Interesting day.  Today Guatemala celebrated Dia del Nino (Kids day) and I got to spend it with the community of Los Cuchumatanes.  This is the second year we have had our preschool class in this school.  We took bags full of candy (as if they needed more sugar in their lives) and three piñatas.  One for the girls, one for the boys and one for just the preschool class.  I don’t know what they make their piñatas out of but they are extremely resilient and can take a beating. Usually after everyone has had a turn the teachers intervene and break the think apart by hand.  The kids were extremely excited and had a special place they wanted to break the piñatas.  Turns out it was about a 10 minute walk from the school and there wasn’t a house in site.  The thing that made the area special was that there were two large trees from which they suspended the target of their joy.  These trees were over 200 feet apart (I don’t know where they found rope long enough.)  Two kids scrambled up the tree like they were monkeys and had the rope strung in no time.

After everyone had their bags of candy we went back to the school to hand out surprises. We gave each kid a plastic piggy bank (a few were rabbits though) to encourage them to think about their futures and about saving money.  Several kids had their little piggies named  and were introducing them to their friends.

The highlight of the day was in the evening when we met with Celso and Florintina, two of our scholarship students from Fey y Alegria.  Florintina is just precious.  She brought her cousin along and she reminded me of how Florintina was when I first met her.  The cousin said nothing and sat quietly.  If asked a question she would respond politely and quietly and then try to sink further into the shadow.  By contrast Florintina starts out quiet but curious.  She is extremely gracious and quiet at first.  Once you get her talking though she becomes animated and full of life.  We had a long conversation about differences in her version of Mam and the version of Mam spoken in TotoSantos.  In theory the same indigenous language but with numerous differences.  Tomorrow we will show her where we hope she will be living as she has completed her studies at Fey y Alegria and will be attending the next level of education next year.

The biggest surprise was Celso (known to some as Ancelmo).  When we first met him we recognized right away that he was a bright young man.  As he was the first person in his village to graduate from the 6^th grade we felt he had lots of potential.  He was very quiet and respectful.  His first year at boarding school took some adjustment.  He went from sharing one teacher with 6 other grades to living with students from all over Guatemala and having a variety of new teachers and topics.  This is the end of his second year and I could barely recognize him as the same person.  He is still respectful and very polite but he is now a young man.  He is enthusiastic and well spoken.  He is quite animated and thoroughly looks forward to exploring any new topic that may present itself.  He is extremely appreciative of the opportunity we helped to give him.  He no longer wears the cowboy boots and hat of his youth and he recognizes that he has to be an example to his family and other youths of his village.

We raised enough money to cover Florentina’s first year of technical school. Guatemalan children generally get school provided for them for the first 6 years by the government. If the child wants to continue, the family must pay for a middle school (like our junior/high school). Then past those three years, if the child wants to get a degree in a trade like shoe making, mechanical work, construction, nursing, teaching, they go for another 3 years (like our college/trade schools here) which again the family must pay for.

Most families in the rural area of Huehuetenango, Guatemala have 6+ children so they can hardly afford to feed their families much less pay to send their children to school. When we first met Florentina we saw her enthusiasm to continue her education and wanted to help her achieve her dream. Women in Guatemala have an exceptionally hard time continuing their education as they are perceived as the care takers and often marry young and have to care for their families. So, Florentina who wants to continue to study nursing and teaching is a beacon of light and with our help she’ll be able to go to school as well as be a great example to other young woman in her area.

Photos were taken by Jarvis Cooper of Faith Ministries in Columbus, Indiana.

Florentina Simon Perez is a lovely and bright 16 year old Mayan girl. She has received a Seeds of Help scholarship since 2007. Before we met her, young Florentina was working as a maid to try to earn money to pay for her schooling. Even though she makes her own clothes, she was unable to make enough money to pay the fee. This year she will complete 9^th grade and is the first person in her family to have studied past the 3^th grade. Florintina is also the only person in her family to speak Spanish as well as her families regional Mayan dialect of Catchikel. She is from the village of Colotenango in Huehuetenango (pronounced way-way-tn-ango), Guatemala where she lives in a two room adobe block house with her parents, sister, brothers, sister-in-law and grandmother. She has attended school at Fe y Alegria in Chiantla for the past three years and despite language barriers and the new environment for education has done very well with her schooling. With our help Florentina would like to continue her studies to be a nurse. With your help we can help make it happen.

Florentina is one of a dozen young people in Guatemala that are trying hard to get an education and learn for the betterment of her family and community. Seeds feels very fortunate to be able to help provide the opportunity for primary education and beyond.

Guatemala School Scholarship Recipient: Florentina

Guatemala School Scholarship Recipient: Florentina and Family