Still time to enter annual NISGUA drawing for great prizes

HANCOCK -- It's not too late to enter the NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with the people of Guatemala) contest for a free trip to Guatemala or one of many other exciting prizes.

"First and foremost, when you donate $25 for a ticket (or multiples of $25 for multiple tickets), you become a partner in the work of NISGUA," says Sue Ellen Kinglsey, executive director of CCGAP (Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project), the local human rights support organization working with NISGUA. "This is solidarity work; NISGUA doesn't give material 'development' to Guatemala. Our solidarity mission provides the security for Guatemalans to take chances in their struggle for basic human rights. And they do. Our Guatemalan partners have told our accompaniers again and again that our international presence and support gives them the will to continue the good fight for justice and economic and environmental rights. NISGUA needs your support to continue also."

Sue Ellen Kingsley, CCGAP (Copper Country Guatamala Accompaniment Project) executive director, with friends in Fronterizo, Guatemala. (Photo © Karen Endres and courtesy CCGAP)

A second benefit, Kingsley adds, is that you might win one of these prizes:

• Grand Prize is one round-trip ticket to Guatemala and one week of Spanish school (including materials and room and board with a family) at the Minerva Spanish School in Xela. If the winner prefers not to travel to Guatemala, he or she can choose a destination in the continental United States. Winner must contact NISGUA at least six weeks before desired dates of travel. Travel restrictions will apply.
  

• First Prize is $250 in cash.

• Second Prize is a piece of artwork from artist Marilyn Anderson. Examples of artist’s work can be viewed at ProArteMaya.
  

• Third Prize is a framed black and white photograph donated by longtime NISGUA friend Paula Worby.

• Fourth Prize is 10 hours of online Spanish classes with Celas Maya Spanish school, which now offers quality one-on-one instruction through Skype.
  

• Fifth Prize is a copy of Rescatando Nuestra Memoria, the latest book from award-winning photographer and longtime NISGUA supporter Jonathan Moller.

Runner Up Prizes include a variety of Guatemalan gifts -- crafts; fair-trade organic coffee and chocolate; a copy of The Business of Gold: Chronicle of a Conflict Foretold -- the powerful NISGUA-supported documentary about mining in Guatemala by filmmakers Gregory Lassalle and Marcos Perez; a copy of What War? Testimonies of Maya Survivors, the latest book by longtime Guatemala activist Laurie Levinger; a $100 gift certificate for Heart of the Sky Fair Trade and more ...

It's easy to enter: you could go to nisgua.org and do it online. That's easy. OR you could send Sue Ellen Kingsley a check made out to NISGUA, let her know how many times you want to enter ($25 per entry) and give her your contact information or the name of someone you wish to put on a winning ticket -- even your mother-in-law, Kingsley notes.

Send checks to NISGUA Chance for Peace, Sue Ellen Kingsley, 53044 State Hwy M203, Hancock MI 49930.

Don't wait! Do it now!