Struggling for Collaboration in Guatemala

Finding Freedom through Friendship has a long-standing practice of obtaining deeds to the land we place a donated house on in Guatemala. The deeds are legally titled to the widows who receive the houses we build. Legal paperwork avoids the need for a woman to marry in order to have the ability to house her children and thus decreases the risk of moving a man into the household who may not have the best of intentions toward her children.
To build on the land Isabel (shown on far right of photo at edge of her current house) inherited when her husband died, Finding Freedom had to work with the local village elders to obtain their permission. This particular building site is the most difficult and challenging area we have ever attempted to construct a house on. Last week our board celebrated the successful collaboration of finding a reliable builder, an FFF facilitator to oversee the project and the cooperation of the village elders. We were ready to launch building our thirty fifth donated house to a widow and her children.

Until the collaboration suddenly and inexplicably collapsed: We found ourselves struggling for the right to build a badly needed house in Guatemala.

The elder leaders in the village recently changed hands. The new ones want a “road usage fee” to allow our trucks to get close to the building site. They are asking for a legal document as proof that we are allowed to build on Isabel’s land (apparently, they didn’t keep a copy of the original). In addition, they want a sealed and signed document from our office in Kentucky stating that we are donating the house.

It will all be worth the effort. Isabel is a widow with no formal education who cares for three sons and her elderly parents. She has no formal income and within her village and culture, no chance of finding a job to support her. Isabel’s current house is open to the elements, which means the floor turns to mud during the rainy season and cold saturates every corner. To earn a meager income she harvests the local fields when crops are in season. This fragile family has no hope of adequate housing if we don’t supply it for her.

Challenges that present themselves to nonprofits working in Developing Countries are not a new entity. It can easily place our board into a defensive position which is never a good stance to adopt. When I look at this photo of the construction site I can step back and realize that the real challenge to this situation will not be getting these documents to the right village elders, but rather in getting the building supplies up the mountain and through that ravine (pink arrow) you see in the lower left hand part of the image.

Stay tuned for how we get this newest FFF issue resolved….