"Vivamos Mejor"

Guatemala

June | Sophomore and Junior Classmen
July | Senior Classmen

Requirements:

• Students should be in the possession of a valid passport that does not expire before March of 2023. If you do not have a current passport, please apply and select the expedited feature.
• Students should be in the possession of a valid passport that does not expire in less than one year. If you do not have a current passport, please apply and select the expedited feature.
• Must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Program Description:

We are excited to continue our partnership with "Vivamos Mejor" (We live better), a multiservice healthcare provider and community development non-profit agency located in the Lake Atitlan region of Guatemala. In our ten years of work together, we have supported the mission of our principal agency partner in improving the health and wellbeing of the mainly Mayan population in the 35 villages served.

While in Guatemala, we reside onsite at a large organic farm which provides nutritious food, valuable training, and employment for the families that we serve. In addition to four days of rural community work in their forestry, organic farming, school support, healthcare and women's programs, we also support the local Catholic Church through two of their non-profit agencies: San Jose Children's AIDS Hospice and the St. Mary Nursing Home. Our programs are providing a beauty clinic, meals, medication, and arts and crafts for the elderly (many of who were formerly homeless); at the AIDS orphanage we facilitate a sports camp, lunches, and school donations. More than anything else, we are providing our students with the opportunity to better understand the presence of God in their lives, the richness of another culture, and the challenges and possible solutions to the social inequities that plague both developing and first-world nations. Evening reflections, prayer, and Mass give focus, meaning, and context to our students’ experience.

Questions? Please direct questions to the program's coordinators.
Sophomore and Juniors: Mr. Ochs (rochs@jesuitcp.org) and Mr. DuRoss (mduross@jesuitcp.org)
Seniors: Mrs. Bruce (ebruce@jesuitcp.org)