Empower Maya Weavers' Children through Education

Manuel is a smart, kind, and outgoing 12 year old from Santiago Atitlán. He is the third son of Mercedes, one of our artisans who has been with us for more than 20 years.

Manuel and his family were victims of Hurricane Stan in 2005, which had disastrous repercussions for the entirety of Santiago Atitlán and destroyed their home. While other Cojolya associates chipped in to support the family, the financial burden remained significant. Since then, Manuel’s dad has worked as an agricultural labourer, which is unfortunately very unstable, yet very common work in Atitlan. In his case, days can go by without being able to find work.

Manuel has 3 brothers, two of whom are older than him. At the moment, Manuel is the only child of his family attending school. His 2 older brothers and sister unfortunately did not get the opportunity to go to school, and are now working as artisans to support their mother and father, who both earn insufficient incomes to support the entire family of 6. 

There are 3 different levels of education in Guatemala. The primary school level is mandatory, and the enrollment cost is mostly free, which makes it accessible to most families. High School, on the other hand, is optional, and the cost gets more expensive over the years. This is when a lot of the families make the decision to take their children out of school, mostly for financial reasons.

Manuel hopes to continue pursuing his studies, despite all the barriers he knows he will have to face. There is still a year left until his parents decide whether he can or can’t be the first of his family to receive a secondary education. His situation and his family's past struggle after Stan is noteworthy going forward considering how climate change has progressed since 2005. Families in the global South are far more vulnerable to financial instability after natural disasters due to insufficient infrastructure. 

At Cojolya, our everyday motivation is to see these children become the first in their families to graduate. Our program’s mission is to empower the artisans' families to flourish and be less burdened by financial insecurities. For the Mano a Mano para el Desarrollo program, working with kids like Manuel is the greatest, yet most rewarding challenges there is.

We sincerely hope that Manuel can be the first in his family to have the opportunity for higher education. 

Help us support Manuel in this decisive year for his education along with our other first gen students. Together, we can make a difference in Santiago Atitlan. Please donate <3 !

Links:

• We profiled Manuel's mother in our October Newsletter