Category: Guatemala

Ask and you shall receive!

Ask and you shall receive!

Meg

Nick Kristof has made his way to Guatemala! I don’t actually think this is because of my post the other day, but I am still thrilled!

The focus of this piece, published in today’s NY Times (June 6, 2019), is on climate change driving migration…do you know what Project Drawdown says is the top solution to climate change? Combined, it’s girl’s education and family planning.  And so I circle right back to MAIA. This is extremely important stuff, folks. Educating girls in Guatemala has incredible trickle down impacts on so many issues, from simply the humanity of alleviating  the suffering of other human being’s day to day survival to creating opportunity and hope to reducing the impacts of climate change. 

Nicholas Kristof and the Power of Hope

Nicholas Kristof and the Power of Hope

Meg

It’s not just me. Nicholas Kristof, the renowned New York Times journalist and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, also believes there is power in hope. He published an article in the NY Times opinion section on May 29, 2019, entitled Cash, Food and Health Care All Help the Poor, but Something’s Still Missing. It’s about poverty within the indigenous population in Paraguay, and how opportunity (also known as HOPE) can be a transformative force in substantively changing the trajectory of people’s lives.

Hope doesn’t mean just an idea and a good feeling. It means a pathway to something new and the supports to get there. The program in Paraguay references mental health support in addition to guidance on how to grow a small business. No one goes it alone. The notion that anyone is successful completely alone and in a vacuum is one of the biggest fallacies ever promoted.

As I read Mr. Kristoff’s article, I found myself thinking about the MAIA Impact School in Guatemala and the similarities between what he observed in Paraguay and what I have seen happening in Guatemala. The MAIA school, led by courageous and empowered Mayan women, sees hope in the form of providing a real, robust education to young girls with the potential to succeed but no opportunity to do so. These girls are rural, poor, indigenous, and female, four major challenges in a country where machismo is the norm and racism against the indigenous population is severe (of the 200,000 people killed during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, 93% were indigenous). MAIA provides not only academic opportunity for these girls, but also the mentoring and support that they and their families need to navigate the extremely demanding road before them. This road begins with these girls beginning to build a path for their families out of systemic poverty. Imagine the trickle-down generational impacts when empowered, educated girls become empowered, educated mothers. The possibilities for change spread like the roots of a strong tree.

MY HOPE is that Mr. Kristoff finds his way to Sololá, Guatemala, as he winds his way back north…this story, the incredible work being done by this school in Guatemala to create hope and an actual opportunity for a viable future needs to be broadcast more widely. The little news we hear about Guatemala in the U.S. fixates on negative imagery from illegal border crossings and migrant caravans to drug cartels and political instability. What if the news focused more on what kind of hopelessness would compel someone to make that fraught journey to an uncertain and antagonistic future? What if they presented solutions that would help people build a future that would be a reason, a means, to stay?

Pulitzer committee, I’ll be awaiting your call ;-)!

 

True Confessions of a Mom Set Loose

True Confessions of a Mom Set Loose

Meg

October 31, 2018

On the plane from Miami to Guatemala City. This is my first extended solo excursion since having children, my first trip to Central America, my first trip to the developing world in a very long time. It’s a lot of first’s and with that comes excitement and joy and a re-awakening of my spirit or some part of me that’s been quiet for some time…as well as a visceral, biological longing and sadness that I can’t control and didn’t expect. It’s hard to say goodbye to my family and, much as I am sometimes desperate to bust out of the routine and the daily grind, it’s also incredibly difficult to break away.

By chance, the man who drove me to the airport this morning grew up in Guatemala. He was stunned that that was where I was headed. It feels like the universe conspired to cross our paths. I told him (between sniffles) that I hadn’t really done much for myself in 11 years and that I wanted to soak in the moment. He said, “You are like a comet, passing through so rarely but shining so brightly.” I like that idea!

So, here I am, halfway to Guatemala with my journal out and two books sitting beside me – Open Veins of Latin America (by Eduardo Galeano) and Less (by Andrew Sean Greer) – that I might actually be able to read with all this uninterrupted time. For the time being, though, my mind keeps jumping between thoughts of travel past and the younger me; about my kids, already anticipating our reunion; and imaginings about what this trip will be like! And this tells me that maybe I should take a couple minutes to just sit and be, quietly…but, first, a haiku:

Mundane and routine

Break the mold of must and should

Rare delight, bright light.

What if I fall quote

 

 

The Unsung Solution to Climate Change

The Unsung Solution to Climate Change

Meg

The top solution for reducing climate change probably isn’t what you think. I am an avid outdoorsperson and have been a proponent of sustainable development and living lightly on the land for decades. But I missed one big factor in considering our environmental impact entirely until relatively recently. During all my years thinking about environmental issues and solutions, I thought very directly and narrowly about the more obvious aspects of the environment from pollution to deforestation.

I have had an epiphany in my thinking about environmental priorities lately, as well as long-term solutions. Project Drawdown, founded by author, entrepreneur, and environmentalist Paul Hawken in 2014, maps, measures, and models the most substantive solutions to stop global warming, and communicates those findings to the world. Project Drawdown researchers published a list of their top solutions to climate change. It’s not recycling more and it’s not riding your bike everywhere or giving up your car – though doing more recycling and less driving aren’t bad ideas either.

What is it? It’s educating girls. If you look at their list of solutions, you will see Educating Girls listed as number 6 and Family Planning listed as number 7. If you combine the total atmospheric CO2-EQ reduction (GT) of these two solutions, which has been arbitrarily split in half by the list-makers, it climbs to the top of the list.

By chance, at the same time this solutions list came across my plate, I had just read The Education Crisis: Being in School is Not the Same as Learning. To quote the article, “Global experience shows us that countries that have rapidly accelerated development and prosperity all share the common characteristic of taking education seriously and investing appropriately.”

This data amplifies the power and importance of what I witnessed at the MAIA Impact School in Sololá, Guatemala. MAIA is an incubator of best practices in education from all over the world. The approach is community-based and culturally appropriate. And they are completely open source, sharing their knowledge and experience with 30 local organizations per year.

Empowered Woman, Infinite Impact
Chilly Back to School
Learning about Sustainable Gardening

I am a little late to the party in figuring this out, but it is abundantly clear that education is the fundamental tool to unlocking the chains of systemic poverty and catalyzing positive, long-term change in communities across the world. Incredibly, by investing in something that is intrinsically good, we simultaneously reduce our impact on the environment. For $250 per month (or about $8 per day), a Guatemalan girl can attend the Impact School, becoming a stronger, more empowered and more self-sufficient individual, while leading the way towards a stable and sustainable future for both her country and our world. That is a transformative, life-altering and life-affirming impact. That is the kind of investment that makes the world a substantially better place – for everyone.

“The schools of the future are being built today. These are schools where all teachers have the right competencies and motivation, where technology empowers them to deliver quality learning, and where all students learn fundamental skills, including socio-emotional, and digital skills. These schools are safe and affordable to everyone and are places where children and young people learn with joy, rigor, and purpose.” – World Bank

#maiaimpact #educationmatters #investinpeople

 

Audacious Ambassadors

Audacious Ambassadors

Meg

I wrote my original posts on this blog about the inauguration of the MAIA (formerly Starfish) Impact School’s new building and my impressions of Guatemala as a first time visitor. The school’s impact continues to expand, boldly challenging the narrative and compelling us all to be braver and to rethink what our expectations are – of ourselves and others – and why.

It is impossible to overstate the impact that enhancing educational opportunities for girls in Guatemala can have. The average rural Mayan teenage girl has received only 3.5 years of education. Fewer than 1% of indigenous girls from rural areas go to university. The culture has historically emphasized that girls have no voice. The existing social systems are designed to make girls and women disappear – girls are not supported in getting an education; women are taught to be quiet and not to speak up; making eye contact is considered disrespectful.

And yet, globally, countries that have greater levels of gender equality are safer and more prosperous. Educating girls is also among the top forms of combating climate change. The MAIA Impact School, in its third year of operation, exists to “unlock and maximize the potential of young women to lead transformational change.” One way MAIA actively addresses the inequities in Guatemalan society is by incorporating vocal empowerment techniques from Speak educators to help the students find both their physical and emotional voice.

MAIA’s holistic approach also challenges the cultural norms by extending beyond the walls of the school to work with the students’ families in their homes. A MAIA mentor visits each student’s family monthly, during which time they engage with many aspects of the school curriculum such as personal and family goal-setting; emotional, mental, and physical health; vocal empowerment and healthy communication; and community development. As part of the admission process, families must commit to supporting their daughters through the completion of their secondary education. As a symbol of this commitment, when the girls start school, they and their families attach a lock to the gates of the school that will not be removed until they graduate.

Dad Hugging Daughter
Family Placing Lock
Commitment between Father and Daughter

As a testament to the profound steps MAIA is taking, last week the school was awarded the Zayed Sustainability Prize for Global High Schools in the Americas category. The school was one of 10 chosen winners from 2,100 applications that represented 130 countries. “This prize is given to global high schools in six geographic regions that can demonstrate impact, innovation, and inspiration to enable inclusive and equitable access to quality education.”

zayed prize
Prize Recipients, MAIA representative Front Row 4th from Left

Three representatives from MAIA attended the Sustainability Conference and award ceremony in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emerites (UAE). It boggles the mind to see these women, who were raised in a culture that told them that they weren’t valuable, embarking on their voyage to UAE.

Ester Leaving School for UAE
MAIA Representatives Leaving Antigua for Airport
Ester at Award Ceremony

Take a minute to think about the daily challenges you face. And then think about how brave these women have to be every day, to break the mold, to find their voice, to dare to reach for more in life. Think about Ester, a 9th grader from rural Sololá, Guatemala. Attending school beyond 6th grade was an enormous leap just a couple of years ago. Last week she traveled to the other side of the world. She crossed a vast stage to receive a prize for her school, a tangible testament to how meaningful and impactful all of the effort and sacrifice have been. She met people from all over the world – from UAE, Chile, and Croatia, to name a few – and represented on a global scale her school, her heritage, and her country. These MAIA representatives, these courageous Mayan women, are teaching the world about Guatemala while showing us all what is possible. This is bold. This is audacious. This is hope.

 

You Don’t See That Everyday

You Don’t See That Everyday

Meg

What’s so noteworthy about the following picture, do you think?

Bathroom Photo

If you said, “That’s a bathroom stall”, you’d be correct.  But you’d be more correct and I’d be more impressed if you said, “That’s a wheelchair accessible bathroom stall!  With a ramp to the door!  In Guatemala!”

My cousin Chris has been in a wheelchair since a skiing accident in college.  He is an accomplished athlete and motivational speaker.  In his memoirs, he shares what it was like for him after his accident, learning how to adapt physically and mentally to his new and challenging reality.

Because of Chris’ experiences, specifically his time in Tanzania preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, I may be more attuned to the challenges people with disabilities face, especially in the developing world.  Have you ever noticed how rare a curb cut or an accessible bathroom is outside of the United States?  Have you ever considered how difficult it might be to get around in a wheelchair period, let alone on a dirt path?  In the snow?  Without ramps?  Without an elevator?  With no wheelchair at all?

Needless to say, when I saw this bathroom in the small community of San Juan La Laguna in Guatemala I about fell over with surprise and joy.  So today I wanted to share the important and meaningful work that Alma de Colores, a “labor and social inclusion program for people with disabilities” is doing in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.  And to encourage everyone to think for a minute about how hard it is to live in the developing world as an able-bodied individual.  Or how difficult it can be to live in the U.S. as a disabled individual, even with the accessibility standards we have.  And to simply be aware of that as you go about your day today.

Posters about Alma de Colores at their cafe
More Posters at cafe – https://www.almadecolores.org/cafe-y-restaurante/

My cousin spends a lot of his time speaking at schools with his Nametags educational program, shining a light on the disabled community so that they are seen, so we all start to see their potential and our own potential, instead of focusing on the limitations.  The Nametags program teaches about resiliency, and also about the labels we put on ourselves and others.

Chris and Tajiri on top of Kili
Chris Skiing

Waypoint Adventure puts much of what Chris’ Nametags program talks about into action.  Their mission is to “challenge youth and adults with disabilities to discover their purpose, talents and strengths through the transforming power of adventure”.  And their work is incredibly powerful!  The liberation and delight that comes from triumphing over an “I could never do that” mindset is truly thrilling.

Shel Shilverstein wrote the following poem in Where the Sidewalk Ends:

Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child,
Listen to the DON’TS
Listen to the SHOULDN’TS
The IMPOSSIBLE, the WON’TS,
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me –
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

Alma de Colores, Nametags and Waypoint Adventure provide the support and structure to make the impossible possible.  They teach about the power of community and inclusion, that no one climbs a mountain alone, that together we can transform people’s view of their abilities.  Those are phenomenal messages that transcend international boundaries.  Those are the universal messages of our common humanity.

Main street in San Juan La Laguna
Entry port to San Juan

 

Amazing Artwork in San Juan – and dogs
Village and Mountains View

 

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Meg

It would be disingenuous of me not to share how HARD it was for me to go to Guatemala.  That may have been clear from my earlier post that mentions the soul-searching I went through to decide to go in the first place.  I am nothing if not risk averse.  Or from the tears I cried when it was actually time to go to the airport.  It was really HARD to leave – there were so many unknowns and my old friend self-doubt had a lot to say about my decision.

Sure, I’ve been brave before – ostensibly.  I’ve traveled all over the world, I’ve taken jobs in states and countries I had previously never even been to before arriving for work.  But so much of that bravery was born of desperation or an “it can’t be worse than this” attitude, not actual courage.  And so much of it was before having children.  Going to Guatemala, on the other hand, was a choice to do something different when things were going perfectly fine.  And that kind of rocked me.

One of my favorite all time quotes is: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived”.  That’s from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.  It’s a message I picked up decades ago, and it’s one I’ve carried with me since.

In my twenties, I would literally go to the woods, especially my sanctuary around Katahdin in Maine, where I found my people, my place, my footing in this world when I needed it most.  I find life there to be a little less noisy, a little more simple, and the scenery so beautiful that it soothes my busy brain.

As I’ve gotten older and my responsibilities to and for others have expanded, I try to find ways to simplify my life, to front only the essential things, to bring the peace that I find when I am in the woods home with me.  Despite all my family responsibilities, my anxiety, my self-doubt, I don’t want to forget to live.  I want to live authentically and bravely and not, like Thoreau says, from the vantage point of looking back at the end of my days, discover that I had not lived.

And so I choose, daily, to face into the fear.  I get on the plane (heck, I buy the plane tickets!) to Guatemala; I push the publish button on this blog while cowering behind the screen awash in vulnerability; I belay at the rock gym even though, fully trained to belay, my mind still tells me it’s awfully risky; I participate in a triathlon for the first time ever when my Rheumatoid Arthritis is finally in remission and I think “maybe I can still do something like this after all”; I drive my beautiful, vivacious, young and also scared mom to the doctor and hear the Alzheimer’s diagnosis we have suspected but been dreading; I go to the woods with my kids and share with them the joy I’ve found there, though it’s not nearly as simple or quiet with them in tow!  I stretch the boundaries of my comfort zone.  I breath through the self-doubt and the fear and I LIVE.

My life has been the very definition of bittersweet these last several years.  And I am so incredibly grateful for all of it.  Without the fear, how would I find my courage?  Without the bitter, how would I taste the sweet?

Meme zoom in for blog
From Tinybuddha.com, through Finding Joy website
Connections and Community Count

Connections and Community Count

Meg

Let me back up a bit and talk about how I came to be in Guatemala in the first place.

I am a people person, a connector, a collector of friends.  I take keeping in touch seriously, as my GPA my first year of college reflects.  It turns out that spending countless hours in the library sending emails is not exactly the same thing as spending countless hours in the library studying.  I, unfortunately, did not learn a tremendous amount by carrying my books back and forth to the library and sitting in the computer lab.  Educational osmosis, apparently, is not a thing.  Ah, life lessons.  But I digress…

The point of my connector story is that I traveled to Guatemala with a friend I met on a semester abroad program during college.  We have kept in touch for over twenty years, and though we hadn’t seen each other in seven years I texted her out of the blue one quiet weekend day this fall and mentioned that “I was trying to get ideas about where I can put my efforts to save the world and researching what others were up to”.  Her response, to paraphrase, was to check out the Maia Impact School program in Guatemala and consider joining her for a trip she was organizing to attend the inauguration of the new Colegio Impacto school building at the end of October.  The rest is history.

But it wasn’t as easy as an idea and an action.  There was a heck of a lot of soul-searching and then logisticating to get me on the plane.  The soul-searching was primarily around leaving my family.  I had never really done that before!  I love to travel, but I hadn’t traveled solo in over a decade and in fact hadn’t left my kids for more than two nights ever.  Life got busy and complicated and for a long time I wasn’t in any condition physically or emotionally to go anywhere.  I didn’t have time to plan a trip, let alone go on one, so it just wasn’t part of my reality for a while.

But I’ve been around long enough to know that life is short and I’ve faced enough adversity to know that it’s also unpredictable.  I take the phrase “seize the day” to heart.  And, honestly, I was desperate to go on this trip, but also terrified of leaving and rocking the boat.  I am a worrier and a thinker, and now that I have little people and a husband counting on me, I kept hearing these messages in my mind that “life is good, it isn’t worth the risk”.

And then my village stepped in.  The women in my community not only told me that I should go, but that I NEEDED to.  One friend explained how important it was that my children see me as a person, with my own interests and passions.  Two others gave me a crash course in Spanish.  And all of them offered before and after school childcare coverage to make it possible, while emphasizing that my husband and children would be okay, and pointing out that since I would be leaving on October 31 they could survive (probably quite happily) on Halloween candy if absolutely necessary.

So I booked my flight and visited the local hospital’s travel clinic (because even though Guatemala is fairly innocuous as developing countries go, I need to be extra thoughtful about travel with my medical condition) and before I knew it I was leaving for the airport.  That’s when my flee instinct really kicked in.  In the predawn hours, with my ride waiting outside, I insisted to my husband that I didn’t actually have to go, that just dreaming of the trip was enough.  He reassured me that I’d feel better by the time I got on the plane and that they’d be fine.  And so I went.  And, he was right, I was okay by the time I arrived at the airport.  And, wow, how luxurious to be alone, to read a book, to watch a movie, to think, to sleep…all uninterrupted!

Before I knew it, I was touching down in Guatemala City (check out my Arriving in Guatemala post).  Within Guatemala I traveled to Antigua, Sololá, Panajachel, San Juan La Laguna, and Santa Catarina.  I traveled with a group of women who were immediately like family, all kindred spirits, all seasoned travelers, and all strong, smart, kind, passionate women.  They each brought different strengths to the group; different insights when we would talk about the problems in Guatemala, in our own country, in our own lives; different interests and pasts; and different dreams and hopes.  But we were connected in this moment in time, in this spectacular place, at an incredibly powerful moment for the organization and the girls we were there supporting.  Through this trip I connected with new friends; I reconnected with friends from my past; and I reconnected with myself, my passions, and what stirs my soul.  I couldn’t have done that without taking a chance and taking this trip.  I couldn’t have done that without the support of my family and my community.

While traveling I recommended Brene Brown’s “The Power of Vulnerability” Ted talk to one of my fellow travelers.  Brene Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston who studies courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy.  Whatever my co-traveler and I had been talking about, it seemed relevant.  Needless to say, I hadn’t actually watched it in ages and didn’t have enough battery power or cell service on my phone while I was traveling to re-view it myself.  It’s been an open weblink on my Iphone for a couple weeks now, but I finally got to watch the first ten minutes of it again this past weekend.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing so I jotted down the notes.  In her shame research, Brene found that:

[The one difference, the one variable, between people who have a sense of worthiness, who have a strong sense of love and belonging, versus those who struggle for it and who always wonder if they are good enough, is that they believe they are worthy of it.]  “The one thing that keeps us out of connection is a fear that we are not worthy of connection…what these people had in common was a sense of courage.  Courage, the original definition…was to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.  These folks had, very simply, the courage to be imperfect.  They had the compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others because, as it turns out, we can’t practice compassion with other people if we can’t treat ourselves kindly.  And the last part is that they had connection.  And this is the hard part – as a result of authenticity.  They were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were.  You have to do that – absolutely – for connection.”

I take from this and my own life experience three main things:

1.  Always be true to (imperfect) you.

2.  You can’t practice compassion with other people without being compassionate with yourself sounds an awful lot like you can’t take care of other people if you don’t take care of yourself (oxygen mask people!).

And, 3. Meaningful connection with other people is incredibly important.

Oxygen.  Compassion.  Authenticity.  Connection.

Hope.

MAIA’s Pioneering Impact

MAIA’s Pioneering Impact

Meg

In my previous posts I provided a very brief history and economic background for Guatemala and then discussed the pioneering efforts Colegio Impacto/MAIA is making in educating indigenous girls.  Well-intentioned development work happens the world over, but with widely varying intentions and results.  Some development creates greater dependency on aide, intentionally or not, versus establishing systems to foster sustainability and independence.  Some development work downright backfires.  Some development work is positive but incremental, which can be okay depending on the circumstances.  And then there are the game changers, those organizations with a belief that incremental change is not sufficient, that the challenge is too acute, and that a new approach is needed.

So, what’s the magic formula that creates a successful development project?  I wish I knew the answer to that question!  But I don’t and I don’t currently have the capacity to embark on a scientifically evaluated study either.  I can, however, outline the components of an exemplary development program based on what I saw with the MAIA program.

Norma Bajan is the MAIA Impact School program’s Country Director.  She is an intelligent, empowered, courageous woman, who has an amazing story to tell.  Follow this link to read the text of the speech Norma gave at the Amplify Her Voice Annual Event in Colorado, in which she describes her childhood and her journey to where she is today.

Norma is a Mayan woman.  And it is she who leads the MAIA program in Guatemala.  She has a tremendous partnership with the Executive Director, Travis Ning, and incredible support from the U.S. Board, but the program is based in Guatemala and run mainly by indigenous people.  And that is by design.  MAIA aims to empower the local community and the U.S. team endeavors to be so successful in doing so that they work themselves out of a job.  Norma, her colleagues, and her Guatemalan Board want change to happen in their country and also to honor their culture.  As a result, the Maia school program covers the traditional subjects one would expect from science to math to writing and reading.  But the students also study Kachiquel, their native Mayan language, alongside learning fluent Spanish and some English.  The positive aspects of the students’ Mayan heritage are incorporated while the girls study new academic and social skills.  Home visits and mentoring and other aspects of the program go beyond the typical school day to foster new ways of communicating and relating in the girls’ homes and their communities. 

Travis and Norma, Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
Norma Bajan and a Student

In sum, the MAIA development model is exemplary because it:  demonstrates strong, selfless leadership; maintains healthy, cooperative partnerships (between the administrative team, the Guatemalan Board, the U.S. Board, and their allies and supporters); reflects a community-based approach that is culturally appropriate; is an incubator for best practices from all over the world; and is completely open source, sharing their knowledge and experience with 30 local organizations per year.  The MAIA program inspires emboldened self-sufficiency and long-term stability and sustainability.  What more could a parent hope for for their child, for their family’s future, for their country, than that?

See what I mean?  Hope springs eternal, and human connections – to each other and to our own humanity – are the link.

Where is the hope?

Where is the hope?

Meg

So where is the hope in the story of Guatemala?  The statistics, especially for the indigenous population, are bleak.  In my previous post I outlined some of the headwinds facing Guatemala, especially within the indigenous population and particularly for females. ​I didn’t even mention the 36-year civil war that only ended in 1996, and the 200,000 deaths due to that war, 93% of which were indigenous people.

How does change happen, how does one ever move the needle to dismantle entrenched systems of inequality, how do people rise up and out of day-to-day survival to a more sustainable life?  The obstacles appear insurmountable.  And, yet, I had the opportunity to meet a girl pioneer from the Colegio Impacto/Starfish (now Maia Impact) program and her family in their home.  I had the opportunity to tour the newly-built school that will begin to welcome students in the classrooms, using the computer and science labs, reading Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and Charlotte’s Web, among many others, in the library in January of 2019.  I witnessed with my own eyes the families, this caravan of hope, walk through the gates of that school after the ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 3, 2018, and I glimpsed a powerful new narrative and a promising future for Guatemala.  

New Colegio Impacto
Ribbon Cutting

The Colegio Impacto/Maia program in Guatemala provides a model for education and economic development that can and should be replicated.  Maia Impact School is a school and mentoring program designed for indigenous girls that is run by indigenous women.  Maia works with young women from low-income, traditionally marginalized communities who have the talent and desire to succeed but lack access to opportunity.  The program’s goal is “to create truly meaningful and long-lasting change” through the core fundamentals of community, academics, and culture.  Maia believes in empowerment, equality, and opportunity for all.  Check out their website – www.maiaimpact.org – for more information.  I can’t do justice to the full scope and impact of their work here.  But the work is powerful and they have results and success stories to demonstrate that this model works.  

One success story I can share is the example of the girl pioneer, Zonia, who I had the good fortune to meet while I was there.  Her grandmother is about 75 years old, was never educated, and cannot read or write.  Her mother is in her late 40’s and finished only 6th grade.  This level of educational attainment is pretty typical in rural Guatemala.  They live in a simple home, a short walk down a dirt path through open fields and corn stalks from a secondary road in their village of Chaquijyá, a division of Sololá.  This is an agricultural community and it is the 5th poorest in the country, according to data from WeGuatemala as of 2013.  In 2013, 34% of people in their community were surviving on $1USD per day.  There are no modern amenities or conveniences in the home.  Laundry is cleaned on a scrub board outside and hung to dry.  A wood fire heats the stove for cooking.  The sink is outside, as is the pit toilet.  The ceilings are low, maybe 5’5” at the door.  Potable water is a limited resource.

Fields in Chaquijyá
Zonia’s House

Zonia is 20 years old, petit, quiet, and polite.  She finished high school at the Colegio Impacto, and is now in her third year of a six-year nursing program.  Her family took a chance on this exceptional young girl.  Her family made a commitment to her education, and they broke the mold of the way it has always been.  They and all the Maia families had to be unbelievably brave.  They had to sacrifice in the present on behalf of their child’s future, giving up the child’s short-term earning potential selling goods, their help caring for other children in the family, their help going to the market, making meals, working in the fields. They had to have the courage, in the face of disapproval from their neighbors, their community, and possibly within their own family, to try something different, something new, and something previously untested.  

Zonia (in blue), her mother, her grandmother, and our Maia group

One of the goals of the Maia program is for the girls to be able to earn a middle class wage when they complete their studies and enter the workforce.  This would be approximately $3,500USD per year, an 8 to 9 fold increase from typical wages in this region.  Zonia is still studying, but she has already been able to help her community by administering medication and triaging sicknesses to prevent or delay travel to a health clinic.  Her family, and their broader community, is already reaping the rewards of Zonia’s hard work and her family’s commitment.  Her dream is to finish her studies, which currently require her to travel a fair distance from home, and to return to her family and to work in the Sololá community.  She has a high school education, is working towards a professional degree, and speaks two languages (Spanish and her native Kachiquel) while having stayed true to her Mayan roots.  Her potential, the horizon for her future, is truly infinite…

And now there is a magnificent, modern, new school building in Sololá in which other girls like Zonia will learn and become leaders for their communities and hope for their country.

Students Placing Locks on the Gates with Their Families During Commitment Ceremony
Norma Bajan and a Student
Students in Science Lab

The concept of the Colegio Impacto having its own building was a dream; the reality was many years in the making.  I can’t imagine the hurdles the Maia team had to overcome to pull all the necessary pieces together to make it happen.  But happen it did, and watching the Maia team, the students, and the neighbors marvel at the reality of it during the inauguration ceremony was humbling and powerful.

The building is unique in the Sololá landscape.  There isn’t much that compares to it in terms of modernity, sophistication, architecture and sheer size in the whole country.  The details are extraordinary, with the architecture suggesting the patterns of Mayan textile weaving, and symbolizing the drawing together of the community, the girls’ families, and the program’s allies as well as the past and the future.  This building is a beacon of promise, and a vision of hope for what could be.

Dad Hugging Daughter
Library
Starfish Family