General Projects Coordinator

I had an incredible time volunteering as General Projects Coordinator. I started with the standard 3-month internship mid-September to mid-December 2015 and ended up coming back for another 3 months of volunteering in January to March 2016. That's not unusual here -- I know of 5 other intern alumni who ended up staying in Xela or coming back for at least 3 more months because they had such great experiences. Full disclosure: At the beginning of April I became Student Coordinator, so I'm still at Pop Wuj now, 11 months after first arriving.
For me the coolest part of the internship program was knowing that I could make valuable contributions within a sustainable, Guatemalan-run model. Carmen de Alvarado, the Director of Social Projects, is one of the founders of Pop Wuj and has almost 25 years of experiences now overseeing the projects. Pop Wuj also has decades-long relationships with most of the communities where it works. Although I was encouraged to take on independent projects and leadership roles and to suggest improvements, I also understood from the beginning that everything I did was informed by local staff and project participants. As a result I felt that my work was meaningful and contributed to Pop Wuj's larger mission and goals.