Child of the week

name: Candido Medina
age: 14
grade: 5th
favorite subject: civics
favorite sport: soccer
future goal: to be a nurse

Candido seems to be excelling in 5th grade this year. We met him while he was hanging around the school the first week asking the teachers if he could just come to class. His family didn't have money to pay for the initial fees or buy any supplies, but he still wanted to participate in class as much as he could, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to pass the year without some sort of funding. His teacher from last year asked us to help him if we could. Candido became one of the more persistent kids we have met and showed up at our house a few days in a row asking for any kind of help. We went to visit his family and found him in a single parent home with a mom that cannot speak Spanish, only q'eqchi'. There was nobody to fight for him, so he had to fight for himself. It was hard for us to communicate with his mother, but we are improving our q'eqchi' every day and hope to have more of a relationship with his family in the future.


the new Jaguar group members 2007

Since he has started school this year, he has become more involved in the community. He was part of a new wave of members inducted into the youth group, Jaguar, this year. He found odd jobs after school to pay for his admission and monthly fees to be part of this group. He's taking advantage of the workshop opportunities they provide as well as computer classes and other service projects for the community.
He also is one of our favorite kids to guide us around town on adventures. A couple months ago, he took us on a cave tour around Salacuim and he is always looking for something fun to show us. We know this will be a good year for Candido, thanks to the help he is getting from you.


cave guide


helping dry corn