Student sponsorship
In some areas of Guatemala it is
not uncommon for adults to have only a first or second grade education as their
families were not able to afford to send them to school when they were children. The charitable organization we worked with in
Guatemala is called Mayan Families. They
see need and figure out a way to help.
The organization was started by a woman from Australia who married a man
from California. Through the years they
have adopted two beautiful daughters from Guatemala and now live down there
full-time. Most of their staff is
composed of indigenous Maya with help from a number of interns and other young
people, many from the United States, and other volunteers who go down to help
when they can. I do not have the words to adequately describe the wonderful
people who are on their staff. One young
man speaks three languages: English,
Spanish and Kakchiquel. He grew up in a
village a few miles from Panajachel on the beautiful Lake Atitlan, where Mayan
Families is headquartered.
In my opinion, one of the most
important ways Mayan Families helps is by running schools for the indigenous
people there in the “highlands.” Through
those schools they are touching many aspects of the lives of the students in
addition to an education. At school most
of the children receive some good food, sometimes all that they will receive
that day. They brush their teeth at
school. This one activity has greatly
improved the dental health of the children just from last year to this. There is a team of dental volunteers who goes
down to treat the students and they were very surprised in the improved dental
health of the students this summer over last.
Part of the way Mayan Families pays for the schools, from pre-schools
through university, is through student sponsorships. When someone selects a child for sponsorship,
usually from the website that lists students in need of sponsorship, that
child’s education is paid for that year by the sponsor. Hopefully the sponsor will continue to
sponsor for additional years, but if that is not possible, one year is the
first step. The child receives shoes, a backpack and school supplies in
addition to an education.
One morning we overheard Sharon,
who helped start Mayan Families, mention to one of the other women in our group
that she could indeed arrange for her to sponsor a child and there was a loud
chorus of voices from the rest of the adults sitting in the van as we were
preparing to head out to some activity.
We all wanted to sponsor a child!
As a result, we were presented with a list of names needing sponsorship,
so we just picked from the list. By
afternoon when we returned from a very rainy day of building stoves our
sponsored students were there waiting to meet us! What a great time that was. There were cameras snapping everywhere, and
the little ones loved looking at our cameras to see a review of their
images. We were able to take the moms
and kids over to the donations area and give each of them a filled backpack,
clothing, shoes, blankets, etc. What a
fun time we had. 
My roommate on the trip,
Christi, selected a little boy because she has a son back here in the US and
because she thought Cesar might be in need of some of the special care that she
wanted to give. Watching Christi with
Cesar was so heartwarming. She was also
able to donate to Cesar’s mother a quilt that had belonged to Christi’s
mother.
Then it was time for me to meet
“my” Glendy! I immediately fell in love
with both Glendy and her mother, Rosa.
Rosa was able to go to school through the third grade and speaks a
little Spanish, so that’s how we communicated.
Mayan Families had staff there to translate for us, but we did fine with
smiles, hugs and a few words in Spanish.
We sadly had to say good bye that afternoon. However, Mayan Families surprised us with
bringing them back on Friday to join with the group for a lunch in a real
restaurant.
Matt & Angela’s family
has sponsored a little girl for a while and they were taking her and her family
out for lunch along with the three children being newly sponsored by Amherst
Elementary School in Tennessee (sponsored through funds raised in their “dunk
the principal” money). So the rest of us
joined them. I don’t have any idea how
many were at lunch that day, but there were 25 of our group plus all the
sponsored students and their mothers and many of their siblings. What a chaotic treat that meal was. I imagine many of them had never eaten in a
restaurant before. It was touching to
see how the moms all held back starting to eat.
I thought they were just being polite, so my friend sitting next to me
suggested we start eating so they would start.
Later we realized they were holding back so they could take the chicken
home to feed their family members who did not attend. We sent many “doggie bags” home with them
that day! 
It was so much fun to try to
communicate, take pictures, enjoy the beautiful view of the lake from our open
air restaurant built on a dock, play little games with the kids as we waited to
be served, dance to the wonderful music, just generally share a special time
together. After getting to know Glendy
and Rosa so well, it was very difficult to say good bye. A few days later as my airplane lifted off at
the Guatemala City airport a thought flashed through my head: I can’t leave Glendy! Now, how silly is that? !! However, she is now often in my thoughts and
sponsoring her schooling and helping her family with other needs is a joy to my
heart. I would recommend it highly to
anyone who is interested.
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