Guatemala’s school year begins in January through October. This is an exciting year for Women of Hope because we have 4 artisans and 3 of their children seeking to go attend school in 2019!
Veronica, artisan and my assistant, is entering her 4th year of university in February!! She is studying law which will serve her well when she becomes our assistant director after finishing school. She is an A/B student, while so many of her classmates are quitting she is excelling. We are so proud of her accomplishment!
Myra, artisan with WoH since 2014, is entering her final year of high school. We are proud of her commitment to graduate! In your senior year here you choose a “career focus” and Myra plans to study English this year and again next year! This will make her even more valuable as a staff member, able to interact with our customers and visitors.
Jennifer is our youngest artisan (15) & daughter of our artisan Maria. We are soooo very excited that she is going back to school this year, entering 7th grade! She quit school about 3 years ago after 6th grade. We tried to convince her to return to school, but she wouldn’t and continued asking to work with WoH.
January 2018, I relented and brought her in as an artisan. She does beautiful work, however my goal was to get her back in school. A couple of months ago I began asking her to consider school again. We talked about how hard it would be working Mon-Thurs and attending school on the weekend, but how worth it! In just a few years she could be able to boast that she graduated! After much prayer and encouragement from others like Veronica & Myra, she said YES! Now she is excited to be going back to school with the help of a sponsor!
Clara is excited to continue her education through an Adult Education Program here in our village. This is a program to help her finish elementary school as an adult quickly so she can hopefully begin middle school no later than 2020! Clara began working with WoH mid 2017, quickly becoming a very proficient beader.
June this year, she and her son Dany became the 1st residents of our transition home, House of Hope. In August she told me that she finally felt like she truly had a family! It has taken this year of consistent love & care to give her the sense of security, most take for granted growing up in a loving family. Her story is a difficult one, but as she is learning through discipleship & our consistent care that God has a plan for her life. He has held her even in the hardest times & is giving her a future, hope through Christ. She is spending time with the church youth group and making many godly friends, friends of her own choosing, really for the first time in her life.
Because Dany lives in our transition home we are committed to helping find a sponsor for his education too. Dany is like a little sponge right now, learning his letters, colors & numbers, many in both Spanish & English. We are excited to send him to a Christian private pre-kinder program to help him continue learning and developing social skills.
As a ministry, Women of Hope has committed to seek educational sponsorship for any of our artisans if they will pursue it. Additionally, we seek to find sponsors for their children beyond 6th grade.
Jaquelyn is the daughter of our artisan Natalia. We are excited as Jacelyn enters her senior year of school. She is already dreaming of university and we are hoping she will continue. She will be the first of her immediate family to graduate at the end of 2019, and even of all of her aunts/uncles and cousins. We hope her success will encourage others to consider staying in school and working hard for a brighter future.
Moises’ mom is Natalia as well. He loves school and learning! This year he will enter 7th grade in the public school. We hope he continues and once he enters high school, he will enter the same private school his sister Jacelyn has attended for these last few years. UPDATE: HE HAS A SPONSOR FOR 2019!