Villages on Volcano Fuego
The Village Experience has been working with our partners, Vamos Adelante, in Guatemala for many years. We adopted several village on the slopes of Volcano Fuego in 2008 and have been supporting Vamos Adelante in their work to increase access to education, healthcare, and nutritious food ever since. The community's food distribution program for the elderly and malnourished is one of our favorite programs, supporting those most in need of help. We support and uplift the team at Vamos Adelante and based on their identification of community needs, we continue to develop and sustain programs that will improve the general overall living conditions of those living in the communities of Zapote, ChuChu, Osuna, Ceylan, and more.
Social Justice Education:
Rural villages in the Esquintla Province of Guatemala suffer from lack of access to basic education, healthcare, and nutritious food. Many of the families in the area are migrant coffee farming families that struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis and often require their children to work, bypassing an education. Through the program that Vamos Adelante has implemented, families have the opportunity to educate their children, provide them with proper medical care, install clean water and wood-saving stoves in their homes, and learn valuable income-generating skills.
Past Accomplishments:
- The Village Experience has provided funding and land for 6 primary school classrooms and equipped them with furniture and school supplies. We recently built a large-scale playground and sports recreational area for the children of Ceylan – complete with swings, slides, monkey bars, and soccer/basketball court. We provided funding for 10 new sewing machines and training for the women of the community so they can develop a useful and hopefully profitable skill set. Land was purchased and three new classrooms have been built for the new kindergarten.
- We are continuing to renovate, paint, and build classrooms as needed in our partner villages. We also work to provide school furniture and teaching supplies to schools in need.
- We help to uplift families by providing funding for eco-water filters, wood saving stoves, tin sheets for roofs, and more.
- Working to take care of the elderly is one of our greatest joys within each of these villages. We raise money for monthly food distributions, COVID relief supplies, beds, medicines, and more.
Current Project Needs:
- Monthly food distribution for the elderly in one village - $1000
- Wood saving stove - $300
- Fresh paint for the school - $600
- New classroom - $10,000
- School furniture - $1500