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CHE CommunityTransformation CentersQuetzaltenango, Guatemala

Project GoalTrain leadership as a primary contribution to unfolding 50 long-termsustainable community developments through the CHE[1] model andbreak the cycle of poverty. Project DescriptionLead administrator (350 hours)Lead trainer and mentor (750 hours)25 Training the Trainers courses50 communities (Community Transformation Center Training)Monitoring and evaluation Logistics and reporting (18 months)The CHE Community Transformation Centers project will train leadersfrom 50 community churches to set them on their way to promotingcommunity transformation. Once trained, the leaders will go into thecommunity and transfer the knowledge they acquired to othermembers, spearheading the transformation process.The main components of this project involve the following:This project will benefit 625 people directly and 7,179 indirectly. FoodFor The Poor’s (FFTP’s) partner for this program will be Global CHEEnterprises, paying for the additional 25 Training the Trainers courses.Completed project budgets are subject to change if not fully fundedwithin six months. The completion date of this project may beextended for issues related to weather, natural disaster or civil unrestto the extent that such events exceed normal conditions and impedethe project’s progress. Total Project Costs: $204,039.50[1] THE (Community, Health and Evangelism) training of trainers is designed to equip participantsto implement their integrated ministry of community health and evangelism in a target area.

GuatemalaThe most populous country in Central America, Guatemala is home tomore than 17 million people. Income distribution remains highlyunequal, with the wealthiest 20% of the population accounting formore than 51% of Guatemala's overall consumption.Poverty is widespread, as more than half of Guatemalans live belowthe poverty line, and almost a quarter live in extreme poverty.Indigenous groups comprise 40% of the population, and their povertylevel is dismal at 79%, with 40% living in extreme poverty. A sad result of this widespread poverty is that Guatemala has one ofthe world's highest rates of chronic child malnutrition. Nearly one-halfof Guatemala's children under age 5 are chronically malnourished.Guatemala's severe food insecurity and lack of accessible, affordablemedical care have led to high infant, child and maternal mortalityrates. To help the people of Guatemala, Food For The Poor (FFTP) hasworked for more than 10 years with Cáritas Arquidiocesana, whichoversees many of the projects undertaken by FFTP in that country.

Mam and Quiche PopulationThe Mam are indigenous people living in the western highlands ofGuatemala who speak the Mam language, as well as Spanish. Most livein and around Huehuetenango, San Marcos and Quetzaltenango.Others live in small villages in the mountains of northern Guatemala,keeping their native traditions. Originating in the pre-Columbian era,they were part of the Mayan civilization. The Quiche are an indigenous Mayan group who migrated from themountains of Guatemala and maintained their pre-Columbian tongueand culture, with their primary language being Kiche. A significant percentage of indigenous households, 93.2%, live inextreme poverty. In general, 67% of indigenous children in Guatemalasuffer from malnutrition, anemia and parasitic diseases. Their houses are built of salvaged materials. In their interior, theystore everything they own, including work tools, grains, clothes andthe rest of their possessions. These people lack essential services suchas potable water, while transit access to their communities is not easy,hindering trade and outside communications.

Please click the map below to view the Google Maps location forQuetzaltenango, from where FFTP will serve through this project.GPS Coordinates: 14°50'40.1"N 91°31'17.1"W

Transformational DevelopmentSpiritual – train within a Christian worldview that emphasizesevangelism, instruction and tandem missioning for service.Wherever there is no community church, the objective is toestablish at least one in the process. ·Program Elements – train in the seven steps of entering acommunity, establishing local governance by forming a CHEcommittee and strengthening the discovery process with abaseline survey with quarterly outcomes tracking. ·Community Engagement - build social capital, engage withchurches and communities, establishing support, accountabilityand integration. Areas of FocusUnder this project, 50 churches in Guatemala will undergo communitytransformation center training, a 50-hour program encompassingthree distinct areas of focus: Holistic ApproachIt should be noted that the holistic community transformation trainingof CHE requires that these areas are not taught in separate sectionsbut are interwoven to maintain integration. This results in greaterempowerment among community leaders.

New LeadersThe strategy requires that a local champion be identified with thecalling to take on the weight of changing the community. A localcommittee is then established and leaders are trained to oversee thegroup and assume responsibility for outcomes. Once the new leaders have received this training, they will go out intothe communities and transfer the knowledge they have learned toother members, which will kickstart the community to begin itstransformational process. The methodology is dual: supply contentand deploy. Connection with the Church In many, if not most, Latin American countries, people have muchmore faith in the church than they do in their governmentalinstitutions. Equipped with the word of God and the CHE trainingmodel, church leaders can spread the Gospel and use biblicalprinciples to promote long-term sustainability and transformationthrough Christ. This program is an initiative of transformation with content andmethodology reconciling with our own beings, others in thecommunity and most importantly, with God. The main focus of this initiative is to zero in on what the communityalready has and not on what it needs, with the local church becomingthe center of transformation. Results Once communities are engaged and trained, the results arespectacular: childhood education, medical care, housing, water,electricity and microenterprises are the fruit of a transformedcommunity. Not least, the training in evangelism, discipleship and commissioningof leaders results in establishing new churches of differentdenominations in the villages.

Social and political protests impeding visitors from establishingheadquarters.Criminal gangs and cartels posing risks for outsiders.Local political leaders opposing new movements, even whenaccepted by the community.Global and local leaders resisting cultural worldview changes.Short-term alliances between NGOs and local leaders fomentingdependency for political purposes, which are difficult to break.Religious leaders with personal agendas who are not willing toaccept status quo changes.Rainy season affecting land access and communications.Developing a community activates a domino effect on surroundingcommunities, expanding the reach of training beyond the originaltrained village. Together, these communities form a cluster of hope,becoming stepping stones to reach a broader population andeventually the nation. Possible Obstacles The following are possible obstacles to overcome when going into anew community:Here's Where You Come InThese communities need education, healthcare, basic needs anddevelopment, leading them out of their generational hardship andpoverty. This is the perfect project for people of faith. You can helpthese communities develop and spread the Word of God and theGospel among people who have not met our Lord and Savior but arewaiting for Him."God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." Acts 17:27

TestimonialsHugo Gómez Hugo is the CEO and Regional Coordinator of Global CHE Enterprisesin Central America and Mexico. Hugo, a devout Christian, is a mastertrainer of trainers for the world. He focuses on reaching out to churchleaders and forming networks and in-country partnerships. Hugo met his wife Miriam, a like-minded soul, in medical school. Uponobtaining his medical license, his initial residency was at a ruralmedical outpost. He soon understood that more valuable thanprescriptive medicine, prevention and transformational training wereimperative at the local community level. As a leader of Medical Ambassadors International[2], Hugo connectedwith Global CHE Enterprises. He became a pioneer in the movementof championing best practices and forming partnerships with thoseliving in poverty. Hugo’s ministry has activated over 300 communitiesin Latin America. [2] Medical Ambassadors International is a non-profit, non-denominational developmentorganization serving over 70 countries that assists poor communities in developing countriesusing Community Health Education programs. [3] Transform World is an organization that catalyzes nations and generations to mobilize holistictransformational “glocal” leadership to impact all the spheres of society and heal the land. The good doctor shared with us, “I lovethe simplicity of CHE, where localleaders are the champions. I love theprocess of CHE, taking best practicesfrom all over the globe. I love that CHEis an instrument of God to break thecycle of generational poverty incommunities. I love our partnership withFood For The Poor and TransformWorld[3]. There is a special blessing ofGod when we collaborate.”󰜿

Felipe Morales Felipe Morales is the president of ASODEC (Community DevelopmentAssociation). When Hugo Gómez arrived in the community of ElQuizate showing a Jesus film, Felipe was disturbed and proceeded tothrow stones and dirt at whom he considered an intrusive visitor. Hehad been taught that outsiders “always do us harm.” Felipe grew up struggling to find his daily bread. He did not finishelementary school and was indeed illiterate. He didn’t even own a pairof shoes. He grew up in an animist culture among adults that hadbecome alcoholics. Dreams and hopes in his community were absentand people lived in wretched despair. He spoke only his native Mamlanguage. The objective of CHE training is to discover the community champion.And lo and behold, Felipe became that champion under thecompassionate guidance of God! Felipe told us, “The training helped me reconcile [with] God. It gaveme tools and resources to help my community. Not only have Ilearned to read and write, but I am also now a CHE trainer. My peoplehave been able to sustain themselves with [micro] businesses,agriculture initiatives and most importantly, the Lord provided us tobuild a church we paid for in cash. It is big enough for our entirecommunity and for our neighbors to join us as well.” Today, Felipe is a CHE trainer, a pastor and a highly successfulbusinessman as a potato farmer. He is also the champion of fourcommunities where the cycle of poverty has been broken. In 24 years,these four communities are now part of a cluster of transformedvillages.

Mam children form a circle around a CHE trainer. They will be theleaders of the future. Every single person in the community isdriven by this Gospel-inspired program.

The following pages will show you the work CHE training hasaccomplished among other indigenous populations inGuatemala.The leadership of this community of Arenales, trained by the CHEmethod, was proud to inaugurate a new classroom building.

This indigenous community benefitted from a medical visit. During thisevent, town's people learned how to care for their eyes.

Training the village champions is an excellent way of gettingthe Word of God passed on while the community embarks on itstransformational development.Click here for more trainining images.

If you click on the photo, you will see an array of images from asowing project in Vista Hermosa, Huehuetenango.Click here.

"He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers." Exodus 35:35 This group of very motivated women was part of a knittingproject in Totonicapan. Click on the photo to see other imagesof women participating in CHE programs.Click here.

A group of CHE-trained women completed a nutrition class andreceived rice and beans to take home.

Villagers at Las Barracas join forces to build a cistern tank intheir town showing determination and self-sufficiency.

The Chancol (above) and Chanxenel (below) communities bringtheir animals for deworming and preventive health practices.

The church leaders in Arenales stood in an empty lot thinkingthat this would be a perfect place for a church. With your help,this can become a reality.

Please click this image to view one of our empowerment projects inColombia, where we enfranchised a vulnerable population to opensmall businesses and become independent.

The funds you generously contribute to Food For The Poor will beused toward completion of your project of choice. If any of yourdonation exceeds budget cost, rest assured that it will be used tofund other Food For The Poor programs and organizationalsupport to meet the urgent needs of the poor.Contributions are tax-deductible under Internal Revenue CodeSection 501(c)(3).Budget

About Food For The PoorFood For The Poor, one of the largest international relief anddevelopment organizations in the nation, does much more than feedmillions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. Thisinterdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency reliefassistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support forvulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visitwww.FoodForThePoor.org.To view this proposal online, please visit the following website:[Updated Link from Share page in SB]