In Escuintla, the efforts go to try to prevent violence and bring more people from the community to actively participate in creating a better environment for everyone.
Escuintla is a small southern Guatemalan community where, in 2009, a group of youths who had been active leaders working to help their community started a Play for Peace club. Since day one, this club has faced all sorts of problems, mainly affected by economic difficulties and the hardships that a rough youth represents. In Escuintla, the efforts go for the most part to try to prevent violence and bring more people from the community to actively participate in creating a better environment for everyone. The youth facilitators work hard with experiential education and peace methodologies to design and implement workshops that promote inclusion and motivate current members to stay, as well as attract new ones. Luckily, they have support from a youth-oriented institution called “Social Projection for the Youth,” or PROSOJU by their initials in Spanish, which has found in Play for Peace’s methodology and philosophy the perfect aid to reach their objectives as an institution.
Today, a titanic effort is being made to keep this youth group alive and everyone is doing their best. For economic reasons, most of the members have had to emigrate in search of better life conditions or a better education. The 12 members that remain form the heart of this club!