Adonde vamos?

Chichi (We're going to Chichi's handicraft market on Sunday)


Lago Atitlan (We'll spend 3 days in different towns around this lake)


Here's our itinerary:
Friday: Antigua -- Xela
Saturday: Xela
Sunday: Xela -- Chichi -- Pana (Lago Atitlan)
Monday: San Antonio (Lago Atitlan)
Tuesday: Santiago Atitlan (Lago Atitlan)-- Antigua
Wednesday: La Trinidad -- Antigua
Thursday: Back to San Francisco, California, USA

Hope the students don't freak out when they see that we have to get up between 6:00-7:00 every morning. I'll bring my fog horn. (insert evil laugh here)

--Melanie

Now that's one good looking group of delegates

Delegations don't get cuter than this.

-- Melanie

Zach here

im 17 yrs old and im in the 11th grade at LHS. I live in san francisco with my family.ive been playig baseball my whole life. i spaek only english so its going to be hard to commuicate in Guatamele. i am defending 2 human rights article. articel 6 says that there shall be no police brutality. articel 12 gives the right to be in your home without anyone searching it.

IT'S CINDY

MY NAME IS CYNTHIA PEREZ I AM 17 YRS. OLD FROM SAN BRUNO CA. I AM FULL MEXICAN AND SPEAK BOTH ENGLISH AND SPANISH. I REALLY ENJOY TRAVELING SO THIS IS REALLY EXCITING FOR ME. I AM GOING TO BE LOOKING AT ARTICLE 9 NO ONE SHALL BE ARRESTED, DETAINED, OR EXILED WITHOUT GOOD REASON. AND ARTICLE 24 EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO REST AND LEASURE. I AM EXCITED TO SEE WHAT I´M GOING TO LEARN AND SEE THE DIFFERENCES OF HER AND OVER THERE.

This Is Collin

My name is Collin Hilden and i am a senior at leadrship high school. I was born in San Francisco and have lived here my entire life. I play for the leadership baseball team as an outfielder and pitcher. My interest are playing sports, relaxing, and being outside. I am very excited about going to Guatemala, little nervous because of my spanish skills. It will be an adventure.

This Is Tiye

Hi!! My name is Tiye Jones I'm 15 years old I am black and sadly the only black student going. I love to dance and eat and sleep and learn and play soccer and better myself and become more knowledgeable about who I am. I am doing my first blog 7 days before we leave to go to Guatemala. Im excited to go and visit a place I have never visited before. I have always been interested in equal rights for countries that have endured alot of suffering. So when I went to Mexico last year with the school and had a great time I was super excited that we would be going somewhere else this year. My two human rights are articles 11 and 13. Everyone accused of a crime has the right to a decent defense, and everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence, and part two of that is everyone has the right to leave her country and return to her own. I am very excited to get away from HOME!! I love traveling so I'm used to long flights and language barriers. I'm excited and I got to go pack!!!

TIYE
PEACE!!!

"Boripine"

Sup people lookin at this getro page my name is Jeremiah. I'm 15 years old im turning 16 in june though. I live inSan francisco. i have two pets both hamsters. I'm Latino PuertoRican and Guatemalan to be exact. I chose to go on this delegation because i'm guatemalan and i really wanted to see what it was like there. THe human rights i will be focusing on humans being born equal and no torture.

Patrick

Patrick here,

I'm an 18 teen year old spanish speaker from San Francisco, California, and I'm excited about going to guatemala!!!!

While in the country I plan on looking in on the human rights situation there specifically the indiginous populations rights in regards to article 21 of the Universal Decleration of Human Rights; tyhat every one has the right to take part in their government and everyone has equal access to the civil services offered by the government.

I joined this delegation to expand my sphere of knowlage, it's all well and good to read about the situstion of developing economies and poverty in the third world, but going out and seeing it frist hand will allow me possibly to make more informed decidions down the line.

Patrick

This is Natalie

My name is Natalie Rivas. I am 16 years old and I am from San Francisco. I am Salvadorian and Russian and I enjoy writing, watching foreign films with my mom and attending theatrical plays at A.C.T( American Conservatory Theather) When I go to Guatemala I plan to focus on two human rights which are, 1. Everyone has the right to an oppurtunity of an effective trial and 2.Men and Women have the ability to start a family and get married no matter race, religion or nationality. Also marriage cannot be put on someone who does not want to be in that status and everyone is entitled to protection from the government and society. I choose to be apart of this delegation to find out more about the world and to get a better understanding of poverty in another place.

Hola! Yo soy Can dice dice baby

Hey! hOw r you doing ? Welcome to Candice's blog. I am 16 years old. I have a really long last name that no one can pronounce. Say it with me HAFALIA-YACKEL. And Collin, my last name is not House of Waffles. I could give you a long lecture about my last name, but i dont want to waste your time. To summerize the first part of my last name is Philipino and the second half is German. I go to Leadership Highschool. And I love chocolate, because it makes me hyper, but what makes me even more hyper is this trip to Guatemala. I love to travel and on this trip i am expecting to have fun, while learning. It will be especially fun trying to break the language barrier. My spanish is not very good. When i am in GUATEMALA i am going to study the two human rights about slavery and freedom of expression.
I want to thank everyone who has helped me to be able to pay for the trip.All of your donations have helped the group and myself out a lot.
-PEACE-
Candice
" Were going to GUATEMALA! Hey!! Vamos a GUATEMALA!!! Hey!!!! '

This is Stephanie

Hello you guys! I hop e you guys are doing great! We'll here's a little about me...
My name is Stephanie Angeles. I'm a 17 year old latina that lives in Oakland. My mother is salvadorean and my father is Mexican, so as you can see i'm mixed of both. I'm a type of person that is open to almost anything. I'm always into trying new things because why not? I am fluent in spanish and speak it constantly at home.
One of the human rights I choose was Article #17. This is about everyone having the right to own property with the option of owning alone or with someone. This article also says that no one has the right to take anyone else's property without no good reason. The second article I choose was article # 26. This article focuses on everyone having the right to have an education and elementary school shall be required for all those that attend school.

Hi everyone, It's ZOEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

So yeah, my name is Zoe Willmott and I'm 15 years old (Sophomore at LHS). I'm from San Francisco and I love chiquita bananas! Hi Candizzy, i love you. I like to dance, laugh, sing (not very well though, and just be me). On this trip to Guatemala, i will be focusing on 2 main human rights. Article 3, everyone has the right to life, liberty and security and Article 25, everyone has the right to food, clothing, housing and medical care. I chose to be a part of this delegation because I want to travel and I also feel that it is important to learn about other cultures in order to try and make a world-wide difference. Thankyou to everyone who helped make this trip possible for us, we are all looking foreward to it (maybe a little bit too much). And to my sf buddies, Mo, Mari, Dalissa, Rachel- I Love you guys!!!! (hahahaha ur not going to guatemala). Mo- have fun in Philosophy (hehe). Courtney-i miss u and dont forget that not all crackers are white!!! Ok-bye for now everyone

Invitation to all our fans to post comments

Ladies and Gentlemen, put you hands together for our ten superstar students: Collin, Patrick, Stephanie, Cindy, Zach, Zoe, Jeremiah, Tiye, Candice and Natalia!
In 10 short days we will be embarking on our 7-day Human Rights Delegation in the highlands of Guatemala. We will be traveling with local NGO Global Exchange to explore topics such as fair trade, the peace process, education, and maya revitalization. Much love to everyone (donors, families, friends, teachers and staff) for supporting urban youth empowerment!
When I was in high school, my interests were much more about who drives and cute boys (or cute boys who drive) and much less about human rights in Guatemala. For this and many other reasons, big ups to my ten students for their maturity and pursuit of knowledge.
During the delegation, we will be posting on this blog to share our experiences with you all. Please check back often and post lots of comments and questions so we know our voices are being heard and so that we can share what we learn.
I invite you now to post a comment with well wishes, celebrations and words of support. Or post a comment with questions about human rights in Guatemala that you'd like us to explore while we're there. Simply click on "Comments" directly below this post.
Thanks again to everyone who played a part in making our delegation a reality!

Much love - Melanie