My Nonprofit Reviews

I am a first-year medical student, and I volunteered for Wuqu’Kawoq during the summer of 2010. In my opinion, Wuqu’Kawoq is an amazing organization that really tries to help Guatemalan communities through forging personal relationships with community members; finding innovative, practical, and sustainable solutions for public health problems; training local Guatemalans in social work and healthcare to build an internal infrastructure for community sustainability and viability; financial support for children’s tuition in the communities; and addressing medical needs of the community on a continual basis among many others. One aspect of Wuqu’Kawoq that impressed me the most was the level of passion and love that the staff members had for the Guatemalan people. There are board members in Wuqu’Kawoq who catch over-night flights during their days off from work in the United States to personally connect and address the growing needs of Guatemalan communities. Moreover, most staff members in Wuqu’Kawoq have full-time jobs or are full-time students and yet still make a commitment to work on Wuqu’Kawoq projects out of their zeal to serve Guatemalan people. Thus, it may not be surprising that much of the financial support dedicated to children’s tuition actually come directly out of the pockets of some Wuqu’Kawoq staff members—again, not out of obligation but because they want to. I truly believe that the communities Wuqu’Kawoq works with could not be in better hands. During my time with Wuqu’Kawoq, I was primarily assigned along with another student to conduct surveys for three communities near Chocola, Guatemala. The surveys were in regards to biofilm water filters that Wuqu’Kawoq, a group of US engineers, and local Guatemalan day laborers had collaborated to build for nearly a hundred Guatemalan families. My job was to help collect information about whether the water filters were working properly for the family, and whether they had other concerns. From this experience, I sensed that Wuqu’Kawoq really tries to do their very best out of their interests for the communities. I would imagine that many other organizations working on a project like this would have considered the project to be completed after building the water filters—not so with Wuqu’Kawoq. Wuqu’Kawoq is extremely thorough and always makes sure to ask for feedback from community members by conducting survey after survey. One mother I surveyed during my time with Wuqu’Kawoq told me: “No one would help us if it wasn’t for Wuqu’Kawoq. I am grateful for having them in our community.” And I, likewise, am grateful for having been able to work with Wuqu’Kawoq, and plan to continue to work with them in the near future.

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