By Megan Banick | Director of Education and Communications
October brings graduations in Guatemala. As the school year ends, we have been celebrating with the sixth grade students and their families at our five partner schools. Most students are joyful about achieving this important milestone, while others are sad to say goodbye in face an uncertain future. In a country where graduation rates are notoriously low—only 66% of school age children finish primary school—we are encouraged to see so many students finishing primary school. This year, 97% of our sixth graders graduated. Selvin is one example of that success. A 13-year-old graduate of our partner school in Nuevo Progreso, Selvin had perfect attendance and good grades this year. It hasn’t been easy. With seven brothers and sisters, Selvin and his family struggle to live with their father´s irregular income as he works as a day laborer in the fields whenever he can find work.
Selvin´s mother, Doña Andrea, believes strongly in the importance of education for her children. That is why she serves on the Mil Milagros Board of Directors at her children´s school. In this leadership role, she is in charge of organizing the other mother and grandmother volunteers and ensuring that they attend trainings, meetings and other events. She cooks at the school twice a week. Her commitment and hard-work have paid off. In addition to Selvin, she has three children who will graduate from high school next year, another studying in middle school, and three more still in primary school. She explains, “I would have liked to study, but with eight children, it’s too late for me now. But my children will be professionals.”
As for Selvin, he is a little nervous to go to middle school, but says he is excited to have new experiences. With a strong love of math, he wants to not only go to college, but get a doctorate degree in mathematics. His dream job is to work in a bank as an accountant. One of the things he loves the most about Mil Milagros is that we gave him a textbook so he can study not only at school, but also at home. He says that having a textbook means he can learn about things on his own that he never even imagined.
As the school year comes to an end, we are happy to report that with your support and the hard work of our 545 mother and grandmother volunteers, we were able to feed nearly 1000 children every school day in Guatemala. These children also received fluoride treatments, lice treatments, and deworming medications as they learned about hygiene. Last week, they received their final toothbrushes of the year to take home to use during the months that they will be on vacation. In addition, we collaborated with two other organizations to build a school in Nuevo Progreso and homes for the 22 families in another one of our partner communities who have been homeless for four years ago. We look forward to working with each of our partner schools and communities to plan for a successful 2015 school year!
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