Centro Maya Xe’kiyaqasiiwaan

History | Davenport-Centro Maya Connection

History

Centro Maya Xe’Kiyaqasiiwaan is located in San Juan la Laguna, a small, impoverished town of about 10,000 in Solola Guatemala on the shores of Lake Atitlan.

The mission of Centro Maya is to provide speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy to temporarily and permanently disabled children and young adults from four Mayan villages and to educate the families and the community on disability issues.

The Center began in rented building with the goal of helping those who were mentally or physically handicapped to improve their conditions and way of life. The disabled in Guatemala are not always treated well and families can feel embarrassed and may avoid taking their children out in public which leads to isolation and losing touch with the outside world. Most of the children speak Spanish although their first language is one of the 23 Mayan languages.

In 2008, Centro Maya became a school with a new building made possible by funds donated by a Japanese company. Guatemala’s First Lady, Wendy Widman de Berger came to the small community to dedicate the new building and over 100 children and adults are now registered at Centro Maya. Center hours are 9 a.m. to Noon and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Churches, volunteers from around the world and donations from corporations help to support Centro Maya. The center seeks volunteer with any therapy background or medical experience as well as anyone who is willing to come and help. Spanish is helpful. Also computers, games, construction, tutoring and fundraising volunteers are needed. A minimum commitment of 2 weeks is required.

Centro Maya is run by a committee of parents and led by a director who is the mother of one of the children. Getting financial support from the government is time-consuming and difficult. The director’s meager salary, as well as those of the teacher, accountant and caregivers, is paid by donations from past volunteers.

Volunteers from various countries help to keep the center running each week. Many are young people who are traveling in Central America and will offer their help for any where from 2 weeks to 8 months. Many professionals volunteer as well including; occupational and physical therapists, nurses, social workers and occasionally doctors.

History | Davenport-Centro Maya Connection

Davenport, Iowa’s Connection to Centro Maya

In 2002, Jeanne Nakamaru, a speech pathologist who works for Black Hawk Area Special Education District, went to Guatemala to volunteer at Centro Maya. When she returned she gave a forum at Davenport’s Unitarian church and what started as a small personal goal, to supply the children with books in Spanish, has now turned into a church-wide and community-wide project.

Since that time the Unitarian Church has supported the Centro Maya in many ways. The church has;

* Paid the salary of the Center’s physical therapist.

* Provided $30 a month food assistance for 16 families (including 87 children).

* Set up a medical assistance fund to help pay for heart surgery for a 3 year old girl and tests and hospital care for a woman who was paralyzed after eating contaminated fruit.

* Set up a website, www.centromayaguatemala.org

* Provided behind-the-ear hearing aids to 14 children and adults.

* Funded a worker program so two older youth could be employed.

* Provided funding so the center could add electricity and shower heads so the students could have access to hot showers. Most indigenous homes do not have access to hot water, many do not have showers and no bath tubs exist in these villages.

* After the community was devastated by Hurricane Stan, the church bought food, cooking supplies, blankets and supplied electricity to over 400 people in an emergency shelter (where they lived for 1 ½ years).

* Donated a van to transport the children from the other villages to Centro Maya. Now the fire department uses the van to transport people to the nearest hospital, an hour away.

* Education supplies, toys, musical instruments and many essentials have been carried in luggage and shipped by Vine International to be transported to Centro Maya.

The church and the community can also help support the families of San Juan la Laguna by purchasing hand-woven Guatemalan textiles and beadwork made by the women of the village. Paintings by Benedicto Ixtamer, whose work has been shown at The University of Nevada and the Telluride Mountain Film Festival, are also available for sale. Proceeds from the sale of these items are returned to the artists.

Information on Centro Maya is available on the at www.steundemayas.nl. Anyone interested in volunteering or helping can get more information by contacting Jeanne Nakamaru, jeannewahlquist@yahoo.com or centromayaquatemala@yahoo.com

History | Davenport-Centro Maya Connection