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Volunteer Petén
Volunteer Handbook
Thank you for your
interest in Volunteer Petén. The following is a handbook for
volunteers to help them prepare themselves for life in rural
Guatemala. Please take the time to print out this document and
read it over.
Contents:
1.
Our
organization
2.
San Andrés,
Petén
3.
Living Conditions/What to
bring
4.
Safety and
Health / Personal Responsibility
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Volunteer Petén,
is a small, independently run organization in San Andrés, Petén,
Guatemala whose 4 main goals are to 1) protect and manage a 150 acre
ecological reserve (El Parque Nueva Juventud), 2) to provide
environmental education to schools in the region, 3) to assist and
develop small community projects, and 4) to provide quality volunteer
experiences for travelers and students.
Our program started in
2002, thanks to a generous donation from the Whitley Award Foundation
and a generous donation from the Peters and Hartsock families in
Pennsylvania and Maryland. The director, Matthew R. Peters (native of
Pennsylvania) and co-director Inoky Cameros (native of Guatemala),
started rehabilitating and protecting the once abandoned community
owned park in San Andrés, Petén and bringing school groups to the park
for environmental education. Our volunteer program started in January
2002, when our first volunteer Josh Pandolfi of Connecticut, helped to
rejuvenate the park and start its programs. We now average about
130 volunteers a year that come to us from mainly the US, Canada, UK,
Europe and Australia.
The centerpiece of our
project is the Parque Ecológico Nueva Juventud (The New Youth
Ecological Park), a 150 acre reserve in the town of San Andrés. The
goal of the reserve is to convert it into an outdoor education center
as well as to preserve its integrity as an ecological reserve. Since
2002, the park is now home to 3 km of trails, a botanical garden, tree
nursery, an organic farm, an agro-forestry demonstration area,
reforestation areas, small animal projects, an arts and crafts center,
a museum and education center, volunteer housing, and a basketball
court. The park is fenced in and identified as an ecological
reserve. A full time caretaker walks and maintains the perimeter of
the park, as well as maintaining the trails and protecting the Mayan
ruins that are in the park.
The park is
run and managed by the director of Volunteer Petén, the co-director,
and 4 full time caretakers. Each caretaker specializes in maintaining
one area of the park, and also trains volunteers in their specialty.
One caretaker is in charge of the house, museum, and construction
projects, the other of animals and agriculture, another of the trails,
reforestation
and perimeter, another of the gardens and medicinal products, and the director and co-director
are in charge of education and community projects.
At Volunteer Petén, we
believe that international aid needs reform. We need to stop funding
corrupt governments and large Non-Governmental Organizations, and
start funding grassroots projects, where every dollar donated goes to
a specific cause. We are not designed as an business, we do
not need funding for secretaries, office supplies, computers,
company vehicles, rent, workshops, or travel expenses as do many other
“Aid” organization. We work everyday in the communities and in the
ecological reserves that we intend to develop, and not in offices or
in other cities. Every member of our staff plays an intricate role in
the development of this project, and every staff member plays an
active role, not a passive one, in its development. When we restore
wetlands or protect reserves, we do not do it with reports, or
meetings, or workshops. Instead, we go out everyday planting trees,
marking borders, talking to locals, and making trails. When we do an
educational program, again, it is not only on paper, or in a report,
but we go to all the schools, everyday, throughout the year. This is
development work; this is what being an international volunteer
means.
Over the years we have
seen many big name and big budget organizations implement projects in
the Petén region of Guatemala, and have been disappointed in all that
we have seen. We have learned that a big budget only means you have
the largest office space, most computers, most secretaries, most
company vehicles, most fancy brochures, and most workshops in other
countries, but does not mean that anything is being done for the
environment or for the communities.
In January of 2002, we
started this project with a $5,000 grant from the Whitley Foundation
and over $9,000 donated from the director and his family. For that
year, we managed to create the ecological park, run the environmental
education program, create the community projects, and create an
international volunteer program. In addition, we were able to employ
three full time caretakers, one full time environmental educator, and
six local families and four local Spanish teachers were employed
though our project. In total, over $11,800 was earned by 14 different
families in San Andres for the year 2002.
In 2003, we received a
$4,000 grant from the Guatemalan Conservation Trust to create a
women’s medicinal plant garden, and added to the$2000 from the St.
John the Baptist Church in Shillington, PA in 2002, we were able to
continue our program. For this year, we were able to employ 4
fulltime caretakers and one part time caretaker, create a store in San
Andres were we employ one full time clerk and three local women
receive the profits, and nine families and four local Spanish teachers
were employed though the project. In total, over $17,000 was
generated for 22 families in San Andres though the success of our
volunteer project, Spanish School, and medicinal plant project.
After receiving our
501c3 tax exemption status in the USA, we registerd over $11,000 in
donations received for 2004. For 2005, with a donation from the
Rufford Small Grant and US Fish and Wildlife Service, we
generated over $30,000 and hosted 160 volunteers.
Given the fact that
the average family in San Andres earns about $90 per month, our
project is not only helping to protect the rain forest, educate young
minds, and provide meaningful experiences for international
volunteers, but is also giving opportunities and economic stability to
the families of San Andres.
Some important things
to keep in mind when you come to our project.
1. Our project
is for the community,and not designed as a tourist project for the
volunteers. Volunteers can coordinate tourist types of
activities on their own (jungle tours, fishing trips, swimming)...but
we always encourage you to try to include the local community in your
activites. Wouldn't it be nice to have some local kids swim with
you in the lake? Walk around tikal with you? Go on a bike ride with
you? Don't just hang out with other travellers...try to involve
community members! We can help you to organize any type of activity.
2. It takes a while to
get accostomed to San Andres. The heat, bugs, language,
confusion, stomach pains, dehydration, snakes, spiders, etc,etc....This
isn't supposed to be easy...so give it time.
3. Volunteers run the
show here! Sure we need you to dig a hole sometimes, or bang in
a few nails here and there, and throw some paint on a school....but
what we really need are volunteers that take the initiative to start
or continue on projects. On a personal note, I (mateo) have been
trying my best over the past four years with this project to become
proficient in all projects (building, planting, painting, welding,
etc.) and this should be one of your goals as well. Don't be afraid to
make mistakes, that is what helps us learn. Get on a project
that you want to become an expert on and get it done. Oh, and
ask lots and lots and lots of questions.
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San Andrés, Petén
San Andrés is
a small town located on the northern shore of Lake Petén-Itzá, the
third largest lake in Guatemala. The Petén is the largest department
in Guatemala, occupying nearly 1/3 of the area of Guatemala. It is
home to the Mayan Biosphere Reserve, the largest rainforest reserve in
Central America. The Petén is now home to over 500,000 people (Pop.
Guatemala= 11 million), and its largest cities are Santa Elena, San
Benito, Poptun, and Melchor de Mencos. San Andrés is also the name
of the municipality (which is equivalent to a county in the US) and it
is the largest municipality in Guatemala, containing 44% of the Mayan
Biosphere Reserve. The municipality of San Andrés is home to around 32,000, while the town of San Andrés is home to about
5,000.
The people of
San Andrés are a mixture of native “Peteneros” and migrants from other
departments such as Cobán, Zacapa, and Chiquimula. All members of the
community speak Spanish, however, many families speak a Mayan dialect
as a first language. The native language Maya-Itza, is a dead
language, and only a few of the elders can recall its words and
phrases.
In comparison
to other “tourist” areas of Guatemala, San Andrés is very
rural. It has no banks nor hotels. It does have
two comedors (or very small restaurants), a billiards hall, various
dingy cantinas, small stores that sell common goods, a hardware store,
basketball courts, and soccer fields. An internet opened up and
usually has 2 computers working. The roads are dirt and usually
in very poor condition. Luckily, the road to the park is relatively
flat with no hills, so riding a bicycle or walking to and from the park is very
easy. Most houses have electricity, and most roads have lamps that
are illuminated throughout the night. There are public phones in the
center of town that take prepaid calling cards, some families have
cell phones, and only one or two families have direct phone lines.
Most families now have running water, and water usually runs 4-8 hours
daily, 5-6 days a week. For days with no water, most travel to the
lakeshore for bathing and washing needs. The beach is only a few
minutes away by foot, and there are some nice public beaches where the
water is safe and clean to swim. All families provide purified
drinking water and the park provides all purified drinking water. It
is not recommended to drink from the tap.
Houses in San
Andrés are typically made of concrete blocks with tin roofs. Some
houses are still made of adobe and sticks with thatched roofs. Most
houses have dirt floors, although all volunteer accommodations have
concrete floors. Average family size in San Andrés is 7 (one of the
highest in Guatemala). There are 2 public elementary schools, 2
private elementary schools, 3 private junior high schools, and 1
private high school in San Andres, with a total student body of about
1,200. Most children attend elementary school up to 3rd
grade, and then there is a sharp decline in attendance up till the
high school level.
The average
income for families in San Andrés is about 700/month/household (about
$94). In villages around the town of San Andrés, the average income
drops to about $13-40 per month/household. Conditions in surrounding
villages are much more severe as they usually lack running water,
electricity, stores, and most importantly, employment. The biggest
(and only) industry in San Andres is the timber industry. There are 3
sawmills in the town of San Andres, and the municipality of San Andres
is home to 4 very large forest concessions in the Mayan Biosphere
Reserve. A full time worker in a sawmill (9hours daily/ 6 days a
week) earns on average $120 per month. The second biggest employer in
San Andrés is the school system. Many young graduates from high
school find employment by traveling to small villages in remote areas
of the Petén teaching in public elementary schools. Average salary
for a full time schoolteacher is $130 per month (which does not
include travel, housing, or food costs). The rest of San Andrés and
nearly everyone in surrounding villages make a living from sustainable
agriculture, which means that what they grow isn’t necessarily for
sale, but more for their own consumption. There is a growing number
of families that depend on tourism (or the buzz word “eco-tourism”),
which includes Spanish teachers, jungle guides, and of course, those
who work with Volunteer Petén. A salary for each caretaker in
Volunteer Petén is $130 per month (equal to that of a full-time school
teacher).
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Living
conditions / What to bring
Long-term volunteers
(4-12 weeks) will live with local families in San Andrés. We currently
work with 15 families that provide housing and food. Volunteers will
live in a separate
room that has its own entrance. Rooms
include bed with all bedding material, mosquito netting, desk, lights,
electrical outlets, chairs, shelving, and an electric fan. Rooms are
made of concrete blocks, have wooden or metal doors, and typically tin
roofs. Host families are trained to cook healthy meals, wash all
fruits and vegetables properly, provide purified water, and maintain
clean living conditions for the volunteer. Host families are not
required to do a volunteer’s laundry, however, most families do offer
this service. It is easy to find local women who will wash your
clothes for about $3 per load. The most difficult part about living
with a family is communication. None of our host families or staff
members (with the exception of the director) speak English. We feel
that by living with a family, volunteers can feel more like a member
of the community, and families will help introduce volunteers to other
members of the community.
We recommend
that volunteers bring a flashlight, good working shoes, sandals,
swimwear, rain gear, work gloves, light clothing, insect repellent, a
camera, reading material (nights are usually boring), a hat (for the
sun), and a water container. Always carry water…at all times…and
drink water constantly.
Safety and
Health / Personal Responsibility
Volunteer safety is one
of our biggest concerns at Volunteer Petén. By following a few simple
guidelines, we hope that we can keep all volunteers out of harms way.
The most important thing to remember is that all parts of Guatemala
are potentially dangerous, so never let your guard down. Over 70% of
Guatemalans live in poverty and 35% live in extreme poverty.
Therefore, never leave any personal items unattended, as things
quickly seem to vanish into thin air when no one is looking. Also,
break ins and robberies in host families have not occurred to date,
HOWEVER, this does not mean that if cannot happen. Therefore, do not
bring anything to Guatemala that you cannot live without. Also, armed
robberies in buses have happened (although no volunteers have been
affected) throughout the Peten and in all regions of Guatemala, and
the robbers are extremely desperate. Therefore, if you are ever being
robbed, give them what they want. They won’t take no for an answer,
and its just a material object anyway. We do not recommend traveling
alone in Guatemala (although many do), nor do we recommend traveling
alone in San Andrés (although it is a small peaceful town). Always
ask the director, co-director, any caretaker, or other volunteer to
accompany you if you want to go exploring, walking around at night, or
just feel uncomfortable in a situation. That is why we are here, and
we usually have nothing to do, so it never hurts to ask.
Drinking is a big problem in
San Andrés and in all parts of Latin America. On Saturday nights and
Sundays, it is not uncommon to see drunkards wandering the streets of
San Andrés. San Andrés also has its stereotypical “town drunks” who
never seem to be sober. Do not try to talk to drunks, as that will
only encourage them to act up. Every drunk will try to shake your hand
(which is fine) and slur out the 3 or 4 words they know in English
(which is fine), but don’t let them go any further. Walk away. Also,
please do not become a town drunk. Alcohol is relatively cheap, and
there are plenty of cantinas and drinking establishments in San
Andres. Drinking is a pastime for some, however, being a drunk is not
acceptable.
MACHISMO. Women volunteers may find it very hard to adjust to the
machismo culture of Guatemala. Machismo means that men can be as
disgusting and rude as they want to women in public. Volunteers
will hear cat calls, whistles, and the occasional shouting as they
walk by. “Gringo” or “Gringa” is also commonly used as
foreigners walk by. But please keep in mind that this is part of
the culture (as annoying as it may seem) and they are not
intentionally trying to offend you (although they seem to try awfully
hard). Although it doesn’t make it any better, try to keep in
mind that all women (natives as well) have to deal with the machismo
culture.
Major health issues in the
Petén include malaria, dengue fever, stomach illnesses, allergies,
cuts, rashes, and skin infections. We highly recommend that
volunteers take medication to help prevent malaria. There is no
vaccine against malaria, but the medication helps to build antibodies
in the liver that can defend against malaria. Because the medication
accumulates in the liver, it in not recommended taking medication for
more than 6 months. Using the provided mosquito net at night can
prevent malaria and Dengue fever, as well as using insect repellent,
and wearing proper clothing. Those who are sensitive to mosquito
bites should bring long sleeved clothing and wear long pants while
working.
Stomach problems are always an
issue with volunteers. Most stomach problems and all other illness
are a result of dehydration. It is EXTREMELY hot in the jungle. Do
not think you are drinking enough water, and never stop drinking
water. But be sure to drink purified water, or amoebas, parasites,
worms, etc will cause stomach problems. Stomach problems affect all
Guatemalans, are very common, and easily treated. Do not let stomach
problems go unattended. A nearby laboratory can determine if you have
parasites, and only costs about $3. If something is detected, most
medicines cost between $10-20 to treat the problem. Most volunteers
who experience stomach problems find that it a result of adjusting to
different foods.
Allergies are very common to
volunteers. The jungle has every type of flower, plant, insect,
spore, animal, and cause of allergies known to man. I (the director)
have developed allergies over the years to some unknown organism in
the Petén, and do take allergy medication a few times a week. Also,
bring proper lotion and itch cream if you are sensitive to plants and
insect bites.
Most of our work in the jungle
requires the use of machetes. They are extremely sharp, even if it
feels like you can’t cut through anything. In the past year, 2
volunteers have cut themselves with a machete and received stitches.
Near the park is a health clinic that can repair minor cuts. Be sure
to have a tetanus shot, and be careful. Also, blisters are common.
We do provide gloves, but it is advisable to bring your own.
If a serious injury or
accident occurs, we will transport a volunteer to a PRIVATE hospital
and not the public hospital. Keep in mind that the PRIVATE hospital
is not free, but you will be looked after. Volunteer Petén does its
best to provide a safe environment for volunteers, but is in not
responsible for injuries or accidents a volunteer may receive during
his/her stay in Guatemala.
A volunteer’s presence in San
Andrés and Guatemala is a direct reflection on the work and programs
of Volunteer Petén. Volunteers are expected to behave responsibly and
make wise choices while in Guatemala. We do not approve of
over-drinking, illegal drug consumption, or short-term sexual
relationships with locals.
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Please
check out our Wish List
before heading to Guatemala!
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