Today marks the end of my fundraising campaign for Guatemala via Spot.us. I was truly honored to be the first international story published on Spot.us, and just wanted to give a proper goodbye and the biggest font size possible THANK YOU to everyone who supported me in one way or another :)

I am learning to co-exist with money in a healthier way, and for this I am beyond grateful. Money is just an agreement of a value and when I am in other countries, I see it more as a method of exchange than something that I can't seem to hold onto or have enough of. When I was presented with the idea of fundraising to get to Guatemala, I immediately rejected the idea... really? Just ask my friends for money? How uncomfortable and bizarre! The experience was actually the exact opposite- fundraising was not only humbling and empowering, it was an exchange of good will and energy to make a change in the world.

My SalaamGarage trip with Guatemala has absolutely changed me; I will never forget the things I learned, the people I met, and the experiences I had. It was phenomenal to see the work that Agros International is doing. I saw the literal change in people's lives. I heard the stories of families who survived the Civil War, and who continue to live off the land- but have been provided homes through Agros loans and repayment programs. I have seen entire villages who have graduated from their loan program which means that 20+ families were loaned money to build homes and paid off their loans with interest. The families often engaged in other entrepreneurial endeavours like owning a store, baking bread and selling it between the villages, buying and raising farm animals, planting and harvesting vegetables, creating a community bank, the list could go on and on.

The photos below are the success stories of the people I was honoured to have met and inspired by their undying will to survive and live.


Cordova Family in their store


Rosa Lazaro Cordova showing us how to weave!



Rosa Lazaro Cordova and Nicolas Aviles Cordvova outside of their home


Two girls in the garden at their school



Gabriel Lopez Velasco and community member showing us their farm/crops


Guatemalan women in front of the community oven where they bake bread to sell in their village and across villages


Hen and chicks in Belen, Guatemala


Catarina Ordonez with her certificate to be a midwife; she cannot read and still managed to be a midwife for 30+ years


Community leader Antonio Lazaro Cordova in his greenhouse with tomato plants


Ana Sambrano Rodriguez and her daughter with one of their sheep