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Roots and Wings Dream of a Better Guatemala
Join their campaign to build a computer lab serving 500 youth
Published on LatinoLA:
October 6, 2009
"Education is the best tool to empower indigenous communities," says Erik Swanson, President of Roots and Wings International non-profit organization. Swanson believes education is the means to end the heartbreaking poverty that exists in the world. Roots and Wings provides university scholarships, after-school tutoring, counseling, and computer training, and hopes to expand its educational initiative to include a university preparatory school.
Roots and Wings' most urgent goal is to provide the first computer lab in the village of Pasac, which will serve over 500 youths, aged 5 to 25 from neighboring villages. The lab will provide resources, tutoring and educational possibilities that would otherwise not exist in such a poor community.
In a time of worldwide recession, such a bold goal requires dedication that is extraordinary, and volunteer Anna Heatherly found that to be true in her time with Roots and Wings." I've never worked with volunteers who were more passionate or dedicated to a cause."
What started simply as a college student's desire to learn Spanish in Guatemala, soon turned into a burning passion to bring opportunity to a country ravaged by grinding poverty and educational inequality. In 2004 Erik Swanson, having just earned his BA in business and public administration from University of Puget Sound, wanted to study Spanish before embarking on his career. He chose Guatemala, never imagining how deeply he would feel about the suffering and struggle of the native people. Swanson turned his anguish into action and created Roots and Wings International.
What Swanson saw in Guatemala was a country still ravaged by a civil war ending in the in 1996, a country that in some regions had no electricity, the highest malnutrition rate in Latin America, up to 70% illiteracy rates in some rural communities and where only three out of ten students graduate from the sixth grade. Adding to these difficulties is the fact that Guatemala has only few public secondary schools. The option of private schools is financially far out of reach of most Guatemalan families, so the end result has been a profound lack of opportunities for its people.
Roots and Wings International was born out of a great hunger for social justice, a belief shared by its staff in America and in Guatemala where it maintains a humble office in a small house. The organization is staffed almost entirely by volunteers and 90% of the money it raises goes directly back into the community it serves. Root and Wings continues to meet the challenges of poverty in Guatemala because as an organization it understands that education is the seed of hope and opportunity is it's fully realized dream. Children in poverty, like children anywhere, deserve nothing less.
Roots with Wings is seeking $48,800 dollars for corporate sponserhip of the computer lab, not an outlandish amount for any major corporation to donate but what is immense is the way this lab will changes the lives of the children of Guatemala.
Businesses interested in in funding this first computer lab can contact Roots with Wings President Erik Swanson at 202-747-4946 or by email at erik@rootsandwingsint.org
Author's website
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