UPAVIM of Guatemala City

Unidas Para Vivir Mejor (United for a Better Life) is a women's artisan cooperative located in the community of La Esperanza, a former squatter settlement on the edge of Guatemala City. The women support themselves and UPAVIM through the production and sale of traditional, fair-trade handicrafts. UPAVIM faces the social problems of La Esperanza and improves the quality of life there with its school, free education projects, community library, medical clinic, soy milk production, and bakery. International volunteers contribute mainly by teaching classes in UPAVIM's free education project, Reforzamiento. Reforzamiento is aimed at helping neighborhood children, some of whom are not able to attend another school.