I volunteered with Maya Traditions for 6 months in 2017. The experience was life changing. Living in Panajachel and working with this amazing organization allowed me the opportunity to become fully immersed in the local culture. As a Latin American studies student, I am even more passionate about my studies than before. I can't wait to come back and visit.

After seeing the work that Maya Traditions Foundation does with the communities they serve, I decided to volunteer with them. I now support the organization as a website advisor. I continue to be impressed with the organization's commitment to empowering indigenous women, to Fair Trade, and to helping visitors understand the culture through its tours and workshops.

There are many, many nonprofits operating in Guatemala. In my experience, Maya Traditions stands out as an excellent organization.

A friend introduced me to Maya Traditions and I am honored to have recently joined their board of directors. Maya Traditions provides personal and professional training to Maya artisans in the Lake Atitlán region in Guatemala. MT's mission is to preserve and promote ancestral Maya art and traditions such as backstrap weaving and herbal medicine. I am amazed by the amount of quality work the staff and board are achieving every day, and everyone truly cares for the Maya communities with whom they work.

I am currently a volunteer with Maya Traditions. I have been here two and a half months and enjoy the work that I am doing. I started in the Tourism sector, but have had the opportunity to help in other fields such as communications, marketing and sponsorship. It has been a wonderful learning experience thus far.

Maya Traditions were super helpful with sharing contacts to local mayan curanderos in relation to an artistic research project. Friendly people who care deeply about their local community.

I worked as a volunteer with Maya Traditions for six weeks in 2017. I spent a lot of time assisting Isabel and Maribel (two Guatemalan student social workers) on their visits to the women artisan cooperatives dotted around Lake Atitlan. Their work involved imparting workshops on gender equality, self-esteem and fair trade combined with sessions and role plays promoting the age-old Mayan traditions which form part of the spiritual lifeblood of those communities. This extraordinary experience gave me an insight into the culture, traditions and economic challenges of the local people. We had great fun too - clambering into tuks-tuks, jumping into the back of pickups, squashed like sardines in chicken buses, and a snack and a laugh sitting by the roadside.

Back in the office, I had to write up profiles of students for the Sponsorship Programme, as well as give English classes to a group of young people in San Juan, and to the staff at MT. I was kept busy and really enjoyed being part of the MT team.

At a time when NGOs are coming under a certain degree of scrutiny, I sincerely believe that Maya Traditions admirably fulfills its role of empowering artisan artisan women in their struggle to improve the economic situation of their families and their communities.

I have so many fond memories of my time at MT and Panajachel : the elegance and grace of the indigenous people, the magical, volcanic landscape of the lake, my chats with members of the staff sitting in the beautiful garden, my generous host family, delicious rancho breakfasts, Shakira the dog and resident MT mascot, coffee and cakes round the table at staff meetings, the exhilerating, bumpy, soaking rides on the "lanchas" ..

...One day, I will come back and see it all again.

I visited Maya Traditions on a couple of trips to Panahachel,Guatemala. I went on tours to surrounding towns to meet the women in some of the weaving co ops sponsored by Maya Traditions. It was a wonderful experience to meet the women in their homes and communities. We were warmly welcomed and saw demonstrations of the weaving process and the women even cooked some traditional food for us . The weavers are quite proud of their beautiful work and think of it as art and an important part of their cultural heritage. Maya Traditions has encouraged and supported their work by coordinating contracts for their woven textiles at a fair price . Maya Traditions also support the families of the artists by assisting with school costs for their children. There are other benefits Maya Traditions has acquired for the women of the co ops . One being grants for foreign travel to workshops and conferences. Maya Traditions is a great nonprofit it supports fair wage for work , not a hand out , but a hand up .

I have watched this group from the baby stages of when the founder, Jane Mintz, started organizing the different groups of artisans from various communities of the highlands of Guatemala. Her vision besides inspiring the weavings of these communities to produce articles for items like bags and textiles, was to create a cohesion and unity in each community where they could not only produce the textiles but learn better farming and how to grow their herbal medicines and to start sending their children to school. The foundation now provides scholarships to the children of the artesans. And to promote the weaving, was integral. Now, years later we see the weaving disappear from most of the culture, but it is still going strong with Maya Traditions. A great organization.

We were in Panajachel for one day and dropped by the Maya Traditions office. The staff greeted us warmly and gave us a tour of their garden and wholesale shop. Very nice!

Maya Traditions was a fantastic organization involved with great work in Panajachel. I thoroughly enjoyed my time volunteering with them, and loved learning and being involved in the life-changing work they do! I would highly recommend this non-profit.

My volunteer experience with Maya Traditions really was unique! I supported for a bit than two months the marketing activities. My main tasked contained content creation for social media channels, interviewing members of the indigenous communities, taking photos, optimizing Google Adwords and writing a marketing activity plan for 2016. Since I came with a couple years of marketing experiences, I really appreciated the freedom I got for my work, so I was able to unfold my creativity. At the same time I always received helpful feedback and support whenever I needed. The Maya Traditions team atmosphere is great and I enjoyed going to work every single day. I also really apreciated the mix of office work and visits to the rural communities, so I was able to get a very good impression of the Maya indigenous culture, that I started loving so much while I lived and worked in Panajachel. It really is an amazing work that Maya Traditions does and I am so thankful that I got the chance to support and learn from their mission. I can highly recommend volunteering with Maya Traditions!

I volunteered with Maya Traditions on site in Guatemala during Summer 2014 and am now volunteering with them remotely. In 2014, I worked on monitoring and evaluation as well as strategic planning. Now I'm working on fundraising and social media. Both experiences have been great. Maya Traditions' staff as well the communities in which they work are exceptionally welcoming and supportive. They have been genuinely appreciative of my work and have also provided really helpful feedback that has helped me to learn and grow. I've volunteered abroad before and have had mixed experiences, but my experience with MTF has been phenomenal!

I found Maya Traditions Foundation through through MovingWorlds and helped them out over the course of 8 months, part of which was in person in Guatemala. They're a wonderful group of people who really genuinely care about their mission and empowering the community. What struck me as standing out from other non-profits that I have worked with in the past was their passion to protect the culture and their openness to ideas and collaboration.

I spent about 6 weeks volunteering with Maya Traditions Foundation in early 2015 as a photographer and videographer. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about my experience, and will forever have fond memories of my time working with MTF in Panajachel.

If you are a self motivated volunteer wanting to work with an organization where your time will be valued and you will feel useful, look no further than Maya Traditions Foundation. This is an excellent social enterprise that truly puts PEOPLE first -- both their staff and the artisans they partner with. I truly felt that my experience was mutually beneficial.

Each day was a rich and interesting experience. The office is beautiful and located in Panajachel, but my favorite days were spent on site visits to the artisan cooperatives. It was during these site visits that I saw a side of Guatemala that I wouldn't have seen had I just been traveling through.

I spent nearly 3 months interning with Maya Traditions Foundation in the Summer of 2014. I am very excited to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from such a great organization. I worked on Social Media and Strategy Planning, both gave me the opportunity to learn about the work that MTF does with the artisan cooperatives and women they partner with, and the impact they have in the communities. The entire summer was incredible and I loved being so welcomed by the organization, staff, and artisans. What was even better was to see the projects being implemented, and improved to ensure that the organization is truly and fully operating in a participatory manner listening to the needs of the women and families. All the artisans greeted us with big smiles and hugs and were so happy to share their skill and knowledge and culture with us. I was humbled by the talent of the artisans and the organizations staff, they valued my ideas, pushed me to try new activities, and provided great feedback on everything I worked on. The entire experience far exceeded my expectations, and the learning and experiences I had improved my personal and professional life. I think about my time in Guatemala daily and can't wait to get back and visit!

What an incredible organization! I was fortunate enough to hook up with them through idealist.org. I spent a month volunteering to help them get their QuickBooks accounting straightened out last December. I had such a wonderful time that I went back again in May! Hopefully I can return again in the near future.

I found Maya Traditions through another nonprofit group in Austin, TX, and once I contacted them, I was welcomed to do the things which I have skills in; writing and working in the medicinal garden. Once I arrived, I was introduced to the entire staff and volunteers and given a tour, and made welcome. I worked on a booklet about the medicinal plants in the garden, working closely with the gardeners and always felt like I was being gifted with this project that I had so much excitement for. When any questions or concerns came up, I felt very comfortable speaking my truth, and sharing my observations. Working with the gardeners was such a learning experience, and I often felt I couldn't write notes in my little notebook quickly enough. There is a wealth of knowledge there. It was a pleasure to be included on the tours and out of town visits in the community, and to meet the women creating the weaving collectives. I was given the freedom and tools to do the work I committed to do, and was helped by the organization in whatever ways I needed. It was a pleasure to be a part of Maya Traditions for the weeks I was there and was especially pleased to see the commitment carried by the entire team to be true to their mission statement. They are a small team of dedicated workers and it was a great environment to learn and grow in as a volunteer. I totally loved working in the garden, doing the hot, sweaty work, and then back to the office to research and write. I also loved the homey atmosphere created at the office and the fabulous dogs I spent time with. I worked closely with another volunteer and together, we created and met our own deadline for completing the book. All in all, it was an enrichning experience I am so grateful to have had.

Maya Traditions Foundation was a wonderful company to work for during first experience volunteering abroad. I volunteered as a designer with Maya Traditions for six weeks. In that time I created an advertising e-book and designed products for their collection. I had hands on experience with fair trade production and the additional programs of Maya Traditions. As an extremely basic Spanish speaker I felt comfortable in the office and the community of Panajachel.

The Maya Traditions Office is located in Panajachel on the breathtaking Lake Atitlan. Pana was an excellent community to work in during my first time in Central America because of its interaction of local culture, tourism, and NGO work. It is a colorful bustling town with easy access to many adventures around the Lake and Guatemala. Although I traveled alone to Panajachel, I quickly met other volunteers and friends of people in the office. The office is English friendly but also promotes Spanish and the Mayan Languages. The staff of Maya Traditions are hardworking and passionate which contributes to a supportive work environment. Maya Traditions encouraged me to experience Panajachel and Guatemala. They helped connect me with a language tutor and a host family. I stayed with a host family within walking distance of the office.

Maya Traditions helped set clear project goals for my volunteer experience. We worked effectively to find the connection between my interests as a textile design student and their needs as an NGO. I created an advertising e-book for Maya Traditions and worked on product design. As part of the e-book I helped with a photo shoot of products. I participated in visits to the jewelry and shoe suppliers. I also learned the basics of back-strap weaving, a traditional weaving process promoted by Maya Traditions products. I toured Maya Traditions medicinal plant garden and attended a literacy class for the weavers of Maya Traditions. I also spent a weekend working with the youth education program of Maya Traditions in San Juan La Laguna. Maya Traditions Foundation has many opportunities for volunteers from a variety of career backgrounds. Maya Traditions Foundation is a remarkable company that promotes culture and sustainable business practices. I was impressed by the integrity Maya Traditions and their genuine passion for their work.