XELA AID - PARTNERSHIPS FOR SELF RELIANCE

 Develop the skills and competencies of women to propel them to economic and gender equity
 Identify and nurture exceptionally talented women/girls and support their educational and entrepreneurial goals
 Support the development of micro-enterprises specifically focused on women and young leaders
 Introduce new tools, technologies and training so that women and girls may compete more effectively in existing markets and in the educational system
 Provide access to new markets including engaging in international trade
 Ensure access to nutritious foods and increase women’s understanding of nutrition and hygiene in support of their own physical health and that of their family
 Ensure access to healthcare so that women may stay healthy and also achieve family planning objectives that will help ensure their own health and wellbeing and that of their children
 Ensure access to mental healthcare to help make possible a home environment that is free from the physical and mental abuses of domestic violence so that women, girls and families may be safe and generative together and may truly prosper
 When necessary, provide access to emergency services necessary for survival in El Area Mám, the well-known poverty belt in which we serve, where 80% of the population lives in poverty and an estimated 30% live in “extreme poverty” where entire families survive on $1 per day

EDUCATING CHILDREN, TRAINING LEADERS In rural Guatemala, the average child attends school just four years, and only three in 10 children graduate from 6th grade. Girls represent just 35% of all pupils. Xela AID far outperforms the norm. Our average student studies 12 years, surpasses 6th grade, and a solid 54% of students in our programs K-college are girls and women. And where once not a single native Mám speaker had graduated from high school, Xela AID has graduated 300 — and 15 more from college, so far. EMPOWERING WOMEN, COMBATING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Because we know that investments in women are especially effective at beating poverty, we focus on women. We empower adult women by teaching them to read and write and providing training to improve their marketable skills. We provide one-on-one therapy and support groups to one day end the crippling cycle of domestic violence — the second most prevalent cause of death in rural Guatemala. CREATING JOBS, FUELING SMALL BUSINESSES Employment, alongside education, is a second essential ingredient to break the chains of poverty. But paying jobs are scarce in the highlands poverty belt, where the lion’s share of residents are subsistence farmers or find day work planting and harvesting. We hire indigenous youth graduates from our education programs, provide leadership and entrepreneurship training, support a weaving cooperative, and have provided microloans for successful small-business startups. PREVENTING DISEASE, PROMOTING WELLNESS Children who are sick cannot learn. Nor can parents who are ill work to provide for their families. This makes health an essential ingredient for self-reliance. In rural Guatemala, where respiratory infections are the leading cause of death, and the risk from other infectious diseases is still ranked high, health services provided by Xela AID are critical. Our clinic remains the only medical facility within a 45-minute drive that is stocked with life-saving medicines, and the only choice for the poor. RESPONDING TO EMERGENCIES Not every situation can be planned for. Xela AID continues its emergency relief efforts fostering abandoned children, assisting battered women with therapy and legal assistance, providing food and shelter to those in extreme poverty, and providing life-saving clean water, warm blankets and shelter in the wake of hurricanes, earthquakes and floods.

Physical Plant — Our physical plant in-country includes a headquarters in the region of San Martín Sacatepequez, 30 minutes from Quetzaltenango. Included in our headquarters is a four-room clinic, a 15-computer laboratory, a study center, a weaving cooperative, administrative offices, and two small rented preschools. We have 13 employees, including teachers, a doctor, a nurse, a mental health specialist, part-time dentist, a clean environment specialist, a computer lab technician and an administrator. Our complex in Guatemala is the regional hub for both Peace Corps volunteers, and the emergency operations of the Spanish Red Cross. In the United States, our office is located in the City of Long Beach. It is the base of operations for four staff, one of which is paid, and three of which are former executives and full-time volunteers. Our highly engaged Board of Directors and Advisors are all current or retired professionals who bring passion and extensive expertise to areas relevant to operations. Bios on each member of our Board of Directors may be found at www.XelaAID.org > Who We Are > Board/Staff.

Partners - For efficiency and effectiveness, Xela AID teams with a wide variety of professional, service, and religious organizations and others who share our values and our commitment to empowering self-reliance. These include as a partial list, in Guatemala: Spanish Red Cross, Peace Corps, Habitat for Humanity, Ministerio de Educación, Ministerio de Salud, General Hospital of Quetzaltenango, Rotary Club of Quetzaltenango, Escuela Primaria de San Martín Chiquito, Escuela Primaria de Loblatzan. In the United States: Cal State University Fullerton, Direct Relief International, M.A.P. International, Rotary Clubs of Orange County, VOSH International (optometry corps), Saint Matthew Ecumenical Church, United Church of Christ Claremont, William Jewell College.

1. Graduated more than 600 children from high school in a region where no high school graduation of an indigenous child was recorded prior to Xela AID’s arrival
2. Increased the number of girls studying in our region from just 4% to 54%
3. Increased the average number of years our students remain in school from just four years (from age 6 to 10) to 12 years (age 6-18).
4. Graduated 22 Mám youth from college, where none previously had completed college, including 7 women who overcame overwhelming odds
5. Replaced a tiny, single-classroom school for 12 children with a multi-classroom school now serving 200 daily
6. Built and run the region’s first computer laboratory, connecting San Martín youth to the world
7. Trained more than 200 children to be Community Leaders
8. Placed thus far 27 youth in paid leadership roles in their communities
9. Built and run the region’s only discount clinic, providing affordable services and medicines
10. Built and run as a public-private partnership the region’s first and second preschool, including piloting the highly effective Montessori method which has dramatically improved outcomes in indigenous youth
11. Provide instruction and more than 25,000 hot, nutritious meals each year to severely malnourished children
12. Dewormed and deloused an average of 900 children each year since 2000
13. As the Cooperating Partner in the region with Rotary International, we are managing the project to bring clean water to 13,000 people
14. With a relatively small footprint and staff, we serve between 4000 and 6000 people each year.
15. 2020 covid Emergency Food Security Operation - 3825 bags of nutritious food, masks, disinfectants, and COVID prevention materials were delivered to 50 communities and over 19,000 people.


Our current preschool was the very first within an hour’s drive. It is a unique partnership with the Guatemalan government which funds the teacher, cooks, caregivers and food. Xela AID provides the building, maintenance, utilities, volunteers and some supplies. It is attended by 50 children in a space designed for 38, and our waiting list includes dozens of children. If we expand our capacity to a minimum of 75 children, the government has agreed to provide a second teacher and additional staff, and will enter into a minimum 10-year agreement with us. While the land where the current preschool is located is not large enough to expand, we own land nearby that would allow us to construct a building for 75 children in its first phase - doubling our capacity. The design we have devised with a local architect would also allow for a second-floor expansion at a later date to increase capacity to up to 150 if needed. In light of this first-phase expansion, the government has agreed to add a teacher, additional staff, additional food resources and to enter into a 10-year contract with Xela AID to ensure that this important facility remains in operation for this extremely under-served community.