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The Guatemala Project, a project of the San DIego District of the United Methodist Church is doing truly awsome work in the highlands of Guatemala. Over the past 16 years we have built medical and dental clinics, a tailor's trade school, houses for widows, schools for children as well as having taken medical teams to serve the needs of people who may have never before been able to see a doctor.
The money to support these projects comes from donations and the sales in te U.S. of proucts made in Guatemala. The project elps the local economy of Guatemala by purchasing products made in the local trade schools, cooperatives and by individual producers and family run businesses who sell their goods in the local markets. 100% of the profits from sales of these items is used to support the current projects we undertake. Why not visit our Store Front by clicking here! | ||||||||||||||
Our projects all originate from the people in Guatemala. We have a committee of people in Chichicastenango, Guatemala who meet and consider applications for projects. They then sort through the applications and select the best one or two for us to consider. We do NOT impose our ideas of what is needed on the people we are willing to help. Those ideas seldom work out - for them or in the long run for us who are in mission to others.
It is required that a group who wants to have a project completed in their community do several things that help to insure the success and sustainability of the project. They must donate some financial resources, some sweat resources (labor) and they must have the cooperation of the many politicaly diverse members of the community, which often includes the Evangelical Protestants, the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Mayan Traditionalists, the local civic government and any other groups within the community.
These requirements to bring together diverse elements of the community has resulted in some marvelous projects that have community support, not only in their creation, but in their long lasting implementation. 