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Maya Educational Foundation |
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| Route 106 / P. O. Box 38 South Woodstock, VT 05071-0038, USA Tel. (802) 457-1199 / Fax (802) 457-2212 mayaedfund@mayaedufound.org |
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Maya Educational Foundation Route 106, P.O. Box 38, South Woodstock, VT 05071, USA Phone: (802) 457-1199; fax: (802) 457-2212;
Dear Friends,
Three board members of the Maya Educational Foundation just returned from a 12-day visit to Guatemala and can say without a doubt that the students in the scholarships programs need all our support more than ever. The widespread poverty of the Maya people and the difficult conditions many of them live in were evident everywhere. Coming from tough economic backgrounds, often from remote towns and in many cases from one-parent households, students said how their MEF scholarships help them and that, without them, they could not succeed at the universities or secondary schools they attend.
University students from the Programa de Becas Mayas Left: In Quetzaltenango with MEF board members and Program coordinators. (Photos courtesy of Elisabeth S. Nicholson) Several university students, women in particular, told of the racism and discrimination they face at their schools. • One woman from the Programa de Becas Mayas (PBM) recounted how it took a professor longer to approve her thesis topic than it took him to process topics for Maya male and Ladino students. • One student in Quetzaltenango, who is in the final phase of her law studies, is convinced that as a Maya woman she has been looked down upon and academic expectations for her have been very low. She is determined to succeed and prove everyone wrong. • Two of the students are married and have a small child. They struggle hard to remain in school, more so now that the building they live in partially caved in, leaving cracks and fissures in the walls and sloping floors. • One student wrote a letter stating how she had been always ashamed but now was proud to be Maya: "Antes me avergonzaba de mí y mi familia. Ahora y por conocer mucha gente por medio del Programa de Becas me siento orgullosa de ser lo que soy y hacer lo que hago." • Another student, who works at the Guatemalan TV Channel 9, excitedly reported that he was chosen to be part of a delegation visiting the Pope in Rome soon. • The energy displayed by the students is inspiring.
Coincidentally, walking through town, we met a university graduate who had received a PBM scholarship. He now has a good job teaching forestry in Jacaltenango. He praised the PBM program and expressed his hope that more Maya students will be able to benefit as he has.
We were moved by the dedication of the students and the obstacles they must overcome to get an education. Students from small communities who want to attend high school, preparatoria, instituto diversificado, or university in a bigger town have to leave home by 3 or 4 a.m. on an often treacherous three to four-hour bus or truck ride to the school, back again in the evening. Some students do this on Saturdays only. At times, full-time students have to rent a room in the town where the school is, an added cost often too high for families.
Todos Santos programs: School furniture at El Rancho and equipment for the Instituto Básico of Todos Santos (Photos courtesy of Roman Stoop) Please help us help more students. Your gift to MEF will make a vital difference to a student in Guatemala and Mexico. Sna Jtz’ibajom (Cultura de los Indios Mayas) and FOMMA (Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya) monitored a total of 17 scholarships this year in Chiapas, Puebla and Tamaulipas, Mexico. We are pleased to report that 5 students have graduated, 2 from bachillerato and 3 from university. Three expect to complete their thesis by the end of 2004, and 6 are about 2 years away from graduation. This year 4 new scholarships were given, 3 of them to women. The recently-graduated university students already have jobs. Two of them plan to pursue higher education in the near future. MEF scholarship students continue to support the work of these two organizations and, among other things, are involved in their literacy programs.
In July, Isabel Juárez Espinoza and Petrona de la Cruz Cruz, members of FOMMA, performed their new plays at a conference at NYU in New York City and then came to visit us in Vermont. The women performed an original play entitled La bruja monja at Burlington City Hall, and later in Woodstock. The performances were organized by MEF’s staff and Burlington College professor Peter Shear, founder of CASA, an Inter-American center for the arts. These were highly rewarding events, over one hundred fifty people came, and though the women performed in Spanish, the play affected everybody and brought poignant insights to the audience. The FOMMA programs in baking, tailoring, childcare, and current social issues are a hit with many Maya women and some Maya men. FOMMA and Sna Jtz’ibajom’s courses to revive Maya languages continue to be very successful, with thousands having attended. We hope to continue and increase MEF support to these organizations.
We thank Capital City Press in Montpelier, VT for donating this year’s newsletter printing. To other donors in-kind and those who help MEF achieve these results —individuals, foundations, scholars, authors and artists—, thank you all for your generosity and for your willingness to continue to help. If you want to visit the projects you support in Mexico or Guatemala, or just learn more about MEF’s work, please contact us. As always, we welcome your comments and ideas.
Send MEF your tax-deductible gift today. Your investment provides better educational opportunities for those in need. Join us if you have not done it before, help us fulfill this mission. Thank you! Maya Educational Foundation
Route 106, P.O. Box 38, South Woodstock, VT 05071, USA Phone: (802) 457-1199; fax: (802) 457-2212;
MEF is a 501(c)(3) public charity. MEF needs your help to do more for the Maya people. Please print and mail or fax the following form: — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Yes!, I want to support the Maya Educational Foundation projects with a gift of
US$____________ Check made payable to Maya Educational Foundation US$____________ Charge to ___MasterCard ___VISA Credit Card Account No. _____________________________________ Expiration Date _____________________________________________ Signature __________________________________________________ Phone ____________________________________________________ I/we pledge a monthly gift of US$ ____________ for ____________ months I/we wish to help fund scholarship for: a university student a bachillerato/diversificado (high school) student a secundaria/básico (middle school) student a primaria (grade school) student _____ student(s) learning to read and write a Mayan language I wish to receive your regular mailings and updates _____
Name/Organization: ____________________________________________ e-mail: ______________________________________________________ Street/P.O. Box, City, State, Zip, Country ___________________________________________________________
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