Pasacuach Hope & Education Initiative

Welcome to our fundraising campaign for the Pasacuach community, nestled in the breathtaking Western Highlands of Guatemala. This initiative embodies a collaborative effort between the Pasacuach Community Development Committee, The Women's Circle of Pasacuach, the Highland Support Project (HSP), The Association of Highland Women (AMA), the Mayor's office of Santa Catarina, and the passionate Misfit Missions group & The Scott Steadman Promise Project are working to complete a kitchen and cafeteria that will nourish both the bodies and spirits of this resilient community. Join us in transforming lives and fostering a brighter future for the next generation through this vital project. Together, we can make a lasting impact!

Climate change poses a significant threat to Highland communities in Western Guatemala, exacerbating environmental instability and leading to devastating mudslides that displace families from their homes. Over the past 15 years, Guatemala has experienced an alarming increase in mudslides, primarily due to deforestation, heavy rainfall, and the effects of climate change. Erratic and intense rainfall patterns elevate the risk of landslides in mountainous regions characterized by soil erosion. These disasters destroy vital infrastructure and compromise access to essential resources such as education and healthcare. For instance, in October 2015, a catastrophic landslide in the municipality of Santa Catarina Pinula claimed over 280 lives when a hillside collapsed onto a residential area.

Similarly, in 2019, intense rainfall triggered multiple mudslides across several regions, resulting in at least 15 fatalities and extensive damage to homes and roads. As communities are forced to relocate to safer regions, they often face additional challenges, including loss of agricultural land, cultural dislocation, and limited access to social services. This cycle of displacement creates a growing sense of insecurity, hindering development efforts to provide stability and opportunities for the future. Addressing these environmental changes is crucial to protecting the livelihoods and welfare of residents in these vulnerable highland areas. To combat these challenges, communities and geologists are actively working to identify habitable zones with solid foundations, allowing displaced families to relocate safely. Many are forced to move to ridge tops and higher elevations as the threat of landslides increases, a necessary adaptation to ensure their safety and sustainability.

At the beginning of each semester, Don Audelino Sac Coyoy, a respected K'iche scholar, asks his students a simple but profound question: "Are you learning to be happy in school?" This question sits at the heart of everything we do. As Maya academic Dr. Daniel Matul reminds us, education — and by extension, nourishment — should be infused with beauty and love. A warm, freshly prepared meal is not just sustenance; it is an act of care, a moment of connection, and a foundation for learning. The Healing Through Food campaign reflects this belief. The kitchen and clean-air stoves now provide the community with a safe, clean space to prepare healthy meals for local schoolchildren in an area facing food insecurity. The cafeteria will expand on this — offering the Women's Circle a dedicated place to come together, collaborate, and support one another through peer-to-peer connections that no formal program can replace. Your support is what stands between a design and a reality. Help us complete what this community has already started.

Update

We are proud to share that the kitchen building and two school-size clean air stoves are already built and in use—a meaningful milestone made possible by the generosity of our supporters. Now, we are calling on all who share our vision to help us complete the final piece: the cafeteria. We have a design ready. What we need are the funds to bring it to life.

This space is more than just a place to cook — it is a gathering place where women can find community, share knowledge, and support one another, while ensuring the children attending the local school have access to nourishing, freshly prepared meals.