Hey Friends! Hey Family! Hey Random Lurkers!
Hope everyone is doing well!
As you all know (I hope!), I am currently living in Guatemala, where I work as the international coordinator of a collectively-run, non profit Spanish language school ( www.plqe.org). This school is a place where foreigners can learn Spanish and the history and culture of a country just a bit further south than our "South." My time here has been an amazing and life changing experience and has made me very committed to supporting the people of this country in whatever ways I can. Our school uses its profits to support human rights projects and social development.
I'm writing to ask you to donate to a new project that we are embarking upon.
In my time here, I have noticed that the other international students are, like me,
largely white and middle class. I started talking with the director and some teachers about this and how wonderful it would be to broaden access to the school so that many different kinds of people from the US could learn Spanish and share in the wonderful experiences I had both as a student and that I continue to have as the coordinator.
Out of this, the school decided to take on the ambitious project of partnering with organizations in the US led by poor people and people of color and shifting their student demographics. Our first step is to send two people to attend the US Social Forum in Atlanta at the end of THIS month so we can meet and brainstorm with organizations there. I willl attend as the full-time translator of our director, Carlos Sanchez or another collective member, Marleny Castillo. I think what we are doing is on the cutting edge and will end up changing the way that international solidarity and language schools operate!
Could you make a donation to support our collectively-run, non-profit language school and our innovative project to become more diverse and inclusive?
Please read the letter below and let me know if you can help out! We are in a time crunch and hoping to receive enough donations and pledges in the next week to feel confident in buying the plane tickets. We already have substantial pledges and a scholarship application in to the US Social Forum but still need over $1000 in the
next two weeks to pull it off. We think we can do it! ANY LITTLE BIT HELPS! Even if it's just $10--that's like, what, TWO BEERS??
The woman who will be accepting checks is Isabell Moore, a former student and committed activist from North Carolina who is assisting us with all of the organizing.
Make out checks to:
Isabell Moore
Memo Line: Proyecto-USSF
Send to:
Isabell Moore (Proyecto USSF)
813 Glenwood Ave
Greensboro, NC 27403
Abrazos y Besos (Hugs and Kisses),
Carrie (Comer)
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
About La Hermandad Educativa www.plqe.org
La Hermandad Educativa, a non-profit school made up of Proyecto Lingüistico Quetzalteco de Español and Escuela de la Montaña, is committed to quality language instruction in a context that gives students an awareness of the social, political and economic realities of Guatemala and Latin America.
The Proyecto Lingüistico Quetzalteco de Español (PLQE) was founded in 1988 in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala during a time of civil war and government repression against organizations fighting for equality and human rights. The collective of local Spanish teachers who founded it were organizers and activists inspired to commemorate the memory René Leiva Cayax and Danilo Alvarado, two student activists kidnapped and killed in 1987. Their goal was to establish a school that could effectively teach non-native speakers how to read, write and speak the Spanish language while providing support for organizations working to improve the human rights situation in Guatemala. In addition, they wanted to make sure students from abroad learned of the social and political realities of Guatemala and of Latin America in general.
In an effort to expand their work among indigenous and campesino communities, La Hermandad started a small Spanish language school in the rural area outside the town of Colomba in the spring of 1997. Today, both schools continue to support progressive Guatemalan organizations fighting for human rights and against neo-liberal imperialism, and to educate students about the history of oppression and resistance within Guatemala, and its relationship with the USA and other foreign nations.
About the US Social Forum, 6/27-7/1 in Atlanta www.ussf2007.org
People world-wide know that another world is needed. The Social Forum movement believes that is possible. At the US Social Forum people, thousands of people and organizations from all over the USA will gather to think about what kind of world is needed and how we can get there.
The US Social Forum is more than a conference, more than a networking bonanza, more than a reaction to war and repression.
The USSF will provide space to build relationships, learn from each other's experiences, share our analysis of the problems our communities face, and bring renewed insight and inspiration. It will help develop leadership and develop consciousness, vision, and strategy needed to realize another world.
The USSF sends a message to other people’s movements around the world that there is an active movement in the US opposing US Policies at home and abroad.
We must declare what we want our world to look like and begin planning the path to get there. A global movement is rising. The USSF is our opportunity to demonstrate to the world Another World is Possible!