3- 5: Work in conservation/reforestation project.
In this part of our unique Volunteer Guatemala Mini-Adventure project, volunteers will work alongside Guatemalans to plant seeds, tend seedlings, and plant young trees on the land set aside by the Guatemalan government for replanting. Volunteers are free to explore the surrounding areas and participate in afternoon excursions to nearby villages, markets and other interesting spots. Volunteers, please feel free to explore the culture and life of Quetzaltenango in your free time. Our local field staff will support you for any assistance that you may need.
Discover Guatemala (2 Days)
Day 6-7: VAMOS A LA PLAYA AND VOLCANOES. The first day is a visit to the coast, stopping at a coffee farm to explore the process from the coffee plant to the product that is exported. Guatemala is famous for the high quality of its coffee and this is a special opportunity to see first hand how coffee goes from the bean to your cup. Volunteers will also speak to some of the workers and have the opportunity to see the living and working conditions on a coffee finca. Continue on toward the beach for a seafood lunch and relaxation in the sun. Bring lots of sunscreen and a hat to enjoy the gorgeous beach to its fullest. In the evening return to Quetzaltenango.
On the second day meet at 6 a.m. sharp for a spectacular trip to the top of the volcano Santa Maria or ¨Gagxanul¨. Be prepared to hike; bring comfortable hiking shoes, a packed lunch and lots of energy! Altitude 3772 meters.
Day 8-12: Work in orphanage with at-risk children
Share your love and smiles with these forgotten children. As a volunteer in Guatemala, you will be working with local underprivileged children, teaching them English and helping them with sanitation, health education, and food distribution. Help the children develop their creative talents by working with them to draw pictures, play games, and perform various related activities. With your service to these children, you will be giving hope to Guatemala's youth and altering their perspectives on life. Additionally, the work is a great mission and provides you with a chance to reach out to those who need extra love and attention. We promise that this experience with be life changing for all - the community, you, and the children.
Most of these children have been deprived of educational opportunities. Because of the destitute situation of the families, some children must work as child laborers in restaurants, factories, and other places. Our volunteer Guatemala projects with these at-risk and orphaned children, hope to make an astounding difference in the life of this community, and these kids.
On day 12 in the evening we will hold a certificate ceremony to thank volunteers for their work.
Discover Guatemala (2 More Days)
Day 13-14. Leaving early in the morning, volunteers in Guatemala will take a two-day trip to one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, Lago Atitlán. Renowned for its beauty, highland Mayan culture and the volcanoes surrounding the lake, this will be a spectacular two-day visit. Breakfast on arrival in the town of Panajachel on the lake, then head out in a boat to tour three villages around the lake, stopping in one of these to eat lunch and relax. In the afternoon volunteers are free to explore Panajachel where they will stay overnight. Dinner will be in a local restaurant.
Next morning volunteers will get up early to visit the famous market, Chichicastenango, an amazing outdoor market in a conservative village where it is often possible to see Mayan processions.
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General program information: |
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Program open to: Everyone
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Benefits and advantages of the program: |
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For a magical, unforgettable experience, travelers should look no farther than Guatemala, the Country of Eternal Spring. Guatemala boasts hospitable people, mystic traditions and a rich culture. From majestic volcanoes to the indescribable beauty of the indigenous flora and fauna, travelers will be captivated by Guatemala's alluring variety of landscapes. For those interested in history and archaeology, Guatemala invites you to discover the mystique of the ruins of the Mayan Civilization, located amid flourishing tropical jungles. Guatemala City offers a change of pace with its eclectic mix of colonial, neo-classical, and modern architecture, where the discerning traveler will find first-class accommodations and exquisite local foods.Our volunteer in Guatemala program offers volunteers the opportunity to explore the great land of Guatemala while working to aid the needy in Guatemala through projects focused on teaching, orphanage help, health issues, and other community development programs.
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