Guatemala - Mam Maya shepherd, La Ventosa village, Sierra De Los Cuchumatanes, Guatemala

Picture of Jose Mendoza, a Mam Mayan from La Ventosa village in the Sierra De Los Cuchumatanes, Huehuetenango District, Guatemala, Central America.



Jose Mendoza, a Mam Mayan from La Ventosa village in the Cuchumatanes Mountains, has been a shepherd since childhood. His opportunity for an education is lost, partly because his family needs him to work, and also the lack of money to afford school supplies.



Jose a Mam Maya schoolteacher explains: "According to law our children have the right for a free education, but the reality is very different. The children pay 20 Quetzals for school material but the material either doesn't arrive or arrives to late. The government sells these materials to book stores for more than the school children can pay. The children then cannot afford to buy the supplies from these stores. The government is supposed to give milk to the children at school but no milk arrives. Many children have to travel for two hours to arrive at school without anything in their stomach. We want the government to send the school materials at the beginning of the school and to the school - not later after selling them to book stores for more money."



Some teachers, like Jose, have a small village hotel and donate fifty percent of their profit to help the children buy schoolbooks.

La Ventosa Huehuetenango Guatemala
picture id: 44_guatod84