Guatemala

EMMAÜS SAN JUAN (Guatemala)

Emmaus San Juan is a community development association in San Juan de Comalapa, in the region of Chimaltenango, southern Guatemala. The group was created in 1998 and was borne out of collaboration with H.O.M.E, an Emmaus group based in Maine, USA.

The group is located in the heart of a neighbourhood where its people live in extreme poverty. Emmaus San Juan supports people in safeguarding their fundamental rights, so they can become an actor for their own change. The group carries out activities linked to microcredit, collecting, recycling and sells secondhand objects in its bric-a-brac. The group is specialised in sustainable agriculture and providing access to healthcare by putting an emphasis on alternative and ancestral plant-based medicine. Emmaus San Juan provides homeopathic treatments in a clinic to people from the poorest backgrounds, free of charge. All the medicines sold by the group are made by the group using medicinal plants.

Emmaus San Juan is part of the struggles for social and environmental justice and the ethical and solidarity economy led by Emmaus International.