Guatemala
In August 2009 an Integr8 team of volunteers travelled to Guatemala to inspire a spirit of inclusion within communities there. The team led an innovative mission to deliver training in schools and churches, equipping them to include disabled children. Team-member, Philippa, who is totally blind, inspired hundreds with her personal experience of disability and testimony of God in her life and recorded an audio blog of the trip.
Our Guatemalan partners invited Integr8 to return this year and so a team of 5 travelled there in August to build on the first trip and spread the message further.
You can read reports and diary and listen to Philippa's audio blog, below.
We are now recruiting volunteer team-members with relevant skills and experience for a trip in 2011. Please get in touch if you're interested.
See what the Integr8's mission team have been doing in Guatemala, with this selection of clips from their 2011 trip. The first clip is a selection of short moments from Integr8's 2011 trip to Guatemala. During the video, Alan talks about the work of Through the Roof and Integr8, there are ...
Integr8 returned to Guatemala in the summer of 2010. The team was led by Marie, who'd been part of the first visit in 2009. Disabled ambassador, Philippa, also travelled in 2009 and joined with Marie and three new team-members to inspire a spirit of inclusion amongst the communities ...
Guatemala Team Leader Marie writes: Everything is going very well, we are being well looked after. We did a workshop on Sunday which went down very well and have been to New Life Special school today where we had a very good session with the teachers advising on particular problems. ...
A team of 5 Integr8 volunteers headed off to Guatemala today on their mission to make a difference in local communities through inspiring a spirit of inclusion. The team is lead by Marie, who in 2009 joined the first-ever trip to this, the second poorest country in Latin America. ...
In Summer 2009 Philippa Woodcroft visited Guatemala as part of an Integr8 International short mission trip. You can find more about her presentation by following this link or more about our short-term mission opportunities by
Philippa and Christina are preparing to travel to Guatemala with an Integr8 team. Follow their journey by following this link to their blog.
Here's a selection of videos from our 2009 Guatemala trip -- all videos are hosted on youtube. Enjoy! An inclusive dance with Philippa and Julie -- part of our Guatemala 2009 education trip A Guatemalan Car Ride On the shores of Lake Atitilan Boat ride on Lake Atitlan Taking a Tuk Tuk ride Sign language in ...
It was 21st May and I had exactly zero team-members for our mission trip to Guatemala. I had been searching for twelve months for suitable volunteers and now was ten days away from my deadline. Even those who had been interested had pulled out. I was out of options and would ...
My name is Philippa and I am 20 years old. I was born blind, with no eyes in my sockets so I wear plastic eyes. This came as a great shock to my family. My parents couldn’t understand how I could be born blind when all their other children had ...
You won’t have heard of Philippa Woodcraft. She is twenty years old and lives in a small village in the Bedfordshire countryside. She works part-time as a secretary in an auction house and attends her local Baptist church. She is the seventh child born into her family. Philippa hasn’t starred on ...
Touch down at London Heathrow after a smooth journey home. Glad to see our families. Fantastic trip + excellent team. 480 trained. God was in all we did.
Before heading to the airport we took a quick trip to the America Latina school in the city. We saw Jose, a young man with learning disabilities who graduated from the school the previous year, and now has a paid role at the school. His co-workers say he has been ...
Our last day in Guatemala. Attended church service at El Camino. The church has a great ministry to deaf people – around 30 or so were in attendance - and so the lively worship songs were ‘signed’ using American Sign Language. The church treated us to lunch at Pizza Hut, ...
Re-visited the children at Love the Child where Philippa sang to them, and we introduced Parachute games and some worship Action songs.
Delivered training to around 30 disabled children and teachers at a Rehab Centre in Guatemala City. Maria, the Lead teacher, is extremely forward-thinking in how the students are taught, including giving the children chores to emphasise that they all have a contribution to make. In the afternoon we saw a disturbing ...
Leaving Antigua-Guatemala behind and travelling to visit Steve Osborn’s ministry, Love the Child (Amor del Nino), in San Lucas. Met the 48 disabled or disadvantaged children in their orphanage and ate fried chicken at Guatemalan fast food restaurant ‘Pollo Campero’. Slightly more restful day today – and much needed after ...
170 teachers packed into the New Life special school for the training. The students performed their inclusive dance for delegates before 16 year-old Blanky gave a testimony of her school experience as a wheelchair user, coming from very difficult circumstances but graduating from New Life and giving all the glory ...
Delivered training to around 60 parents and a few pastors. Parents were accompanied by their children which added to the number, and the noise level. Delegates enjoyed the inclusive parachute games but my cultural ignorance showed up today as I got things wrong by getting delegates into small groups to ...
Good night’s sleep then breakfast of fried eggs and traditional black beans (frijoles). Judy collected us for 20 minute drive up the volcano to her special school in the village of Santa Maria de Jesus. Great welcome from the 70 disabled kids, who presented an inclusive dance to us, and ...
On Sunday morning we had a ‘chance’ encounter with an American couple at the hotel who were thrilled by our project and prayed for us all as a team in the hotel foyer which was a great blessing. Short Tuk-Tuk ride from the hotel to a church to deliver the ...
Packed bags on Saturday am to travel 3 hours by van with Rolandos, of Love the Child, and Jonathan to the edge of beautiful Lake Atitlan, then 30 minute boat crosing to San Pedro La Laguna. Pizza for lunch overlooking the lake then delivered training to 60 delegates (a mix ...
Breakfast of scrambled eggs then leave at 8.00am for 45 minute drive to America Latina school. During the journey I found a caterpillar on the front seat, and rather than throw him out of the window I held on to him before arriving at the school and putting him on ...
On plane now + all going smoothly. Boarded first because Phillipa needs more time. Planned tomorrow’s training session at the airport. Looking forward to what God has planned. Arrived safely Thursday night and met by Kenny and Carol of America Latina. Stayed at nice Christian B&B.
24 hours until take-off! I’m not quite packed yet but at least I have managed to assemble all my stuff in a pile next to my case! Getting excited but apprehensive about the trip. I received an e-mail from one of our partners to say she has got our training ‘approved’ ...
