Long Way Home - Volunteer Opportunities

Long Way Home is a non-profit organization originating in the United States that seeks to bring together resources to empower youth to realize their full potential by fostering civic interaction, creating educational opportunities and encouraging healthy lifestyles. Long Way Home current project is in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala working with the Guatemalan Maya to construct an ecological park and recreation center.

The name Long Way Home was conceived as a symbol for the daily journey of a rural Mayan farmer.

Traditionally, the farmer leaves home at dawn to till the fields all day with his young children who are often not able to attend the local school because their share of labor is necessary for the family’s economic survival. Quite often, a family of ten might bring home a daily income of three dollars eating only tortillas with salt as the nutritional mainstay. In such cases, children, parents, and grandparents are regularly seen carrying heavy loads of firewood tied to their backs as they return home from a long day of work in the fields. Therefore, Long Way Home stands for the difficult life that Mayan children and adults endure without schooling or venues for building self-esteem and excellence.

Volunteering opportunities are continually opening up in Comalapa right now and almost any talent is helpful. Can you fix an engine? Can you lay concrete? Can you speak a little Spanish? Are you a persuasive writer? Do you know how to manage a garden? Maybe you have a proclivity for playing games and horsing around?

The project site has a tree and plant nursery, 6 terraces for organic gardens, a soccer field, a playground, a community kitchen, a botanical garden, and a protected wooded area. Space is also available to build a basketball court and start a small animal's project. Long Way Home is looking for volunteers to start these projects and help maintain and improve all existing projects.

More info at: http://www.longwayhomeinc.org

ARCAS - Volunteer Opportunities

ARCAS is a non-profit Guatemalan NGO formed in 1989 by a group of Guatemalan citizens who became concerned as they saw their precious natural heritage - especially their wildlife - rapidly disappearing before their eyes.
It was originally created for a very specific and urgent purpose: to build a rescue center to care for and rehabilitate wild animals that were being confiscated on the black market by the Guatemalan government.
Since its establishment, the ARCAS Rescue Center has grown into one of the largest and most complex rescue centers in the world, receiving between 300 and 600 animals of more than 40 species per year.

ARCAS's objectives are:

• To strive for the conservation, preservation, protection and research of wildlife;
• To rescue, rehabilitate and reintroduce into their natural habitat wild animals seized from illegal traffickers;
• To promote and assist in the creation and management of protected habitat areas for wild animals;
• To support tropical wildlife veterinary medicine and research;
• To reproduce and re-introduce endangered wildlife;
• To raise awareness among Guatemalans and visiting tourists about the need to conserve natural resources through a program of education and information

ARCAS and the wild animals it protects benefit from the support of over 500 volunteers per year both at its Rescue Center in Petén, its Sea Turtle and Mangrove Program in Hawaii, and at the Senderos de Alux Environmental Education Center near Guatemala City. Volunteers contribute technical expertise as well as contribute to the financial self-sufficiency of ARCAS’s conservation efforts while themselves gaining valuable work experience and an insight into Guatemalan culture.

Being a non-profit, voluntary organization, ARCAS doesn’t have the resources of a larger international NGO or university. Volunteers are expected to be fairly independent and self-sufficient and are expected to cover their own travel expenses to the projects as well as their own personal needs in terms of visas, special diets, medications and communications with loved ones back home.

More info at: http://www.arcasguatemala.com

Volunteer Peten - Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteer Petèn is a non-for-profit organization established in San Andrès, Petèn whose mission is to aid development in Guatemala by training international volunteers to participate in, design, and implement sustainable projects.

Their main projects focus on environmental education, general education, reforestation, forest management, medicinal plants, and working with the public library and public schools, but they are also open and able to aid volunteers to develop any project that suits their abilities and goals.

The program is divided into two:

Ecological Managment Education

Park Maintenance Environmental Education
Trail building Volunteer Teaching Program
Reforestation English Education
Tree Nursery Rural Literacy Program
Restoration Projects Library Activities
Medicinal Plants Adult Education
Natural History Museum School Restoration
Gardening
Agriculture

Volunteers can and are expected to take park in all program areas, and should not limit themselves to working in one particular area. Typical work days run from 8am-12 noon Monday through Friday. Four caretakers and the director run programs on a daily basis ranging from light construction, to trail maintenance, to gardening, to teaching. Afternoons are typically spent studying Spanish, running errands, teaching, participating in activities, or continuing work in ecological park. Activities include field trips, movie night, and working in the community library.

more info at: www.volunteerpeten.com

Casa Guatemala - Volunteer Opportunities

Casa Guatemala is an orphanage that cares for the nurturing, health and education of over 250 children. These children come from a variety of backgrounds; some have been abandoned, some have been abused, while still others come from families too poor to even provide the basics of a child's needs.

The orphanage receives no government support and is totally dependent upon the kind donations from people and groups from around the world. Casa Guatemala is split into three interdependent sites, each with its own function but working in concert. These sites are as follows:


Infant Home / Medical Center

This site, located in Zone 1 of Guatemala City, is home to a varying number of children between infancy and 2 years of age. It also houses a very busy 24 hour/25 bed on-site medical centre, which extends free treatments to thousands of children and adults per year. The infant home and clinic is entirely staffed by Guatemalans and includes: 2 doctors, 5 nurses, 7 baby sitters, a lab technician, a cook, a psychologist and 3 social workers. It is also staffed by some of the older girls from the children’s village - providing them with an income and work experience while they continue their studies in the capital.

Teenagers Home / Administration Office

This site, located in Zone 10 of Guatemala City, is home to the teenagers of Casa Guatemala who work at the Infant Home/Clinic and who are continuing their studies in the city. They live there under the supervision of a house mother with more independence than when they resided at the Children’s Village. This site also houses the main administrative office of the orphanage, and living quarters of the Administrative Director.


The Children's Village

This site, located in Rio Dulce near the Caribbean coast, is home to a varying number of children (approximately 250) between 5 and 16 years of age.

These children come to the Children’s Village due to abandonment, abuse, and extreme poverty issues.

There are also a number of children whose families live in such poverty and isolation that the Children's Village is the only chance the they will get for proper nutrition and an education.

For the different types of volunteer opportunities please visit: www.casa-guatemala.org