Scholarship Meeting in San Juan Ostuncalco

November means school vacation and final report cards for our scholarship students.  Carmen asked that all of the San Juan Ostuncalco scholarship recipients attend the last 2014 community meeting in San Juan because everyone would be finished with school.  Usually only the mothers or other family members attend the meetings during the school year.  

Carmen speaking with the students and mothers

Unfortunately, only five of the fourteen students in this group attended the meeting.  The most common reason for not attending was that the children and youth were working.  Even little 6-year-old Abner had left with his uncle, another scholarship student, to find and collect brosa, or humus, to be sold in town.  Families use the humus to fortify the soil.

Scholarship students in San Juan

We also heard news of a former scholarship recipient.  Last year Cristian Omar completed primary school at age sixteen.  At seventeen, he decided to stop studying because he determined that he needed to work.  Cristian has found work as a truck driver.  He is just 17 years old and is transporting vegetables across the country.  For those of you who have traveled to Guatemala, think of the conditions of the roads in Guatemala; think of the way that trucks and buses drive; now think about a seventeen year old doing just that.

Carmen gave a "pep talk" of sorts to encourage the students and their mothers, recognizing their sacrifice in keeping their children in school.  We congratulated the mothers on their effort and continued support of their children.  Iris Ruth (second from left above), one of the older students, spoke about her first year in high school on the accounting track and her plans for next year.

Scholarship students, their mothers and family members, and Carmen

The Annual Pop Wuj Scholarship Assembly will be held at the end of November and we hope to see all of the scholarship students on this day.