Niños de Guatemala Sign

If I started a series about the NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) headquartered in La Antigua Guatemala, one per day, I could probably go a full year without repeating once. Once I called this town the NGOs Capital of the World.

This is what I grabbed from the ninosdeguatemala.org web site:

The goal of Niños de Guatemala is to contribute to a better future for Guatemala and its population. The NGO (Non Governmental Organization) Niños de Guatemala (NDG) was founded in 2006 to initiate and support small-scale education projects for Guatemalan children. In starting these projects, community involvement is crucial.
The first project by NDG will be to build an elementary school in the community of Ciudad Vieja. From summer until autumn 2008 construction of the school building will take place. Per 1 January 2009 the classes in school will start. Naturally, the school is operated by local staff and within set time limits (latest in 2013) the school will be entirely self-sufficient and financially independent.
Source: ninosdeguatemala.org

Later this month, I will try to make some time to visit this project and others to do a week-long series. Stay tune!

coltrane_lives says:

July 13, 2008 at 8:15 am

NGOs are certainly welcomed I would imagine, but it’s too bad there aren’t more GOs to help those who truly need it. This series is an excellent idea. Extremely enlightening indeed.

JT says:

July 13, 2008 at 1:27 pm

Rudi, love that you feature this. I was first brought to Guatemala working for a group called Partners in Development, which is working in a small village in Suchatepequez. That in turn brought me to Antigua to better my Spanish. Now i know i can volunteer there during my next round of lessons.

Carolyn says:

July 14, 2008 at 8:36 am

Rudy,
NGO’s – a topic that needs so much discussion. There are more in Guatemala than all of Central America. What are the real effects? This is something I am very concerned about since I do support some of those in Antigua. Let’s face it,
we live in an Upside Down World (Eduardo Galeano) How much of volunteering
makes us (North Americans and Europeans) feel less guilty about the over-consumption that we have which directly corresponds to what Central Americans don’t have?? Of course, the “have nots” are growing in the US………Without significant political change, adding more ngo’s is not the answer.
Also, when I am in Guatemala, I sense a lot of projects are very territorial – interested in protecting their own interests…… often critical of other projects.
Jobs need to go to Guatemalans in the NGOS if possible. Keep up the good work.

Niños de Guatemala Sign

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