Empower a Girl in Guatemala: Education after COVID

Yaneth is a 16 year old girl who lives about 5 kilometers from the departmental capital, in Canton Ayutia, Retalhuleu.

Currently, she is studying high school at her community’s institute. Yaneth is characterized by being a good student, she has achieved the recognition of distinguished student three years in a row. She is a cheerful and responsible teenager, and above all she likes to learn everyday. 

When Yaneth entered the Scholarships program, she was a shy but dedicated girl, and after 6 years of support and training in the project, significant changes have been noticed in her life. She has overcome her shyness, and a sign of this is that Yaneth participated in a beauty contest at the school where she studied and won the contest. 

Yaneth’s mother has been a fundamental part of her lifelong learning, and is the one who encourages her to continue reaping success. Another quality of Yaneth is that she does additional research on the subjects learned at the Institute, asks questions and accepts support from her teachers and classmates. 

During the COVID-19 crisis, the scholarship technician visits the girl’s home to resolve doubts that arise from the fact that she is taking classes at a distance, and she also has the support of the teachers. During the counseling sessions, safety norms are taken to care for the girl’s family in the face of the spread of the virus. This way, the family is also supported regarding health and safety measures that should be taken to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

Yaneth is a young girl with many dreams and goals, she wants to graduate, to be able to have a job so she can help her mother, and be a professional. 

Yaneth comments that she is very happy to be part of the project and to continue learning through the work guides that the project has given them. She knows that there are more young girls that do not have the opportunity to study, that is why she says that “in the future I want to continue studying and the opportunity to have a scholarship is the best experience that I have lived in these years of study, because they trust me and my abilities, they have taught me to be responsible, punctual and the importance of reading”.

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Deymi is 15 years old and lives in the municipality of San Felipe, Retalhuleu. The community’s climate is warm, the main sources of work are sugarcane cutting, agriculture and informal businesses.

She lives with her mother Sonia, who works as a washerwoman. This job has allowed her to send her three daughters to school, since she has supported them on her own.

Deymi is a cheerful, friendly, helpful and above all very responsible young woman, which is why her classmates have chosen her as part of the board of directors of the scholarship girls. 

She is distinguished by the fact that she is always there to help her classmates, she loves to draw and is very dedicated to math, which is why she helps her classmates with their math homework on several occasions. It is also worth mentioning that she has leadership, which has been visible in the group work that has been done in the training sessions.  

In this time of crisis due to the pandemic, the young women with scholarships are supported in carrying out tasks by means of calls or messages, since their academic training has continued by means of online training with virtual platforms.

Sometimes the scholarship technician makes home visits to provide support to the young women with scholarships and resolve doubts about the tasks assigned to them in the work guide, since they do not always have the economic resource to have a balance or the Internet to communicate with their teachers.

Classes are still suspended be the Educational Board Ministery in Guatemala. Therefore, the girls miss going to school and see their classmates. But in this time of health crisis, they have strengthened their friendship and support each other, to make this time less complicated.

Despite the fact that schools continue to be closed due to the current health crisis, each of the scholarship holders carries out their school work through the scholarship project from home and, above all, they continue to receive personalized advice and guidance to continue their basic studies.

It is worth mentioning that the situation of the families assisted, derived from the Pandemic, is beginning to have a drastic impact on the family economy, which is why we thank you! For continuing to contribute to the education of young girls in the department of Retalhuleu.

Your donation now more than ever is the engine of change in the lives of the scholarship students and the road to new opportunities for development. 

Here is the story of one of the scholarship students:

Fernanda is 17 years old and lives in Canton Ayutia, Retalhuleu Community. She is a cheerful, helpful and above all friendly young woman. 

Fernanda has been receiving the support of the scholarship for six years when she was studying in the 4th grade at the community school. At the beginning she was a shy, and distant, this because she had recently become an orphan. 

As the years went by the girl became more confident and overcame her fears, now she is a participative young girl and loves to help her classmates during class work, her favorite hobby is drawing and painting. 

The qualities of kindness, friendship and work make the young lady an example to follow.

Katherine is under the care of her grandparents, because her mother left her when she was a child. However, this has not been an impediment for her to continue studying; her grandparents are that fundamental part of her continuing with her studies. 

She is being supported by the Scholarships program since she was in 4th grade, being of great meaning the economic support and accompaniment she receives, because with the scholarship she helps to buy uniforms and school supplies that previously were difficult to acquire.

An element of change in her has been the training given by the program, which has helped her a lot in her way of thinking. At the beginning, she was very shy and almost did not participate in class. The teachers explain that she is currently the president of the classroom, she is characterized by being a leader and an example to her peers. 

She is currently in high school, tenth year. In the afternoons, Katherine helps her grandparents in the business of selling ‘tamales’ and ‘chuchitos’ by the central park, since that is the only means by which they support themselves. Currently, due to the health crisis, she does not go out to sell as she normally does, but instead helps with the housework, since they continue to sell tamales from their home and the customers come to buy. With what they get from the sales, they are paying for the household expenses.

During this time Katherine enjoys her favorite hobby which is reading. She explains that in her free time she takes advantage of it to read and review math, since these are the subjects she likes the most and above all she feels motivated to learn from home and especially when the scholarship technician calls her and gives her support.

She explains that in the community people live with fear and uncertainty due to the pandemic, however, together with her grandparents they are motivated and she has faith that soon they will return to their normal activities and especially she longs to return to her school and continue with her education.

In view of the suspension of face-to-face classes and the isolation of students in their homes due to the possible spread of the coronavirus, the use of digital platforms that allow teacher-student interaction can help to continue learning, in public sector establishments where study guides are used and there is no such exchange, the challenge is greater.

During this time, the young women have been followed up to find out about their health, their family’s health and the feeling they get from not attending classes.

We made a video call with Anjhely, one of the girls attended by the program, and she told us that she is at home with her family, taking care and precautions to protect herself from Covid-19.

A vehicle with vegetables, fruits and basic supplies arrives in the community with their food supplies, and the neighbors take turns going out to buy the essentials at home.

Anjhely is currently studying in 8th grade of high school, and she tells us that she has been given a study guide so that she can continue with her learning process. She misses going to her school, sharing with her classmates and seeing her teachers.

It is important to emphasize that this action is being carried out with all the girls who have a mobile device and the possibility of having access to the Internet. In this way, the communication of the scholarship students with the project has been very important to keep them motivated to continue learning from their homes.