3 decades of human rights
News & Updates
SUNDAY APRIL 14 SERVICE TO FEATURE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UCC NEEDHAM, AND SANTA MARIA TZEJA, GUATEMALA.
The theme of the Sunday service for April 14th at the Congregational Church of Needham will be the enduring Guatemala Partnership. Link to the church website to get online meeting link to attend this service. Presenters will be Bill Garrett, Alan Clayton Matthews, Jeff Clausen and Brenda Metzler, with Rev Maddie officiating.
A DELEGATION OF ENTHUSIASTIC VILLAGE VISITORS HAVE RETURNED FROM SANTA MARIA TZEJA
The village has, once again, made an enthusiastic group of visitors from the US feel wholeheartedly welcome and appreciated. Highlights of the delegation included the festive inauguration of the community market, a tour and discussions
of development projects in the community, lunch with our new scholarship students, workshops for middle school students led by delegation youth and adults,
and sharing family meals together.
IN MEMORIAM:
It was after an arduous but eye-opening trip to the northern low land forests of Guatemala that Clark Taylor felt a calling. Could he engage as many people as possible to recognize the perils and the possibilities of the indigenous inhabitants of this land? That was 1987. HIs inspiration gave birth to the Guatemala Partnership, a project of international outreach based at the Congregational Church of Needham, MA. Hundreds of people followed in Clark’s footsteps and visited the village of Santa Maria Tzeja over the ensuing 37 years. Many more involved themselves in other ways, such as family pen-pals. Clark’s vision of what was possible when people of vastly different cultures connect was nothing short of extraordinary.
On October 1, 2023 Clark departed this world at the age of 89. It had been nearly a year since the passing of his wife and life long collaborator, Kay Taylor. While no single article can represent the breadth and depth of Clark’s life, his obituary is offered here.
Clark’s life partner, wife and soul mate Kay passed away in late 2022. Together they innovated the Guatemala Partnership to be a unique ministry of solidarity and support between a church and a distant Central American village.
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Get Involved
FEBRUARY 2024 DELEGATION REPORT TO BE HOSTED MAY 5 (ONLINE EVENT) .
Mark your calendar for Sunday May 5th, 7 pm to attend by Zoom a report of the February 2024 visit to the village of Santa Maria Tzeja. It’s an opportunity to sharpen your perspective about recent happenings in the village, and in the country, and how this impacts the lives of village citizens. For info and zoom link, contact Brenda.
ENGAGEMENT WITH THIS PARTNERSHIP
For more than 30 years, the Guatemala Partnership has provided opportunity to countless people seeking to broaden appreciation of the world beyond their own borders. It is by direct experience and personal interactions that deep understanding is best achieved. With its established relationship to a remote developing world village, the Partnership offers many levels of rewarding engagement.
in a pandemic… the virtual delegation experience
A 34 year string of twice-a-year visits to Santa Maria Tzeja was interrupted by the world wide coronavirus pandemic. In total, the Partnership had to forego 4 semi-annual visits to the village between August 2020 and February 2022. However, losing touch with our partner village was not an option. Partner letters were exchanged electronically using the the village’s computer classroom. Online meetings with village committees took place to the extent limited internet would allow. This has kept our partnership bonds strong and our friendships true.
Family Network
The partnership between Santa Maria Tzeja and Needham includes nearly 120 letter-exchange relationships, most between a family in the village and one in the US. Some of these relationships have endured over 25 years! Each visiting delegation brings new letters to the villagers, and returns with reply letters. A network of volunteer translators facilitates the semi-annual correspondences.
AUGUST 2023 LETTER EXCHANGE COMPLETED
The letters written by families in Santa Maria Tzeja have been returned to Needham and will be undergoing translations over the month of September.