| Commitments in projects |
Part 2: Commitments in Projects
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Possible grants
The principle of Esperanza is that all donations are used by 100 percent for the projects. It is very important to us to be able to ensure donators in Germany that the money will not be lost in any unclear or bureaucratic channels, but that it will be used to pay e.g. a sack of cement, weekly wages for a Guatemalan bricklayer or 10 m³ chippings. That means that all costs (flight, food, vaccination etc.) are paid for by the participants on their own. The community will provide us with simple accommodation for free.
To secure that also young people, who do not have so much money, are able to take part in our projects we apply for grants with InWent in Düsseldorf. Since 1986 its state branch in North Rhine-Westphalia with its programme 'Peace service in practice', has been supporting people younger than 26 located in this state, who are interested in an intense intercultural exchange and are thinking about gaining experiences in a working process abroad by its programme. Yearly, these grants are allocated. During the last few years we were considered several times due to the responsible and reliable organisation and realisation of our projects. That is why we are also involved in the active preparation of a meeting of all participants returning to Germany that takes place once a year. 80 to 100 participants granted are meeting to report on their work, experiences and problems that occurred during the stay abroad."Charity begins at home"
We would like to base our engagement on the sentence "Charity begins at home" coined by Klaus Töpfer. Foreign aid should not mean giving money to secure a clear conscience, but begins in Germany with each of us. By living our own lifestyle we are deciding in which world we would like to live. Solidarity with social minorities results due to the consciousness that all human beings live together in one world. This requires active commitment in Guatemala and donations of supporters in Germany as well as a critical and confronting dealing with the worries and sufferings of the poor and discriminated people on one hand and a self-critical reflection on our own lifestyle on the other hand. The fact that the minority of people live in industrialised countries is mainly responsible for the biggest global disturbances of the ecosystem such as the Greenhouse Effect, destruction of the ozone layer and others, is one of the main topics within our preliminary meeting. On the other side, people of the so called Third World are the main victims of these global ecological changes without participating in this material prosperity in an economically reasonable way. How do these arguments match commitments in Guatemala that require long-distance flights of 10 to 15 participants each year? Participating in one of our projects and with it experiencing the hopes, fears and desires of the local population are seen as a very intense and shaping way to form and widen their awareness by us. Each participant will take this consciousness that may shape his future life. Live reports to the people that stayed at home show the reliability of our projects and inform of the necessity of the engagement of their own. As organisation we especially appreciate the decision of some participants to support us actively with their gained experiences.
If you are interested in participating in one of our projects in Guatemala please contact Johannes Langemeyer (). Please note that participants have to join two meetings before and one meeting after the project. These meetings that take place in Germany.
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