My Nonprofit Reviews

I am by nature skeptical of "helping" organizations, especially ones that come from the so-called "first world," work in the so called "third world," and rely on some sort of religious institution--that can on occasion have a conflict of interest in that their primary goal is to proselytize the population. Misguided notions of "help" particularly hold true in Guatemala, where the US has a long history of intervention--most of it negative and highly detrimental to the indigenous population, which only 30 years ago experienced a genocide that was in part funded by the US military. So I was very careful in my first forays with Mission Guatemala, and it was a happy surprise to find how wrong I was about their work. Mission Guatemala works carefully with the people in the Solola region of Guatemala. They listen to their concerns, they treat them with respect, and they plan long-term, sustainable projects where they are partners with the locals. They make every attempt to reverse already-existing hierarchies that are the long and present histories of colonialism, racism, and imperialism. The truly make every effort to follow their motto, supplied by early Methodist minister John Wesley to, "do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can."