About Us

AUDA’s logo is a combination of two Mayan glyphs. The foot at the bottom symbolizes traveling, or, more specifically, moving forward. The top symbol, made up of two circles, is the verb meaning “to do” or “to make,” its connotation being determination. The left circle in the top symbol has been changed to represent the lake, with twelve dots which stand for the twelve lakeside villages.

AUDA was founded in August of 2003 by Freida Whiddon Cox and her husband, Radford R. "Bobby" Cox, of Houston, Texas. The Cox’s have two grown children and four grandchildren that live in Texas, Tennessee and Iowa. Before moving to Guatemala, Freida and Bobby became interested in missions by hosting 8 foreign Bible students in their home for a year at the time. For more than a decade, they have been involved in foreign missions projects in the Guatemalan highlands.

A personal note from Freida: "My family is from Mississippi. I grew up with nine brothers and sisters. My father passed away when I was sixteen, which left my mother alone with seven children to support. My mother was a homemaker. She did not worked outside the home and her faith saw her through many tough times. Similarly, our faith has sustained us and been proven through difficult times. It has not been easy, but with a support team like Island Church in Galveston, Texas, and a team here in Guatemala, like Porch de Solomon, we are making a difference in the lives of Guatemalans. visit site: www.porchdesalomon.org

Three years before we moved to Guatemala, I had a vision of AUDA. We give Glory to God for our simple faith, which allowed us to walk out the vision. We choose to believe and see heavens doors open to bless these women and children. Together we can make a difference.

Our goal in Guatemala is to help disadvantaged women and children achieve economic and social independence.

Mission

AUDA (Artisanos United for the development of Lake Atitlan) is a community-based association dedicated to the economic and social empowerment of traditionally marginalized groups, particularly indigenous women and children in the Lake Atitlan region.

Brief History

AUDA works directly with local cooperatives and small businesses. This partnership enables them to increase their domestic sales and tap into international markets. The workers in these cooperatives earn a fair-living wage from their product. Profits from the international sales are reinvested into a community investment fund. The fund is managed by one representative from the cooperatives and the Board of Directors of AUDA.

How We Work

AUDA promotes economic development in the following ways:

• Assisting member groups register as legal cooperatives
• Linking groups to the international market
• Project Partnering with Porch de Salomon, visit their website : http://www.porchdesalomon.org
• Providing product development advice so that groups’ products appeal to international tastes without losing cultural significance
• Providing marketing assistance to help cooperatives increase domestic sales, resource materials, packing & shipping, and more
• Holding board meetings for members to participate in the development of their businesses
• Teaching member groups better business practices and helping them establish better accountability measures
• Researching different markets to increase cooperatives’ sales
• Helping member cooperatives responsibly reinvest in their businesses

AUDA promotes the social development of its member communities in the following ways:

• Administering and monitoring a local school aid children’s program. AUDA currently provides aid in San Antonio Palopó, Panajachel, El Tablon, Choacruz Tzaput and San Juan Laguna
• Administering the funds for our groups’ community aid projects
• Linking with other organizations to find support for our various community projects
• Taking photos of samples and sending to clients in US via email for approval, resourcing the material, monitoring the groups progress, giving aid where needed as they start the order, collecting the order, shipping the orders
• Administering the funds for Purchase Orders, materials etc.
• Setting up an E-Store on the web for each group, watch for update
• Having our own web site helps them get connected, many live in rural areas and have cell phones now
• Teaching them what "is" a fair wage by analyzing material & labor costs

Good News

AUDA is now a 501(c)(3) non-profit orgination based in Humble Texas, that imports artisan goods from cooperatives in Guatemala, markets them in the US through e-commerce and clients, and returns 100% of the sales to the various communities through AUDA for development initiatives.