Experiential Education & Community Service in Guatemala

Name: Experiential Education & Community Service in Guatemala
Brand: Operation Groundswell
SKU: 40550
Rating: 4.96 (27 reviews)

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4.96 Rating

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Location

Guatemala
- Antigua
- Guatemala City
- Xela

Project Types

Agriculture Business Community Development Service Learning Conservation Environmental Conservation Reforestation Human Rights Indigenous Rights

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Program Details

Language

English

Age Min.

Timeframe

Spring Break Summer Winter Year Round

Housing

Guesthouse Host Family Hostel Tent

Groups

Small Group (1-15)

Pricing

Starting Price

1183

Price Details

Our program fee includes all on-the-ground costs including a comprehensive program itinerary, accommodations, meals, excursions, and experienced program leaders with you 24 hours a day.
This does not include flights, insurance, or personal expenses such as souvenirs.

We are committed to financial accessibility. Our Financial Needs Grant can cover 15-25% of your five- or six-week program fee and is available for anyone experiencing financial strain.

What's Included

Accommodation Activities Meals Transportation

What's Not Included

Airfare Travel Insurance Visa

Last Updated: Jul 15, 2022

Last Reviewed: Oct 12, 2019

Wish List

34 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

Nestled in Central America, Guatemala has one of the most interesting, yet tragic histories. Home to the Mayan civilization, invaded by the Spanish, and eventually ruled by successive dictatorships propped up by the United Fruit Company, Guatemala has had its fair share of political strife. A 30-year civil war helped create “liberation theology” but left many scars that remain to this day.

To travel to Guatemala is to challenge yourself physically and mentally – by climbing mountains and volcanoes, and by meeting farmers who see the coffee and mining industries as the cause of their poverty. It is shocking, empowering, exciting, and challenging all in one beautiful country.

At Operation Groundswell, we explore all the far corners of this strangely-shaped country and immerse ourselves deeply in all its culture has to offer. We dive deep into the hard issues of indigenous rights, environmental sustainability, fair trade, and food justice in our various program offerings.

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Video and Photos

Guatemala Programs | Operation Groundswell

group of hikers at the summit of a volcano in Guatemala

group sitting on a dock on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala

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Program Highlights

Get your hands dirty learning about coffee alongside local farmers on the side of an active volcano.
Deconstruct the myths and discover the realities of today’s global food system at origin.
Immerse yourself in modern Guatemalan culture and hear about its history from the descendants of the Maya.
Get an intimate look at Guatemala’s history speaking with former guerrillas who have traded their guns for farming tools.
Brush up on your Spanish in Xela with one-on-one language lessons with the certified school and social enterprise Escuela La Paz.

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Program Reviews

4.96 Rating

based on 27 reviews

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Rating Spread Volunteer

5 rating 96.3%
4 rating 3.7%
3 rating 0%
2 rating 0%
1 rating 0%

Impact 4.7
Support 4.95
Fun 4.8
Value 4.8
Safety 4.85

Showing 25 - 27 of 27 reviews

You definitely get comfortable with being uncomfortable while meeting the most incredible people as you journey across this country.

It is a great program with approachable and knowledgable staff and there is so much to learn in such a short period of time that you feel like you have been there forever but also for no time at all.

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Don't expect to sleep in the lap of luxury on this trip. But if you want to meet good people, see extraordinary places, and expand your mind beyond what you every though possible, then go on this trip.

PS: If you have the option to hike Santiaguito, do it.

This program was a wild ride with ups and downs and loops and turns, and just like a ride you wanted it to continue after it was finished. The days and weeks are well balanced out with activities and educational experiences that range from hiking volcanos to working with women's co-operatives. We got to live with the locals and see the land through our own eyes not just how a tourist company wants you to see it. We learned to create our own opinions and thoughts on issues and diversity that the country is facing. We took those opinions and thoughts and focused on something constructive that we could help with. There were many hard days emotionally and physically but as hard as those day were there was an equal if not greater day to counter it.

What would you improve about this program?

Honestly this program was fantastic it had a great balance of volunteering, adventure, learning experiences, excitement and I met amazing people there's not much more I could ask for except for maybe an endless summer.

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Questions & Answers

Alumni Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with verified alumni.

Why did you choose this program?

This program was advertised to me, both through school and through the internet. I took a look, figuring it couldn't hurt to check it out and realized that it sounded like exactly the kind of trip I hadn't known I was looking for.

It complemented my degree in Environmental Sustainability, and it sounded like a great organization. Some volunteer abroad organizations might not be as mindful, but here was a Canadian group, promoting sustainable local initiatives, indigenous perspectives, and ethical backpacking. It was almost too good to be true.

What did your program provider assist you with, and what did you have to organize on your own?

They had some great recommendations for what to bring, what we could expect, and a really well laid out schedule. They provided a great booklet about the climate we could expect, the medical preparations we should make, how to be culturally sensitive, and some Guatemalan history that all made me feel very prepared.

I went through my own travel agent to book flights, but they had recommendations for that too. I also had to get my own travel insurance, but they recommended World Nomads, which is totally the place to go. I had to figure out my own hiking shoes and any books or personal things to occupy myself during the downtime (not that we had too much of that).

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What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone going on your program?

I would tell them to keep an open mind, leave their assumptions at home and maintain a healthy respect for everyone you meet. Everyone has their own story and just because it's different from yours doesn't invalidate it.

Compostable toilets, for example, sound great on paper, but they are in practice very smelly. Hiking for two and a half days through the beautiful mountains sounds amazing, but it might involve being sweaty, tired, using the woods as a bathroom and sleeping on cement floors.

If you go into it with expectations that the standard of living will be what you're accustomed to at home, you're going to be disappointed. But these kinds of trips aren't about helping people who already have everything they need. You're going into places where people live in poverty, where life is a little harder. Allow me to assure you, what their bank accounts may lack, they more than make up for it in kindness, hospitality, and compassion.

Also, don't freak out if people tell you about accidents on the chicken buses. A little motion sickness aside, you'll get through the rides just fine.

What does an average day/week look like as a participant of this program?

An average day is hard to describe, because each day we were going somewhere new, meeting new people, working with a different NGO or organization. Generally, we were up early, and early to bed, but with such full days we were always ready for sleep. There will be a lot of traveling, and the food will be consistently amazing. You always get breakfast, lunch, and dinner - but one day it might be at a restaurant in Antigua, one day it might be prepared sandwiches while on a hike.

You have the opportunity almost every day to get your hands dirty. Be it planting trees or picking coffee beans, it can be hard work, but the Guatemalan people you're working with are patient teachers and always make sure you get more out of it than just learning the task at hand.

We also get some downtime every day. If we're in a new city, they give you some freedom to explore, hit the local market or buy souvenirs, if you so choose. The program leaders get you started on a journal and encourage you to write in it every day, but it's up to you if you use that time to write or do other things.

Sitting with the crew of participants and leaders, talking about what we accomplished that day and winding down was always one of the highlights.

Going into your experience abroad, what was your biggest fear, and how did you overcome it? How did your views on the issue change?

For me, going into the program, I wasn't sure what to expect. But I was excited to learn and I think having that lack of expectations was a part of what made it so amazing.

I did think we were going to learn mostly about coffee, meaning fair trade or organic practices versus commercial farming, small businesses, how coffee was sold and distributed, etc. While we did learn about that, we learned about a lot of interrelated issues as well.

Operation Groundswell has a lot of partner organizations and the two coffee co-ops were only part of the grassroots activism that we got to be a part of. Looking at scale for these coffee co-ops was great, but so was learning about community engagement from a former guerrilla who started a cooking school, and a rural villager who started planting trees to re-establish a habitat for an endangered bird species and keep out a Canadian mining company.

Every group we worked with was a part of the Guatemalan people working towards making their homes and country a better place to live, not only for themselves, but for those around them.

I found that really impactful, to realize that small change can make big change, and that one co-operative can support both families growing coffee and women making peanut butter or honey, or selling t-shirts internationally. Your dreams or goals don't have to be huge, but collaborating with others can ripple outwards and have a bigger impact than you anticipated. I'm now looking forward to trying to apply that policy here in Canada.

What was your biggest surprise during this trip?

Traveling always entails surprises, there will always be something that doesn't go according to plan. In Guatemala, for example, we learned the real value of those diarrhea pills the travel clinic made you bring. Montezuma's Revenge is real, and we all got very comfortable with the numbers on the poop scale.

If anything it was a bonding experience between ourselves and the program leaders, because every one of our fragile North American stomachs had an adjustment period to the Central American diet. Even though it wasn't pleasant at the time, we still laugh about that experience.

What are some new values or pieces of this trip that you're carrying on with you?

I would say learning to believe in myself and trust the people around me. When I first arrived the night before the program started, I had to navigate to my hostel in a strange country in a language I hadn't spoken properly in years, but I made it.

Our program leaders set us loose in cities and told us to wander around looking for things on our own for a few hours, trusting us to find our way back, asking locals for directions if we had to, and we did just that. The truck and bus drivers challenged my fear of heights every single day, and although I definitely held onto the seats for dear life sometimes, we always got there safely.

The friends I made became family, and climbing up literal mountains was some days the hardest thing imaginable, but we did it together. The feeling when we got to the top of that last ridge on the final morning for the sunrise was simply indescribable, and so worth any blisters or bone-deep tiredness, or self-doubt.

Realizing just how far you can go if you believe it's possible is still something I'm working on, but going on this journey was a huge step forward.

Maddie Foster

2017 Alum

Lilly Wall

Staff Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with program leaders.

Tell us a little about Operation Groundswell and your role at the company.

Phnom Penh OG

Justine: Operation Groundswell is an incredible non-profit organization that runs a number of experiential learning and volunteer programs to various regions around the world. We engage youth through ethical travel, cross-cultural exchange, and community service. We are sparking a movement of globally active and socially conscious travelers…what we like to call “backpacktivists.”

I am the Communications Coordinator at OG and am responsible for growing this community of backpacktivists, ensuring that youth know about our programs and get involved!

How did you get involved in the volunteer industry?

Justine: I’ve been working in the non-profit sector since 2009, but took some time off in 2011 to volunteer in the Philippines. While I was there I did an internship with a media monitoring and press freedom organization called the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.

It was an incredible experience and I returned home to Toronto, Canada with renewed vigor and determination. I knew I wanted to combine my passions in communications, volunteering, and travel. I was just lucky enough to have stumbled upon Operation Groundswell to do just that!

What makes OG unique?

Justine: Ethical travel is at the crux of our philosophy and our goal is to show this generation that there is an alternative to vacation package travel. We pride ourselves in these five principles:

Non-profit: We are a non-profit organization and though we use business principles to maintain a sustainable enterprise, all our revenue is reinvested back into the organization and our projects.
Meaningful and Genuine Experiences for Volunteers: Our trips are intentionally designed to uncover the intricacies and on-the-ground realities of each region we go to. We want students to delve into new cultures and experiences from a local perspective. Our volunteers eat local food, use local transport, and essentially survive each day as a temporary local.
Serving Our Partner Communities: We do not go into a community with the expectation of being saviors and solving all problems. We work in partnership with local NGOs and charities and work only on community-requested projects. We are not a development organization, but rather a network of curious, hardworking, and socially conscious youth that want to contribute to the beautiful communities that host us with open arms.
Environmentally Conscious: We realize the carbon footprint we are leaving behind during our travels. As such, we carbon offset flights for all of our programs, working in partnership with PlanetAir.
Financially Accessible: We honestly believe that our programs offer something unique and want to make this opportunity available to all youth. That’s why we keep our program fee as low as possible and even provide bursaries for those experiencing financial barriers.

How do you ensure your programs are sustainable and mutually beneficial for you, the community, and the volunteers?

Philippines Operation Groundswell

Justine: Partnerships are central to our programming and the key to sustainability. As I mentioned above, all of our projects are community-requested and entirely based on the needs of our partners.

We support local organizations that exist before we arrive, appreciate our support when we’re there, but will be continuing the work long after we leave. Our volunteers are there to learn from the locals who have the most intimate knowledge of their hardships and strengths and in turn, are able to apply these learnings back home.

What does the future hold for OG?

Justine: It’s an exciting time to be a part of OG! We are truly blossoming as an organization and have grown immensely. We’ve expanded to nine regions and are now running over twenty trips this year! The future is full of growth, learning, and even more fun!

More than that, we’ve got a really groundbreaking project underway. We’re in the midst of developing a hub in Guatemala where we will be able to support our local partners 365 days a year and involve backpackers passing through the country in our experiential learning programs. It’s going to be something that’s never been done before...stay tuned!

About Operation Groundswell

Operation Groundswell does backpacking with a purpose. With ethical travel at the crux of our philosophy, we design affordable programs that tell a story. Each trip addresses key challenges unique to each region and community we work with, told from diverse local perspectives. We blend solidarity-based community service, meaningful learning...