Manna Project International take three: Chaquijyá, Guatemala

The phrase 'community development' is thrown around a lot; I do it myself for lack of an equally concise definition of what it is I do. In an ideal world, my community development philosophy would be: help people help themselves. Not just teaching, but teaching how to teach; Minimizing reliance by moving beyond need-based giving; Listening to the people who know what they need best; And working to strengthen already existing community organizations. In this way, we are no longer the solution, but the middleman between a need and its fulfillment.

In Chaquijyá, an indigenous Maya community of 6,000, we work alongside an array of different leaders and organizations; The local primary school has warmly opened its doors to us, as have all the teachers, the PTA-equivalent, the mayor, the few health promoters, a local organization named Asoatitlán, and a smattering of important elected officials. They are motivated, friendly, and some of the hardest working people I've met. In the past six months with their support we have already begun teaching 120 students English, completed a 6-week summer camp program to encourage a love for learning, and haven't stopped there. We are in the preliminary programmatic stages of moving health education into schools, expanding the reach of women's weaving cooperatives, beginning our adult English class, and starting an environmental education program that would include composting, installing community trash bins, and eventually building an addition to the school out of bottles stuffed with trash.

Of course we have ideas for growth and progress, but we will never implement a program without community interest and participation. It is not possible, or beneficial to force even the most worthwhile projects into the hands of the ambivalent because the only way change will persist is if Chaquijyá is passionate about and drives that change. So we listen, we talk, and share ideas, to ensure that our visions and goals align.

More often than not our objectives do mirror that of our partners: improve the quality of life in Chaquijyá (where, I might add, over 70% of people are considered impoverished, and 34% live on less than $1 per day). Thus, driving towards the same goal, MPI and our partners will collaborate towards real, positive, and sustainable change. Over the next few years we will work to get these men and women the tools they need to help their own. First we will implement a series of programs, but with time, our lessons become their own. Each year development continues but our presence becomes less necessary. We teach them to build upon what they have learned towards their own economic, social, political, and environmental independence.

The model we have before us in Chaquijyá is sustainable community development at its finest, at least by my definition. I hope you will join me by becoming a part of this incredible opportunity.

For updates, follow me, and my MPI team through our first year in Chaquijyá at www.mpiguatemala.blogspot.com. Want even more? Visit www.mannaproject.org/guatemala or email me directly at dana.zichlin@mannaproject.org.

Thanks for reading,
Dana