The Santa Elena Project of Accompaniment (SEPA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was founded In 1997 by a group of Oberlin residents responding to the call for accompaniers–human rights observers–to live in Maya villages. Those accompaniers were charged with bearing witness and deterring violence against Maya Guatemalans as they put their lives back together and dealt with the aftermath of the thirty-six-year Internal Armed Conflict in Guatemala. ​Our mission expanded when first Santa Elena Veinte de Octubre and then later Copal AA asked us to support their communities more directly. We are proud to follow the model of community-directed support, which allows the communities–not outsiders–to determine the most critical needs.

 

During the past 30 years, you have helped SEPA raise more than $750,000 to:​​​

• provide more than 500 scholarships so that students can attend school beyond the 6th grade;

• sponsor countless accompaniers who have gone on to do human rights work;

• pay teacher salaries;

• provide infrastructure support in the form of roads, a kitchen, a well, and building additions.​​

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SEPA remains an all-volunteer board. We continue to serve our fellow communities with love and respect.​