Empower Maya Youth in a Post-Genocide Community

We are excited to report on the great progress being made in Chajul, through the life-skills workshops component of our Youth Development Program, offered not only to our 60 scholars but also to their parents and families.Thanks to your support, Limitless Horizons Ixil is continuing to deepen the program’s impact in Chajul!

Our Peace Corps volunteer Greta and Program Assistant Cecilia have recently developed a number of workshops for the scholars, with themes including positive communication, bullying prevention, and gender equality. Greta noted that the youth were particularly engaged in the gender equality workshop and afterwards were able to identify concrete actions they would take to reduce gender inequality in their community! She also observed that the girls have become more confident in speaking up and participating in activities over the course of the year, which is a valuable sign of the workshops’ and the program’s success.

To see our youth become empowered leaders for Chajul, we believe it is crucial to involve their parents. In this community that suffered greatly from civil war, that lacks of economic and educational opportunities, and where many families live in trauma and poverty, parents often find it difficult to support their children not only economically but personally and emotionally as well. Because supporting youth and families personally, economically, and academically is important to Limitless Horizons Ixil’s approach, the selection process for scholars each year includes conversations with parents to ensure that the family is in support of their children’s education and open to being involved with our programs and workshops.

Recently, Greta and Program Manager Edilma have been conducting workshops with all the parents on positive communication and being a supportive parent. Through activities, role-playing games, and stories, the parents have explored aggressive communication, violence, and positive ways of interacting with their children. They were all very eager to participate and engaged in the activities, enjoying the dramatization of several situations such as with angry parents, with overprotective parents, and with supportive parents. We received positive, encouraging feedback from many of the parents who noted that they learned various ways to support their children’s personal and educational success. Other parent workshops include topics such as decision-making and domestic violence.

We have only been able to provide these recent workshops through your generous contributions and support. Limitless Horizons Ixil’s holistic work in building life skills among our scholars and their families is truly crucial to our mission and the success of Chajul’s budding leaders, and we are very grateful that you are a meaningful part of this work. Thanks to your continued support, we will be able to offer more valuable workshops to youth and families over the months to come!

Thanks to your terrific support, we were able to welcome 18 new scholars at the start of the Guatemalan school year in January. And Francisco, Esperanza, and Marlena are three we’d like to highlight! Starting their first year of middle school at the San Gaspar Middle School has been a big change in the lives of the three adolescents, and they would like to thank you and share their impressions on this experience.

Marlena is 14 years old and started school when she was 8. Despite this delayed beginning in her elementary years, Marlena finished her primary studies with exceptional grades and never had to repeat a school year—which is especially notable in Chajul. She enjoys mathematics, and speaks three languages—Ixil, Quiché, and Spanish. Her Spanish literacy and writing skills have considerably improved since participating in our intensive Spanish course a few months ago, and she is very eager to learn. She says that her experience with Limitless Horizons Ixil so far is "great and I feel more comfortable in speaking Spanish. We receive a lot of support for our education and I am very grateful and happy. Without Limitless Horizons Ixil, I could have never gone to middle school. When I am older, I would like to be a secretary because I love to read and write."

Francisco is 13 and started school when he was 7 years old. Unlike many students in Chajul, he also never had to repeat a year of school. This is a testament to his dedication to his studies and the value his family places on education. He says he is very proud to be a Limitless Horizons Ixil scholar and so happy to be able to continue studying into middle school. He also feels lucky to have the support of his family. Francisco would like to be a music teacher, and has already started learning how to play the trumpet in his school band.

Esperanza is 12 years old and started school when she was 6. She is a very bright student. When asked about her experience as a Limitless Horizons Ixil scholar she says: "I really like being a scholar at Limitless Horizons Ixil because I love going to school, studying, and learning new things and I wouldn’t be able to do those things without this opportunity. I would like to be a teacher in Chajul so I can help the community."

These three bright youth have big aspirations for their futures and we could not be happier to have such enthusiastic students who so avidly participate in the weekly activities of our Youth Development Program. These opportunities include computer, Spanish, and tutoring classes, as well as workshops on themes like positive communication, bullying, and teamwork. Because most of the parents of our scholars do not speak or write Spanish, and have never been to school, getting support for their studies can be very challenging for the youth of Chajul outside of what our programs provide.

Community members in Chajul have great hope for their young generations to become positive role models and leaders, and our ability to support this community development is only possible thanks to generous donors like you. We at Limitless Horizons Ixil and the community of Chajul are so grateful for your support!

Thank you!