My Nonprofit Reviews

Had the great fortune to join a fantastic service & travel trip with volunteers from various Rotary Clubs from S California & Hilo, Hawaii working with Xela Aid in San Martin, Guatemala from October 11-21, 2018. We completed service projects and our group put the finishing touches on a clean water & restroom project at a local emementary school in San Martin. We also visited local residents and installed clean water filters for their drinking water supply. Volunteers also brought many art projects that we worked on with the kids over the four days. We also learned how to weave & shop the local market before learning how to prepare regional dishes that we served to the kids. Rotarians conducted a shoe drive in their home towns and gave away new shoes to kids at Xela Aid. We met with the weavers to brainstorm new ideas for weaving products and discussed products/styles that could be easily created and brought to market. We also met many of the kids & families that use various services provided by Xela Aid. We attended a dinner meeting of the Rotary Club in Quetzaltenango-they were the International Rotary Sponsor Club. Our service group was well represented from a number of volunteers from Rotary Clubs in Southern CA as well as Hilo, Hawaii.

Our travel included some amazing destinations before and after the service project in Mexcio City, Antigua, Quetzaltenango & Lake Atitilan. Our schedule was jam packed with many activities which included tour guide experts who lead tours on the subjects of Mexican & Guatemalan history, anthropology, weaving & archeology.

This was most definitely a 5 STAR experience! What an amazing group of volunteers- we all had the good fortune to meet, work together for Xela Aid and create lifelong memories while travelling. We all made a difference impacting kids & their family’s lives through service at Xela Aid in San Martin, Guatemala - SABOR!

Pat Bland - October 2018