To bring education equality to Tzu'tujil Mayans

Over the last 9 years we have focused on the middle school in the village as elementary school is free and middle school has fees. However it has come to light the huge drop off in elementary school students as they proceed through the grades. Usually around 90 students start grade one and by grade six there is no more than 38 students. This is a drop off of around 60% of the students.

Why do so many students stop going to elementary school?

There is several main reasons why students quit. Often the families are single parent or grandparent and they just cannot afford supplies. There can be an illness in the family and the child has to go out and earn money for the family. Sometimes there are many students in a family and they have to choose which students get to continue. Or the family just does not see the importance of education.

Therefore. this year we are focusing on elementary and middle school and finding sponsorship for the at most risk elementary students. We are pleased to be able to help 9 of the most at risk elementary students in 2020.

One such student is Samuel. He is the second oldest in a family of 6 children. When we met with his mom we found that we had met her earlier  in November with our emergency food program. Samuel's little sister had been hospitalized for malnutrition and the local health centre asked if we could help, which we did. ( this is another Christmas card project!!!) In talking to Samuel's family we found that his older sister should have gone to middle school last year but did not attend. Well we were happy to inform the family that we had a sponsorship opportunity for her and Samuel.

There are many more students requiring sponsorship. Please contact us if you are interested in helping to change a life for the better.