Fall 2019 Newsletter

FIDESMA, in San Andrés Itzapa, Guatemala, is our longest-running partner. Our first shipment there was in 1999. Since then we’ve shipped them 10,333 bikes and 314 sewing machines.

Crime rates in Guatemala are high. Our partners at FIDESMA say that crime has hurt the local economy. Partly as a result, we’ve partly subsidized a shipment there for the first time.

Still, FIDESMA remains one of our most active partners, with programs in agriculture, health, conservation, special education, and job training, as well as bicycle and sewing machine programs.

Here are a few recent photos from FIDESMA and the story of a man who may be our oldest customer.

Vincente Chun

Vicente Chun is 71 years old. He travels by bicycle every day to the field where he plants and tends corn and beans. He also works as a night watchman. He gets his food and clothing at a senior center. On the weekend he attends church near his home.

Unloading a Container

We regularly post photos of our U.S. crews loading containers at our Glen Gardner site. Here’s a photo of the loading of P4P’s 150,000th bike, which went to FIDESMA in April 2017. Here are some photos of what happens when a container gets to Guatemala.