Small Change 4 Big Change was founded in April 2012 with a focus of sustainability and education.
Our goal is to assist rural community development through collaboration with humble Guatemalan families interested in changing their future. We work in the small town of Santa Catarina Barahona in sustainability, education, economic development, and animal welfare.
Education includes preschool for marginalized children ages 3-4 years old, scholarships for indigenous girls, and sewing classes for our indigenous weavers cooperative. Animal welfare includes our low-cost clinic Amor Animal, education in schools, and mass spay/neuter clinics in the surrounding areas.
We only give hand-UPs, not hand-OUTs; even good intentions can rob people of their dignity and self-worth if we take away an individual’s opportunity to help themselves.
These resources can enlighten you on why we want to want to collaborate with local families instead of “serving” them by meeting their needs:
The “Helping Without Hurting” series (these videos are short and really capture our philosophy of coming alongside the people instead of trying to “save” them):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a339VZRE3CM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_JzXbdqKHU&t=311s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DIDFymIU-I , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfgZyEhWc28
