A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.

The Impact of Service



"Speaking with locals and living in a country is the best way to learn about the real lives of citizens, not just the stories in the mainstream media. I will be more critical of what I read as a result of this experience. I also feel even more grateful for my education, and I feel a stronger responsibility to assist others who do not have resources or access to opportunities in their communities."

Maria Skouras (New York University) volunteered in 2011 as a Peace Fellow for eHomemakers in Malaysia.

For more 2011 feedback click here.

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Partner Campaigns > Advocacy Quilting > Rio Negro Memoria... > The Memorial Quilt > Victims > Don Guillermo San...

Don Guillermo Sanchez



Don Guillermo Sanchez and Doña Narcisa Chen were born and raised in the village of Río Negro. Guillermo was a farmer and Narcisa took care of ten children and the house. They were the mayordomos, or religious leaders, of the Cofradia de la Santa Cruz in Río Negro. They held Santa Cruz feast day parties at their house every 3rd of May.  Narcisa would make pinol, chilates, and chuchos for the community and Guillermo would lead the Costeño dances which were performed only on the Santa Cruz feast day. Their house was filled with people and laughter.  Of the Sanchez Chens’ ten children, five died of disease, three died during the internal conflict and violence associated with Chixoy Dam, and two have survived.

On February 13, 1982, Guillermo Sanchez walked three hours to the village of Xococ with his daughter, Margarita, and grandson, Jesús, to recover his identity documents which had been taken from him eight days beforehand by the Guatemalan Army and local Civilan Army Patrol (PAC) in that same village. He and more than seventy other men were ordered to Xococ to verify their identities to the Army as part of their search for guerrilleros in the central mountains. After everyone arrived in Xococ, the Army and local Pac members began to fire upon the crowd. Some men, women and children were shot instantly while others were tortured, raped, and strangled to death. Others died from machete wounds. Guillermo was 55.

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