Community Development Foundation

Unidas para Vivir Mejor -- United to live Better

Holiday greetings from the UPAVIM Community Development Foundation!!! We incorporated as a non-profit in 2004 to support the women's cooperative UPAVIM in Guatemala City. Our first president is Barbara Lorraine, and the board consists of myself (Greg Norman,) Mary Joan Ferrara-Marsland of UPAVIM Crafts, Michael Norman (my brother who is a lawyer and visited UPAVIM in July 2003). Long time UPAVIM supporter John Woods is not on the board but is managing an endowment fund for UCDF. Thanks for your support for UPAVIM in the past, and thanks for your continued support of UCDF!

UPAVIM improves business efficiency

By Asmara Hallmann

Hi everyone! First of all I would like to send you all our holiday greetings from beautiful Guatemala. The last couple of months I have been working here with the women in La Esperanza so that they become more organized and efficient.

Every day the women are able to surprise me how with their amount of patience and the family stories I hear every day. The more I know their backgrounds, the more respect I have for their willingness to overcome their problems and work together for a better future.

But it is also very much fun, sometimes I feel like I am living in a soap opera. One moment you are having a tough meeting and the other moment you are washing the clothes of a woman that lives in the

Asmara poses with tutoring center director Reyna Xolop and some smiling kids from La Esperanza.

streets or you get a big hug of one of the precious kids here.

Everything here goes of course in Guatemalan style. Never have they heart of an agenda and meetings are planned 10 minutes in advance. Fortunately UPAVIM and I can look back on some successful changes we were able to implement, that I would

like to share with you. First of all, we have a new accounting structure and the accountant and people in charge of finance are well trained. Secondly we have been able to contract a highly qualified supervisor, who I hope will continue the good work and is able to improve the different programs within

UPAVIM Community Development Foundation Holiday Newsletter 2004 p.2

UPAVIM's business vision for 2005

Training and empowering women _ The miracle of UPAVIM continues! Thanks to the support of the Belgian Embassy in Guatemala, the women of UPAVIM received ongoing trainings in 2004 in several areas: new product designs, computers and the Internet, and English. Giving women the opportunity to learn and succeed is one of the basic principles that UPAVIM has worked toward since their beginning in 1988. Also, many of the original UPAVIM members now have daughters in the cooperative, and thanks to their mothers' work opportunities they are now attending high schools and universities, and graduating with professional degrees!

UPAVIM has several new products this holiday season, such as Mary and Jesus ornaments, doll baskets, and microwaveable bread warmers.

Crafts _ Sales started out slowly the first half of the year but UPAVIM rallied in the second half and will come out pretty close to previous years' total sales , around $340,000. The majority of sales are wholesale orders to shops, church groups, individuals and special interest groups.

In June, Barb Lorraine, Mary Joan Ferrara-Marsland and Priscilla Hart attended the Annual Presbyterian Conference in Richmond, Virginia as UPAVIM vendors. Sales were brisk and we sold over $13,000 in UPAVIM goods in just a few days. We have been represented at Co-op America twice this year in DC and Texas, the World Bank, Children's Hospital, TESOL conferences and many more places in the DC area.

In September, Bea Strattner joined Mary Joan part -time to help with packing orders and general office work. Bea also does a lot of retail craft sales as her own business but takes a lot of our products. . Mary Joan is hoping that UPAVIM Crafts USA will be able to do a lot of new things next year with Bea's help that she has not had the time to do in previous years.

Soy _ 2005 is the year that UPA-SOYA will finally begin production! Thanks to technical and fundraising support from Plenty International, UPAVIM women will be trained in the production of nutritious, delicious soy milk. We are continuing to look for funds for the rest of the equipment necessary to start this business, including small refrigerators and a refrigerated delivery truck. The goal is to low cost soy milk and other soy products for sale in the community and in Guatemala City. This business will generate employment and revenue for UPAVIM's other programs.

Typewriting and computer school _ This project is awaiting a space! It has been contemplated in Phases 3 or 4 of the building plans for the Annex. UPAVIM would like to have an academy for teaching typewriting and computation, which is required by law for all junior high students. Currently, there is no typewriting academy in La Esperanza, and UPAVIM hopes to fill this community need while establishing a successful business.

UPAVIM Community Development Foundation Holiday Newsletter 2004 p.3

Thanks Asmara!

UPAVIM (he will take over my responsibilities next week when I sadly have to go back to Holland). In addition, we have reorganized the work process; we have new forms and the women are working based on weekly plans, orders of clients are processed in a standard way and we have a better inventory system. For an organization in the slums, this all sounds very business-like, but the work has become easier and more honest for everyone and the women are of course still able to give their own charm to they way they work together.

Well, I can keep going on about cost-analyses, budgets and trainings, but what remains fascinating is how UPAVIM is able to mix western efficiency with the Guatemalan style of day-to-day living. Overall, I can only say that it is very diverse and heart-warming job and I am grateful to have had this opportunity to live in the poor but so strong Guatemala. Thank you all very

The Annex's 2nd floor houses the Alternative Learning Center, a K-6 school.

much for your help and interest in UPAVIM and together with the women and the kids I wish you all a merry Christmas and wonderful 2005.

(Note: Asmara works as a management consultant in Holland. She initially came to UPAVIM as a volunteer in the tutoring center but she returned as the paid supervisor, thanks to support from UCDF. Her great work at UPAVIM in 2004 will surely help UPAVIM achieve their goals of financial sustainability.)

How to donate to UPAVIM

UCDF can now receive donations online through secure credit card transactions. The information is available on the website at http://www.upavim.org/english/donate.htm. Checks (made payable to UCDF) can be mailed to Barbara Lorraine at 808 E 23^rd, Bryan TX, 77803. Ways to donate in 2005 includes:

1) Donate to the endowment. Thanks to the Woods Family Foundation, UPAVIM now has a permanent endowment which will generate annual income for UPAVIM's programs. This is the perfect option for givers who want their money to last!

2) Donate to support the scholarship fund. UPAVIM continues to award more than 400 scholarships to students in elementary, junior high and high schools. Education is not free in Guatemala _ a first grader must pay approximately US$35 for one year of education, while costs for high school (even the least expensive public high schools) can run over US$200 for a year.

3) Donate toward operations of one of UPAVIM's many programs. This can be a cash donation, or any type of useful materials: furniture or educational supplies for the school and tutoring center, medicines to be sold in the pharmacy, equipment for the dental and medical laboratories, etc.

4) Donate toward future projects. The two main projects we are hoping to fund in 2005 are the UPA-SOYA program (see above) and the construction of Phase 3 of the Annex building, located adjacent to UPAVIM's main building. Phase 2 was completed in 2004 thanks to support from the Palmer Foundation. The completed second floor houses the Alternative Learning Center, and the first floor has space for meetings and for the tutoring center.

Mission Statement

The UPAVIM Community Development Foundation seeks to provide fund-raising, fiscal, organizational, and logistical support to organizations in the United States and around the world that are focused on promoting community-led development among impoverished people in Central and South America. Inspired by the work of UPAVIM, a women's non-profit association in Guatemala City whose name is a Spanish acronym for "Unidas Para Vivir Mejor", or, "United to Live Better", the Foundation is focused on assisting grass-roots organizations that provide financial, medical, educational and other charitable support for people living in marginalized and impoverished communities in Central and South America.