Send 3 Indigenous Women to College in Guatemala

Thank you! Gracias! From all of us at Para Adelante!

All of us at Para Adelante are very humbled and grateful be part of the group of organizations supported by GlobalGiving and all its supporters. We would like to thank everyone who has supported and those who continue to support us and the women. We are staying busy building our online store where we sell all sorts of beautiful, one of kind accessories handmade by women in Guatemala with 100% of the net profits going to fund the scholarships. In the last few weeks, we have attended 3 holiday markets and between the markets and online sales we have sold $500 and hope to sell more for the holidays. These items can be found on our website (http://paraadelante.org/shop/) with more inventory to be posted soon and we hope to launch an Etsy store to reach even more people and fund more scholarships to help more women and their families.

Now to the important part and why we do what we do - the inspirational women and scholarship recipients of Para Adelante. This time we’d like to share with you an update on our other newest recipients, Angelica. Angelica was granted a scholarship in January 2019. She is also a domestic abuse survivor who had to stop studying to be a Psychologist because she could not afford to go to school and care for her older physically and mentally disabled brother. Angelica had a very difficult childhood after her mother died giving birth to Angelica’s younger sibling when Angelica was only 3 years old. After that her and her six siblings only received harsh words and physical blows from their father, who viewed and treated them as inferior to him and a means to support the home. She worked and went to school, always having something in her that pushed her to want more for herself, despite the abusive treatment she received from her father. She worked any job she could get and did hr schooling on the weekends, despite no support from family and still needing to care for her disabled older brother. On our inspiring post semester touchpoint and coaching call, we talked about how she felt regarding her progress over this past year of being back in school. She talked about how she was thankful for this opportunity, because it has helped her grow as a person and with her self-confidence. She mentioned how initially she was insecure about being the oldest student in her classes and how she would fit in, but said she has grown more comfortable and also made friends, with this experience helping her grow as a person. She talked about how that lack of self-confidence had caused her to miss out on many opportunities for fear of what people would think if she failed, but after this past year, she knows now she is very capable and can do anything she works hard towards and puts her mind to. She also shared how good it feels to give back to others and how she has enjoyed the community service projects she has participated in as part of her course work and looks forward to more. She is excited about this semester so far and is preparing for her midterms. Below are some pictures of Angelica and her community service project.

Our other two recipients, Yeymi and Dolores are also doing very well. Dolores started the new semester and is excited and currently getting ready for midterms. While Yeymi finished her school work and has applied for graduation and to take her final exams and presentation to complete her degree and licensure. You can find more updates on all the women by following our social media pages below.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ParaAdelante.org/

Instagram - @paraadelantewomen

Thank you all the continued support! As we say at Para Adelante, no matter what life throws at you - Keep Moving Forward! Para Adelante!

Links:

• Online website and shop
• Facebook Page

• Angelica photos (PDF)
  

Thank you! Gracias! From all of us at Para Adelante!

     All of us at Para Adelante are very humbled and grateful to submit our first report after being fortunate to be accepted into the group of organizations supported by GlobalGiving and all its supporters. We would like to thank everyone who donated and helped spread the word about our project which helped us raise $9,011 of our $9,500 and graduate the GlobalGiving accelerator program. These funds will be used to cover the scholarships for next year for the three women. We have also been busy spreading the word about our online store where we sell all sorts of beautiful, one of kind accessories handmade by women in Guatemala with 100% of the net profits going to fund the scholarships. In the last few weeks, we have attended 3 holiday markets and between the markets and online sales we have sold $500 and hope to sell more for the holidays. These items can be found on our website (http://paraadelante.org/shop/) with more inventory to be posted soon and we hope to launch an Etsy store to reach even more people and fund more scholarships to help more women and their families.

     Now to the important part and why we do what we do - the inspirational women and scholarship recipients of Para Adelante. This time we’d like to share with you an update on one of our newest recipients, Dolores. Dolores was granted a scholarship in January 2019. She is a domestic abuse survivor who had to stop studying to be a Social Worker because she could not afford to go to school and care for her elderly mother, her two disabled younger siblings and her young son after she made the difficult but worthwhile decision to leave an abusive situation. On our very emotional post semester touchpoint and coaching call, Dolores shared how she felt better about herself and her abilities to complete her schooling and internships. She said she feels more worthy as a woman and a mother. She feels good knowing that even though she herself was an abuse victim, she can relate to and empathize with her clients and help them see their own worth and strength to make the way through difficult times.

     We were so humbled and grateful to receive a thank you letter from her and would like to share a portion (translated into English) – “Day by day; I say, full of happiness as a daughter, mother, student, dedicated, responsible person, able to face the barriers of life, once again I thank the people who placed their full confidence in me, even though we initially only knew each other remotely, you just believed in my abilities. Thank you very much to each of you for helping me realize my goals set for this year of 2019 and to move forward and scale another level of my academic training.” Dolores is looking forward to the remaining 2 years of her 5 year education and then her formal internship following that, so she can officially become a Social Worker and continue to work with those in need. Below are some pictures of all the hands-on great work she is doing in her community to pay it forward and as part of her career coursework. We would love to share more photos of her work, but out of respect for the privacy of the disabled and abused women and children she is working with, we have left some photos out.

     Our other two recipients, Yeymi and Angelique are also doing very well and completed their year of schooling with good grades and are looking forward to classes next semester and taking steps closer to completing their degress, with Yeymi already working on her internship in Social Work and Angelique starting field work projects in Psycholiogy. You can find more updates on all the women by following our social media pages below.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ParaAdelante.org/

Instagram - @paraadelantewomen

Thank you all for the continued support! As we say at Para Adelante, no matter what life throws at you - Keep Moving Forward! Para Adelante!

Links:

• Para Adelante Website
• Para Adelante Facebook

• December_2019_progress_report_GlobalGiving.pdf (PDF)
  
• December_2019_progress_report_GlobalGiving_photos.pdf (PDF)