About Project Genesis
Melanie and Maylin, Photo by Nelo @Nelomh
Project Genesis is a registered nonprofit located outside of Chimaltenango, Guatemala. The project was founded in 2012 by Ricardo Armas, a Guatemalan-born writer who fell in love with this forgotten community and has dedicated his life to helping raise the children who live there out of the cycle of poverty. Genesis serves 80-100 children, aged 3-14, providing them with educational support, nutrition, health services and a safe place for them to learn and play. There are over 400 children in the surrounding communities that need the project's services, however as of right now the program is struggling to stay afloat and continue due to lack of funding and volunteers.
Project Genesis takes its namesake from Ricardo's daughter, Génesis (pronounced: HEN-esis), whom he named to reflect the fact that her birth completely changed his life, giving him a new beginning. Ricardo is an author with one book published and two more books written, but not yet published.
In July of 2012, Armas visited the town of San Andres Itzapa, a rural community about an hour outside of Antigua, with his wife who had inherited property there. Arriving without any intention of anything more than a short visit, Ricardo left with a strong desire to help this community. He saw children without the opportunity to receive an education, and he recognized the long term effects on these families living in the cycle of poverty. He began visiting the community on weekends, taking his daughter with him so that he could teach her from the very beginning the importance of helping others. He gathered the children of the community together in an open field to teach them basic education, play games and give something positive to do as a community. When Ricardo's employer heard about what he was doing on the weekends, she told him he had to stop because the poor would bring bad luck to the company. Rather than quit what he was doing with the children, Ricardo quit his job and began coming to work with the kids every day. He has been running Project Genesis full-time for over four years, with no salary or stipend. Ricardo's love for this project has put him in debt, he's sold his car, his bed, and is struggling to provide for his family let alone for these wonderful children. We believe in Ricardo and in the project which is why we have chosen to work hard to make sure that it survives.
Writing and content Contributor: @HakimNoah
