We are a Maya organization that walks with youth, women, and families from the countryside to strengthen community life through economy and culture.

"Vida Digna applies a combination of ancestral and contemporary knowledge: community-based enterprises, agroecology, art, education, and healing."

"We don't confront the roots and consequences of migration from the outside, but from within, alongside the communities to which we belong."

Our mission: To create a space for developing the skills and talents of Maya youth, women, and families from the countryside—amplifying emerging voices around collective rights, cultural expression, complementary enterprises, and forced migration. 

The headquarters of Asociación Colectivo Vida Digna is Casa B’elejeb’ Kame – the House of Nine Deaths. In Maya Cosmovision, it symbolizes nine great transformations we must embrace in life. This concept guides our work, inspiring us to change and adapt alongside Indigenous youth, whose needs and aspirations evolve amid racial, gender, economic, and climate barriers.

Casa B’elejeb’ Kame is a meeting place for Indigenous Peoples of different Maya ethnicities, especially youth and families from the countryside. Here, we address inequality and integrate organic agriculture, natural medicine, community economy, education, art, and Maya sciences to strengthen cultural identity and family unity.

Meet the Team

  • Carlos Escalante Villagrán, MSc

    General Director

    Carlos is Maya K´iche, a cultural researcher and Mayan spiritual guide. He holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala; a M.S. in Rural Economics from the University of Lisboa, Portugal; and a M.S. in Management for Sustainable Development from the Instituto Chi Pixab’ and the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. 

    He has worked extensively in international trade and marketing of Mayan clothing with widows of Guatemala's armed  conflict. Carlos authored Fuegos: Tzijolb’al Tzij Kaj Ulew - Lugares para hablarle al universo (..., 2020), Cosmovision and Spirituality: Meditations and reflections on Mayan Thought (Cosmovisión y Espiritualidad: Meditaciones y reflexiones del pensamiento Maya, Silabario Ediciones, 2016) and coordinated the study Cultural Politics Manual: Cultural Diversity, Collective Human Rights, and Territorial Construction in "Post"-War Era (Manual de Políticas Culturales: Diversidad cultural, derechos humanos colectivos y construcción territorial en tiempos de "post" guerra,Editorial Cholsamaj, 2010).

  • Anna Aziza Grewe, MSW

    Program Coordinator

    Anna is Pakistani-German and grew up in New York. She is a popular educator, social worker and accredited traditional midwife. She holds a B.A. in Education from The New School for Social Research/Eugene Lang College and a MSW in Social Work from the Columbia University School of Social Work. She completed her studies with the Department Coordinator of Traditional Midwives from the Western Region of Guatemala in 2014.

    She has worked with local and international nonprofits in organizational and program development, specifically cultural identity programs and initiatives addressing racism and entrenched colonial processes. Anna´s expertise includes sexual rights, natural medicine, bodywork, and pregnancy education.

  • Salvador Pacay Mendoza, Msc

    Financial Coordinator

    Salvador is Maya Tz’utujil from Santiago Atitlán. He holds a B.S. in Public Accounting and Auditing and a M.S. in Finance from Universidad Rafael Landívar, with postgraduate studies in Tax Consulting at Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.

    He coordinates financial strategies for the Association, guiding resource use for community economic growth and social remittance investment. Salvador was an invited scholar at the International Symposium on Transnational Legal Pedagogy and a guest lecturer on corporate social responsibility at Rutgers University in New Jersey in 2024.