Guatemala Mission Trip 2011

This video was presented to SNL on March 13. It is a short preview of what we will get to experience this summer.

Reflection Video

Last year Edgewood College went on a mission trip to Guatemala. Here is video of their reflection after the trip and a peak at Safe Passage.

Our Purpose

Our purpose is to work, interact, and help better the community by immersing ourselves in their world. We will work and integrate ourselves as a part of their community and volunteer to take care of their needs. We will be enabled to work in the local school, Escuelita de Oliveros, and help build and repair many of the needed facilities, such as painting classrooms, building bathrooms,digging trenches for water pipes, and fixing electricity in classrooms. On top of this, we will be able to interact with the students and teach sports, hygiene, music, etc. We will have the ability to walk to several households and interact with individuals and their families, observe their way of living, provide basic needs for them, and teach them hygiene. We will also serve the community by providing a large dinner for families to come to eat and socialize. Here we will meet more amazing people in a different world and bless them with God’s love and mercy. We will provide them with supplies we have purchased with fundraised money and supplies each individual team member has brought. Our goal for our team is that as we serve and make a difference in such a deprived community, we will have the chance to connect with our own team members and grow in God’s love and grace. We will have a short Bible study and prayer before our day of service and again at night when we return. Through relationships with the Guatemalan community and our own community back at home, we hope to develop a deeper relationship with God and an understanding of God’s grace and mercy.

About the Oliveros Community

Oliveros, Chiquimulilla in Guatemala is a small agricultural community of about 1300 people in the coastal plains of the southeast region of the country. Their affordable education consists mainly of Kindergarten through sixth grade; any higher education is extremely expensive. Most children cannot receive even this education, however, because of lack of transportation and the need to provide for their families at such a young age. Schools have small, outdated classrooms and must have barred windows to discourage thievery of the little they have. There is little access to internet or higher education. There are no physicians, dentists, vision care clinics, or pharmacies within fifteen miles of the town. Most families live on $2 a day and live in small huts. They have only one or two pairs of clothes, one for working in the fields and one for church, and most have no shoes. If they are lucky, they may wear an old pair of flip flops. Staple foods for Guatemala are black beans, rice, and corn tortillas. They are only able to eat meat about once a week, and eat very little eggs, fruits, or vegetables; all of these must be grown at home. The area is dominantly Catholic and families attend church once a week. Living conditions are poor. This region of Guatemala is the definition of a third world country.