Gender-based hate crime affects women across the globe: an average of 66,000 women are killed each year. By May of 2021, there had already been 159 femicides and 20,000 violence complaints filed in Guatemala; in 2020 the number of violent deaths among women reached 457 as well as 43,482 complaints. Finding Freedom through Friendship is…
It looked so modest once our builders were finished. Seventeen days of construction labor, weeks of FFF administrative paperwork and months of fundraising amounted to a small structure tucked into the mountains above Guineales, Guatemala. The house had a concrete floor, an intact roof, doors that lock, and best of all; it had a family…
It is the end of another year of administrating our organization, and what a challenging one it was. Collectively, our board struggled with the loss of an adult child and the wedding of another; a husband’s surgery and a board member’s cancer scare; the loss of grant opportunities balanced by the generosity of donors who…
These photos are of the same FFF mother. I took the photo (below, center) two years ago while doing home visits with our team. The photo below that was taken two weeks ago. To keep these photos in perspective, Maria has the worst case of diabetes we have yet encountered in Guatemala. Diabetics that are…
Earlier this month, a volcanic event in Guatemala made the international news. For a tiny country in Central America that typically escapes public notice, being in the forefront of televised information indicated a significant and catastrophic incident had occurred, and indeed it had. CNN Article on eruption of Fuego Written records of devastation caused by this…
Giving monthly funds instead of donated goods is virtually unheard of in the nonprofit industry. To hand a Mayan mother cash and to trust her to utilize it wisely and for the benefit of the entire family takes a level of credibility we don’t often give our participants. Finding Freedom through Friendship volunteers work diligently…