For the tourism sector, PROSOL organizes the Q’ij Säq traveling festival that started in September 2012 and continues to tour throughout the department. The next presentation will be held on May 11th in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán. This free festival is an exhibition of the living culture of the department of Sololá and includes a representation of the Chaajchay Mayan ballgame, a Sotz’il theater presentation Oxlajuj B’aktun, and Cosmovision Hip Hop T’zutu B’aktun Kan in local languages. Each municipality adds its own local artists, so it’s always a very dynamic and inclusive event.

On May 4th, the city of Sololá, the departmental capital, will unveil its new image as a cultural destination on the national and international stage, and a festival has been organized to celebrate this launch. The festival will include music, a Mayan ballgame, theater, dance, a circus, a fashion show, visual projections, a fireworks show, and more.

By organizing community tourism in the municipalities of San Juan La Laguna, San Pedro La Laguna, and Santiago Atitlán, PROSOL is offering the opportunity to experience something different.

For more information, visit the PROSOL Sololá website: prosolola.org or its Facebook page about the traveling festival: 2012 in Atitlan.

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When the theme of economic domestic abuse arises (i.e., preventing someone from accessing resources for family needs and health), one of the mothers, Manuela, leans over to a Pueblo a Pueblo staff member and whispers, “This is a really important topic. It happened to me.” She explains that ten years ago her husband had refused to support the family at all, leaving her no money to buy food for herself or her two children. “My children were dying and there was nothing I could do,” she says. “A woman offered me Q5,000 (about US$650) to buy my two-month old son – yes, to buy my son! I refused, but there were times when I thought I should have said yes – that maybe he would have a better life somewhere with a rich person,” Manuela continues, blinking back tears. “But now I know where to get help. My baby daughter is very healthy and I’m finding ways to earn money for food.”

Manuela and the other women are among the sixty participants in Pueblo a Pueblo’s Maternal-Child Health (MCH) Program. At its core, MCH is designed to reduce the exceptionally high maternal and infant mortality rates among T’zutujil Maya women in the Santiago Atitlán region. Guatemala has the highest maternal mortality rate in Central America according to the World Health Organization. The MCH program creates a consistent, one-to-one partnership between international sponsors and these mothers, giving the mothers and their children medical and educational support through the most vulnerable periods of pregnancy and birth through age five. MCH provides this outreach through a partnership with Rxiin Tnamet, a community-based health center that sends social workers, nurses, and midwives into the community to work with families.

Although maternal health is big part of the program, most mothers participate in MCH to receive free or reduced-cost medical care for their children. In a community where a typical income is US$2 to US$4 a day, many mothers face the difficult choice between feeding their family and taking a sick child to the doctor. “When your child is sick, you say to yourself, ‘Where can we find the money?’ We only have enough for a little food,” says Juana, a mother in the program.

Waiting too long to see a doctor cost the lives of two young children with pneumonia in the region just a few weeks ago. “The high cost of medical care causes parents to hesitate when they should act,” says Pueblo a Pueblo Executive Director Rosemary Trent. “When that cost is eliminated and mothers are educated in good health care, they don’t hesitate – they take their children to the doctor at the first sign of illness and get the treatment they need.”

Education is another fundamental aspect of MCH. Recognizing the signs of a serious illness or delivery complications can be as critical as having access to medical care, and knowing how to prevent sickness or respond to problems quickly is equally important. MCH gives mothers (and two fathers) monthly workshops on topics like reproductive health, vaccines, preventable illness, nutrition, hygiene, post-partum depression, stress, and more. MCH social worker Chonita Ramírez works with other members of the MCH team to define the topics at the beginning of each year, but keeps the schedule flexible to address critical needs in the community.

In the Santiago Atitlán area, “four mothers died in childbirth just over the past few months,” says Giorgia Lattanzi, MCH program director. “Those mothers weren’t a part of our program, but it was clear something was very wrong.” Ramírez immediately changed gears to present a workshop on childbirth and delivery issues for the next session. Likewise, when more than 100 cases of acute diarrhea hit the region’s children in a single month, the next MCH workshops focused on parasites, sanitation and hygiene, and early treatment.

Many of the most important topics, such as family planning, preventing sexually transmitted diseases, and domestic violence, have long been virtually taboo in rural Guatemala communities, and progress can be slow. “The main challenge for our program, without a doubt, is the machismo that permeates the local culture,” says Lattanzi. “Husbands are not always supportive of their spouses learning about certain issues.”

Family planning, in particular, can be an extremely important but volatile subject. In a community where families of eight or more children are not uncommon, family size can mean the difference between having food and malnutrition, health and illness, and education and illiteracy. However this knowledge brings both options and difficult choices. A mother may understand that she cannot feed her family on the Q35 her husband earns per day, and another child would simply mean even less food for the children she already has, but her traditional husband may refuse the concept of family planning, believing that women only use birth control to have relations with other men. MCH makes it possible for women to receive Depo-Provera shots and other family-planning methods in private, and to discuss their options openly and safely with other women from the community.

“The need for a program like MCH in this community is huge,” says Lattanzi. “When the families have good information, they can make better choices.” Unfortunately, sponsors are hard to come by, and the emergency fund – which covers urgent issues like pneumonia, a baby born with HIV, delivery issues, etc. – is very small. “Many people find it easier to donate to something tangible, like building a school,” Trent says. “Our donors must be the kind of people who can look further ahead and envision building a future for mothers and children.”

Despite these funding challenges, Pueblo a Pueblo is expanding its MCH program with peer-to-peer educators. Early this year, Pueblo a Pueblo selected twenty MCH mothers with strong leadership and communication skills to be trained to share their knowledge with members of the community and to mentor new MCH mothers. “We want the women to become maternal health advocates in their communities,” says Trent. “They become the messengers. The transfer of knowledge goes from us to the mothers and from the mothers to their children and the community around them. That’s what leads to sustainability.”

“MCH really empowers these women,” Lattanzi adds. “We’re teaching them how to overcome the limitations caused by a lack of formal education and misleading traditional beliefs passed on from one generation to the next.”

A MCH mother puts it more simply: “The topics we learn about here have changed my life.”

For more information on Pueblo a Pueblo and the Maternal Child Health program, go to www.puebloapueblo.org.

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Photo by: Kassia Binkowski, One Thousand Words www.onethousanddesign.com

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The private, non-profit Tulate Association for Comprehensive Development was born three years ago out of the need to protect Tulate’s beach environment. Two years ago environmental protection and mangrove planting was started, and a year ago, a project for the protection, reproduction, research and release of the area’s sea turtles began.

Currently, of the seven existing sea turtle species in the world, two types can be seen at Playa El Tulate: the Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and the Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata). According to research done at the beach, 75 sea turtles can be seen throughout the year and their numbers are constantly being reduced by their largest predators (humans).

Thanks to the work by the community, the Association, the COCODE (Concejo Comunitario de Desarrollo – Community Development Council), Hotel La Iguana and Hotel Eco Resort Tulate Beach approximately 1,000 sea turtles have been freed, a situation that, unfortunately, is not enough for the repopulation of these endangered species. The Association currently has two hatcheries for Olive Ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), but wants to open more. The Association also regularly holds turtle-releasing events

To see a turtle release, or to learn more about the association’s projects, please contact Lic. Luis F. Corzo, Ecological Projects Advisor at corzomanzo@gmail.com, or Clement Enríquez, Hatchery Manager, at 4814-3770.

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Located in Jocotenango, EFTC provides education and support to 500 students at its school located at La Azotea, and gives 100 scholarships for students continuing on to higher levels of education. With a bilingual program, nutritious food, counseling, career advice, and social support, EFTC aims to produce successful, English-speaking, employable graduates who can pull themselves and their families out of the cycle of poverty.

• To participate, contact Liz van Leeuwen at yoga@yogantigua.com or amy@eftc.org.uk.
• To sponsor the team online, go to www.virginmoneygiving/108salutations.

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For more information, contact Manuel de la Cruz Cujcuy at 4605-7767, 5036-9129, or  kakasaqarik@yahoo.es

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“We are doing these hikes because it’s what many Guatemalans do to collect water. We’re doing them because we want to help others understand what Guatemalans have to do everyday. And still, even after hiking for hours, they end up with dirty water. We offer a sustainable solution to that problem.”

Ecofiltro:one is a new NGO. Their plan is simple, yet innovative.

In rural Guatemala, where running water is not available, people must collect their water, usually from one of the 90% of Guatemala’s streams and rivers that are contaminated. They hike down to their water source and carry the water back to their homes in jugs atop their heads. They must do this every day, several times a day. And for all their effort, their reward is dirty drinking water – water that will make them and their family sick from parasites and other pathogens. Ecofiltro:one offers a solution to this problem. They offer a simple way to ensure clean drinking water for life. A solution which helps their beneficiaries get started, and then allows them to actively take responsibility for their health – to contribute to the solution. The number “one” is in their name by design. This is their mission: Ecofiltro:one provides the first “one” – the first Ecofiltro water filter. After this, families make small payments for their next replacement filter: Q10 per month – an amount that is within their budget, and an amount that is a lot less than the medicines needed to treat intestinal infections or the wood needed to boil water. It’s a sustainable solution to a desperate problem.

Ecofiltro:one is partnered with the business Ecofiltro, a social business that takes their profits from the sales of water filters to urban families and subsidizes the cost of filters for rural families in need. As Ecofiltro CEO Philip Wilson explains, “[Ecofiltro] has the positives of efficiency and aggressive management, yet with the heart of a foundation with a clear social mission.”

Often asked what the difference is between the business Ecofiltro and the charity Ecofiltro:one, Sam Snyder, the Executive Director of the charity, explains, “The business is a business: they need to make a profit to ensure its sustainability. They are driven like a business, but with a strong social component. The charity, on the other hand, is implementing a program that is solving a problem sustainably; a problem we would be working to solve even without Ecofiltro. Ecofiltro happens to make the best water filter: because it’s culturally acceptable, made from sustainable materials, made locally, and it’s affordable. Every aspect of it makes it a great product and a great partner. This business-charity partnership is a hybrid model; we need both pieces working well to address the water problem.”

In order to raise awareness and to raise funds for the first “one,” Ecofiltro:one has started a new campaign: Hike for Water. And you can take part here in Guatemala or back home by organizing your own hikes. You make a US$35 donation to hike; you find family and friends who will sponsor you like a walk-a-thon; you join a volcano hike here in Guatemala, which you were probably planning on doing anyway; or if you can’t do that, you hike back home. Your “Hike for Water” brings filters to families who have to hike for water every day. It’s simple, and every dollar you contribute and raise goes 100% towards the first filters for rural families here in Guatemala, as all the other costs of running Ecofiltro:one are fully supported by their board and private donors.

You can enjoy the beauty of Guatemala and the beauty of giving back by doing something healthy, while at the same time doing something that will help the health of others. Let’s make Ecofiltro:one’s first Hike for Water up Volcán Acatenango on April 6th a success.

To find out how you can participate and the dates of future hikes, or to sponsor a hiker, go to www.ecofiltro.org/hikeforwater, visit their office in Casa El Jaulón at 4a Calle Oriente #10 (MAP F3), or call 5710-4311.

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It’s 8:30 in the morning and the benches are full of women waiting and chatting, sharing stories in a mix of K’iche’ and Spanish. Children mingle between them, playing and climbing. In a few minutes, the medical director will walk out of the door to talk to the women about their annual check-up.

This is a typical morning at the Primeros Pasos clinic just outside of Quetzaltenango. Primeros Pasos is a non-profit, independent organization with a comprehensive outlook on health care. With the collaboration of health professionals, health educators, volunteers, and community leaders, Primeros Pasos offers quality and affordable health care and health education to the rural, underserved communities of the Palajunoj Valley of Quetzaltenango.

These women are part of the Stairway to Good Health program, a women’s health education program that teaches indigenous women to be health promoters in their own homes and leaders in their communities. Every year, the women come to the clinic for a health check-up that not only provides health services but also educates them about the importance of “well-check” visits as part of a healthy life. As one of the participants tells the Primeros Pasos staff, “The Primeros Pasos clinic helps us when we are sick. Thank you for giving us this information about life and motherhood. Ten or fifteen years ago no one talked about these sorts of health topics.”
Primeros Pasos improves the quality of life of rural communities in Guatemala through integrated health education programs and access to medical services. The organization has a holistic approach to health, incorporating and combining clinical care, health education, and community outreach programs. Every year, Primeros Pasos, the only comprehensive and affordable source of local health care in the area, gives care to over 3,500 elementary school children and over 4,000 walk-in patients.

www.primerospasos.org

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Photos by: Nitsan Tal Photography & Patricia Gomez

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Apolinario decided to say “thank you” with his actions. He became a FIP volunteer. He now helps organize medical clinics and then travels with those who need surgery to one of FIP’s partner hospitals: Las Obras Sociales in La Antigua and Hilario Galindo in Retalhuleu.

The fact that Apolinario can neither read nor write has never stopped him from helping others. And it did not stop him from being a guest speaker at FIP’s Annual Gala in Houston, Texas, on October 25^th, where he gave a powerful testimony to the 450 attendees of his reasons for helping his fellow Guatemalans.

Another highlight of this event, which carried the theme Choosing Life: A Journey of Hope, was the honoring of Guatemalan Doctor Fernando Stein, Medical Director of the Progressive Care Unit at Texas Children’s Hospital, for his lifelong commitment to children.

For nearly 20 years, FIP has served the poor through short-term medical, surgical and dental mission trips, and health-related educational programs. Each year, thanks to the support of committed donors and more than 1,800 US and Guatemalan volunteers, over 22,000 patients are served, and FIP has been able to continue to expand in size and scope to provide continuity of medical care to the poorest of Guatemala.

www.faithinpractice.org

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“What I walked into” turned out to be a center of self-expression, education, and opportunity in the heart of one of the most economically and socially challenged areas of La Antigua. The moment you step through EducArte’s doors you hear children playing, laughing, and learning with teachers who clearly love what they do. Colorful murals, painted by resident artist and teacher Rony Quiñonez, inspire the imagination, and the children’s impressive artwork decorates the walls. Sometimes it is hard to hear over the children’s excited chatter. The instant impression is “This is a good place… a fun place… a safe place… a place where you can be yourself.”

EducArte is a 100% Guatemalan nonprofit founded in Ciudad Vieja by Alejandra Hernandez and her friends in 2002, when Alejandra was just 19 years old. EducArte promotes social justice through art, education, nutrition, mental and physical health, and free expression. “It started as activities like art and dance for children during school breaks. But we found that after the vacations ended, the children didn’t want the activities to end, so we kept going.” The Ciudad Vieja location has grown from working with 10 children to an active, well-recognized community center serving nearly 80 children, plus adults and the community at large.

In October 2012, EducArte extended its outreach to Colonia La Belleza – a La Antigua location that many in the municipality would rather pretend does not exist. Why would EducArte risk expanding into this forgotten corner of La Antigua? “No one wants to work here, but this is where the need is,” Alejandra explained. “EducArte aims to work where others won’t.”

Community members were curious when the new center opened. “When we told them it was activities for children and families, almost immediately we had 20 children signed up,” Alejandra explained. Before the end of the week they had achieved their full roster of 30 children.

In both Ciudad Vieja and La Antigua, the neediest applicants are enrolled in the full program which provides scholarships that can extend from the earliest grades all the way through college; tutoring and help with homework; nutritious food and snacks; and regular pediatric checkups through a partnership with the Manos Abiertas health care center.

In addition, each location also serves as a community center offering all local children lessons in art, theater, sports, music, handicrafts, Tae Kwon Do, and yoga.

Children learn to play melodies on a borrowed marimba, a plastic tree-house offers a place to dream and pretend, a small lending library is the gateway to new worlds and ideas, and a modest kitchen serves the dual roles of providing healthy food and teaching the children about nutrition and cooking. Through projects and activities, children learn about themselves, their community, and their rights. Discussions, activities, and artwork focused on themes like the International Day of the Child and the Day of Nonviolence against Women, combining the concepts of human rights and creative expression.

Another key goal is social justice for women. Fifteen women from the community gather twice a week for educational activities on themes such as sexual education, raising self-esteem, and violence against women. “It is especially important to empower women with an understanding of their rights,” said Alejandra. Staff at EducArte draw on their strong network of nonprofit organizations to connect the women with the services and attention they need. The centers also offer adult continuing education, providing the opportunity for both men and women to learn to read and write.

The self-expression encouraged in the community centers often exposes tragic truths about violence in the home. “Through what the children paint and write, we see most of what they are experiencing,” said Alejandra. “That’s one of the reasons we are working so hard in the areas of violence against women and children.”

Any evidence of abuse is directed to a social worker on staff to investigate the issue and meet with the family. If the family does not have a satisfactory explanation for what the EducArte instructors have witnessed, help is sought from a network of nonprofits, and the case is reported to the PGN, Guatemala’s national organization in defense of children and adolescents, and other relevant agencies. Alejandra said, “In both of our locations we have a policy of zero tolerance. Zero tolerance for violence against men, women, boys, girls, or even pets. Zero.”

What about the violence that surrounds the centers, particularly in the new Colonia La Belleza location? “When people know we are working here for the community, they help and protect us,” said Executive Director Fressia Nájera. Despite the area’s reputation for violence and prostitution, EducArte invites community members in at night once a week for events and films focused on themes such as nonviolence toward women and children. “We need to be here for the community, and that means being here when people are able to come here,” Alejandra said.

As EducArte celebrates more than 10 years of success in Ciudad Vieja, the opening of the additional La Antigua location presents an exciting new step into the future. Many of the staff who work at both locations have been part of the program since its beginning. “The team is very faithful, hard-working, and positive,” said Alejandra. “It’s work that you love a lot, and the kids are incredibly beautiful…. Even after ten years, I continue believing, thinking, and dreaming, and every day I am happier with the work that we do.”

EducArte can always use teaching materials in Spanish, games, balls, hula hoops, art materials, tempera paint and paper, non-perishable food, medicine, and volunteers! More information is available at

www.educarte-guatemala.org.

The post EducArte: Where Art and Social Justice Meet appeared first on Que Pasa Magazine.

Alice Lee So Fong founded the nonprofit organization CasaSito in 2004. She talks with Qué Pasa about the history and accomplishments of the organization, what she has learned along the way, and why she has decided to step aside, as well as hints at her plans for the future.

What inspired you to start CasaSito?
The truth is it kind of happened naturally. I didn’t come to Guatemala with the idea of starting an NGO – I was travelling. And I didn’t fall in love with La Antigua – I just felt at home. I don’t know why, but I heard a call, “This might be your home, Alice; think about that when you’re ready to settle down.” I put that thought in the back of my mind, and I continued with my life. After working for a project in Botswana, Africa, I told myself, “Alice, maybe it’s time to settle down now,” and the first country that came to my mind was Guatemala. So the truth is that I came here to find my home. I didn’t come to do social work. But then, of course, the more you feel a place is your home, the more you want that place to be better, right? So, I asked myself what I could do to make this a better place, not only for myself, but also for those who lived around me, because even though they were strangers, they were part of my life now.

The more I volunteered here, the more I felt I had found my way to make my home a better place. I also found out that social work is actually my talent. As I worked from 2002 to 2004, I found there was one big issue for small NGOs in Guatemala (and also in the rest of the world): everyone was working in their own corner trying to do something good, but together the impact could actually be bigger. So, after two years of setting up my own network and gaining people’s trust with my performance, I thought to myself that maybe my mission was to put small NGOs together. Of course, everyone wants to get his or her credit and recognition; that’s normal. So, to say that we could all work together and that no one needed to get the credit was kind of difficult, especially in this field. It’s been eight years now, and not only has CasaSito succeeded, but people recognize that this is a good way to do things.

How has CasaSito changed over the years?
In the beginning, I worked more in the urban area around La Antigua. I was still looking for my way, and was critical of myself. There was a sentiment that we were choosing projects because they were easy to “sell” to the donors. But, we found that there were many small projects in the rural areas, deep in the jungle, that really needed help and deserved to be helped. In 2008, CasaSito branched out and started to promote projects that no one wanted to help because they were too far away – too far away for donors to visit and get a hug from a kid. By then, people trusted me, they knew my performance, and it seemed like if I told them the real or hidden reasons to support a project, then the money would come in. So I started focusing on small projects that I knew in the long run would have a big impact, and less on the fear of how hard it was to fundraise.

What kinds of projects does CasaSito support?
I would say that we focus on self-development projects. I really do believe that you can give someone everything, but if they don’t have the incentive to develop themselves, then it’s just a waste. So we focus on projects that help people in need who believe that if they have more knowledge, more confidence, and more opportunities and options, then they can make their own life better.

Can you tell us about a specific project that has been a great success for CasaSito?
I’m really proud of all the extracurricular activities we offer the students in our scholarship program, like the debate club and the new social theater club – the things that make our students better-prepared people. In the social theater group, we’re teaching the kids to use the theater to help them solve issues, and we invite the audiences, who come from the same environment, to share their ideas on how to solve the issue by participating in the play. It’s amazing how the students have grown from the beginning, and how openly they can talk about their fears and share this intimate information. I hope everyone will be able to see one of their performances.

Our donors who have supported us over the last five years say that our scholarship program stands out because they can really see that the students have developed and have become so confident. And the students really realize it, too. I remember two years ago there was a girl who was scared to participate in the debate club, but she saw how her friend could now make public speeches and debate serious subjects. She said in a meeting that she wished she could be as brave as her friend and participate. Her friend stood up and said, “Then participate. That’s all you have to do. I was scared too, but now I know how important it was for me. Participate!” It was very encouraging.

Why have you decided to give up your pos

ition as Director and Chairman of the Board of CasaSito?
Well, CasaSito started as a one-person organization, although I always had Greg, my husband, and many dedicated volunteers behind me. But for a lot of people and for many years, CasaSito was Alice, and Alice was CasaSito. You see many small NGOs that are very much a one-person project, and you are always kind of scared that if that person collapses, or if they become corrupted by power and money, then everything will fall apart. Social work is a very energy- and emotion-consuming work. Don’t believe that you can do it forever if you want to do a good job. I’m talking from personal experience. By 2010, I was working 16 hours a day. I totally forgot I had a husband. I was tired all the time. My whole world was built around other people’s lives. Even though the work was very rewarding, I didn’t have my own life anymore. I realized that I needed to slow down, and that I should start to focus on developing my team so they could represent CasaSito – not just “Alice.”

So in the last two years, I’ve been working really hard to do that. There is a time when you have to understand that a big heart is not enough, and there is a time when you have to learn how to share your work with others and develop a team – and there is a time for the founder to go. I think it was Scott [the publisher of Qué Pasa] who told me, “Sometimes the founder is the biggest obstacle to the development of the organization.” He said this to me some years ago in casual conversation. He wasn’t focused on me, or anything, but it always stuck in my head, and I thought, he’s right. The founder could become an obstacle to the development of their own association because they can hold onto their ideas, and their methods, and their power so much that it can be hard to see there are other ways to develop their work that might be better. By showing our partner associations that I am stepping away, I hope I’m showing other founders that it’s possible to carry on their dream and even improve on it by delegating the work to a team. You just need to prepare your staff and accept that it’s the natural course of things.

So, who will be taking over your position?
Maritza Ortiz will be the Executive Director of the operation team. She used to work for a big NGO in the States. She’s a very capable, hardworking, and conscientious person, and a person who’s very eager to learn, and that has been very important to me. I’m very happy that she will be in charge of the team and be the public face of CasaSito. The Chairman of the Board will be Manuela Rosales, an attorney here in La Antigua. She’s been a volunteer and supporter of CasaSito for years. She is a very professional and powerful woman, and very straight forward, which I like. I’ve been working hard to create a really effective board because an effective board is almost as important as an effective operations team. They are the people who have contacts, and who give you advice. And they are objective because they’re not so connected to the people you are serving, so they look at issues in a very different way.

Will you still have a role at CasaSito?
Yes, I will be on the board as treasurer. The truth is everyone is scared to be in that position anyway because it’s a lot of responsibility. I know the numbers very well, so that will allow me to help make this a smooth transition in the near future. And you will still see me at CasaSito internal and public events – don’t worry.

So, what will you do now?
I want to spend more time with my family. I’m going back to Hong Kong for three months. I’m going to travel a bit more with my husband. And for when I come back, I have a lot of ideas. I always talk about personal development, right? So, I want to do something for myself, something I didn’t have a chance to fully develop when I was younger.

And, what would that be?
I didn’t come from a wealthy family. When I was young, I was kind of like one of CasaSito’s scholars. My family struggled. Not to send us to school because Hong Kong has a different kind of educational system, but there were a lot of things we couldn’t have. I remember when I was in primary school, a very famous pianist came to give free lessons to all the students. At the end of my lesson, she told me – in front of all the other children – that if my mom allowed it, she would love to teach me. But, of course that didn’t mean it was for free. I was very proud of myself, and ran home with such joy and told my mom that I wanted to learn piano. She started to cry and told me to forget about it, that we couldn’t afford it. I was very angry. I was a kid; I just thought she didn’t understand, and I didn’t understand why money was so important. So I didn’t have that chance, and I want to do that for myself, and I also think maybe that can be another way I can give to the people: if a kid wants to learn piano or something else artistic, but doesn’t have the money, why not help? I don’t know yet; it’s just an idea, but I do think the first person I need to do that for is myself.

What do you hope your legacy will be at CasaSito?
I just hope CasaSito can continue, and continue for a long time, and that people will see the quality in what CasaSito does. It shouldn’t be about one person’s legacy. It should be about the organization as a whole.

“CasaSito is still very small. We have a very tiny budget and a small group of people working fulltime, but I think in the La Antigua area, we are recognized as a very efficient NGO, because with so little funding, we really do a lot.”

www.casasito.org

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