All communities in Guatemala see English as an opportunity and important skill in the job market. While not able to prepare anyone for a deep conversation in the language, the BUILD's Kathryn Taylor and Kate Titova spent two weeks teaching basic English phrases to school children at Nueva Alianza.
Biodiesel, while essentially made from vegetable oil, requires multiple "washes" with water until the appropriate purity is reached. It takes more than 20 water washes to create pure biodiesel.
Nueva Alianza has been fortunate enough to receive much funding for sustainable development projects. The biodiesel plant is run by two teenagers who were trained by a U.S. volunteer, and BUILD student Kate Titova and Jessica Madding spent several days learning the process of creating biodiesel.
Comunidad Nueva Alianza is one of Guatemala's largest macadamia nut farms. While the community produces thousands of pounds of coffee, macadamia is the largest cultivation. Many afternoons were spent at Nueva Alianza de-shelling hundreds of pounds of fresh macadamia nuts.
One of the BUILD team's most treacherous jobs was to lay bamboo steps down a steep path that led to a waterfall. Team member Katy Simon is pictured here awaiting instructions from community members.
Comunidad Nueva Alianza boasts one of the nicest views in all of Guatemala. During an afternoon off from work, the entire BUILD team took some time to relax on the porch of the old casa patronal.
To save costs, the people of Santa Anita purchase labels and bags separately. Here, BUILD's Jessica Madding and Chloe Rousseau label dozens of bags for the day's beans.
Each year, Santa Anita sets aside part of the harvest so that volunteers can get the chance to roast their own coffee. BUILD students worked the entire process from labeling the bags to grinding the beans.
Balerio Ramirez is one of the most prominent community figures of Santa Anita. While he serves as the vice president of the community, he spends most of his time working his plot of land and sorting coffee in the toasting room.
Each year, Santa Anita harvests thousands of pounds of coffee which are weighed and roasted with equipment donated by the Japanese embassy. Kathryn Taylor and many other students spent time interviewing members of Santa Anita in this toasting room.
Tomas Valdes conversing with Don Lazaro on the way to work one morning. Lazaro and many others in the community are incredibly tied to the land around Santa Anita because they fought on the farm's land during the armed conflict.
BUILD's Kathryn Taylor and Tomas Valdes spend an evening talking with Rigoberto Ramirez about Santa Anita's export abilities and market expansion. Tomas and Kathryn were studying the economics of coffee while in Guatemala.
The "casa grande," which houses volunteers at Santa Anita, was once the mansion of the old farm's owner. The house was recently painted with a mural depicting the history of Guatemala's guerrilla fighters and their families.
Many mornings were spent digging holes in the jungle to plant coffee. Santa Anita is attempting to double the farm's production by 2010. Toby Bonthrone, pictured, and many other BUILD participants spent many mornings in the jungle with the families digging new holes for baby coffee plants. Many old plants were lost when Hurricane Stan hit Guatemala.
