Empower Maya Youth in a Post-Genocide Community

COVID-19 update 

Guatemala has recently seen an increase of COVID-19 cases, including the Delta variant. Strict prevention measures remain in place, such as the requirement of wearing masks and avoiding gatherings. The vaccination process is going slowly—Guatemala has one of the slowest vaccination rates in Central America. Reports suggest that there are a lot of inconsistencies regarding how many people and who has been vaccinated, and the government doesn’t know where thousands of vaccine doses are. Much of the budget for vaccines has been spent and only a small portion of what’s been purchased has arrived in the country. However, we are thrilled to report that 100% of our Guatemalan staff have been vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine.

Despite the challenges, the Limitless Horizons Ixil team continues to be steadfast and motivated in helping our scholars especially because of our village of supporters who have made all of our extra COVID-relief services possible.

Virtual schooling continues 

Due to the pandemic, our scholars are currently in Chajul and taking virtual classes. Many went to their high schools outside of Chajul at the start of the school year last winter, but they had to come back due to the high COVID-19 infections in those municipalities. We continue supporting our scholars’ by covering their internet costs, ensuring they can access their classes. 

Limitless Horizons Ixil tutoring 

We are currently providing virtual math and Spanish enrichment classes to our scholars. We offer one hour a week of each class to two cohorts of students, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Our scholars reported in a recent survey that our virtual tutoring support is our service that has helped them the most in their studies. In a recent student survey, students sited that virtual tutoring classes are the LHI service students reported that helped them most to achievement in their studies

Workshops with Wings

Wings, a nonprofit that works in family planning, facilitated several virtual workshops with our scholars on consent, contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted diseases, and healthy relationships. Our parents also benefited from a workshop on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Our female scholars reported that they learned about dignity and now have a better understanding of their rights. They learned to respect their bodies, that they can say no if they don’t want men to touch them, that no means no, and that they have the same rights as men. 

Psychologist services 

Our psychologist led a workshop with all of our scholars on the skills of resilience, decision making, problem solving, thought process, and about friendship. He also calls each scholar to learn how they are doing, what challenges they are facing, and how he and Limitless Horizons Ixil can further support them.

Food and hygiene baskets

We have continued providing monthly food and hygiene baskets to our families. Our families report having more variety and spending less on food and using hygiene products more often to clean and disinfect. Families say that this has helped them the most during these challenging times, as they continue to be severely impacted by the effects of the pandemic, price inflation on staples, and crop loss from last fall’s hurricanes. 

Links:

• Read our 2020 Annual Report