Youthlinc - Creating lifetime humanitarians

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Adios Mexico, and bienvenidos a GUATEMALA, our newest Youthlinc site!
Tentative trip dates: June 17th-30th, 2012
Meet the Guatemala Team and Alum Leaders

After 11 years of successful Youthlinc trips to Mexico, Youthlinc is heading south to the vibrant country of Guatemala. But first, we would like to express our gratitude to our 2011 Mexico team for putting forth so much of your hearts in helping the remote village of Bautista Grande. Also, we couldn’t have accomplished anything without the gracious Mexican people who have been incredible hosts, fantastic partners, and dear friends.

Over these past 11 years of partnering with the Mexican people and various Rotary Clubs, we have left a legacy: classrooms constructed, kitchen built, businesses started, drinking water made available, hundreds of people empowered with more medical, vocational and financial information, and countless relationships deepened through cultural exchanges. The work of our Mexico teams has indeed changed the world.

As we move forward, we are excited for the opening of our newest site, Rio Dulce, Guatemala. Guatemala is one of the Western Hemisphere's most impoverished nations, with over 50% of its population living in poverty. We know that our future Guatemala teams will do a fantastic job at partnering with the people of this great nation to sustainably improve the living conditions there.

Youthlinc will be partnering with Ak'Tenamit, an indigenous owned and operated nonprofit association in the rainforest of eastern Guatemala. Founded by a Rotarian in 1992, Ak'Tenamit works to improve education, health, and business opportunities for Mayan communities and is respected nation-wide for its contributions to sustainable development in the region. The most exciting part of our partnership with Ak’tenamit is their commitment to planning each and every project in collaboration with our teams, which almost guarantees meaningful and sustainable progress.

As we continue developing our relationships with their in-country coordinators, we are excited to share some of our preliminary plans for the Guatemala 2012 trip:

Education & Culture

Teach English lessons
Cultural exchanges and fun fairs with the secondary students
Improvements to the library

Construction

The school is in need of high quality, high functioning latrines. We might also build tables for the students, which would improve their ability to study. We might also build garden boxes and engage in tarnishing/painting projects. Whichever projects we end up committing to, the Ak’tenamit students are excited to work side-by-side us to accomplish our goals.

Medical

Malnutrition is the most pervasive health problem in the region. Guatemala ranks fourth in the worldfor the highest number of malnourished children. The Ak’tenamit health clinic serves 6,000 people per year, and has a high capacity (with various international doctors, donors and volunteers). As such, the Youthlinc medical committee will be working closely with the Ak’tenamit clinic to determine a project that is appropriate to thecommunity needs. The major health concerns deal with gastrointestinal and waterborne illnesses. Possible projects might be to offer educational trainings on nutrition to the secondary students who have already have ascience-based curriculum, and how the students can disseminate the information to their families and communities.
Another possible project is organizing a firefighting/emergency response training.

Microenterprise

Since we are not working with a conventional community—but a school accommodating youth from many surrounding communities, Youthlinc will be adapting the microenterprise model to a classroom setting. For example, students in a classroom might work as a class to devise an income-generating activity. This concept will need to be discussed and elaborated by the Ak’tenamit board, as well our future microenterprise committee.

2012 Guatemala Team Leaders:
Shelly and Mark Burningham

From the moment that Guatemala was announced as Youthlinc’s new service site Mark and Shelly knew they wanted to be involved. They have a deep love for the people of Guatemala, and have participated in various humanitarian projects-- ranging from donating supplies to an orphanage school to raising money to build a school. When the Burningham family learned that newborn babies were often sent home wrapped only in newspaper, they chose to make and donate baby blankets to needy Guatemalan clinics. Mark and Shelly had the opportunity to visit Guatemala, and again raised money and many more educational supplies that they donated and delivered to another orphanage. During their stay, their love for the people grew. They came back forever changed - saddened to see the drastic conditions of the people yet humbled by their happiness and gratitude for the simplest things in life.

Shelly indicated that she was fortunate to hear about Youthlinc and has become a “hooked” volunteer. Shelly went on her first Youthlinc trip to Kenya in 2011 where she served as the education mentor. It was a “magical” experience and she will cherish the love and welcoming kindness that was offered by the people there. Shelly works part-time at Columbia Elementary School as a Reading Tutor. Mark teaches math at Viewmont High School and is the boys tennis coach. Mark has taught ESL and Spanish classes and is also endorsed in Computer Science. Mark and Shelly's greatest joy in life is their family. They have three wonderful children, and a darling granddaughter.

2012 Guatemala Alumni Leader: Aubrey Marz

Aubrey is so excited to continue being involved this year. As a student on the 2011 Kenya team she was able to be on the education committee, teach many children in the village of Kiamuri, help with the construction at two different schools, and become friends with some of the wonderful people in Kenya. This was an amazing experience and it didn’t take long for her to decide that she wanted to do this again. As soon as she could, Aubrey applied for the position of Alum Leader. She wants to be able to help make life changing experiences for all those who will be participating in the 2012 Guatemala team. She hopes to spread her love of serving to all those she works with, and is looking forward to helping the great people in Guatemala!

Aubrey is currently attending Salt Lake Community College and majoring in Elementary Education. She loves learning and being involved at school. She is currently on SLCC’s Student Life and Leadership as the Service Chair and a member of Student Leaders In Civic Engagement. She has a love for service and helping all those around her. Between school and other activities, Aubrey works at a doctor’s office and cleans houses. She loves children and spends time each week volunteering at her local elementary school. She comes from a family of 5 kids and they love to have fun together and go camping whenever there is an open weekend. Aubrey loves life and is always ready for a new adventure. She is so excited for this upcoming service year and can’t wait to meet and work with many great new people while having the experience of a lifetime!

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