What is the Long Way Home?
Where does Long Way Home Currently Perform Projects?
How did Long Way Home start?
Why do we call ourselves “Long Way Home?”
How can I get involved?
What can you do to support Long Way Home? And what can we do to support you?
Is it expensive to fly to Guatemala?
How far is San Juan Comalapa from Guatemala city? Is it commutable?
What is the end objective for LWH?
Where/how does LWH receive its funding?
Is there an opportunity to develop a long term relationship with LWH?
Is your organization affiliated with a religion?
Do you have electricity on site?
How do I contact Long Way Home?

What is the Long Way Home?
Long Way Home is a 501(c)3 non profit organization run by a group of dedicated volunteers and staff who give their time, energy, and resources to helping at risk-youth throughout the Americas. LWH was founded in 2004 by a small group of development workers who have been touched by the generosity, industry, and open-mindedness of the less fortunate. We help young people by fostering small scale community development and recognizing our global responsibility.

Where does Long Way Home Currently Perform Projects?
Working in partnership with community leaders and local non profit organizations, Long Way Home builds community parks on community owned land easily accessible to town. These parks provide opportunity for young people to participate in sports, learn arts and crafts, enjoy play structures, and study horticulture. Using the manpower of the local community, the expertise of local and international volunteers, and the resources of LWH, we teach organic farming techniques, put up soccer fields, and erect play structures and outbuildings that are used to hold community classes on a wide range of topics.

San Juan Comalapa, a 95% indigenous Maya municipality of the department of Chimaltenango, is set in the highlands of Guatemala eighty kilometers west of the Nation's capital. Amidst pine trees and cornfields, the area is mountainous at 2350 meters with an average temperature of 18C. The local indigenous language, Kaqchikel, means “wear your independence.” The people take pride in their roots and most women wear the traditional dress of hand woven huipiles and cortes. Comalapa is internationally known as one of the centers for the three major Mayan painting movements of the 20th century. Oscar Peren and Ivan Gabriel are currently two of the most famous resident artists. Many people make a living through the production of weavings, handicrafts and paintings.

According to the Census completed in 2003, there are 31,189 inhabitants in Comalapa's urban area and surrounding 23 villages. The majority are farmers, their livelihood depending on the land. Crops are primarily corn and beans. Harvests have been successful for the community in the past few years encouraging and facilitating community development. The community, with help from the governmental agencies and Project Chuwi Tinamit (CCF), has brought electricity and water to a majority of its population.

History of the Establishment of the Long Way Home Foundation
The Christian Children's Fund established Project Chuwi Tinamit (CCF) in 1983 to provide the Mayan indigenous rural community of San Juan Comalapa in Guatemala with basic resources such as water, food, housing, clothing, and medical services. Later in 1989, the CCF purchased land on the outskirts of the urban area with the intention of building a community development center and ecological park. Valeriano Pichiya considered this particular project a priority since his appointment as director of CCF in 1990, but had to put his energies into the immediate needs of fighting hunger, developing potable water systems, and managing the 1500 families sponsored by the CCF. Up to that time, and due to financial limitations, recreation facilities which were to include the basketball court, soccer field, jungle gym and greenhouse were continually postponed. The latter, if designed, could easily inspire and develop a youth association through the community organized construction of an adequate recreation area. Thus, in January 2003, Matthew Paneitz, at the time a Peace Corps volunteer, was invited by the CCF to organize activities and initiate a youth movement focusing on leadership and teamwork.

Living in the community and working with the dedicated staff of Chuwi Tinamit, Paneitz witnessed first hand the need and interest that the Mayan Kaqchikel community had in the community development project. The local population demonstrated a high level of enthusiasm and participation throughout the planning process. He saw that this project would directly benefit boys, girls, men and women for many years to come. But he also realized that what was urgently needed was an external financial and personnel base that could establish a support structure for the construction of a Comalapan community development center. Although the local government, represented by each of the 23 villages in the county, had already coordinated the use of locally available resources in order to realize this project, outside support had become essential in order to see the project through. Paneitz returned to the States with the intention of creating a non-profit foundation that would make the Comalapan community's vision a reality. Hence, the birth of Long Way Home.

Why do we call ourselves “Long Way Home?”
The name Long Way Home was conceived of initially as a symbol for the daily journey of a rural Mayan farmer. Traditionally, the farmer leaves home at dawn to till the fields all day with his young children who are often not able to attend the local school because their share of labor is necessary for the family's economic survival. Quite often, a family of ten might bring home a daily income of three dollars eating only tortillas with salt as the nutritional mainstay. In such cases, children, parents, and grandparents are regularly seen carrying heavy loads of firewood tied to their backs as they return home from a long day of work in the fields. Therefore, Long Way Home stands for the difficult life that Mayan children and adults endure without schooling or venues for building self-esteem and excellence.

As such, Long Way Home might be thought of as a euphemism for an elderly man ninety years of age carrying heavy pounds of weight on his back to light his fire at night, or to sell his firewood to someone else in an attempt to make ends meet. From this vantage point, the Long Way Home foundation may be seen as an organization whose objective it is to support humble peoples living in abject poverty. In the building of a community development center and ecological park, Long Way Home will support entire families by giving their children a place to go that fosters a sense of community, growth, development, abundance, a “have” rather than a “have not” existence. For the children and teenagers wearing rubber rain boots instead of soccer shoes, without uniforms, soccer balls, simple shelter, or recreation centers that might provide and augment a sense of community, Long Way Home can make a real difference. Those who contribute to the Long Way Home foundation and directly to the lives of Mayan youth should view their contributions as a means to make the Long Way Home a bit shorter, replenished with care, concern, leadership and supplies.

On another level, however, for anyone who has spent time with the Kaqchikel Mayan community in Guatemala, the name Long Way Home might signify a sort of spiritual migration back to the heart of the matter. One has only to pass the day in San Juan Comalapa to understand the power and beauty of a smile of greeting that emerges from the depth of the human spirit. Such a greeting genuinely reflects a state of neighborliness, kindness, and gratitude which might seem impossible amidst the hardest of imaginable economic circumstances, but which is obviously very possible for it exists. Although they might be living in poverty, no Mayan family spares a tortilla, a pastry, or a hot drink for a visitor who has tenfold more fiscally, but is perhaps slightly impoverished in a somewhat different way.

In their own ways, Mayan communities have the capacity to teach us the true meaning of “home.” In other words, although we give financial aid and lend a hand in order to contribute to the sustenance of Mayan communities, in turn, we are given access to the splendor of a kind of quality of life that seems in some ways to be lost here in the United States. And so it is the objective of the Long Way Home foundation to provide for Mayan Kaqchikel peoples that which they lack economically, but those of us who contribute to the sustenance and economic improvement of Mayan communities will in turn receive immeasurable gifts when visiting the Mayan communities that we have helped, for they can teach us a shorter way home to the heart.

The Project as a Community Need
CCF is the driving force behind this project and has already contracted for an engineer to draw the plans and oversee the project. CCF is also providing the land, a permanent on-site guardian, a reforestation initiative among the community, staff for activities, long-term maintenance, and management of income generation. The local government will pay for a tractor to level the terrain and has already purchased basketball and soccer goals. The Comite de Padres de la Familia will be providing the skilled and general labor throughout construction and for future maintenance. The conservation group, AIRES, will be donating materials for the greenhouse (seeds/soil) and hosting classes in reforestation and horticulture. Since February 2003, the Ministry of Sports has assigned a long-term employee and provided equipment to assist in the development of youth sports leagues. One hundred percent of the families of the communities' youth have expressed support for the formation of this youth association. This project was conceived of on a civic level, is supported on local and national levels, and with your assistance will be aided on the international level.

Volunteers are generally requested by a host-country agency to address a specific concern among the communities' youth. The children of San Juan Comalapa attend formal classes for only four hours either in the morning or in the afternoon, Monday through Friday, leaving them with much free and unsupervised time. The Long Way Home foundation will provide personnel in the form of an on-site Project Director whose responsibility it will be to organize activities promoting self-esteem, leadership, motivation, critical thinking, improved human relations, civic participation and the foundation for a youth movement. Not only will the end-result of the project provide an environment to build the aforementioned qualities in the communities' youth, but the project itself teaches the concepts of communication, commitment, teamwork, and how to value one's work. Management of this association by the families will directly reflect the priority the community places on youth increasing their self-esteem as well as creating greater awareness among the community at large.

Although Long Way Home will provide initial funding, the community has the resources to sustain this project over the long term. Income will be generated by an affordable entrance fee and sales from the greenhouse to ensure proper maintenance of equipment and grounds. The Project Director will be provided by Long Way Home, but staff over the long term will be provided by CCF, the Ministry of Sports, local schools and community families. The local government has been proactive in creating community awareness of the importance of youth-organized groups.
One thing guaranteed never to change is the love that people have for playing sports. After having come together for the construction of this recreation facility and experiencing the joy facilitated by its existence, a sense of pride and ownership will be generated that will ensure its value and maintenance in the community. This project was initiated by Guatemalans and will be managed by Guatemalans in the future. Nevertheless, it is the job of Long Way Home to pave the road toward future success by investing capital to make such a construction possible in the first place. This is where your contributions become essential.

How can I get involved?
In San Juan Comalapa we offer full-time and part-time positions, internships for course credit, and volunteer opportunities. If you are interested in coming down and working in one of these capacities, contact us and we can walk you through all the steps. Visit our internship or volunteer program pages for more information specific to those programs.

Is it expensive to fly to Guatemala?
Interns and volunteers have regularlry found two week round trip tickets to Guatemala in the summer for as low 250$ although it can cost as much as 500$

How far is San Juan Comalapa from Guatemala city? Is it commutable?
Guatemala City is one hour from Comalapa by car.  Bus is two hours.

What is the end objective for LWH?
Matt Paneitz was a Peace Corps Volunteer here in 2003.  I was approached with the idea of helping Chuwi Tinamit build this ecological park for the community. Working with Chuwi Tinamit during my PC time i saw first hand that they are one of the very very few organizations serious about their work. That inspired me and I told them I would do what i could to help out.   After working in the PC and coming back to the states, I realized that I was not done with development work in C.A.  So I formed a board of directors, and applied with the IRS.  The IRS approved.   LWH's  plan for Proyecto Chimiya has always been to do the construction of the facilities and create the program development.  Ultimately, we would like to teach the locals how to manage the facility and be able to walk away from it.  That will take time and we are willing to invest it.  LWH is the only part of this collaboration that is Gringo.

How does LWH receive its funding?
LWH´s was initially funded from firewood that was cut and sold by volunteers during 2004.  Matt Paneitz also saved all of his pennies in 2004 and paid all expenses out of pocket for a little while. LWH is assisted by its volunteer and internship programs. LWH has 6 part-time stateside volunteers, and three in country full-time volunteers.  Funding is a bit tough for a new organization because it has little of a track record.  Now, LWH has a steady history of accomplishment, albeit a very recent one. There are no locals working specifically for LWH.  Locals usually want to be paid and we are volunteer group.  We are working with an 8 person committee at Chuwi Tinamit and a three person committee from Aires.  The work and responsibilities are divided evenly.

Is there an opportunity to develop a long term relationship with LWH?
This is a great chance to develop a long term relationship with LWH.  LWH is basically the eyes and ears in C.A. for orgs like Engineers Without Borders to find out who needs help and how possible it is. LWH could keep EWB´s working just in the villages near our town for a long time. 

Is your organization affiliated with a religion?
We are NOT affiliated with any religion.

Do you have electricity on site?
We lived without electricity until April 2005.  At this time we do have dependable electricity.

How do I contact Long Way Home?
Long Way Home has offices in the United States and Guatemala. Click here for our contact information.

There are a variety of capacities where your help is needed. Experience in agriculture, forestry, natural resource management, youth development, appropriate technology, community organization, program development, or non-profit management is helpful but not necessary. In fact, the best thing about working for Long Way Home is the opportunity to practical experience learning how to do things you might never have thought you would learn how to do, like fixing an engine, developing a water system, keeping livestock, bartering for materials in an indigenous language.

What can you do to support Long Way Home? And what can we do to support you?