Vocational guidance for children in Mexico

In September, Mundo de Talentos started a new school year, still with some corona-related restrictions and difficulties, but with lots of energy and new modules. The second-year group experimented with design and handicrafts during the Fashion module. They also worked on their perceptions of what is supposed to be male and female and the ethics around these issues during the Gender module. For example, Alberto López, male fashion designer and owner of the brand and shop Kuxul Pok in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, shared his work and life experience with the kids. Alberto has indigenous roots and comes from the village Aldama in the Highlands of Chiapas where he learned the traditional techniques of weaving and brocade. As a youngster he moved to San Cristóbal following his dream and became a very talented textile designer. During the last two Fashion Weeks in New York he was invited to present his work!

On November 11, the Mundo de Talentos Alumni Committee, had the great honour to receive a delegation of 15 ambassadors from the European Union in Mexico who visited San Cristóbal de Las Casas. The event took place at Gallery & Restaurant La Tozi. Together with the staff of La Tozi, the alumni prepared different typical drinks from Chiapas that were served during the evening. In front of the delegation the members of the committee shared their Mundo de Talentos’ experiences and learned about the role of the embassies and the European Union in Mexico. It was a very interesting and interactive evening with great interest and many questions, both from the delegation as from our alumni. We are extremely proud and impressed by how our alumni presented their selves and represented Mundo de Talentos. For our team, the alumni and their involved parents, who were present as well, it was a very special evening that we will not forget!

In September and October we welcomed two new board members! Mexican lawyer Carlos Valencia and Spanish naval engineer Juan Pablo Molina have both followed Mundo de Talentos´ activities during the past years and are happy to contribute to the continuous growth of the project by taking place in the board.

Carlos Valencia Carlos R. Valencia has shown great interest in our project and supported Mundo de Talentos from the side line in various ways. We are very pleased that he is now an official member of our board and that we can intensify our collaboration.

Juan Pablo Molina has been involved in Mundo de Talentos since the start. As a former employee of Damen, he visited our project twice. During the module of Technology, he shared his passion for Naval Engineering as a guest teacher with our students.

In October, we received great news from Chicago. We are very excited to share with you that the IMC Charitable Foundation extended their financial collaboration with Mundo de Talentos for the coming three years with a donation of 75.000 USD!

We are incredibly happy with the ongoing trust and support from the foundation. This long-term collaboration gives us the opportunity to keep on offering our program to hundreds of children in Mexico and to expand, develop and professionalize our organization.

A concrete example of this expansion is that we will introduce our vocational guidance activities to rural area in the state of Chiapas. In February 2022 a pilot will take place in the village Teopisca, 30 minutes from San Cristóbal de Las Casas. It will officially start with 20 high school students with a duration of 4 months. After this initial phase, we will evaluate the process and implement necessary adjustments to start the first official generation with 40 students in September 2022. You can follow the developments of our pilot project in rural area on our new project page on GlobalGiving.