InterAmerican
InterAction
Projects
IAIA's efforts currently focus on the rainforested rural villages of the Toledo District in Southern Belize, primarily San Pedro Columbia, a K'ekchi' Maya village near the Columbia Forest Reserve. As their village populations increase and land resources diminish, many subsistence farmers and their familes are seeking to educate themselves and their children to face the difficult issues ahead. They are looking at various ways to feed their families without further stress on their farmland and forests.
With a tri-focus of Education, Tourism, and Jobs, IAIA volunteers are currently involved in several long-term projects in the Toledo District:
- The
Columbia Opportunity Center, a computer-based
resource center and educational facility in San Pedro Columbia Village.
- Assistance
with the planning and setup of new internet-based computer labs
in other villages in the Toledo District of Belize, in the nearby
villages of San Miguel and Big Falls.
- Continuing efforts to collect new and used books - textbooks, reference books, and fiction - for the Toledo District, both for Columbia and a nearby high school.
- Promoting Columbia Village and the Toledo District on the internet.