Help a Mayan Connect with the Global Village
As part of the Mayan Coffee Social Justice Program, we are partnering with Ajb’atz’ Enlace Quiché, a Guatemalan non-profit organisation dedicated to helping indigenous peoples reach their full potential through innovative applications of information and communications technologies.
As globalisation penetrates ever deeper into rural Guatemala, small businesses and students find that computer and Internet skills are prerequisites for success. Students need to do research via the Internet. Businesses need computers to work more efficiently and grow their businesses beyond their communities. However, with rural poverty rates over 90%, only the privileged can pay for training courses.
Ajb'atz' Enlace Quiché helps Mayan youth cross the digital divide without leaving their language and culture behind. Their training centre is producing a critical mass of empowered youth with the skills and self-confidence to help the development of their communities. They will be able to obtain better employment and will serve as role models for others, showing them the true, useful potential of computers and the Internet.
Mayan Coffee’s Social Justice Program sponsors an average of 100 students a year at the Ajb’atz’ training centre. We want to ask our customers to add to this number by sponsoring the participation of additional students in one of their training courses with a donation to Ajb’atz’ Enlace Quiché of as little as $30.
For more information or to make an online donation, visithttp://www.enlacequiche.org.gt/mayancoffee.html or write donations@enlacequiche.org.gt
"This opportunity will make our lives easier. To find a job today, you have to have experience with computers. In a book you can't find as much information as you can in Internet and e-mail arrives in seconds, postal mail takes weeks."Maria Tomasa Osorio Lucas, 9th-grader who received training during 2004
Volunteers Wanted
Mayan Coffee is seeking part-time or full-time English teachers in Quiché, Guatemala
In 2007 Ajb’atz’ Enlace Quiché is launching an English program and requires volunteer teachers.
Candidates should:
- be native speakers of English,
- be keen to become immersed in another culture
- have a working knowledge of Spanish, so as to be able to communicate with students and staff (we can recommend Spanish schools within Guatemala for study prior to beginning work with us).
- Ideally have some teaching experience
Teachers will be paid a standard rate based on the number of teaching hours, and have benefits including use of our Internet café. Internship opportunities are also available for candidates interested in helping our organisation in other ways.
Teachers must be able to commit to a minimum of one quarter. Our quarters:
- late January - early April
- late April - June
- mid-July - September
- October - mid-December
Maximum course size will be 16 and the training room will have a computer and multimedia equipment for teacher use. Training and curriculum material will be provided. For 2007, we will only offer beginner courses.
For more information, please e-mail your resume in English or Spanish to andy@enlacequiche.org. or view Enlace Quiche Volunteers