3 decades of human rights
News & Updates
FEBRUARY DELEGATION REPORT-BACK PRESENTATION
The Report Back of the February delegation was held via Zoom video conference on Sunday March 26th and it included nine speakers from the delegation, each sharing their individual voice and perspective on their visit to Santa Maria Tzeja, with updates from Santa Maria Tzeja. Here is a recording of this illuminating presentation.
FEBRUARY 2023 DELEGATION TO VILLAGE
It was an packed van of February delegates that arrived in Santa Maria Tzeja on Feb 18th for a week long stay. As always the village was highly welcoming and eager to engage the visitors in both daily life as well as new experiences. Highlights included seeing the newly bored well that is to be the first ever community-wide potable water source, and the Cerro Cantil nature preserve.
Meetings with leadership groups informed the delegates of needs and visions of the community. This includes roads to reach remote farming parcelas, completing the marketplace, building a park by the primary school, and maybe someday a high school.
A TIME OF SORROW
Kay Taylor was a bridge builder. A life calling that she was a natural at. This partnership emerged because Kay was the right person in the right place at the right time.
With profound sadness, we report Kay’s passing on Oct 21, 2022. The light she brought to our world lives on and shines bright.
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Get Involved
ANNUAL FARMATHON SATURDAY JUNE 10
This event is a fundraiser to support education and development in Santa Maria Tzeja, while also giving a needed hand to the farmers at Natick (MA) Community Organic Farm. Farm-a-thon goes from 9am to 12 pm. Two ways to partake: Be a participant, or sponsor a participant. Tell me more…
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.
FEBRUARY 2023 LETTER EXCHANGE COMPLETED
The letters written by families in Santa Maria Tzeja have been translated and mailed to each U.S. recipient. Next letters to village families are due by early July. Questions?