New School Year Starts in Salacuim

A new school year in Salacuim is already underway. The program welcomed 3 new 7th grade students as scholarship winners. All of the graduating 6th graders took a test to vie for a coveted junior high scholarship. For many of the students in Salacuim, gaining a scholarship like this is their only chance to continue studying beyond 6th grade.

Congratulations to:

• Helmut Román Leal Oxom
• Blanca Quinillo Castro
• Marlin Floridalma Caal

More updates to come.......

Guatemalan Scholarship Update

We've been back from the Peace Corps for more than 8 months now, but we're still trying to help the rural community that we lived in by helping local kids go to school with a basic scholarship. We updated the "Scholarships for Salacuim" website with a bunch of information about the program. The work relies on donations from individuals in the US. Check it out if you want to learn more... lachua.org/scholarships

2008 Scholarship Student Profiles

2008 Scholarship Recipients

We are happy to announce that we have selected 5 new students to enter our program in 2008. About 6 weeks ago an exam was given to all 6th graders and the top scoring students were selected to participate in the Scholarships for Salacuim program. Each student has been offered a full 3 year scholarship to complete junior high in Salacuim as long as they complete the rules of the program and maintain their grades.


The 5 newly selected students for 2008- all entering 7th grade


Our program this year will solely be focused at the junior high level, as the community committee takes over in our absence. We are also grandfathering in the 4 junior high students from last year that have successfully completed the 2007 school year.

This week we had our first meeting with the new students and their parents to introduce them to the program. We are really excited about this new group as we feel they have already proven their intellectual ability through the exam and are ready to tackle the challenges of 7th grade. They really seem like a great group of kids and we look forward to working with them in 2008!


Russell, Reyna, Sherna, Maria, Jener

Scholarship Exam

We had a great turnout for the scholarship test that was given this week to all students in Salacuim that had completed 6th grade and have the desire to continue studying in 7th grade next year. The reality is that about half of these students won't be able to go to school next year, and essentially all of them will have difficulties finding money to buy supplies or uniforms.
So for many of these kids, doing well on this test and winning a scholarship through this program is the only chance they have to study next year.

Although several scholarship students will be grandfathered in this year, new students will all come from this group. The program hopes to select about 5 new scholarship students, depending on the success of fund-raising.

We are especially proud of how much the community collaboration has developed in a year. Last year, Kari and I picked scholarship students based on personal relationships and perceived needs. Right now, we have the support of teachers, community organizations, and of course the small committee that will be in charge of management after we leave; all supporting the dream to create a small, sustainable program that will create opportunities for children and develop leaders.

2008 Scholarship Program

As many of you know, we have been working with a community based organization to take over our responsibilities with the scholarship program when we complete our service in April of 2008. We will both still be very much a part of the program and the overall management, but will rely on the Salacuim committee to oversee the day to day administration and management.

We recently finished a website that illustrates all the details for the coming year.
We invite you to read and share in the success and possibility with us once again.

www.lachua.org/scholarships.html

2007 Scholarships for Salacuim Video

Children of the week

In about 2 months, students will be finishing up the school year in Salacuim. We have one final group of kids to highlight before the year is over; our other junior high group. They all attend a fairly new and private school in Salacuim. The classes are small and there are 3 teachers that switch off teaching different subjects. It's a little more structured than the telesecundaria and this will be the first year that they will graduate a class from the school. There is a lot of talk lately as to weather or not the school will be around next year. It was started up by a local family of teachers as another alternative to learning in Salacuim, but they are renting a building which will not be available next year and looking at a lot of costs that are keeping them down.


name: Ofelia Xe age: 20 grade: 9th
favorite subject: spanish favorite sport: basketball
future goal: to be a teacher

Our town (or maybe Guatemala in general) has a reputation of making a lot of options for the same thing. Whether it's over 15 political parties on a ballot for president, 6 different churches of the same religion for our tiny town or 2 different junior highs, they like to divide rather than unite their efforts to make one outstanding system.


name: Leobardo Pop age: 15 grade: 8th
favorite subject: math favorite sport: soccer
future goal: to own a business

This group of kids has presented a special challenge to us. Only by chance, within this group we are dealing with our only single teen mother, who is struggling to balance school and taking care of her child. We also have one girl who has lost her mother and lacks a female influence in a machismo society. The challenges have surfaced in terms of not having a sufficient elementary education to understand complicated junior high topics and the results have been low grades. For some reason we have had to push this group to excel more than others. They have all risen to the occasion though and we are hoping that this year will end in success for them.


name: Narcy Ac age: 18 grade: 7th
favorite subject: q'eqchi' (mayan language)
favorite sport: soccer
future goal: to be a teacher


name: Ilce Choc age: 15 grade: 7th
favorite subject: q'eqchi' (mayan language)
favorite sport: basketball
future goal: to be a nurse

Regardless of all the obstacles, they are all getting a second chance to succeed this year. An opportunity that would not have been there without outside donor support.

Children of the week

This is one group of our junior high students that are benefiting from the scholarships this year. There are two options for junior high in Salacuim. One school is private and tends to be a little more expensive with a smaller student to teacher ratio. The other school, called a telesecundaria, is what these students are attending. In the telesecundaria, the idea is for the schools to use video tapes made by the government to teach the classes. It cuts back on the costs of teachers and also allows the government to regulate the curriculum to some degree. This is a system that is used frequently in the rural areas of Guatemala. In Salacuim however, the televisions have broken and they no longer use this method. They continue to call themselves a telesecundaria but instead they have one teacher for each grade.


name: Victor Ical age: 14 grade: 7th
favorite subject: math favorite sport: soccer
future goal: to be an accountant


name: Warner Quib age: 14 grade: 7th
favorite subject: math favorite sport: basketball
future goal: to be a college graduate

If the kids make it to the junior high school level in Salacuim, it is quite an achievement. They have beaten some of the odds and are that much closer to a high school education, which is almost unheard of in the rural areas. If you are living in Salacuim, your education ends at 9th grade. From there it is similar to deciding on what colleges to attend for kids in the states. For a 15 year old, it can be a difficult decision to decide to leave home and study or stay with their family and work. Many of these kids will soon be faced with this same question.


name: Yadira Sagui age: 18 grade: 7th
favorite subject: math favorite sport: soccer
future goal: to be a college graduate


name: Zunilda Chen age: 15 grade: 8th
favorite subject: math favorite sport: soccer & basketball
future goal: to be a college graduate


name: Julio Paau age: 15 grade: 9th
favorite subject: math favorite sport: soccer & basketball
future goal: to be an engineer

The work load is much more demanding at this level of schooling. The students are taking 10 different classes and also have a mandatory typing class that they must attend 20 hours a month outside of school. At this age they are also responsible for doing many of the adult duties in their family as well. For the boys, this would generally involve field work. The girls mostly work in the home cooking and cleaning. Aside from the demands being higher, the costs also double from the costs of elementary school. For many families it is not financially possible to think about junior high. Luckily all of these kids are benefiting from your support this year.

Child of the week

name: Ingrid Caal
age: 9
grade: 1st
favorite subject: spanish
favorite sport: soccer
future goal: to be a teacher

Sometimes is is hard to see the direct academic impact that our scholarship program has on the kids. We know that all the children in our program could not have studied this year without outside help. We can see that they are in school and now part of something academic, but are they succeeding and thriving? The school system in Salacuim is a long ways from being known as the best of the best, but you work with what you have.


first ever school supplies

Ingrid has been one of the rare transformations to watch academically. At 9 years old, she was given the chance to go to school for the first time in her life. Being from one of the poorer families, she had never been able to attend the last three years that she was eligible. In the last 5 months, we have seen her go from only being able to draw pictures to express herself to writing words and sentences. She is now able to read and write at a basic level. A level which is well beyond what her mother is at. To me, that is progress. To see huge steps like this being taken in a short amount of time is the definition of why we are doing this program. Ingrid gives us some hope that we are doing the right thing and making a positive contribution to the way people think about education here.

In Salacuim and perhaps rural Guatemala in general, girls quickly become labeled as future mothers and wives that will take care of the home and have no need to be educated. We hope to break some of this cycle by starting young and giving the girls a chance to explore and succeed before they are consumed by years of tradition. Ingrid is now setting the example for her two younger sisters and living the dream of her mother to be an educated adult.


ingrid, mom and sisters

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

Children of the week

name: Paola Prado
age: 12
grade: 3rd
favorite subject: math
favorite sport: soccer
future goal: to be a nurse


name: Maria Prado
age: 10
grade: 3rd
favorite subject: math
favorite sport: basketball
future goal: to be a trilingual secretary


name: Pablo Prado
age: 9
grade: 1st
favorite subject: spanish
favorite sport: basketball
future goal: to be a college graduate

These kids make me smile. Mostly because no matter what- they are a family and they stick together. The Prado family has taken the scholarship program by storm this year. We've known this family since we arrived in Salacuim. They are a nightly fixture in our house and they've become some of our best allies here. After finishing off the 2006 school year, we learned in January that none of them were enrolled in school this year. Our first reaction was that we need to get these kids in school so they are not in our house all day long. In reality, it became our mission to just show them that we think they are worth helping out. The scholarship program has transformed the kids from what we knew when we first met them. The self-confidence is oozing out of them now. To me, they were always the kids that were never really the ones that fit in at school. They have a lot of friends, but they never had a descent outfit to wear, rarely had shoes and always were a little more grubby than the normal grubby kids we see around here. None of them had ever owned a backpack before this year and a full set of school supplies was unheard of.


study time at our house

They come from a single parent family and live in a one room wood house with dirt floors. In this one room house, they live with their mom and 4 older sisters, two of which have babies. They're older sisters are lacking an education as well, but these three have a chance to succeed. This is Pablo's third year in first grade. In the past, no energy was put into him . Nobody told him that he could succeed or that better yet, he should succeed. Last week he came to show us his exam scores and he had passed all of them with flying colors. Our goal is to get him out of first grade this year and he is on his way. We've probably seen this family change the most because of the help they've received. They're all really smart, but nobody has put the effort into them. Their mom is illiterate, like most indigenous women in the community and it's hard for her to help them with any of their work. The kids are attending the only church school in Salacuim and it was really important for their family to have the kids enrolled in a school with a religious background. The teachers work at the school often without getting paid for months at a time because nobody is really paying the tuition for their children. They admit kids, sometimes knowing the family won't be able to pay. It's a bit of a different philosophy than the other schools.


Pablo working on a thank you letter with his mom

One of the favorite exchanges we have had with them is teaching them words in English and for every word we teach in English, they give us the Q'qechi' word. We have started teaching them colors and they already know the English alphabet. This family has kind of turned into a personal project for us and we feel really attached to the kids. With your help, we are sure they will go far.


new backpacks and school supplies


Paola working on her thank you letter

Child of the week

name: Jorge Choc
age: 15
grade: 4th
favorite subject: natural sciences
favorite sport: soccer
# of brothers and sisters: 4 brothers
future goal: to be a teacher

I decided to feature Jorge this week because today is his 15th birthday. So as we are celebrating his birthday, we are also celebrating the fact that he is in school this year. At 15 and still in 4th grade, it's obvious that school has been a struggle for Jorge and his family. In Salacuim it is all too common for kids to take years off from going to school if there is work to do in the fields or if the family cannot come up with enough money to send them. Over and over we have heard...maybe next year, as a response to why the children aren't in school. We have a huge problem with teenagers still in elementary school here. More importantly, is the race against the clock to get them through before they become too embarrassed to be in elementary school at their age. Many of the kids are close to finishing 6th grade, but are now 17 and do not like the idea of being in a class of 12 year olds. Shame plays a large part in why kids may drop out of school. We are really pushing Jorge to finish this year and move forward instead being stuck in the same position year after year.
Jorge was one of the first kids that sought us out for help after hearing that we were doing a scholarship program. At the time we had several kids already enrolled and had an idea where the rest of the money was going to go. We weren't really looking to expand any further. After coming to our house a couple times and constantly asking for the chance to study, we decided that we couldn't say no to him. How many kids actually beg for a chance to go to school in the states? He really had no other way to study this year and I have a feeling if we wouldn't have helped him, he would have been lost to a 3rd grade education for the rest of his life.



Jorge is the oldest of 5 boys in his family. His mother works hard as an employee of the NGO we work at. She cleans the office and washes the clothes for the employees. It's a couple hours of work a day. The rest of the time she is busy trying to find other ways to make ends meet. Her husband was killed a few years ago and since then, Jorge has assumed the role as the labor worker in the family. He's only 15, but is expected to work in the fields every day right after class. Because of the scholarship money he received, Jorge has discovered a passion for acting in school plays. Most recently he was Pedro Alvarado, the Spanish conquistador that led the conquest of the Guatemalan highlands in 1523.


Jorge as Alvarado

Sometimes the smallest explorations of talent would not be possible without the monetary help of a sponsor. The money to sponsor a child in elementary school goes to school supplies, extra curricular activities, shoes, and uniform. We are fortunate enough to have acquired enough to support each child in the activities they desire to participate in throughout the year, which makes their experience much richer. For a while Jorge has a chance to be a 15 year old again without worrying about how the money he needs for school is taking away from his family.

Child of the week

In an attempt to show what an impact the donations to the scholarship program have made, I thought I would post information about a child once a week. Those of you that donated through Friends of Guatemala should be receiving a letter from the child we have chosen to give your money to. They all took the letter writing process very seriously and when they were handed the piece of paper with your name on it, they just stared at it. None of them can believe that someone in the United States wants to help them.
I'm always amazed when I see all the activities that the kids are getting involved in. It's hard to imagine that without your support, they would not have the chance to do any of this. Through this program, leaders are being created in the community. Every day I am reminded that education is the ONLY way to break the cycle of poverty that exists here. When we held our letter writing meeting, one of the most humbling discoveries was that many of the student's parents could not sign their names or help their child read the directions we passed out. Instead we used their fingerprints as a signature and the older kids helped the younger kids with the instructions. Already it was evident that the large majority of children had surpassed the educational abilities of their parents. The struggle to educate here is immense. Little by little steps are being made. Thanks for your support and this is where your money is going...


name: Claudia Chub
age: 16
grade: 7th
favorite subject: math
favorite sport: soccer
# of brothers and sisters: 2 brothers, 4 sisters
future goal: to be a college graduate

Claudia was recommended to us by her 6th grade teacher as someone with motivation to study and a great sense of respect for those around her. Her teacher told us that she was not enrolling in classes this year, due to the increase in prices for junior high. Her family was simply unable to come up with money to send her to school this year. It's fairly rare for girls in Salacuim to go beyond 6th grade. There are always more opportunities for the boys and the girls really have to fight for an education. It is very common for many of the girls to get pregnant at 13 and be bound to the house and a family with no more than a 6th grade education. We were determined not to let this happen and that's when we found Claudia.
We were instantly impressed with how well spoken she was and her ability to communicate her thoughts and desire to study. She has continued to impress us with her organization and the responsibility she takes for all her studies. Since being enrolled in school, she has become an active player on the basketball team, she is participating in typing classes (one hour a day for the entire year) and 2 nights ago she was crowned ¨senorita simpatía¨ or miss friendliness.


basketball practice


typing class


¨senorita simpatía¨

Many of the children we encounter do not have a lot of support from their families. Not because they don't want to help their children, but mostly because they don't know how or lack the ability to help. Claudia's parents have been involved from day one. I will never forget when we invited them over to our house to talk about enrolling their daughter in our program and after we told her that we were going to help her out this year, both her parents started to cry. We had not received a reaction like this before, but they truly were grateful that someone was willing to help their child. You could tell that this was a life changing event for them.


Claudia and her parents, Martin & Rosalia

The money from Claudia's sponsor is going towards her tuition, uniform, typing classes, fees for sports and extracurricular activities (such as pageants) and also paying for her to take her exams every couple months. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it all adds up to making her experience a successful one. A couple hundred dollars goes so far here and it's amazing to see how it has change Claudia's life.

First Scholarship Meeting

Last night we held the first group meeting for the scholarship program. The program is supporting 19 kids with the $4,300 (still growing...) we've received so far. The students brought their parents to the meeting where we described the program rules and goals, signed contracts for the year and wrote thank-you notes. Each student promised to receive good grades, help with various community projects through the year and to send correspondence to their sponsors during the year. The group was excited and very thankful for the opportunities that they've received.


Two of the scholarship students writing thank you notes.

We also helped the local youth group "JAGUAR" form a committee to begin to manage the scholarship program. Their committee helped us run the meeting. The group is very well organized and working hard on various community projects.


New Scholarship Committee of the "JAGUAR" group.

One child at a time

We are really excited to report that over the holidays over $2,400 came into our scholarship fund from family, friends, coworkers and people we have never met. There is more on the way too and this year is looking like a good year to send some kids to school. Right now we have 14 children ranging from 5 to 17 enrolled in our program. It has been difficult to cooridinate all the things that they need to get started in school. The school system in Guatemala is not nearly as organized as we are used to at home. Often times it has involved Corby or I making late night trips to the store to buy materials for the next day. A full scholarship includes yearly tuition, all the school supplies for the year, uniforms and shoes. We will also be supporting them in their yearly activites that require money to participate in.



Our efforts to choose students were mostly placed on kids that were not planning on going to school this year for reasons they could not control. A large percentage of them do not have fathers and their mothers do not work outside the house. It is nearly imposible to come up with money to live, let alone go to school. Each day we learn that the need is endless. We literally have had a line of people at our door nightly asking us for help. We hope that we can make a difference with this money and begin to stop the cycle of poverty that exists. Through education this can be done.



We now see some of the kids running to school to get there early. The enormous sense of self-confidence and pride they have in carrying a backpack, wearing new shoes or having the school supplies that are requested is amazing. We only wish that all of you that gave could be here to see what an impact you have made. Thank you for your generousity. We will continue to update about the program.

Thank You

A big thank you to all that have donated to our scholarship fund. We appreciate all the support that we are receiving on behalf of the kids from our community. A special thanks to our friends in Northeast for organizing the benefit party and to all that attended. What an amazing group of people we know.
We have exciting to news to report. Mario Rax, one of the older children on our scholarship page, has been awarded a scholarship from the NGO we are working with to attend a three year school in Rio Dulce where he will be studying ecotourism.

For those of you who are still interested in donating, there is still almost a month left before school starts. We'd love to be able to give a few more children a chance.

Donations can be made directly to:

Friends of Guatemala • P.O. Box 33018 • Washington, D.C. 20033

be sure to place Corby and Kari Lewis- Cat. II in the memo section of your check to ensure that it is earmarked for our project.

Happy Holidays!

Opportunity to Help the Children of Salacuim

Our new scholarship program is now up and running.  Visit the website for more information.  Please consider supporting the children of Salacuim!

Scholarship Website

Developing Scholarship Program

While living in Salacuim for the last 6 months we've been developing ideas for a program for you all (various blog readers and others) to help us with some type of community based project. We've decided that the most effective way to help right now is to provide scholarships for local childern to do something that most of us take for granted in the US--go to school. In the case of a 1st - 6th grade education about $100 can send a child to school for a year and give them a chance to explore their dreams.

We're planning on posting more details on how to help within a week here on this website. Check back soon!