Guatemala Village Partners
Mission and Vision
The vision of Guatemala Village Partners, Inc. is to connect with and support the indigenous people of Guatemala. We hope to improve both educational and economical opportunities for the native people of Guatemala.
The 4 minutes video below shows what a trip to Guatemala is like, thanks to Mackenzie for this fun video. Interested in joining us, let Virginia know!
Guatemala Village Partners.movEducational Missions
Many children in Guatemala do not have the necessary means to attend middle or high school. An even larger portion of Guatemalan children do not have the opportunity to pursue a college education.
Education typically stops after elementary school for most because middle school and high school are no longer free. Many families cannot afford to pay for this education.
Guatemala Village Partners, Inc.'s vision is to step in where the Guatemalan "public education" drops off. We hope to award these children scholarships that will enable them to further their educations at the middle and high school levels. With this new educational opportunity, we hope that many students who would not have considered college an option will now have the confidence to pursue higher education.
Our hope is that while we invest in the children's educations, the children will mature into educated adults who will contribute back to the society of Guatemala.
We believe that partnerships will make our goals attainable. We plan on engaging the local population by building relationships with village leaders and residents. We also plan on establishing relationships with other organizations in the United States interested in developmental programs.
Economical Missions
Guatemala Village Partners have found an amazing desire for economic improvement through a microloan program. The initial successes from this program are providing the first steps towards a sustainable approach to economic development that can take advantage of the new capabilities enabled through the educational programs. See tab on upper right corner for more information.
August 2024 Report from GVP Guatemala:
Brenda Armstrong’s library and computer center is running well!
We all continue to do our best and even though not everything is nice and easy due to culture and other limitations. GVP Palá continues to press on!
Director report - They have an average of 10 active children from 3rd - 6th grade who make use of the library daily. In addition, several beca students. They are also volunteering by giving a reading class at pre school once a week. Total # of students: 30.
Computer Director report - Continues teaching computer classes Mon. - Fri. from 8:00am - 11:30am. He has 4 different groups daily. His main challenge has been working with less computers. As of now, we need to replace 9 computers. He travels 1 1/2 hours every day from Palá to another community to get to his other job. It has been a challenge, but he hopes that he will be sent to a closer village next year.
The local elementary school has 4 teachers. Total # of students: 60. The library staff has offered to help teachers, sadly they have not accepted their help.
The local middle school has 2 teachers from 7th - 9th grade. Total of 18 students.
Due to lack of job opportunities in Palá and its surrounding areas, teenagers continue to leave to the U.S. looking for job opportunities. Some of them are in Tx, New Jersey, New York, NC. The average number of children that young married couples have now is 2-3 children. The population is not growing as much as it used to. Thanks to Dr. Mike Anthony’s medical sessions. Palá has approximately 160 families nowadays.
Food Assistance during Covid- photos from March 17, 2022
During the pandemic the Cary team made sure families in Pala received basic food bags for the entire village at least twice per year, thanks to the Wendy and family plust team for helping to make this possible.
