September 9, 2014

Access Alumni Serve as Interpreters During Medical Mission

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Access alumni work with a volunteer organization to provide healthcare to a Guatemalan community. Access alumni work with a volunteer organization to provide healthcare to a Guatemalan community. Photo Credit, U.S. Embassy of Guatemala
Fifteen alumni from the English Access Microscholarship Program in Chiquimula, Guatemala volunteered as Spanish-English interpreters during a recent humanitarian mission hosted by a U.S. faith-based organization, Believers in Christ.
 
Through their interpretation services, the Access alumni enabled eight medical volunteers to meet the needs of the local community, allowing 1,600 Guatemalans to receive medication assistance.  
 
The alumni volunteers are part of the U.S. Embassy’s "Access +" program, through which Access students receive an extra year of English language instruction and prepare for careers as English teachers. Now in its fifth year, the Access program in Guatemala is the largest in Latin America, with more 2,100 alumni from 17 of Guatemala's 22 departments.