And the Winner of Acebar’s First Shining Star Award is …

Margarita Panjoj Tebelan!!! ¡Felicidades Margarita! ¡Gracias por tu arduo trabajo y logros!

And why, from among Acebar’s 250 scholarship recipients, did Acebar Directors decide that she deserves this special recognition? 

Because she is a very special young woman who is overcoming incredible adversity.  Let me tell you about her.

Margarita is a thirteen-year-old from Chulumal II, one of the more than 85 small “cantones,’ or small towns or villages, that comprise the very large indigenous Mayan Guatemalan municipality of Chichicastenango.  She lives with her mother, her father, and two brothers in a home that by US standards is very small, very crowded, and very humble and basic. 

Margarita attends the little Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta – the rural public school – in Chulumal II, where she’s in the sixth grade.   You have to understand the reality of life and school in these rural Maya communities, where grade school drop-out rates are often as high as 60 percent, to appreciate that reaching sixth grade is, in itself, an accomplishment.  But not only has Margarita made it this far, she has done so without yet having to repeat a year – which again is a real accomplishment given that in any given year 20 percent of students in many schools may not be passed on to the next grade. 

To understand the scale of her achievement, though, you need to know the rest of the story.  Which is that Margarita is not only a 13-year-old daughter and sibling, but day in and day out is also the primary caregiver – or as the directors of Acebar say, the “substitute mother” – of her two brothers.  And even that doesn’t begin to tell the whole story.

No, because Margarita’s older brother is a special needs child, with severe developmental and behavioral health problems.  He would be difficult for the most seasoned of parents to manage.  Her younger brother, meanwhile, has significant learning problems.  But along with successfully completing her schoolwork, Margarita manages to care for both of them, and to attend to a lion’s share of other household responsibilities. 

This has been Margarita’s life since … well, since she was old enough to carry her little brother on her back?  Virtually as soon as she got out of diapers?   So it’s really quite amazing that this sweet, shy, young adolescent has had the determination and drive to not only stay in school, but year after year to maintain good grades as she went from toddler to parenthood by the time she was in second or third grade.

We would be remiss in not explaining why Margarita is raising her brothers: the simple answer is the family’s financial circumstances are dire beyond the comprehension of most families in the US.  Both parents are very responsible, and clearly love their children.  They do the best they can. But they are devoid of opportunity to improve the family situation.  Her father does not have regular work, but takes the occasional odd job when he can find one, and seasonally commutes two hours each way to work in a cottage fireworks factory in Quetzaltenango.  Her mother goes early each day, almost every day of the year, to sell seasonal fruit and vegetables in the market in the pueblo of Chichicastenango – which is a 20-minute commute in one of the public microbuses that ply the country roads, or about an hour’s walk from Chulumal II.   Both of them work very hard, but together they earn an average of only 25 quetzales – about $3 – per day. 

So … each day, Margarita gets up, makes sure her disabled older brother is situated until she returns home from school, and gets herself and her younger brother ready and off to school.  She rarely misses a day of school because she loves it. As she herself acknowledges, it’s the one place she can regularly be her own age, relax, and enjoy herself with other girls her age. 

Given the barriers to her going to school, it’s amazing that Margarita has been able to continue her education.  It points to how special a young lady she is.  But it also points to the importance of the Acebar scholarship in her life.  Although grade-school scholarships are quite modest – consisting of school supplies and a tiny bit of extra cash a few times a year for extra school expenses – without this little bit of extra bonus it’s highly unlikely that Margarita would have been able to make it this far. 

It’s a blessing that with Acebar’s help she has been able to stay in school, not only for her educational progress, but for her emotional health, since it provides her a break from the heavy responsibility of caring for her brothers. 

Next year, Margarita will hopefully be able to begin “basico” secondary education – the equivalent of junior high in the US.  But school costs for “basico” are substantially higher than for elementary school, so without Acebar’s help and encouragement, it’s doubtful Margarita and her parents will have the financial or emotional resources for her to continue her education. 

She deserves the opportunity.  Our hope is that Acebar will continue to be able to fund education for Margarita … and for the other 250 children and youth funded by Acebar.

We need your help to continue to support amazing girls like Margarita.  Click here to make a donation, or to learn more about the Maya Center for Rural Education and Well-Being, which funds 100% of Acebar’s 250 annual scholarships and a variety of other community leadership and social development programs for children, youth, and parents in Chichicastenango, Guatemala. There is no more direct or more effective way to address the immigration crisis in the United States, or to make a meaningful impact on the well-being of children like Margarita and her impoverished family.
Please be Generous!!!

Note: Acebar (The Asociación Centromaya para la Educación, el Bienestar, y la Asistencia Rural) was designated by the Guatemalan Government as a domestic non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) in 2004. It functions under the direction of a voluntary board of directors, with a staff of 2 fulltime executive directors and a half-time office assistant. It’s primary function is to administer a scholarship program for primary and secondary students in the municipality of Chichicastenango, Guatemala. There is a strong focus on education for girls, with 80%-90% of scholarships being granted to girls and women. Other programs include efforts to make students and parents aware of local and global issues ranging from good agricultural technicques to the need for caution in early conjugal relationships. Acebar has received some USAID funding in the past, but currently relies completely on MayaCREW to support its scholarships and programs.

MayaCREW (the Maya Center for Rural Education and Well-Being) is the U.S. funding source for all Acebar scholarships, programs, and operations. It was created in 2004, and received IRS authorization to function as a tax-exempt 501(c)3 in 2006. Its sole mission is to support Acebar, and to promote education and health in Chichicastenango. MayaCREW depends exclusively on donations from individuals to support its work. MayaCREW has no paid staff, no office overhead, and extremely low expenses, so that a very high percentage of all donations go directly to Acebar’s programs. Please contact the owner of this blog, or contact MayaCREW through its website for more information about the organization, the programs, or the work of Acebar.

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**** Acebar, MayaCREW, and Max Kintner have express written permission from Margarita and her family to publish the text and photos above. Further use by any individual or entity may violate privacy as well as copyright laws, and is absolutely forbidden. Please contact the owner of this blog for any further information.