Amigos de Patzún

This past Sunday I was invited by my site-mate’s counterpart to help interview students and their parents for scholarships. My site-mate works with Amigos de Patzún, an organization started by ex-Peace Corps Volunteers who served in my site, and a local teacher. This foundation provides scholarships for children from families with limited resources, and gives them the opportunity to continue their studies when otherwise it would not be possible for them to do so.

I was assigned to interview parents of the students applying for scholarships, asking them questions about their family, sources of income, and ideas about education. The majority of parents I talked to had 4 to 7 children and claimed to earn around Q.30 a day (about $4) working as day laborers in the fields. None of them had studied past elementary school, but they all had the same dream for their children: that they could continue their studies in order to have a better life then their parents. The jobs that these parents are able to find with a 5th or 6th grade education are proof that if these kids can’t continue to study they will be trapped in the same cycle of poverty. These parents work as maids, in packaging factories, in the fields, and sewing guipils. None of these jobs is secure over the long run or pays sufficiently.

The most impactful interview I had was with a single mother who had left her husband 5 years earlier because of his infidelity and abuse. I admired the courage of this woman get out of a damaging relationship even though she relied financially on her husband. Many women here are not able to escape such situations because they don’t have the means to earn a living. This mother astutely told me that she doesn’t want her daughter to end up in the same position as she did, relying on a spouse who turned out unreliable and disrespectful; she wanted her daughter to be self-sufficient and not get trapped by lack of economic opportunities. “Education,” she told me, “is the best heritage that you can leave your children. A piece of land they sell once and that’s that, but a good education continues to bear fruit over the long run.”

Talking with these parents about their struggles and their dreams for their children was difficult because the organization only has sufficient funding to give 6 out of the 12 students who made it to the interview round scholarships. Because of costs of inscription, materials and transportation even in public schools, I know that some of their children won’t be able to keep studying if they don’t get the scholarship.

Amigos de Patzún sends students to 3 schools, depending on where they live. It costs $1000 to send a student to high school and $900 to send a student to the best private middle school in town. But for the more rural students it only costs $275 to send them to school for a year. This is a very well run scholarship program with a rigorous application and monitoring process for students. I am not sure how many people actually read my blog or if my few followers have lost interest after my long absence, but if you read this and are interested in supporting the education and future of the youth of Guatemala, please visit this web site. Here you can find out more about the organization and consider donating this year so that all of the deserving students can keep studying, because education is the best heritage we can leave the next generation.

http://amigosdepatzun.org/