Back to Guatemala

I woke up early this morning — very early. I think it was due to too much caffeine yesterday.

4 AM was a good time to work on a few things with no chance of interruption, though, so I spent some time looking for plane tickets to Guatemala. I’ll be going back down to visit some old and new projects in late January. I can only clear about ten days, so it will be a bit of a whirlwind, but I’m excited to get back there. I’ll be accompanied this time by Andrew Brown, the newest member of the PEG board.

For those of you who don’t know the back story, I should explain that PEG Partners (Proyecto Para Las Escuelas Guatemaltecas, or Guatemalan School Project) is a small non-profit organization that supports school and library projects in Guatemala, the second poorest country in the western hemisphere (after Haiti). We’ve now supported over a dozen projects in Guatemala with over a hundred thousand dollars, collected primarily at concerts. That’s not a lot of money in the U.S., but it goes a long way in Guatemala, where we built a sturdy one room school a few years ago for $2500. Not $25,000, but $2500.

While I’ve been in Australia and India, the organization has been directed by Caroline Craig Proctor and Cecil Bothwell, two long-time friends and able board members. The fund raising has been handled primarily by a wonderful songwriter friend of mine, John Smith (aka Johnsmith). Everyone did a great job keeping things going, and I think it was good for the organization to have the responsibility spread out a bit. That said, I’m thrilled to be back on board and coordinating things once more.

I’ll keep you posted on how things go in Guatemala. If you’re interested in learning more about PEG, check out the web site. It’s a bit outdated (though it will be getting a major overhaul soon, as this site recently did). It has the basic information, though, and information on donations as well as printable gift cards, etc.

Thanks for being interested. Keep in touch.

Paz y justicia,

David