Our Partners
The Safe Stoves Project
The Safe Stoves Project is a joint effort between EntreMundos, Pop Wuj Spanish School, and the community of Pacaxjoj – a rural K’iche village – to improve the environment, health, and sustainability of the people of Pacaxjoj. The stove project was developed in order to combat the serious issues facing households who rely on an indoor open fire for their cooking needs; these problems include deforestation due to increased consumption of firewood, the severe respiratory problems attributable to heavy smoke and poor ventilation in one-room homes, and frequent burn accidents which occur when young children play around the open flame. The fact is that illnesses contracted from smoke inhalation are the second leading cause of death among children in Guatemala, as well as being a serious problem for adults. The stove project aims to relieve these problems, as well as foster community development, through the construction of simple yet more efficient, safer stoves for the families of Pacaxjoj.
The stoves require simple materials – concrete blocks, cement, clay and pumice for insulation, brick, and a simple “plancha”-type stovetop which allows for both the heating of pots and pans and the grilling of traditional food items such as tortillas. The building procedure is so easy that both volunteers and community members can participate fully in the project, and the stoves are durable, functional, and relatively inexpensive. The design is culturally appropriate, and addresses both local needs – economic efficiency through decreased need for firewood, safety through a contained fire source, and health by channelling the smoke out of doors – as well as the global needs of decreased deforestation and environmental awareness. The stoves are also 50% more efficient than an open fire. The project is a unique opportunity for foreign volunteers to work side-by-side with community members throughout the planning, organisation, and execution steps of the project.
Y´abal
Y´abal (meaning “Hope” in the Mayan language of K´iche), was founded in October 2005, as a reaction to Hurricane Stan .It´s mission is to help develop poor communities hit by natural disasters in the most vulnerable departments of Guatemala. Its projects include the provision of basic supplies (food, drinking water, clothes and medicines), health care (medical assistance and preventative health care), reconstruction (of houses and clinics), educational courses (health, environmental and job-training) and micro credit loans.
Pacutama I and Chuicutama were situated in the coastal area, on the first hills that form the Highlands of Guatemala. Enormous coffee plantations spread out between smaller corn and bean fields. In the first week of October 2006, however, Hurricane Stan hit both villages, destroying a lot of their houses and almost all of their fields. During the hurricane, in pouring rain, they left their villages and fled into the mountains. Besides their belongings, they left a warm tropical climate behind them and arrived in the cold barren Highlands where sun, wind and rain alternate in a dramatic and extreme manner. With the help of a few surrounding villages they built their first shelters from plastic and tin.
The 1st of June 2006 marked the official start of the construction of 48 houses. Initially, finishing the construction of these homes for the 48 families seemed to complete most of the work. Unfortunately however, that is not the case. To make sure that this project is successful; to really help these people, more needs to be done than just providing them a home.
The people of Pacutama I and Chuicutama not only lost their homes but also their source of income. Returning to their old communities is pointless as well as very dangerous. The project Y’abal works together with the people to create an independent and self-sustaining community and, along with its partner organisations, looks towards a better future for this community.
Partners in Solidarity
Partners in Solidarity is the international computer placement programme of Next Step Recycling, a 501 c 3 non-profit organisation based out of Eugene, Oregon. Their major project is in Quetzaltnenango, Guatemala where they work to bring computers and technical education to the area's rural schools and NGOs. In Xela, less then 1% of the department's public schools have computer labs, a fact which is especially evident in the rural, mostly indigenous areas. Furthermore, computer literacy is a pre-requisite for university study in Guatemala, as well as being a gateway to employment opportunities throughout the region. Partners in Solidarity along with its partners, seek to 'Bridge the Digital Divide' and help provide access to technology and technological education to the students of these schools.
NextStep Recycling is a non-profit computer refurbishing and recycling organisation. They are dedicated to providing refurbished computer equipment to schools, non-profit organisations, and economically and/or physically disadvantaged individuals. In addition, they serve the community and the environment by recycling obsolete/non-repairable donated electronic equipment. They are able to provide computers to the public by refurbishing used computer equipment for which businesses, corporations, and individual donors no longer have a use.
In August 2007, EntreMundos received a donation of 10 computers from Partners in Solidarity. These 10 computers marked the start of the realisation of the Resource and Training Centre. Through this Centre, EntreMundos is able to provide non-governmental organisations and community associations in Western Guatemala with a greater access to a wealth of resources and information and can better support their organisational development, with a particular focus on building their information technology skills.
