Empower Maya Youth in a Post-Genocide Community

January is an exciting time of year in Chajul and brings a big change for Limitless Horizons Ixil's new high school scholars. Scholars finished middle school in November and are now packing their bags to move away from their homes and families. Given Chajul's lack of high school options, the vast majority of fourteen and fifteen-year-olds leave their community in order to continue their studies elsewhere in Guatemala.

This is the case for 15-year-old Leeisvi. She is currently saying her farewells to friends and family as she departs for another regional department to obtain her high school degree in Biology. The journey to get there will take at least five hours and will involve four different public buses.

Most of Leeisvi's peers in Chajul will not be making this journey alongside her. Leaving their home, a remote mountainous community over three hours away from the regional capital, presents yet another challenge for youth to get an education. It is often an insurmountable one. This is one of the reasons why only 5% of Chajul's youth finish high school.

At Limitless Horizons Ixil, our graduation rates are ten times higher than the community's average. The young people we work with receive financial support to allow them to enroll in institutions outside of Chajul, as well as to help cover travel and accommodation costs. Many girls who are unable to study outside of the community marry young and become adolescent mothers. Some youth, especially boys, end up migrating to the USA in search of work rather than continuing with their education.

Of those who stay in Chajul, the options are limited further by the fact that only two high school degree programs are offered. High school in Guatemala is most often tailored to a specific career, such as teaching, accounting, nursing, or secretarial work. As far back as primary school, Leeisvi knew she would eventually have to leave her community to get the education she so desires. She has always been determined to finish high school and study medicine at university. She dreams of working as a doctor and eventually opening her own clinic back in Chajul.

Of the 13 LHI scholars who finished middle school in LHI's Chajul partner school last year, all of them are now making the journey to study outside of the community. With Limitless Horizons Ixil's support, they have been able to choose the high school degree they would like to study, knowing that they will have the means to live away from their families but also afford the return for visits throughout the year.

Leeisvi isn't nervous about the big change she is about to experience. She is looking forward to living in a community where another one of Guatemala's 22 Mayan languages is spoken and learning about the Kaqchikel and Tz'utujil Indigenous cultures. She is excited to see the different styles of traditional dress and share her Ixil culture with new friends.

We are grateful to our supporters who work alongside us to reduce the obstacles for Chajul's youth to achieve a high school education. With your help, young people like Leeisvi are overcoming the challenges to be able to graduate and become a new generation of professionals in Chajul