Sichere Perspektiven - Secure Perspectives e.V.

A Warm welcome to our non-profit organization Secure Perspectives! We are delighted that you are interested in our work!

„Sichere Perspektiven - Secure Perspectives e.V.“ (SP)

is an international initiative of committed people that work on the improvement of education, health and infrastructure in rural indigenous communities and their primary schools in Guatemala. The aim is to encourage self-initiative within society and stimulate responsible action.

SP was founded in 2004 by the student Fiamma Rupp-Gembs in Essen, Germany, and is registered as a charitable organization. The association’s Guatemalan seat is called “Seguras Perspectivas”.

Our aim is to reduce poverty and illiteracy and to strengthen self-awareness within society. Consequently children will be able to face new challenges and opportunities and thus help themselves. Aid for self-help is our top priority. We want to accompany, challenge and support our fellow human beings on their road of self-determination in order to counteract paternalism, societal prejudices and new structures of dependency.

SP sees itself as an organization that functions as a consultant to the local, indigenous community, in specific to the education committee of the local primary school, who supports their decision making, guides them in organizational matters and helps with the financial execution of community projects.

Our biggest current project is the buying of community land, the construction of the new primary school of the community with a capacity of 500 children and three apprenticeship workshops (a project for which we won the Mondialogo Engineering Award 2007 and prize money in India, a partner initiative of Daimler and UNESCO). The construction started September 6th 2008. The old school is made of corrugated iron, wood and plastic tarps. The new school is being constructed with cement and bricks. This project is of extraordinary importance, since the government will close the school if the community cannot provide their own land and an adequate school building for the next year. In the past, where children had to go to a school outside their rural community, their have been various accidents and the death of various children, while crossing the highway in order to get to their school.

There are many ways how volunteers can immerse themselves in our work and be part of our team. YOU can work on our construction site with the community members and parents of the primary school children (min 2 weeks); you can be an assistant teacher in the pre-school and primary school classes (min. 3 months from January – end of October); organize projects in our creative workshop (coordinating music workshops, theatre plays, etc., min. 3 months); you can do fundraising (min.3 month); organize capacity workshops and educational training for our school teachers in the realm of pedagogy, educational methodology & practice (min. 3 months); or you can write reports for our newsletter and do a photo documentation of the work on our construction site (min. 3 months). Please ask Lena our vice-president and international volunteer coordinator for any other volunteer work you could do outside Guatemala, such as building support groups that do fundraising in YOUR community or to become a SP ambassador that holds presentations about SP and our community work in your family, your university, etc.!

In order to be part of our team please send us your CV and a short motivation letter via email to our international volunteer coordinator Lena: projects@secureperspectives. Together with her you will work out a personalized volunteer position that is both challenging and individually tailored to your needs and interests!

In case you need help to find a Spanish school we can organize you your language course at our trusted Spanish School in Xela and a stay in a Guatemalan host family, which you can combine with your volunteer work.

Please feel free to contact us any time, we are delighted to help you wherever we can!