Visit to Chuacruz

Dora, Molly and I visited Chuacruz on Friday afternoon to deliver school supplies and backpacks for the children in our education scholarship program. Chuacruz  is about an hours journey, by chicken buses and a pickup truck, from Panajachel. It is a beautiful village surrounded by corn fields and hills. All the women and children, that we met, in the village were very welcoming and friendly towards us.

 
There are 22 weavers in the group ho formed together in November 2002 who wanted to earn a living after the violence of the 1980`s. They work as a cooperative, making weaving's which are sold throughout Guatemala and also sold internationally. They speak the Maya language Kakchiquel and for most Spanish is there second language.

At the start of the school year Maya Traditions gives the children in the education scholarship program school supplies and a backpack. The school supplies that we took to Chuacruz were kindly donated by customers of  The One World Shop in Scotland where I use to work. The children were very cute and seemed to like their new backpacks in preparation for the new school year. There are only six children here who receive an education scholarship from Maya Traditions as it is a very small community.

Last Saturday we were also visited at the office by woman and children from our other communities. They came to pick up  school supplies or to be reimbursed for school supplies that they had bought. All the woman and children also have to sign a contract that lay out the terms of conditions for receiving the scholarship. These include promises that children must go to school, complete all school work and that the parents must support them to do this. It is important for the children that they have the support from their parents to help them achieve their education goals.