Chi Tz'unun Choy
Culture Center
Board of Directors
Nacho Tepaz
President, Public Educator,
and Program Director
Nacho is a Primary School Educator and an ambulance driver at the Tzununá Health Center.
As president of Chi Tz'unun Choy, Nacho helps identify community needs and goals that can be met with new education and social programs through the community center.
In 2026, he collaborated with
public school teachers and local volunteers to organize a structured sports program for Tzununá, aimed at children, teenagers, and adults. Nacho sees the program as an opportunity to promote healthy lifestyles and address social issues in the community.
Nacho is also passionate about raising environmental awareness in Tzununá, and would like to improve education about caring for the local ecosystem.
Josefina Tepaz Sipac
Librarian and Educational Facilitator
Josefina Tepaz joined the Library in 2011.
She was trained by Child Aid and has many years of experience supporting young people with their learning journeys. In 2018, she completed her Diploma in Library Administration.
As both a mother and an educational facilitator, Josefina is passionate about helping children have
access to diverse educational experiences, and wishes to provide more learning explorations
with new technology at the library. She also wants to see more safe places for children to play in Tzununá, and hopes to maximize the potential of the land surrounding the community center for the benefit of local youth.
She works at the library Monday through Friday and also also spends a great deal of her time making the very colorful and beautiful traditional Kaqchikel women's clothing.
Alicia Simaj Chara
Program Advisor and Community Healer
Alicia comes from a family line of natural healers. She is an entrepreneur, who runs her own businesses as a massage therapist and as a cultural artisan.
Alicia is very passionate about preserving the language, values, and traditions of her Kaqchikel people of Tzununá.
In her role at Chi Tz'unun Choy, she asserts her leadership to support the rights of women to work, to run successful businesses, and generate income for their families.
She offers her ideas for helping the community center positively impact local children and expand their educational explorations through access to new technology, art classes, and sports programs.
Thierry Delrue
Co-founder
Thierry is an economist from Belgium who left the private sector to support educational development in East Africa, in the Comoros Island. He later moved to Central America to work for the United Nations, UNICEF, the agency dedicated to children. Thierry has been based Guatemala for 40 years implementing programs for children and youth throughout Central America.
He served as UNICEF's representative in Belize, El Salvador, and finally Guatemala. He later joined the newly established United Nations Peacekeeping Mission, where he met Maria Castells, his future wife. He was responsible for verifying and supporting the implementation of one of the Peace Accords, the Socio-Economic Agreement.
After the Peacekeeping Missions ended, he, Maria, and their son Lucas moved to Tzununá, where they built a hotel with a vision focused on contributing to the community's educational development. Thierry participated in the construction of a cultural center, thanks to the support of donors and frequent hotel guests. He helped organize educational activities at Chi Tz'unun Choy, and taught music at the high school and in the Culture Center.
Thierry established the café of the Cultural Center, to generate income to support the Center, financing the café's opening with proceeds from benefit concerts he performed in Europe.
Lucas Delrue
Management and Operations
Lucas is the son of Chi Tz'unun Choy founders Maria and Thierry. He finished primary public in Tzununá, where he learned grew up playing soccer and other games with the local children and learning their language of Kaqchikel. He later attended the Waldorf school in San Marcos, the Caracol School.
Lucas went on to study at the international school in Panajachel, where the language was English. By the time he finished high school, he spoke English, Spanish, French, and quite a bit of Kaqchikel.
The son of a pilot, Lucas had spent many hours in airplanes, flying them since childhood. Taking advantage of the closure of La Aurora Airport during the pandemic, he received instruction to obtain his private pilot's license, later his instrument pilot's license in Miami, and his twin-engine license in El Salvador. Now he is a commercial pilot, and flying is his main job.
Lucas has grown up near the Cultural Center since childhood, participating in all its activities, and to this day, he remains involved in its management.
Clint White
Education and Event Coordinator
Clint is originally from California and moved to Tzununá in 2023. A retired advertising executive, Clint now spends his time working with non-profit organizations to help grow their support.
He is the current vice president of the Rotary Club of Lake Atitlán, and the incoming president for 2026/27. Through work with Rotary, he helped bring the first Blood Bank to Lake Atitlán and is collaborating with local communities on Water & Sanitation projects across the lake watershed.
His passion for the community of Tzununá led to his starting of the Kids Day series at the community center. He joined the board of Chi Tz'unun Choy in 2025 to collaborate with the local community to expand the impact of the organization.
Amanda Blain
Education and Event Coordinator
Amanda is a therapist, trauma specialist, and former Peace Corps volunteer. While serving in South Africa, she collaborated with the Venda tribe in their schools and community resource project. She facilitated a youth leadership program with 70 kids that guided participants through a process to explore their passions and inner gifts, and how to use those qualities to serve their communities. The result was the launch of literacy and permaculture programs – which led to a school garden project led by an indigenous teacher, kids, and their parents. After Amanda left the community, the principal reported that the garden continued to be a source of food and income for local families.
Today, Amanda is a full-time Tzununá resident. She divides her time between her day job and meeting with Kaqchikel community members, organizational leaders, and Maya wisdom-keepers across Lake Atitlán. At Chi Tz’unun Choy, she is committed to coordinating activities and programming focused on the Kaqchikel community’s own goals for cultural preservation, social and economic strength for indigenous persons, public health, and ecological care.
In loving memory of our founder...
Maria Castells
Co-founder
María was born in Washington, D.C., to Uruguayan parents who were diplomats. She studied for a long time in France, due to her father's posting there, and earned the prestigious French Baccalaureate. Afterward, she studied law in her native Uruguay and graduated as a lawyer.
She practiced law for several years in her country, and in 1995 decided to work in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Guatemala.
Later, in Guatemala, she went on to work for the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Guatemala, established after the signing of the Peace Accords. She specialized in the area of justice reform, a key aspect of the accords, to integrate traditional Mayan justice into the country's official justice system. On weekends, they specialized in Mayan and customary law.
During this mission, she met her future husband, Thierry Delrue, with whom she had a son, Lucas. The family decided to move to Tzununá to build and manage a hotel, with the vision of supporting the development of this community.
Thus, in response to requests from parents, María created a small library in a space loaned by the municipality. Later, she joined Thierry as treasurer, and through hotel guests, they sought donations to build what is now the Chi Tz'unun Choy Community Cultural Center.
The idea behind this center is to attract young people from Tzununá to complement their formal schooling and enrich their lives through cultural, educational, and musical activities.
Sadly, illness cut short Maria's plans for the future: after battling cancer for a year, she passed away on April 16, 2025. The entire community accompanied her to the Tzununá cemetery, paying her a heartfelt tribute.
