Internship Positions

General Requirements for internships:

  • 6 weeks (200 hours) minimum
  • High-Intermediate to Advanced level of Spanish (intensive study available through the Casa Xelajú combined Spanish and Internship Program)
  • Knowledge and experience in the field in which you are applying to work.
  • Ability to work independently and be self-motivated.
  • A strong interest in working with people from a different cultures and economic classes.

Note: deadline is 6 weeks in advance of your desired starting date!

Please read though the information about our Internship Program before contacting our Volunteer & Internship Coordinator with further questions.

Internship project areas:

Proyecto La Pedrera
Proyecto La Pedrera offers work with children from 3-5pm Mondays through Thursdays helping with homework, teaching and providing recreational activities.

Agriculture
Assist in the marketing of agricultural products, offer technical support, teach about horticulture, help with organic gardening, and work on development projects such as environmental protection, stoves, tanks and latrines.

Animals
Care for animals, feed, clean cages, gather eggs, help fundraise, construct buildings, conduct community education, office work, guided tours of the centre and translations.

Art/Culture
Help facilitate art classes in rural communities, design, photography, fundraising, marketing and sales, store management and translation.

Construction
Work available for trained engineers, architects, or do hands-on construction, marketing, or fundraising.

Computer education
New. Teaching basic computer skills to children and adults in the country side.  This position is located in an elementary school in Aldea Vela, San Felipe, Retalhuleu (50 kms south of Quetzaltenango). If you take the bus, it will take 90 minutes from Xelaju to the Aldea.  The intern has to teach 200 children how to use  computers and word processing in the morning, for five hours a day, Monday through Friday. In the afternoon, The intern  has to work with  the adult population  teaching very basic computer skills from Monday through Thursday. For adults, this will the first time that they touch a computer. In this community of 3,000 people, nobody speaks English. Great opportunity to practice Spanish, explore economic, cultural issues in the rural area and respirar aire puro.  There is not internet in the village. If you wish to check e-mail, you have to take a mini bus to the next town 5 kms away. However, there is access to cell phone.

Homestay with a local family.

Environment
Positions depend on the season; however volunteers can always work with coffee and macadamia crops. Other positions include teaching English in a rural area, working in an eco-hotel or on the eco-tourism programme, maintaining a pure water project or bamboo furniture project, assisting in the office with administration, promoting hikes, or being a volunteer guide for hikes.

Health/Medical
Help in the clinic, lab, pharmacy or reception. Work individually with patients, work on education and physical therapy with individuals of all ages and help with activities.  Volunteers with training in nursing or psychology and advanced Spanish can work directly with patients in a hospital setting.  Community Outreach – Facilitate workshops on sanitation, nutrition and other public health topics in rural areas.

Human Rights
Human rights support, field work research, community visits, workshops.

Women
Support Guatemalan women with limited resources to provide additional economic income to their families. Help with workshops, training, consulting, budgeting and accounting. Organize activities with the objective of learning to live an independent life.

Youth/Children
Devise and organise fun, educational and creative activities, help organize excursions.  Help is also needed with fundraising events, publicity and grant applications.

*Please contact our Volunteer & Internship Coordinator to check on the availability of specific positions.