GlobalGiving Donors Support “Education Miracle” in Chajul, Guatemala
Chajul, Guatemala: Remote mountain communities with a profound poverty rate, under nutrition of children among the worst in the country, where the schools were closed for 36 years during armed conflict, where most adults do not read, write, or speak the legal language of Spanish. Where it is estimated that 10,000 school age children in the towns, and scattered mountain villages do not attend school. Where girls do not attend school or drop out after grade 3. Where public school beyond grade 6 requires a tuition and purchase of school supplies that is so costly that families cannot send their children beyond 6th grade, or to learn a vocational /trade skill. Girls are trapped as child brides that continue the cycle of large families and deep poverty.
Enter GlobalGiving Donors: Through your support and generosity to our main project of Scholarships for the Vocational Boarding School Ak Tenamit, and our micro projects to support the education of girls, the Maya Ixil Scholarship Committee has used your donations to send girls to the Ak Tenamit Vocational Boarding school, supported a vacation school and hiring 3 teachers for academic tutoring, Maya culture, and Spanish language in the town of Chajul and two mountain villages.
They developed a rented Education Casa in Chajul which allowed Maya Ixil Scholars to attend workshops and tutoring that fit with their needed help with their families’ agriculture plots and home chores, and is individualized to their academic needs. Parent meetings are attended by representatives of every student involved in the Maya Ixil Scholarship Program.
The families of every Maya Ixil Scholar received vegetable seed packets as a donation from the non-profit Seed Programs International. The seeds are for home gardens to support nutrition of the scholars and scholarship families. The girls at Ak Tenamit Vocational Boarding school were supported by the presence of the Education Director and an volunteer for a total of 4 weeks. These are the FIRST GIRLS. The FIRST to leave the family poverty of high mountain villages to go to a boarding school. The FIRST Girls in their families to reach for an education and have the opportunity supported by a scholarship.
In response to long desperate waiting lists, the Scholarship Committee developed a scholarship program for poor students to attend the Chajul Public Evening School and attend vocational skills, academic tutoring, health and personal development workshops at the Education Casa.
Current Situation
The Executive Orders of President Trump have had a profound impact on the indigenous families in the Maya Ixil region of Guatemala. Philanthropy has opportunity and risk. Together we have the opportunity to personally meet the urgent challenges precipitated by the Executive Orders.
The Ixil Maya region has one of the largest numbers of Guatemala migrant youth who leave the region to try to cross the Mexico/US border in search of work to help their families who live in deep poverty.
There are increasing numbers of unaccompanied minors making this perilous journey. The girls are especially vulnerable to kidnapping, rape and sex trafficking. The alternative for many young girls is to become a child bride.
This region has one of the highest rates of detained and returned migrant youth. One study has shown that youth trying to cross the border, and youth detained and returned, are largely youth who do not have an education beyond grade 6 and have had no vocational skills training.
ACTION WE ARE TAKING
We are working hard to meet these challenges. The Maya Ixil Scholarship Committee and community supporters are forming a new NGO that is focused on EDUCATION. They are working with the staff at the Ak Tenamit Vocational Boarding School to replicate their methodology in Chajul with distance learning options for students in remote villages. We want GIRLS TO STAY IN SCHOOL and families to have an option for education for their children so they do not send their children north to the border or to participate in illegal activities.
We are deactivating our GlobalGiving project Vocational Scholarships for Mayan Youth, Guatemala (#24542).We are legally forming a new Guatemalan non-profit with the mission of developing Education programs and scholarship support for poor students and families in the Maya Ixil region of Guatemala.
ASOCIACIÓN MAYA CHAJULENSE (AMA)
Long term impact and sustainability
We hope we can count on you to support our new education non-profit and scholarship projects. The ASOCIACIÓN MAYA CHAJULENSE (AMA) Education non-profit will go through the Global Giving Accelerator to rejoin Global Giving as a new non-profit in either June or September, 2017.
Global Giving donors accomplished an education miracle in Chajul in the past 6 months. Tell your friends and colleagues that in the midst of great challenges that YOU, individually, the Global Giving donor is making life changing miracles for poor girls and boys and for Ixil Maya families in Chajul, Guatemala.
If you have questions, please contact Janet Bourque brightstargrants2@yahoo.com
If you would like to be notified of when Asociacion Maya Chajulense (AMA) will go through the Global Giving Accelerator,to rejoin Global Giving as a new non projfit, please contact: Janet Bourque brightstargrants2@yahoo.com
Links:
A LEAP OF FAITH: May Ixil Scholars, Parents, Donors
Ta’mtiixh (Ixil word for Thank You)”
Leap of Faith: Scholars: Listen to Ana from Chel. Ana is the first in her family to go to school and the first in her remote community to leave home for a boarding school.
“My name is Ana, I am twelve years old, resident of Chel village, Chajul El Quiché, Maya Ixil. Since I was a child I learned to work both in the kitchen and In the weaving and I have been working in the field also for the harvest of coffee. I am a servant of the coffee-growers to cut coffee beans. My dad always has been dedicated to cut coffee and to cultivate and to harvest corn like a servant of other persons.
I have a great need financially to continue studying, my parents are poor, we only live in a wooden house and roof, we have no land to grow corn and other types of cultivation. My mother is dedicated to working in the kitchen and my dad in the field and I want very much to support my family in order to exit poverty.
My objective is to continue studying and give the best to support other people as I have been supported since we live a very long distance from the town and there is only deep poverty and hunger here. There is much natural wealth in my community but unfortunately the foreign companies are destroying it with no benefit to the Maya.
I am very grateful for the support you give me, many Blessings for each one of you.”
Leap of Faith: Parents: The Maya Ixil families and communities suffer intergenerational trauma from the armed conflict and genocide that occurred during Guatemala’s civil war. There is a deep fear of deception. In the Maya culture, intergenerational families live together under one roof, and do not venture far from home. A recent informal survey of this deeply traumatized population said that up to 80% of the men and 50% woman believed that the women and girls could not leave the house without the permission of the father. Although this rule was essential for safety during the armed conflict, it persists and limits the opportunities for girls and women. Most adults speak only Maya Ixil and do not read or write. Many fathers believe that their daughters do not need an education. Please join us in thanking the fathers of the Maya Ixil girl scholars for giving permission for their daughters to accept their scholarships and travel across the country to an unknown place to the boarding school.
Leap of Faith: Donors Each donation is received with the understanding that we are an extension of your wishes in supporting the Maya Ixil Scholars so that they can become change makers in their home communities. The accounting in Guatemala is done by a professional with years of experience, and is reported to the Guatemalan SAT (IRS). We are fortunate to have Mynor Veliz as our Finance Advisor. The Maya Ixil Education Director, Manuel Laynez Anay’s profession is Business Administration, supported by a University education. He stayed at Ak Tenamit for a month to ensure that the scholars from Chajul and Chel were well adapted and supported. David Clay, Philanthropist with Global 321 is currently in Guatemala. He stayed at Ak Tenamit for 10 days and then traveled to Chajul and Chel for 2 weeks to meet with parents, community members and collaborating NGO’s.
SKYPE: We invite donors to Skype or Facebook Video Chat with The Education Committee team and parents in Chajul. Please contact Janet at janet.asoixil@gmail.com
Links:
Maya Glyph Math !!! Vocational Scholarships for Maya Youth: What's Happening this Week!
The Maya Glyph for Knowledge.
MAYA GLYPH MATH!! First you have to learn the Maya glyphs (pictures) that represent the numbers. Second you have to learn to draw the number glyps in correct detail. THEN you can learn to count, add, subtract, mutiply and divide using Maya glyps. Is there a ZERO in the Maya number system??
VIDEO SKYPE!! Blessings for donors and volunteers. Maya Ixil students and their parents gathered for a THANK YOU Skype to send a message of gratitude and blessings to the Global Giving donors and volunteers from Chajul, Georgia, Florida and Arizona. Students practiced introductions in Spanish. Most parents spoke in Maya Ixil language, which was interrpeted into Spanish by their student, and into English with one of the volunteers in Georgia.
MAYA CULTURE AND LEGENDS are an important part of the education program. Much was lost during the 36 year armed conflict and the following displacement and choas. Maya Ixil history, culture, writing, music and understanding of the Ixil Maya cosmovision are an important part of the Maya Ixil scholars education.
Colors have symbolic meanings to the Maya. Legends tell their history. Personal stories and photos tell about their everyday lives. All of this and more is on the website http://mediamayaonline.com/
Download and print the book for free. The book is copyrighted but you may download and share for free.
THE TIME THAT GOT AWAY FROM US
An anthology of Mayan legends and stories compiled by
Francisco Miguel Tavico Reynoso, B.C.
In
Maya K’iche’ | Spanish | English
Dedicated to the girls and boys of Santa Cruz del Quiche’ so that they may begin to take up the habit of reading as a way of knowing and entertainment
Click on the link to read Read Chapter One:“My Lost Treasures”
Click on the link to learn Why This Book
is Important
PLEASE CONSIDER INCLUDING GLOBALGIVING GIFT CARDS WITH YOUR HOLIDAY CARDS TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY
The three ASO-Ixil projects on Global Giving will provide a life changing gift for only $10. You can print off or send digitally a personalized card AND get a tax deduction!
Vocational Scholarships for Mayan Youth, Guatemala
Rural orphans or poor youth will receive a scholarship for Ak Tenamit secondary vocational boarding school.
Teach 400 Illiterate Girls : Guatemala
Most Mayan girls drop out of school by 3rd grade and only 10% finish elementary school.
38 Women Coffee Farmers Challenge Climate Change
Small plot women coffee farmers across Guatemala are struggling in the face of rising costs and threats of the effects of climate change,
THERE IS A BETTER FUTURE…MAKE SURE TO PLANT THE SEEDS
Ak Tenamit requires that students do 3000 hours of internships and work study in order to graduate. They are required to do economic development projects in their home communities. The problem for the Maya Ixil Scholars is that there are NO internship opportunities in their region, as there is only subsistence farming. So part of the Maya Ixil Scholarships program is to CREATE the economic infrastructure that will support the opportunity for internships and work study.
THEWEB SITE LINK TO THE AK TENAMIT Vocational Secondary School
Links:
VIDEO SKYPE WITH DONORS IN North Carolina, Texas and Arizona!
Laughter, excitement, a bit nervous when it was your turn to sit in the chair facing the computer screen and the faces of smiling strangers a world away, and yet talking to you right here in this room in Chajul, Guatemala.
Spanish/Ixil/English interpreters in the US and sitting in a chair beside the students, kept the conversation going.
“What is your name? How old are you? How many in your family? What do you want to learn at Ak Tenamit? “ Many answered “Spanish”, or “English”.
“What are your favorite activities?” Weaving was the universal answer of the girls. They showed their beautiful back strap woven blouses and bracelets.
Gaspar has been out of school for 2 years working cutting wood and is being tutored now in Spanish. He tells us that he wants to learn mathematics at Ak Tenamit.
Video Skypes with students can be arranged with any donor who is interested. It is a tremendous opportunity for the students to practice their conversational Spanish and feel connected with the donors for whom they are so grateful. If you want to be included in a Video Skype please contact:
Janet Bourque brightstargrants2@yahoo.com
Family kitchen gardens are a scholarship benefit and have been planted by every Maya Ixil Scholars’ family. Seeds and supplies are provided by ASO-Ixil partner Seed Programs International seedprograms.org/
The kitchen garden provides good nutrition for the scholars' families, and provides enough produce to eat and to sell to help pay for the family and scholar’s expenses. Many families planted cabbage. Beef broth and cabbage soup is a traditional meal during the Christmas holidays, and cabbages will bring a good price in the Chajul market, just when the scholarship cabbages are ready for harvest.
PLEASE CONSIDER INCLUDING GLOBALGIVING GIFT CARDS WITH YOUR HOLDAY CARDS TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY
The three ASO-Ixil projects on Global Giving will provide a life changing gift for only $10. You can print off or send digitally a personalized card AND get a tax deduction!
Vocational Scholarships for Mayan Youth, Guatemala
Rural orphans or poor youth will receive a scholarship for Ak Tenamit secondary vocational boarding school. St...
Teach 400 Illiterate Girls : Guatemala
Most Mayan girls drop out of school by 3rd grade and only 10% finish elementary school. Girls who leave school m...
38 Women Coffee Farmers Challenge Climate Change
Small plot women coffee farmers across Guatemala are struggling in the face of rising costs and threats to their...
THERE IS A BETTER FUTURE…MAKE SURE TO PLANT THE SEEDS
Ak Tenamit requires that students do 3000 hours of internships and work study in order to graduate. They are required to do economic development projects in their home communities. The problem for the Maya Ixil Scholars is that there are NO internship opportunities in their region, as there is only subsistence farming. So part of the Maya Ixil Scholarships program is to CREATE the economic infrastructure that will support the opportunity for internships and work study.
THEWEB SITE LINK TO THE AK TENAMIT Vocational Secondary School
Links:
What’s Happening This Week?
Your donations have changed the life pathway for orphans and poor youth in Chajul, Guatemala.
Eleven youth are touching a computer for the first time, getting individualized tutoring to prepare them for secondary course work, and working to help pay for their expenses at Ak Tenamit vocational secondary boarding school.
First Touch: leaping across the digital divide
“My name is Zucely. I am 12 years old
I thank you for giving me a lot of support. Many Blessings to each of you.
Just my mom takes care of me and makes my clothes because she works hard to go on in life, My mom taught me how to clean the house and also taught me to weave my huipil, belt, ribbon and my shawl. I sold some of my already used clothes and with that money I bought my shoes. I want to continue studying to overcome in life.”
“We girls are making bracelets to sell and help pay for our expenses at Ak Tenamit. The school has shops to sell our crafts to tourists from cruise ships that stop and shop in town. We are proud to use our Maya textile weaving skills to make bracelets and other crafts to sell. We want to use our talents and skills to help pay our personal expenses. It is a great opportunity.”
Juan is 15. He finished 6th grade 2 years ago and has been working in the fields and cutting wood in the mountains. His scholarship will pay for needed glasses. He is grateful for the individual tutoring sessions to prepare him to start school in January at Ak Tenamit.
“My greatest wish is continue studying. Thanks to you that got for me the support and opportunity to exit extreme poverty because for me studying is a great blessing. I am one of those who have dreamed of graduating and following in Your footsteps. I will support others so that together we go ahead and improve our lives in the family center.”
Eighteen qualified students are on the waiting list. Every donation changes a life from poverty to Hope
Please donate by credit card, Pay Pal or check
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/vocational-scholarships-youth-maya-ixil-guatemala/
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