The year is drawing to a close, and holidays are fast approaching! The young Indigenous Guatemalan women in our project are celebrating another successful year. We are in a flurry of holiday sales of the Fair Trade craft products the Mission Guatemala artisans produce.
In 2008, sponsored by your donations, 17 young women were able to study. Several received honors. Three were selected to carry the school banner in the 15th of September parade in their towns. Three will graduate this year! Four will continue in "basico", nine in "diversificado" and two at the university. One young woman completed a yearlong Kateri internship and prepared training for the rest of the group in how to seek employment.
The full group has continued to meet monthly in Chimaltenango. This time together gave the young scholars the opportunity to discuss topics concerning health, community, and personal development with other women their age – offering them a source of camaraderie and opportunities for growth.
In Mission: Guatemala, we are continuing to support local economic development through the sale of goods by artisan groups. We were able to introduce another Fair Trade retailer from upstate New York to the Women of Chumanzana, La Familia Catu/Sajcabun and Mujeres Clarenses - so that they now have additional markets for their goods!
Unfortunately, this year, Mission: Guatemala is in jeopardy due to lack of funds. The increased cost of shipping and the weak economy has made it difficult to keep prices affordable. We have decided to focus our work more in Guatemala. Carmela Paz Bal and Emilsa Peren, our Guatemalan staff, have conducted a needs assessment with the artisans. We plan to implement their ideas if money is available.
Our projected expenses to maintain our programs for the 2008-09 fiscal year are $30,000. We began the year with $20,000 in pledges and donations. We needed to raise $10,000. We thank all those who responded to our earlier appeal for funds. We are, however, still short of our goal. We will have to decide on cuts to our programs if we do not receive donations or pledges amounting to $2500 by Dec. 31, 2008. If you can help now, go to our website and click on the Donate Now button or return the enclosed donation card.
On behalf of the Kateri Board Members, we want to thank you for all the support you have offered us this year. We extend to each of you wishes for a blessed holiday season.
Kay Sweeney Christine Galvez
Managing Director Treasurer
2 comments:
I have traveled for over 10 years, I have been to Guatemala four times. The majority of organizations who wish to help countries try to by the "sale of goods by artisan."
If you truly want to make a sustainable venture, I believe it is best to try finding goods that will easily sell in Western Countries. Most typical items are best used for souvenirs or to decorated Latino style restaurants.
I found a great jacket yesterday that my sisters would use, however 99 percent of the items they would refuse.
In a way, if the items you have are good items to sell, this could truly be helpful to Guatemala.
Andy HoboTraveler.com Travel Blog
Dear Andy Hobo Traveler.com
We have developed with the people who are part of our projects merchandise that sells well here in the US. We have been doing that successfully for more than seven years. As our overhead increases, as it has this year, we need to raise our prices. As we pay the artisans a fair price for the quality merchandise they make especially for sale here in the US, the prices are higher than people here are willing to pay. That is why we are refocusing that part of our project. Go to our website ( www.mission-guatemala.org )and checkout some of the merchandise we have for sale and some of the other ways we are working with Guatemalans as they seek to improve their lives.
Kay Sweeney, Managing Director, Mission: Guatemala
Post a Comment