This holiday season, we’re sending a friendly wave to our good friends in Guatemala! All proceeds from our Beaded Guatemalan Bracelets will go to build sustainable homes in the remote Guatemalan highlands.
In the Guatemalan highlands, millions of families live through the driving rains of June through November in homes made from cornstalks, cane, and scavenged materials. After working hard in the fields to earn less than $3 per day, they return home to find dirt floors turned to mud, belongings vulnerable to theft, and children sick from exposure. In this beautiful but poverty-stricken region a safe, secure house doesn’t just change lives—it saves them.
Nancy Wynne of Stonington, Maine and her family formed the Guatemala Housing Alliance (GHA) to help these families find shelter from the storms. Since 2011, this dedicated group of volunteers has built 27 homes in villages on the shores of Lago de Atitlán. Carefully constructed from natural materials like adobe, bamboo, pumice, and pine, each house is sturdy, sustainable, and affordable. The family receiving a home agrees to pay for it by joining a labor cooperative building homes for others in their village.
Mexicali Blues has partnered with Nancy and the GHA to support the beautiful crafting these indigenous Mayan women are doing. So we asked our Guatemalan artisans to create one of their many beautiful bracelet designs in specially chosen color combinations that we could sell through our World of Goods program to help GHA build more homes! The gorgeous, glimmering wave design they have created was inspired by the waters of Lago de Atitlán and evokes the ebb and flow of change and reminds us of our power to make progress.
From now through December 31, Mexicali Blues will send 100% of the proceeds from these handmade beaded bracelets to the Guatemala Housing Alliance exclusively online at MexicaliBlues.com. Buy one (or more!) of our Guatemalan Build a Wave Beaded Bracelets here and go to facebook.com/MexicaliBlues to see your donation in action. We will be following the progress of the houses we are helping to build!
The post MEXICALI WORLD OF GOODS: BRACELETS TO BUILD HOUSING IN GUATEMALA appeared first on Mexicali Blues Blog.