The community radio station La Voz de Palestina is located in the highland community of Palestina de los Altos, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Founded just over a year ago, the station is has been little by little gathering the equipment and personnel to broadcasting. Nestled into a tiny room in the corner of the town’s public library, the radio station has just enough to get by, but no more. Samuel Gomez, the station’s founder, had been involved in the community radio movement during its early years, but had to close the station when times got tough almost a decade ago. Now, La Voz de Palestina is back on their air with a new spirit and a growing group of interested youth volunteers. “Our goal, in the long term, is to promote social change and civic participation within our community of Palestina; to encourage the use of our native language of Mam, along with revitalization of our culture, traditions, and dress; and to educate and inform our listeners.”
Supporting the radio in its development are two international volunteers, Cassandra Euphrat Weston of Harvard University and Nina Janggen of the University of Zurich. Over two months, they will be providing youth volunteers with workshops on self-expression, confidence, and leadership, as well as giving guidance to both young and older volunteers on the use of computers and the internet to help further the radio’s mission.
