Who We Are

We believe in the power of community to collectively heal wounds, overcome adversity, envision new realities, and create transformational change.

Local project Coordinators

Sadi García - Quetzaltenango & San Juan Ostuncalco

Sadi is a Maya & mestizo woman who embraces her roots and history, and faces her life with courage. Quetzalteca and of colored bone, fire, color and rhythm are part of her DNA. She is a sister of nature, daughter of the earth and the sun.

“Buena Semilla has been for me a starting point of a metamorphosis of love. It is the space where I and other women have gone from being chrysalis to butterflies. It is the convergence of our strength, courage, faith and love. I have been transformed together with this sisterhood through the offering of our words, and I have learned that there is nothing to discover, that all the knowledge of our ancestors is here in our DNA. Buena Semilla, together with the Women Circles, represents for me in this present moment, happiness, love and fulfillment.”

Dolores Quievac Sapalú - Santiago Atitlán

Dolores is a Maya tz’utujil woman and mother to a small son. She was born in a small town with much poverty and social inequality, especially for indigenous women. She started working at a young age and dropped out of school to help her family. She learned the traditional sacred art of mustacilla weaving and believes that embracing our cultural art & traditions can create a better world. She recently returned to school to study accounting and law and now dedicates her strength, energy, knowledge and love to help build more just realities for women and children in her community.

“Working with women is so powerful. It transforms the whole world through the strength of these women.“

Diego Petzey - Santiago Atitlán

Diego is a member of the Maya Tz'utujil Aj Tz'kin Jaay. He loves and honors his Mayan roots and holds deep respect for all the diversity and expressions of life. Diego intends to contribute to recreating and weaving the threads of life, to healing the violated dignity of nature and to sharing the hope that the fullness of life is not lost. He thanks, honors and recognizes the valuable legacy of his ancestors who have guided him so that he can walk alongside this family of Utzlaj Ijaatz – Good Seed.

“Buena Semilla is: to build, to light, to weave, to link, to create, to sow, to harvest, with all possible people, at all possible times, with all possibilities.`“

Anne Marie Chomat, MD, PhD, MPH - international coordinator & liaison

Anne Marie started collaborating with Maya Mam women in the Western Highlands of Guatemala in 2009; they together founded Buena Semilla and have been co-creating & growing ever since. As a transformational mentor, decolonization practitioner, activist, scholar & healer, she focuses on contributing to women's empowerment, collective healing processes, decolonization journeys and intentional co-creation of new realities in partnership with local communities. Through her experiences working in the "Global South" over the last 20 years, she has come to believe that it is often those who remain voiceless whose voice most needs to be heard.

“How can we ensure that everyone’s voice counts, when there are those of us who don’t yet stop and listen, and those of us who are still too afraid to speak? Within this query lies the key to a new world that stands beyond all that we know, beyond all greater than imagined possibilities. It is time to hear and learn from all the unseen and unspoken and unheard. For therein lies the medicine the world most urgently needs.”

Women’s Circle Leaders - San Juan Ostuncalco

Miriam Méndez || Co-founder

Miriam is a 42 year old Maya Mam leader from Chapibil, San Juan Ostuncalco, who inspires all others. She is strong, creative and entrepreneurial, and encourages women not to remain in a state of victimization, but to keep trying to get ahead in life. She is a counselor and guide for many women. Her dream is to keep growing with Buena Semilla, and reach more women, to provide support and promote wellbeing. With her two daughters, Miriam facilitates and dreams up new ways of growing circles in new communities.

Miriam has been collaborating with Buena Semilla since 2009, and has been a Circle Leader since 2014.

“Thanks to the Women's Circles of Buena Semilla I have learned to see my problems in a different way. I used to see them as impossible to fix, but not anymore. Now I get sick less and I share this with other women."

Julia Méndez || Co-founder

Julia is a 62 year old Maya Mam woman from Los Romero, San Juan Ostuncalco. She is our grandmother leader. Her goal is to keep teaching about psychosocial health and providing support to women of her community.

Julia has been collaborating with Buena Semilla since 2009, and has been a Circle Leader since 2014.

Isabel Romero || Co-founder

Isabel is a 53 year old Maya Mam woman from Los Romero, San Juan Ostuncalco. She is sensitive, patient and kind. She works to teach women how to weave and above all, that they can live a peaceful life and support one another.

Isabel has been collaborating with Buena Semilla since 2009, and has been a Circle Leader since 2014.

“Thanks to Buena Semilla, I have learned a lot, and now I lead the Women Circles. I feel happiness everytime we share in the circles, and we learn a lot about promoting our wellbeing through the exercises.”

Teresa Ortega || Co-founder

Teresa is a 55 year old Maya Mam woman from Los Romero, San Juan Ostuncalco. She is strong and sensitive. She dedicates her time to embroidering güipiles, the traditional blouses of Guatemala. She creates designs of love and harmony. Her dream is to keep working in the Women’s Circles, to help all women find strength in themselves.

Teresa has been collaborating with Buena Semilla since 2010, and has been a Circle Leader since 2014.

"Before I was very shy, but since I started participating in Women Circles, my fear of speaking has dissipated. Now, I speak in front of many women to share about what I have learned.”

Baudilia Romero

Baudilia is a 40 year old Maya Mam woman, who is strong-willed and generous. She is highly entrepreneurial and sells her hand made products. One of her goals is to support women in their entrepreneurship.

She is from Los Romero, San Juan Ostuncalco, and has been a Circle Leader since 2019.

“Thanks to Buena Semilla, I have learned to be at peace with myself. I used to suffer from nervousness, and I would often become ill, however since I have started participating in the Women Circles, I feel much better, and I am also supporting other women.”

Aurelia Castillo

Maria Marroquín

Josefa Monterroso

Ilsa López

Fernanda Castillo

Women’s Circle Leaders - Santiago Atitla

Florinda Ajpuac Xicay

Norma Coló Cutzal

Dolores Quiejú Sapalú

Lourdes Ruiz

Men’s Circle leaders - Santiago Atitlán

Diego Petzey

Diego Sapalú

Interns & Volunteers

Chloé Mancini

Chloé is a medical student who joined Buena Semilla in 2018 as a Global Health Scholar from McGill University. Her main interests are humanizing healthcare and weaving a connection between medicine & the wholistic, humane components of health. Strongly passionate for social justice & equity, Chloe aspires to continue her work with Buena Semilla to contribute to a sense of community belongingness and to foster collective wellbeing. She is inspired by the resilience of local leaders and participants and determined to continue contributing to Buena Semilla’s mission

Isabel Levine

Isabel is a recent graduate of McGill University in Psychology & Social Studies. She is interested in the role of empathy & humanism in healthcare, with a specific focus on mental & global health. She first became involved with Buena Semilla as a McGill Global Health Scholar in 2019. She spent the summer living in Xela, Quetzaltenango, assisting local project leaders, executing a qualitative research project,, and falling in love with the community, the project, and the women she worked with. She remains engaged with Buena Semilla, and continues to admire the project’s locally-led, grassroots approach.

Magdalena Morales || Communications Coordinator

Born in Venezuela and raised in Canada, Magdalena completed her Bachelor’s degree in International Development and Social Entrepreneurship at McGill University. She also did a microprogram in Nutrition at Université Laval. She is interested in food security, storytelling and arts, which are themes she mostly explored during her time as a Summer 2018 intern for Buena Semilla. Since then, she has kept volunteering for the organization and done various internships in Latin America. Recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Youth Medal for her involvement in her community, she also holds a degree in Fine Arts and her favourite part about Buena Semilla is the collective hug at the end of every Circle.

Katherine Pizarro

Katherine Pizarro is a doctoral candidate in the Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill University, working with Dr. Danielle Groleau. Her research uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand social & cultural aspects of health behaviors, with a focus on substance use and mental health. She has conducted research to inform the design and evaluation of public health policies and programs in a variety of international settings. For her doctoral research, she is working with Buena Semilla on the evaluation of a participatory approach - Dialogue Groups - to address social determinants of mental health & wellbeing among indigenous men in Guatemala, exploring how local constructions of mental health & wellbeing can guide the development of relevant & culturally safe interventions.

Nicholas LeBel || Research Assistant

Nicholas is a student at the University of Ottawa currently completing an Honours BSc in Biomedical Science with a specialization in Neuroscience. He joined the Buena Semilla team in November 2018 and has been an active member since, participating in the collection, synthesis, and analysis of the project’s quantitative and qualitative data. Nicholas is passionate about community-based public health initiatives, particularly pertaining to maternal, newborn and child health.

Emilia Zamora || Research Assistant

Emilia is an Ecuadorian Clinical Psychologist and Master in Global Mental Health from LSHTM. She has collaborated with Buena Semilla by reviewing content in Spanish to share with users and connecting with psychological services.