PONY's 30th Birthday Wish Project
Donation protected
hi loves! i'll keep this simple...
as some of you know, my mother Asha does long distance endurance swimming to raise money and awareness for the Mayan widows of San Pedro Laguna, in Guatemala.
she is currently training to swim the English Channel in August, and 100% of the money she raises goes to the widows and children. she does not take any money to finance the swims from the charity project she and my father run.
this year as i turn 30 and enter into a new decade, starting a new tradition of helping others for my birthday... so, in lieu of any gifts or money spent on me for my birthday this year from my friends and wonderful supporters i'd like to take the opportunity to raise money for these beautiful women and children, some of whom live on as little as a dollar a day.
any amount you can give is greatly appreciated. please help me reach my goal of $3000 dollars by the time the clock turns to midnight on my 30th birthday on May 29th!
<3 so much love to you all and thank you for being in my life!
Peter PONY Clement
For more info on this project and how and where your money will go to, check out:
www.AshaSwims.com
Asha says :
"Nearly two decades after the end of a genocidal civil war in Guatemala that lasted more than three decades (from 1960-1996) and resulted in the death and disappearance of countless (more than 200,000) indigenous Mayas, many are still suffering. Older women who were widowed by the war are malnourished and some of them lack very basic subsistence and health resources. Chidren, too, are in need. I have met them face-to-face and I'm committed to helping them not just in the short term but for a long time to come.
Working with a small, mission focused non-profit called Assisi House, my aim is to help improve the health and quality of life of people in the village of San Pedro la Laguna on the shores of Guatemala's Lake Atitlan.
I have been to San Pedro la Laguna twice to get the project started and will be returning about twice each year. My husband and I have made a personal long-term commitment to doing sustainable, transformative work there and elsewhere in the area. Nutrition is a big issue, especially for many of the older widows and some of the young children. As a ready source of protein, lacking in many of their diets, we presently are providing eggs. This is merely a short-term, starting point intervention. We are committed to creating sustainable food resources by setting up organic garden plots in the village with the help of caring, able-bodied local people to tend them. It sounds simple and in fact it is - but this is a big need. We also see this as just the beginning of our work.
So how did we get to San Pedro la Laguna? It is an interesting story involving a broken down bus, a young Guatemalan couple named Emma and Renzo who we met on the side of the road, her artist father Mariano Gonzalez Chavajay whose work we fell in love with, and meeting two indigenous Tzutujil widows named Lucia and Florinda. Long story short: the wonderful Tzutujil people we met won our hearts and we had to commit to helping. I wish you could meet them and perhaps, if you're fortunate, someday you will.
I understand that not everyone can actually come to Guatemala to do this work. But I also know that most of my friends have the means to get behind it and support it financially -- and that's what I'm asking you to do. I'm bringing to this effort the same drive, determination and discipline that I bring to swimming. Just as every open water distance swimmer needs a support team, this work is not a one-woman effort. Please join me!"
as some of you know, my mother Asha does long distance endurance swimming to raise money and awareness for the Mayan widows of San Pedro Laguna, in Guatemala.
she is currently training to swim the English Channel in August, and 100% of the money she raises goes to the widows and children. she does not take any money to finance the swims from the charity project she and my father run.
this year as i turn 30 and enter into a new decade, starting a new tradition of helping others for my birthday... so, in lieu of any gifts or money spent on me for my birthday this year from my friends and wonderful supporters i'd like to take the opportunity to raise money for these beautiful women and children, some of whom live on as little as a dollar a day.
any amount you can give is greatly appreciated. please help me reach my goal of $3000 dollars by the time the clock turns to midnight on my 30th birthday on May 29th!
<3 so much love to you all and thank you for being in my life!
Peter PONY Clement
For more info on this project and how and where your money will go to, check out:
www.AshaSwims.com
Asha says :
"Nearly two decades after the end of a genocidal civil war in Guatemala that lasted more than three decades (from 1960-1996) and resulted in the death and disappearance of countless (more than 200,000) indigenous Mayas, many are still suffering. Older women who were widowed by the war are malnourished and some of them lack very basic subsistence and health resources. Chidren, too, are in need. I have met them face-to-face and I'm committed to helping them not just in the short term but for a long time to come.
Working with a small, mission focused non-profit called Assisi House, my aim is to help improve the health and quality of life of people in the village of San Pedro la Laguna on the shores of Guatemala's Lake Atitlan.
I have been to San Pedro la Laguna twice to get the project started and will be returning about twice each year. My husband and I have made a personal long-term commitment to doing sustainable, transformative work there and elsewhere in the area. Nutrition is a big issue, especially for many of the older widows and some of the young children. As a ready source of protein, lacking in many of their diets, we presently are providing eggs. This is merely a short-term, starting point intervention. We are committed to creating sustainable food resources by setting up organic garden plots in the village with the help of caring, able-bodied local people to tend them. It sounds simple and in fact it is - but this is a big need. We also see this as just the beginning of our work.
So how did we get to San Pedro la Laguna? It is an interesting story involving a broken down bus, a young Guatemalan couple named Emma and Renzo who we met on the side of the road, her artist father Mariano Gonzalez Chavajay whose work we fell in love with, and meeting two indigenous Tzutujil widows named Lucia and Florinda. Long story short: the wonderful Tzutujil people we met won our hearts and we had to commit to helping. I wish you could meet them and perhaps, if you're fortunate, someday you will.
I understand that not everyone can actually come to Guatemala to do this work. But I also know that most of my friends have the means to get behind it and support it financially -- and that's what I'm asking you to do. I'm bringing to this effort the same drive, determination and discipline that I bring to swimming. Just as every open water distance swimmer needs a support team, this work is not a one-woman effort. Please join me!"
Organizer and beneficiary
Peter Clement
Organizer
New York, NY
Asha J Allen
Beneficiary
