Alternative Service Break trip to Guatemala Information Meeting is TODAY!

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The Center for Civic Engagement is sponsoring an Alternative Service Break to Guatemala in May. Participants will build houses for low-income families in rural areas of Guatemala.

Information meetings are today at noon to 12:45 p.m. and tomorrow, Feb. 7 at 5:15 to 6 p.m. in the Nebraska Union, Room 222. Applications will be available at the meetings.

Guatemala is among the poorest countries of the Americas with more than half its population living in poverty. A typical Guatemalan house is made of cornstalk walls, dirt floor and a scrap-material roof. Facilities for basic hygiene, like clean water and bathrooms, are often non-existent.

UNL participants will be working with Constru Casa, a non-profit organization offering basic housing to families living in extreme poverty. Constru Casa works in collaboration with local partner organizations to identify and select families of exceptional need. Beneficiary families participate in the construction of their home and also pay back one fourth of the total cost of the house over four years.