Empower a Girl in Guatemala: Education after COVID

The habit of reading

Elida, 18 years old, from Parcelamiento Santa Fe, in the municipality of Retalhuleu. She is a young girl who, like many scholarship recipients, is over school age.

Elida entered the scholarship project when she was 13 years old and in 4th grade. However, when she entered the scholarship project she felt motivated to study and thus earn each grade in order not to lose the scholarship that supports her so much.

From the moment she entered the scholarship project, she has made an effort to be an exemplary student.

She loves to read books about stories or life experiences.

Elida comments that, thanks to the Scholarship Project, she has the habit of reading and every time she takes a book in her hands, she dreams with her eyes open, she imagines the landscapes, the people in the context of reading, and above all she feels motivated to continue her studies.

Her great dream is to become a Certified Accountant in order to have a job and help improve the quality of life of her family.
Elida is a very responsible young girl, being the eldest of 5 siblings, she is the one who takes care of them, while her mother works harvesting mangoes, and then sells them in the market to generate income.

In 2020 the scholarship project held a reading workshop, Elida shares that the most important thing for her was to be able to share her experiences with her classmates because they all read and learned together.

The young girl likes to take advantage of the time to teach her siblings, now that there are no on-site classes, she is in charge of helping and teaching her younger siblings.

She is instilling in them how important it is to learn to read and tries to read a little with them when they do their homework.
She says that reading has helped her overcome the shyness she had since she was a child. Through reading she has gained knowledge that allows her to be more self-confident and at the same time to have topics for conversations with other people.

Links:

• Lee el report en espanol

Happy, cooperative, dreamer and with a great desire to excel, these are some of the qualities of our scholarship recipient: Sharol. She lives with her parents, David and Lucrecia, they work to provide for their 5 children. Don David works in construction, while Doña Lucrecia sells tamales. They want their children to have a better future and are committed to their children’s education.

Sharol joined the Scholarship Program when she was in 4th grade. At the beginning she was a child who had difficulty speaking in public and what helped her to overcome her fear was the presentation of the Life Project. She has always shown herself to be participative, dedicated and very friendly. Her classmates always look up to her with questions, as she is very studious.

She is currently in 3rd grade at the high school in her community and comments that the main difficulty she has had during these years at the elementary level is getting used to taking different subjects.

Her teacher says that “in these difficult times, is when she has learned to fight harder for what she wants”. She has had many difficulties, both family and personal, but she has managed to overcome them and learn from each situation. Her goal is to graduate to prove to her parents that each and every sacrifice they make for her and her siblings to study is worth it. 

Sharol dreams of graduating with a bachelor’s degree in science and letters, and then applying to the police academy to become part of the National Police force. She wants to serve the country and, thus, be able to change circumstances. 

Links:

• Lee el report en espanol