Mayan Partners: June Trip to Guatemala

Mayan Partners

Mayan Partners is a 501c(3) non-profit organization with its roots in a group of alumni from Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship at UC Davis. Our vision is to partner with Quiche and Tzutuhil communities in the western Guatemalan highlands in the development of schools, the introduction of efficient woodburning stoves, and medical clinics that have strong local support. Part of our mission is to attempt to rigorously evaluate the impact of these efforts whenever possible, for possible reproduction in other communities. The home base for our work is San Pedro La Laguna (shown above) located on the shore of Lake Atitlan.

Currently our focus is the development and ongoing support of the Panyebar Middle School, a non-denominational Christian school with approximately 60 students from the local area. In this community, located in the mountains above Lake Atitlan, there is poor access to middle school. Dropout rates after grade six are extremely high in the area, and we endeavor to reverse this trend.

A group of lead supporters that form the core of our network help to support the school, with a number of other friends (and friends of friends) who also contribute through sponsoring individual students at the school, participating in trips to Guatemala, and other practical ways.

We desire to begin with involving others in our respective social networks in this partnership with the local Guatemalans, taking work groups to the area regularly, and taking on additional projects as more individuals become involved. Our goal is to work through friendships with one another and with the local Guatemalans, with long-term relationship building a key aspect of our vision.

We are a network of Christian friends who attend different churches, and we partner with local Guatemalan churches, but we welcome involvement from anyone interested in providing opportunities and an escape from poverty for the rural poor in western Guatemala.

Mayan Partners Trip to Guatemala June 2008

Saturday, February 9, 2008

June Trip to Guatemala

Greetings Mayan Partners,

Just wanted to update everyone about our June trip to Guatemala. Dates for the trip are June 15th to June 30th. Here are some details about the trip: While there are a number of people who have indicated an interest in the trip, this time the group will consist mainly of Mayan Partner folks (many of whom are Inter-Varsity alumni) and a handful of Inter-Varsity undergraduates from USF and UC Davis. It seems that there will be several families going on the trip (IV Staffworker Troy & Brooke Turley and their two kids, our family, and Pete and Allison de Laveaga and their two sons). Also I think Robb and Ron are planning to bring their sons with them. This is great because the place we are going has a lot for elementary school aged kids, especially those who like basketball and soccer, because that is what the Guatemalan kids
like to do!

There will be several projects. The first will involve some construction on the school we sponsor, maybe including building a new baño for the students and teachers. Also, I am planning to go there a week ahead of time with several of my graduate students from USF to set up some household survey work around Panyebar related to a public-health training field experiment we are going to be carrying out as part of a three-country project. We also plan to have a clinic, working with a Guatemalan doctor named Jose Israel and some nurses and a doctor that may be coming with us. Mostly though the purpose of our trip is to be with the Guatemalans, let our kids play with them, develop friendships with them, and visit the school.

Some people may only be able to get one week off from work--that's OK--there will probably be a group able to stay only a week. We'll probably have some kind of orientation day in May up in northern California for many of us going on the trip, and then another time together in LA the day before we leave from LAX. (We'll likely fly to LA and spend a day there for a last orientation with the southern California folks, and then fly down on an overnight to Guatemala City.) Flights usually cost about $600-650 roundtrip from the Bay Area (less from LA) and you can plan on about $150 per week per adult there for food and motel plus a another $50-100 for miscellaneous ground transportation.

We are really looking forward to this trip! Please e-mail Jim Porter or myself to let us know if you plan to come on the trip so we can get a rough idea of who is in. We're expecting about 15+ adults or so plus kids. All His best,

Bruce

1 comments:

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Latest News Updates:

● Mayan Partners is now its own 501c(3) non-profit organization! We are now based at the public accounting firm of Parodi & de Laveaga (Peter's accounting practice in Lafayette, CA.)

● The Woodstove project was completed in Paneybar with about 40 high-tech Onil woodstoves installed in the village through a randomized controlled trial.

Kent Moriarty and Bruce Wydick co-wrote an academic paper with Daniel Ludwinski (an entering Ph.D. student at U. of Wisconsin) entitled "Environmental and Health Impacts from the Introduction of Improved Wood Stoves: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Guatemala" which is under review at the Journal of Environmental Management. Here is the abstract from the paper--the results of the woodstove program are quite stunning:

Abstract: Improved wood-burning stoves offer a possible solution that can simultaneously impact both problems of deforestation and problems of respiratory health in developing countries. We carry out a randomized experiment in which new fuel-efficient woodstoves were allocated primarily via lottery in a Guatemalan village. A 2008 baseline survey was carried out on 2,148 individuals in 351 households, and then a follow-up survey was carried out in 2009, four months after households received the stoves. We find that households with the new stoves reduced wood consumption by an average of 59.1%. Among these households, we also find indications of reductions in indoor air related health problems, where point estimates indicate a significant reduction in reported respiratory symptoms by 48.6% among women and 63.3% among children.

● There will be a trip to Guatemala this November. Contact Kent and Ann if you are interested.

Group of Lead Supporters