GRACE Cares partner's Community Finance Guatemala (CFG) and the Watha Project in Kenya want to implement community empowerment projects in their under-served communities. CFG's goal is to build resilience in the Kakchiquel Maya community by donating 5 chicks to each family, providing seeds and home gardening skills, and resilience-based goal setting education. The Watha Project, working with village elders, will construct a new well to provide clean and safe water to hundreds of Watha.
Without community empowerment efforts, thousands of indigenous Maya families throughout Guatemala live with constant financial uncertainty and instability. Inconsistent cash-flow and low wages make it difficult to plan their finances and set goals. Similarly, only 59% of Kenyans have access to basic water services and 9.4 million drink directly from contaminated water sources, including the Watha tribe. Beyond the disease-ridden water, the Watha also face the danger of crocodile attacks.
This project will offer technical assistance and material support to Community Finance Guatemala (CFG) and the Watha Project (Kenya) to carry out their important community empowerment efforts. With GRACE Cares's support, CFG will help families build and manage sustainable chicken and family garden systems that are an investment in their resiliency; and the Watha Project will build a new well to serve hundreds in need of a clean and safe water source.
These community empowerment projects will have a profound effect on the recipients. In Guatemala's Kakchiquel Maya community, individuals will gain resiliency to make it through hard times because they can financially take care of themselves and their families. For the Watha tribe in Kenya, this new well will have a tremendous impact on their health and well-being. Among other important benefits, the Watha's ability to access clean and safe water from a centrally-located well will save lives.
