A Volunteer Humanitarian Aid
and Sustainable Development Organization
Our Mission:
To provide worldwide humanitarian relief and development programs
in order to reduce vulnerability, alleviate human suffering, and
restore the self-sufficiency and livelihoods of disaster-affected populations,
while fostering cultural understanding and volunteerism through
International High School Mission (IHSM) programs.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." (Gandhi)
May 2007 Newsletter
On July 14, 2007, Mir Pace will hold
its 3rd Annual Paddle for Poverty kayak race (canoes and other paddle boats are also welcome!). Come meet
us at Steamboat Wharf Marina (Nantasket Pier), on George Washington Boulevard, next to Jake's Seafood
Restaurant, in Hull, MA. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. Volunteers are also needed! To learn more and to
download a registration form, please click here.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all of our sponsors, volunteers, and race participants!!
We are still accepting applications!
From July 18 through August 8, IHSM volunteers will work in the northwest region of Tanzania, the Kagera
region, assisting local communities in the construction of a dormitory for girls at the secondary school,
building a water tank, interior repair and improvement projects at a rural medical clinic, assisting at a
shelter for street children, and working with artisans from our newly established basket weaver's
collaborative. We will also close out this "safari" by visiting the Serengeti and the famous Ngorongoro
Crater.
For more information about being a part of this rewarding experience, please visit our Mission Locations page.
2006 was an extraordinarily fruitful year for Mir Pace. Our proudest achievements were the overwhelming response from high school student volunteers to participate in our Guatemala and Tanzania programs, as well as the life-changing impact our programs have had on our volunteers. Some of our mission accomplishments included the construction of three homes for poor Mayan families in Tamahú, Guatemala, and while in Tanzania, our volunteers addressed many urgent needs: the delivery of life-saving food and medical supplies, interior repair and improvement projects at a rural hospital, and the establishment of a basket weaver's collaborative. We also enjoyed a remarkable turnout at our 2nd Annual Paddle for Poverty. Race participation more than doubled over the prior year, and we expect that it will double again this year!
Over the years, Mir Pace has been abundantly blessed with the young people who have participated in our mission programs. Each and every one of our volunteers are truly special. This past April, however, twenty high school student volunteers from throughout Massachusetts and Vermont traveled with us to Tamahú, Guatemala and touched our hearts in a profound way. They came from diverse backgrounds, all came for different reasons, some were seasoned travelers with Mir Pace, some new to us, yet all had the same light in their eyes and the same boundless energy. Friendships were fast and were created in the spirit of overwhelming kindness and care, discovery, wonder, joy and laughter. We were humbled and deeply inspired by their shared commitment to selflessly serve the poor of Tamahú, while also developing a sense of the needs and feelings of one another. We will never forget the young people of this group, and I hope they will remain a part of our Mir Pace family for years to come. There are many treasured memories of this trip, and we invite you to follow the "next" link at the bottom of this page to enjoy what our young volunteers have to share!
To celebrate our outstanding volunteers, Mir Pace is creating a "Community Service Leadership Award" program!
Since participating in our IHSM programs, Mir Pace volunteers have been busy bringing about positive change in their communities and across various issue areas. Mir Pace's Community Service Leadership Award program is designed to recognize, strengthen, and support volunteers, as well as to motivate and educate future volunteers. Our Community Service Leadership Award program will highlight the importance of leadership in community service in improving people's lives.
Most importantly, the program will support the important work of these change-makers by offering financial scholarships for recipients of the Community Service Leadership Award to assist us in the IHSM program of their choice. Recipients will be given the opportunity to share their experiences and engage in inquiry around leadership in community service.
We are confident that Mir Pace's Community Service Leadership Award program will lead to great achievements, and we are committed to build on the knowledge and reach of our network as we continue to advance community service and leadership nationwide. Please visit our web site for upcoming news about this very important, life-changing, award program.
We are thrilled to share with you that our 2006 Fundraising goal was achieved!
Only through your kind and generous support were we able to reach this milestone! We extend our
sincere gratitude to all of you who have and continue to support our work. We hope you enjoy this
May 2007 issue of our newsletter, and we hope that you will continue to be inspired to help us in
our efforts to serve the poor throughout the world, while fostering youth volunteerism!
2007 Appeal!
We continue our efforts to raise much-needed funds in order that we may build and expand our programs in
serving the poor, and we depend on your generous support.
If you would like to make a donation, please click here
to be automatically directed to our secure on-line donation page. We ask that you kindly give as generously
as possible, and please encourage everyone you know to match your donation!
Mir Pace International is a Massachusetts 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization. Your charitable contribution is deeply appreciated and is tax-deductible to the full extent permitted
by the Internal Revenue Code.
Specially designed for Mir Pace International, the purchase and wearing of this hand-made bracelet is a way to signify our shared ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. The proceeds from these bracelets help us provide humanitarian relief and development programs to children and families in third world countries. To purchase your bracelet, please click here.
by Jessie Ebersole, 2007 IHSM Volunteer
This April marked my second visit to Guatemala with Mir Pace. When I first signed up for the trip last year, I never expected to go twice. But the village of Tamahú is such a special place that I was slowly and inexorably drawn back.
It is the people of Guatemala that make the trip so worthwhile. Every day when we walked down the street from our temporary home, the same three little girls would run out of their house and hug us, spontaneously, overjoyed that we were simply there. I remember my discomfort with this adulation last year. We were there for humanitarian purposes, but I still felt this sense of guilt, this feeling that all this love for us was underserved. We weren't directly helping many of the people who greeted us so freely. During this trip, I reaffirmed that the work we were doing was valuable, and that the greatest gift I could provide was myself - meaning simply that human interaction has more power than anyone can ever imagine. Strangers caring for strangers creates a compelling bond. It is my memories of the kind and generous Guatemalan people that move me so much more than any other part of the experience.
One day on our lunch break up at the work site, some little boys hung around us. They spoke only an indigenous Mayan language, which made communication of anything other than our names difficult, yet we wanted to do something more with them. Someone had the idea of teaching them duck-duck-goose. We demonstrated the game and then managed to communicate that they should join in. Despite having no idea of the significance of the strange sounding words, they picked it up pretty fast. Come to think of it, "duck-duck-goose" is pretty nonsensical in terms of the game in English too. As Allie was chased by one of the little boys, loud laughter filled the air. A group of fifteen or so Guatemalans had arrived and were smiling and staring at the funny sight. They had never seen anything like it.
Another morning we visited a pre-school. When we arrived, every single one of them ran outside in their little red uniforms and gave each of us a hug and a kiss. They then proceeded to eagerly display their knowledge, shouting out chant after Spanish chant with movements to match. I was touched by their pride and enthusiasm.
On another day, we took the winding mountain road up to visit the family whose house Allie and I had worked on last year. To be there again, on that breathtakingly beautiful mountain path, was overwhelming. My anticipation mounted as we approached the house. I had never seen it completed, and then suddenly it was right in front of me, a solid, white, cinderblock structure with a concrete floor, roomy by Guatemalan standards. Off to the side stood their old house, a bamboo structure with a dirt floor, which is now used only for cooking so their new home can remain free of smoke.
I had taken pictures of the family last year, and now I was able to give these photos to the family. Although they spoke an indigenous Mayan language, their reaction to those pictures was something that transcends speech. They kept on looking at them and smiling, and one woman looked teary-eyed. It was heartening to also see how much healthier they had become. Last year the children had been covered in dirt, with bugs crawling in their hair. Now they seemed cleaner and stronger. I'm sure the house had played a part in the change.
The Mir Pace group worked on two main projects this year: a house and a water project. I participated in the water project. The goal was to dig a well of sorts, into which water would be piped from a source further up the mountain. From the well, water would disperse through more piping to twelve houses. To reach the site of the well involved a steep and beautiful climb up one of the amazingly tall mountains rising above Tamahú.
It was around a forty-minute hike to reach the site for us out-of-shape Americans. Guatemalans could probably make it up in half the time. They often traipsed easily by us, often with heavy packs full of goods strapped to their backs, as we stopped for breathers panting and dripping with sweat.
The first two days at the site consisted mostly of carrying bags of gravel from a deposit further up the mountain down to the site, to be made into concrete to shape the sides of the well. As in last year, the labor was physically demanding, but once again extremely satisfying.
On our final work day, we actually got a start on the piping, digging a trench up the mountain to the water source located about a kilometer further up the mountain. It was pretty slow going. Most of the time people had to hack through the jungle with machetes before others could come in with pickaxes to dig up the deeply entrenched roots. Then others would come in with shovels to carve out the pipeline. Before we left the work site, I asked one of the paid Guatemalan contractors who worked on the project when he expected to finish. He said fifteen days. If all is going according to plan, right about now the people of Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) should be drinking fresh, clean water. It will be the first time their water is clear instead of brown.
There is so much more that could be said about Guatemala. The hardest part about writing
this article was limiting myself when all I want to do is pour out pages and pages full of rambling stories
and reflections about the people and their lives. I will have to content myself for now with thinking about
next year.
by Robert Aspinwall, 2007 IHSM Volunteer
Curious children. Run down buildings. The church. Extreme poverty. Luscious rainforest stretching for miles up the mountains. These were the images that bombarded us as our vans rolled down the dilapidated streets welcoming us to Tamahú, Guatemala. What truly shocked me and forced me to change my views of the world was seeing the people living in severe poverty, and yet, at the same time, I saw that they still smiled and had hope in their hearts.
The description of the trip that my group members and I were given was that we were going to build a house and a water collecting well for some of the poorer families in the village of Tamahú. I realize now how simple that statement was. We were not merely building houses and wells for these people, but we were giving them a new outlook on life. They had been living in houses built with two rooms, but attempting to fit in eight to ten people and drinking terrible water. While working on the projects, we worked alongside the families. They were always smiling, and I could feel how much they appreciated us being there and helping them put together a new life. It was something that I had never felt before; the love they felt toward us was infectious, and we wanted to give these people our absolute best; we did.
What struck me most about this town and its people was that the lives they lead completely contrast the American way of life. They exist for the present and try to enjoy what their situations will allow them to enjoy. They do not work in jobs so they can save up to buy an expensive 60-inch plasma television. No, they work to live. They work to put food on the table. I had never seen anything like this first hand in my life, and through all of my interactions with the people, I realized how much they cherished being on earth and were thankful for what God has given them. Even with what little they had, they were generous with their food. I can't ever imagine seeing the good will, love, and generosity these people had anywhere in America.
My trip to Tamahú did truly change my outlook on life. I do not think that anything I
have seen on television or anything that I could read could actually paint the picture as well as traveling
there did. Before this trip I was hesitant to get myself out there, meet new people and do things that make
a difference. Because of what I experienced, I broke out of my shell, got to know complete strangers, who
by the end of the trip were life-long friends, learned of a completely alien culture, and saw that I can
truly make changes in the world.
by Sam Fortin, 2007 IHSM Volunteer
This year’s trip to Guatemala was one that I will never forget. Every time I see the people in Tamahú I smile. Though they have very little they are happy. Our presence makes them so ecstatic and the people are extremely grateful. When I come to Guatemala I feel like I am in another world, one that is so ideal. Their culture and life, though it seems unpleasant, is really the total opposite. The people of Tamahú, I feel, should be idolized. They are so thankful for the little they have. Their personal possessions do not matter to them; it is God, their family and friends that are put first. In the end, that is all that matters.
When I watched people walk up the mountain every day, as I struggled up, I realized how different our two cultures are. We are very used to having things handed to us, not even knowing how we received them. The people of Tamahú earn everything themselves and work extremely hard for them. Every person in the family contributes and helps each other. I feel blessed to have been able to see this way of life and I strive to live the same way, very simply.
After I travel to Tamahú, I always feel so grateful for every little opportunity and
aspect in my life. I met so many amazing people on this trip, in Tamahú and those from Massachusetts and
Vermont. It could not have been any better. These kids were so fun and enthusiastic. Everyone worked so
hard and in the end we all felt that we accomplished a lot. Though we came to assist the town in Guatemala,
I feel that I received much more than I brought to Tamahú. I gained so much from this trip, a new
perspective on life, and friendships and memories that will last me a lifetime. There is no other way I
would have liked to spend my vacation.
by Hannah Schy, 2007 IHSM Volunteer
My experience was amazing. I enjoyed getting to know the culture and people of Tamahú.
Every day there was a blessing, and I owe it to everyone that made it possible for my dad and I (and others)
to take part on such a memorable trip. To tell you the truth, I wish I was still there now! It was so much
fun and changed my outlook on life as I used to see it. I was really touched by the kindness of the
Guatemalans and how easy it was, even with the language barrier, to connect in our hearts.
We at Mir Pace extend our heartfelt thanks to Adam, Allie, Andrew, Austin, Aviva, Conor, Doug, Evan, Hannah, Jack, Jessie, Justin, Owen, Robert, Robyn, Rosie, Ryan, Sam, Walker, Wayne, Annette, Gary, Lexa, Jack, and John, for "being the change we wish to see in the world!"
