It was a volunteer experience that benefited me.

Since I traveled to Guatemala with HELP International in 2006, they've discontinued travel to there (I'm assuming) based on safety issues. However, despite the problems we encountered with safety while we were there, my time in Guatemala continues to be an amazing experience that I draw frequently from. I have been able to talk and connect with so many, here in the states, because we had that link.
While I was down there we had freedom to work on whatever projects we wanted - whatever we felt was worthwhile for us. If a project idea surfaced, we were able to submit it to HELP for approval and arrange funding if needed. I was able to teach English as a local Salvation Army elementary school twice a week, work in an orphanage or miscellaneous type project twice a week (sometimes it was traveling to villages to teach hygiene classes, deliver hygiene kits, teach square ft. gardening or other money-making skills, or helping teach and build Lorena stoves ), and then Fridays the whole team often got together for a manual labor day. On those days we often worked on building houses (I can think of 4 different houses we built in a 6 week period). We often traveled as a group on the weekends to tour the country. The hours were often early, but never seemed long; and the work was just hard enough to be proud of your finished product. It was a wonderful way to spend my summer! The places I had the chance to see and people I met continue to stay with me - it was a great experience!