Pasajquim is a remote Quiche Mayan community at the end of a long road through the mountains of Solola, Guatemala. The economy there is pretty meager, with most men working on coffee or avocado plantations where a full time worker will earn $3-4 a day to support their family. The school that serves the 357 students has few books and supplies (we are working on that, too!) and has no resources to allocate to enrichment studies like music.
WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE WANT TO DO
Guatemala Housing Alliance helps families living in deep poverty build secure homes and strives to help educate their children with both scholarships and enrichment studies. We are a 501c3 non-profit, so all contributions are tax-deductible.
While poor in the pocket, Pasajquim has a vibrant spirit. When we first introduced the children to a couple of ukes, they were crazy enthusiastic, crowding around our porch each day to take a turn at strumming. We plan to work in cooperation with the school and have a fine guitarist, Cipriano Alvo Saquic, willing to teach. Cipriano had never seen a uke before last fall when we gifted him one. He listened to the sound of each string, then launched into a ranchero song...perhaps a new genre for ukulele.
WHAT WE'LL DO WITH YOUR DONATION
The funding we seek is to inaugurate this new multifaceted project. For the youngest children we will offer workshops in which they can build their own Diddly Bows, painting them to personalize. For those who don't know diddly bows, they are tune-able one string instruments. Our version uses used guitar strings. We are planning to make 100 and which will cost us about $1.50 each in materials.
We will buy and transport 25 ukes as they are not available in Guatemala. We will also purchase replacement strings, and if donations are sufficient, we'll buy 5 small sized guitars and also 2 CD players and CDs of children's songs for the school, along with percussion instruments like triangles, wood blocks and tambourines.
THE NICKELS AND DIMES OF IT ALL
- 25 ukes @ 50......................................$1250
- replacement strings.................................40
- extra baggage charge to transport ..........80
- 5 child size guitars @ $70.......................350
- 2 CD players.............................................90
- Kid's music CDs........................................60
- Instruction for one year.........................1500
- Percussion instruments..........................200
- Materials for 100 diddly bows..................150
TOTAL COSTS.......$3720 If we manage to bring in even more funding from your generous selves, we will expand the program to include more instruments and more hours of instruction.
HOW ELSE CAN YOU BE INVOLVED?
If you have used guitar strings or tuners gathering dust, send them our way...you can email me at nancyhill53@hotmail.com.
If you want to be part of one of GHA's ongoing projects in Guatemala, come volunteer with us. You can be part of a house build, or if you have several weeks/months free and would be interested in volunteering to teach an enrichment subject like art, music, or science to children or marketable crafts to women...or if you want to market crafts....drop us a line. It doesn't take much to make an impact. www.guatemalahousingalliance.org
