This immersive volunteer experience will place you in the heart of a typical Mayan Kakchikel-speaking family in a rural Guatemalan farming community to assist with daily tasks. Your help is needed with business enterprises, domestic tasks and community roles to help maintain their authentic way of life.
You’ll be based in a village 30 minutes from Antigua, well known for producing hand-woven handicrafts. By living with local families you’re able to get a full cultural volunteer experience that takes you outside your comfort zone to make a direct contribution to the community.
Volunteers work side by side with families working in the fields, learning how to cook traditional Guatemalan dishes from scratch, doing chores and making textiles and other crafts from a type of reed that grows in a nearby lake. The goal of this project is to share in everyday life with the host family and community, this means that schedules and work can vary greatly. It’s well suited to active volunteers who enjoy immersive experiences.
Most people in the community don’t speak English, so being able to speak Spanish will help you greatly. However, it’s also a great chance to learn Spanish and find other ways of communicating. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn Kakchikel, which is the main Mayan language in the region. You should have a good level of fitness and be prepared for basic accommodation and eating traditional Mayan food.
Please note this project has an extra cost of $75 per week for transportation, lunch, supervision, materials and logistics involved.
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