Kickapoo Guatemala Accompaniment Project (KGAP)
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Our Mission

COMMUNITY TO COMMUNITY:

SOLIDARITY:  Being present, sharing the risks and struggles, responding and collaborating with an at-risk community in an environment of mutual respect and equality.

ACCOMPANIMENT:  A non-violent response to threats and violence, providing a measure of security through physical presence and creating a space for Guatemalans to defend their civil and human rights.

EDUCATION: To continue to educate ourselves and others in the United States about the situation in Guatemala and the effect U.S. policy has in the region.  To be advocates for peace, justice and respect for human rights everywhere.

COLLABORATION: Financial support for schools, scholarships and health education in the village of Nueva Esperanza-Chaculá

A Short History of Guatemala

In the early 1980’s military repression rose to unprecedented levels in Guatemala. During this time, the U.S. government was supplying the Guatemalan government with military aid.  200,000 people were killed or “disappeared” and 626 massacres occurred in which whole villages were often completely destroyed.  The indigenous majority was a target as the government believed their farming communities were bases for rebel groups.  Thousands fled the country, crossing the border into Mexico.  In 1992 these refugees negotiated with the government to allow a safe return to Guatemala. They began to return in organized groups in 1993 and have since been working to reestablish their communities in their homeland.

Sponsoring Communities

The 1992 accords signed by the Guatemalan government and representative refugee groups ensured respect of their rights, assistance to begin again, and international accompaniment by human rights observers.  The Guatemala Accompaniment Project (G.A.P.) was created to meet the needs of the returned communities. KGAP is one of many U.S. communities responsible for recruiting and financially supporting human rights observers (accompaniers) as they live for a minimum of 6 months in the affected Guatemalan communities.  Recently we have been called upon to provide accompaniment for threatened individuals and organizations in other parts of Guatemala. More information about NISQUA'S G.A.P.  program can be found here.

“International solidarity is not an act of charity: it is an act of unity between allies fighting on different terrains toward the same objective. The foremost of these objectives is to assist in the development of humanity to the highest level possible.” (Mozambican leader, Samora Machel)

Scholarships and Education

K/GAP collaborates with Nueva Esperanza in an effort to support the educational efforts in the village in the following ways:  

Scholarship Fund 
Every year KGAP provides a scholarship fund that now supports 25 high school students from the community of Nueva Esperanza-Chacula ($700/student/year for 3 years). They must travel to other towns or cities to attain a high school education.  The total number of sponsored students since 1997 is 69.  The number of females/males: 29 females/40 males (42% female/58% male).  The education committee in Nueva Esperanza has also decided to use part of the scholarship fund in the community to help pay the costs for all students attending the Basico Institute (middle school).

Grants
*new school bathrooms
*lap-top computer and projector
*improvements to the daycare center program  
*improvements to the safety of the school grounds
*additional computer for the students at the Basico Institute

Connie Vanderhyden,
KGAP Coordinator

Connie is from Viroqua, Wisconsin, a small town in the Kickapoo River region of Southwestern Wisconsin. She became involved in Guatemala in January, 1994 on a delegation accompanying the return refugee community of Nueva Esperanza-Chaculá to their home in the department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. When the Guatemala Accompaniment Project (GAP) was created in 1995, Connie initiated KGAP (Kickapoo-Guatemala Accompaniment Project) and served as the 1st KGAP sponsored accompanier in Nueva Esperanza-Chaculá in 1996. She continues to coordinate fundraising efforts and yearly delegations to Guatemala and collaborates with other sponsoring communities in the NISGUA/GAP network.

Accompaniment and Delegations

KGAP placed 13 accompaniers in Nueva Esperanza from 1995 through 2004.  In 2004 it was determined that long term accompaniment in returned refugee villages was no longer necessary.  However, K/GAP continues to collaborate with NISGUA to provide accompaniment where most needed.  KGAP sponsored 10 more trained human rights accompaniers in Guatemala from 2004-2012 and currently we send an annual donation to NISGUA’s general accompaniment support fund.

KGAP coordinator, Connie Vanderhyden, has led or co-led 24 delegations to Guatemala to visit, learn, express solidarity, and return to tell the stories and the reality we have witnessed.  Of these delegations, 11 included medical practitioners and 9 included local high school or college students. Around 190 individuals from the region have been participants on KGAP inspired delegations.

Health Care/Village Clinic

Medical professionals from southwestern Wisconsin have donated their time and energy to travel to Nueva Esperanza, work in the village clinic and collaborate with the local health promoters and midwives. In 2001, in collaboration with the community of Nueva Esperanza, KGAP created a fund to help support the Health Clinic initiatives in the community and the region. 

The following are examples of how our medical funding has been put to use:

     *Yearly salary for health promoter attending patients at the community health clinic  Monday-Friday from 9am-4pm  
     *Health education campaigns in Nueva Esperanza and outlying villages
     *Emergency medical fund
“I want to tell you that every day that passes, we remember you because you have love in your hearts for us and for other communities that suffer poverty, extreme poverty. Thank you for all the affection and the firm commitment that you have made with us from when we were refugees in Mexico, on our return and still here with us, living in this beautiful place.”  
Don Gilberto Gutierrez, Nueva Esperanza –Chacula, Guatemala, 1999

KGAP funding comes from individual donors and small grants.
ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE. 
Kickapoo-Guatemala  Accompaniment  Project (KGAP) is a  project  of  the Youth Initiative High School (YIHS), a 501c3 nonprofit organization registered in Wisconsin.  

In addition, KGAP is affiliated with the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA, www.nisgua.org)  a national non-profit organization that supports many projects and efforts in Guatemala.