| Ten years Esperanza |
Part 2: Ten years Esperanza
Back to part 1.
Foundation of the organisation
Approximately half a year later, on 19 September 1992, about 20 young people met to found the organisation "Esperanza", which is Spanish for hope. Most of them participated in the construction project in Chitay. "We all easily were very fascinated by Guatemala and were impressed by its beauty and especially by the friendliness and the openness of its people - even though they are often living in dire poverty," said Stefan Osebold, who at that time had been elected to be the first chairman of the board of the organisation. "So we decided to continue our work by founding a non-partisan organisation, which shall be a forum for all of those, who are willing to support further projects in Central America."
Our work
"Of course, our possibilities of supporting the development of a so-called third world country are limited compared to those of big developmental aid organisations," says Dorothee Dinkel, a founding member of the organisation and the First Chair from 1997 to 2003. "It only takes € 25,000 to make education possible to approx. 180 children, who otherwise would not have this opportunity. Indeed every single Euro goes into our projects and is not spent on the administration of the organisation."Meanwhile Esperanza has constructed more than 25 schools in Guatemala with an invested total sum of € 500,000. This is a remarkable amount of money for a non-governmental organisation; for the most part it is composed of donations and income coming from events as well as grants (e. g. from the European Commission). In example some of the events were organised, parties for teenagers and young people, slide shows or the sail of traditional products from Guatemala. But Esperanza also profited from income coming from events held by other organisations.
All donors are informed by our brochure, which is issued every 6 months, about the activities of the organisation in Guatemala and Germany. A lot of these donors are themselves members of the organisation or have personal contact to members or participants in our work projects. The kind of projects we support in Guatemala is clearly defined. So it is easy for every donor to track what the money is being used for. Costs for administration are paid by membership fees. All of this certainly makes Esperanza more advantageous in comparison to large organisations.
 |