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Maya Traditions is a fair-trade, non-profit organization which has been working with Maya women’s weaving groups since 1997. Maya Traditions offers programs to help weavers with the design and production of craft goods for sale, and programs in health, in particular, the production and use of traditional medicinal herbs for healing and for sale. Maya Traditions, responding to the needs expressed by the women they serve, began a program of scholarships for their children to attend school. The Maya Educational Foundation become involved in this last component of MT’s work in 2007.
All primary and middle school students (approximately 150 children) receive a yearly stipend for school supplies, $7-15 per child. Each year there are 25 or 30 young people, both young women and young men, who want to attend high school. Their stipends are $27-30 a month, plus all their enrollment fees. To continue in the program, high school students must attend school regularly, complete their courses, and participate in a community service project each year. The program is well coordinated and student progress is closely monitored. The community service project is a way of paying back the women who have worked to make this possible. After attending a workshop, usually delivered by an outside group, the students then repeat what they have learned in classes and sessions in their home communities. Recent topics have included living in a more environmentally responsible way, sexual health and birth control, indigenous identity, and discrimination against Mayas.
As the number of students wanting to attend high school has increased, MEF has taken on a larger role in funding these scholarships. We want to make it possible for any student in this program to continue to the highest level of her or his capacity. It has been shown over and over that each additional year of schooling has a direct economic benefit to the students’ families and communities. The generosity of our contributors is very important in helping these students continue their education.
Luis, a gifted K’iche student whose father was killed in the war, struggled to support his mother and brothers and sisters, and send them to school. Here, as a 26 year old graduating h.s. student, he teaches women in Patanatic, Solola about women’s rights and the importance of voting. These women have learned to read and write during several years of literacy training. |
Maya Traditions
