Our global impact: Progress made in Guatemala
Flatirons Habitat for Humanity is gearing up for its 2018 Global Village Trip to Vietnam. Our team of seventeen adventurous Coloradans will join more than 200 fellow volunteers in Dong Thap Province for a week of building safe, decent, and affordable housing. Throughout the month of October, check out our blog to learn more about Global Village Trips and how our local affiliate makes a big global impact.
Habitat for Humanity’s tithe program encourages Habitat affiliates to donate 10 percent of all unrestricted cash donations to further the organization’s work in other countries. By participating in this program, affiliates support carefully-chosen building and shelter projects providing housing in the world’s neediest places.
Until 2017, Flatirons Habitat tithed to Habitat Guatemala. Guatemala is designated as a Low-Income Tithe Priority Program Country by Habitat for Humanity International. These countries have a great need for housing. In Guatemala, for example, the housing deficit exceeds 1.6 million households, including inadequate and overcrowded housing. However, donations of undesignated funds can make a big difference in lower-income countries. For example, in Guatemala, construction of a new home costs US$7,300.
Habitat Guatemala is making a dent in its country’s housing deficit, having served more than 85,000 families. On average, Habitat Guatemala serves 4,000 families every year by building homes and housing communities, improving existing homes, and offering home solutions such as smokeless stoves, water filters, and basic sanitation services. Solutions like these help break the cycle of poverty in Guatemala.
Hosting Global Village Trips for foreign affiliates like Flatirons Habitat has played a role in this success. Habitat Guatemala hosts an average of 1,000 volunteers each year. Global Village volunteers help Habitat Guatemala accelerate building while also getting the chance to learn about housing issues in Guatemala and build relationships with Guatemalan families and masons.
Flatirons Habitat was proud to play a role in Habitat Guatemala’s amazing work, and now tithes to even higher-need countries (Cambodia and Vietnam) in the hopes of making an even greater global impact.
