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Maya Educational Foundation
To contact our office in Guatemala: Report to Contributors and Friends 1999-2000 As we take a moment to reflect on the progress we have made and the challenges and barriers ahead, we feel gratitude and hope, and the will and energy to accomplish a great deal more for our students in Guatemala and Mexico in the future. We want to thank you for your interest, support, and faith in our work over the years. We hope that you will continue your participation, and we hope that those of you who don't know the Maya Educational Foundation yet, will want to join in its efforts to make higher education a more attainable goal for the Maya who want to achieve it. The MEF has worked to improve educational opportunities for Maya women and men in Guatemala and Mexico since 1992 when, with a mere two students, it started the Programa de Becas Mayas in Guatemala. From there, the program grew to grant scholarships to as many as fifty qualified students in 1999, and for 2000 we have accepted seventy-five Mayas who want to attend universities in Guatemala. In 1998 MEF began a second becas program in Chiapas and now supplies scholarships to ten students of that region. In Todos Santos and Jacaltenango we also provide small grants for secondary and elementary schooling. Our goal for the next few years is to increase the number of students we can accept. We invite you to be part of helping young Maya students who, without offers like the MEF scholarships, in many cases find higher education beyond their reach. MEF's Higher Education Scholarship and Loan Program in Guatemala The Programa de Becas Mayas, formerly located in a small space at CIRMA, the research center in Antigua, Guatemala, now has its own office in Guatemala City. Our program supervisor, Licda. Lucía Sebaquijay, reports that the small, six-room building is much easier for the students to get to for meetings and studying. Six students live there for low rent in exchange for taking care of the premises. The program rents a second office in Quetzaltenango for work and meetings with MEF students in that region. Lucía has noticed increased cooperation and support between the MEF students this year. There were forty-six students in 1999 altogether, with seven graduates, three women and four men. Six of them got their start with MEF scholarships: two in medicine, three in law and social sciences, one in agronomy. Another student graduated with a degree in business administration. We have 39 students continuing, and from many new applicants for the year 2000, our Guatemalan Comité de becas has selected 36 new students, bringing the total number of scholarships to 75.
Meeting of Guatemalan MEF students January 2000 In 1999 we received the highest number of applications from women (29). Some of our former becas students, who had received MEF loans, have begun to repay them to the program. Four types of MEF support exist: Type A (full scholarship, no repayment required), Type B (work-study assistantship) ,Type C (aid for completing thesis), and Type D (scholarship loans). In July of each year the comité advertises the scholarships in universities, schools, parishes, NGOs, radio, and press. Each November, comité members interview qualified applicants, then make a decision on each case. Students need to show good grades in order to qualify for any aid or its renewal every semester. Licda. Sebaquijay, in coordination with Dr. Enrique Sam Colop, oversees the program's day-to-day operation and is in regular touch with our students. In 1999 she arranged five major student meetings to which Mayas of varied professional backgrounds were invited to speak about their work. More and more Maya families realize the need for their children to get higher education. While some financial help can be found for students up to the diversificado level (10-12th grade), it frequently ends at university level where the students, particularly women, find that no economic support is available. MEF scholarships aim to fill this gap. In a letter, MEF student Marvin López, who graduated with a university degree in business administration in June 1999, urges us to continue to support the academic and professional development of his people who for so long have stayed on the margin of university education, and says that, although only few Mayas now have the opportunity, he feels that MEF's work is the start of a greater movement which will bear fruit in time. "No está demás motivarlos e instarlos par que sigan fomentando de desarrollo académico-profesional de nuestros pueblos que por tanto tiempo hemos estado al margen de la educación universitaria; y que si bien es cierto somos pocos aún los que hemos recibido esta oportunidad, considero que es el inicio de un largo proceso que a través del tiempo por los frutos que se obtengan; nos dará la oportunidad de ser verdaderos protagonistas del desarrollo de nuestra gente y de este país que es más nuestro que nunca."
Dr. Sam Colop shares this view and is pleased that this year, for the first time, we have graduates who started their university education with MEF grants. He sees these graduates contributing much to the well being of their Maya communities as they advance in their professions as doctors, lawyers, teachers, and business people. He urges all to support MEF's programs because they provide a direct way to affect not only the lives of the students, but all the Mayas whom they, in turn, serve. The present situation in Guatemala requires Mayas with more and better education to confidently confront the challenges of political and social change and to speak for the Mayas (esp. in the fields of economy, law, medicine, engineering, and agriculture). The MEF program, he thinks, is successful because all students need to show effort and good grades to qualify. If the program has a bias, it is to include more women and more members of linguistic groups with fewer professionals, and people returning from exile. He concludes that "the seed is planted" and believes our students will have important roles to play, not only in their communities but in the progress of Guatemala toward peace and justice.
Report from Jacaltenango
Prof. Victor Montejo (UC Davis), MEF board president, and his wife Mercedes report that the MEF scholarship program in Jacaltenango is fulfilling its mission, and that it is very helpful and greatly needed in the region. This past summer they met with all the students who receive small MEF scholarships for education below university level.
Former graduates are now working as school teachers in the Jakaltek region. Alfredo Vidal Raymundo is continuing his education at a university branch, which is sponsored by the Universidad de San Carlos and Tulane, in a small Jakaltek village in western Guatemala. Prof. Augusto Cruz Cardona still volunteers his services as program coordinator in the town. Besides Alfredo Vidal Raymundo, the students are:
Victor and his wife find it hard to tend to all the needs of the program during their limited visit and are asking for more assistance with this project. For the year 2000 we hope to continue this program with extra funding which might include a computer and a stipend for someone to monitor the program on a more frequent and regular basis. Any donation to MEF's Jacaltenango program will go to aid the students there directly. A scholarship of US$150 per month will cover the educational expenses for a college student in Mexico or Guatemala. The prospect of a beca can encourage a student to go to university when it seemed out of reach before. You will make a very real difference in the life of a young Maya (and her/his whole family) by sponsoring her/him for a month, a year, or even for the duration of her/his studies. MEWs Chiapas Scholarship Program MEF board member Armando Alfonzo traveled to Chiapas twice in 1999 to check on the program. Under the auspices of our trusted colleagues at FOMMA and Sna Jtz'bajom, MEF students are progressing well and were glad to get together to discuss their situation. Six women and four men are receiving becas: one student is now graduating, the other is defending his thesis for a Master's degree in Social Anthropology. The students' devotion to their work was inspiring, and strengthens our belief that this program should be open to more students in Chiapas. We ask for your support in making this program grow and succeed far into the future.
MEF continues to be involved in the project of the Comité Pro-Desarrollo Social Educativo Maya Todos Santera in Todos Santos, Cuchumatán. MEF has helped send gifts from private donors in the U.S. Funds are used for basic needs of Maya children at primary and secondary school level. In 1999 MEF board member Marilyn Moors visited with Prof. Calmo Cruz to strengthen our ties. Your Donations at Work
MEF's board members are: Victor Montejo, Kay Warren, Chris Lutz, Armando Alfonzo, Brenda Rosenbaum, Ian Lutz, Marilyn Moors, and Sarah Lutz. |
