KGAP facilitates and supports delegations of students and health care professionals to Nueva Esperanza-Chaculá.
KGAP founder and coordinator, Connie Vanderhyden, has led or co-led 34 delegations to Guatemala to visit, learn, express solidarity, and return to tell the stories of the reality we have witnessed. Of these delegations, 11 included medical practitioners and 11 included local high school or college students. Around 360 individuals from the region have participated in KGAP-inspired delegations.
KGAP founder and coordinator, Connie Vanderhyden, has led or co-led 34 delegations to Guatemala to visit, learn, express solidarity, and return to tell the stories of the reality we have witnessed. Of these delegations, 11 included medical practitioners and 11 included local high school or college students. Around 360 individuals from the region have participated in KGAP-inspired delegations.
Student Delegations
Since 2001 Connie Vanderhyden and several teachers from the Youth Initiative High School have organized delegations of high school juniors and seniors. The trips have traditionally been three-weeks and include language school, service work, and community home-stays, with the final week spent in Nueva Esperanza-Chaculá, which is certainly the highlight of the trip. The community organizes dinners, events, and outings and generously opens their homes to students and chaperones.
On these trips, co-led by Shawn Lavoie since 2009, students from the Youth Initiative High School learn about the history of the community, hear first-hand accounts from community members, and deepen their understanding of current realities of life in rural Guatemala. Additionally, YIHS students have organized fundraisers in Viroqua to raise money for the KGAP Education Fund.
Here is a article Shawn Lavoie wrote about the delegation experience: Convivir.
Health Education
Many medical professionals from Southwest Wisconsin have donated their time and energy to travel to Nueva Esperanza Chaculá to work in the village clinic and collaborate with the local health promoters and midwives. KGAP has funded several health education campaigns in Nueva Esperanza and the outlying villages. In addition, KGAP provided funding for 7 midwifery trainings led by Viroqua-area midwives who collaborated with Guatemalan midwives from the region.