Beyond Poverty

The mission of Beyond Poverty is to assist economically limited communities achieve their goals to move beyond poverty through education, economic and infrastructure projects. We will be working initially in a small community named San Jose Mas Alla in Guatemala.
On my trip to Guatemala in May, I was able to meet the administrators and instructors at Intecap who will provide the support and instruction in the first small business administration course and the baking course. Las Marias, who will also participate in the project, is a community of 100 people and is about a 20 minute walk further from San Jose into the forest. They are a newer community, just a few years old.
During this trip, the students received a motivational seminar entitled "Successful Entrepreneurs" given by Luis Hugo Macario. Luis Hugo taught for 10 years in the university in Quetzaltenango and has done consulting for years with businesses throughout Guatemala. We also got a chance to meet the baker Mildred who will give the baking class. She's going to teach them at least 7 different types of breads and has worked in numerous communities such as San Jose Mas Alla. It was really nice to meet the staff at Intecap and see what a professional organization it is.
On our first day out to San Jose Mas Alla, coincidentally we picked up a gentleman who was carrying a large basket of bread on his back on the road to the community. He told us he buys about 100 Quetzals of bread three times a week to sell in the community. He walks the hour with the basket strapped to his head resting on his back. Both communities were relocated from other parts of the country after being displaced from coffee plantations or by other circumstances.
Mid June the communities began construction on a small bakery building that will surround the oven and provide a clean environment in which to bake. The first course in small business administration is scheduled to start June 4th and the baking course is scheduled to start the first week of July to end mid August. We're still working on either a pickup or other transportation for the bakery so that the community will be able to go out to sell in neighboring communities and towns.
MyGen Profile Generator