Scholarship Recipients

Recipients are selected via a thorough application process. The applicant must demonstrate initiative and desire to continue her education, and have definite goals. She must be a member of the cooperative and be willing to donate community service hours during the time she is receiving the scholarship and for a year afterwards. The selection process is carried out by a committee of women in the cooperative.

As of August, 2011, we are funding scholarships for 17 young women.

We welcomed five new scholarship recipients in August, 2011.

Reyna is in the second year of preparatory and is from the community of Las Margaritas. She is a hardworking young woman of 26 who will be paying all her own transportation costs involved with traveling to school.

Micaela and Cecilia are both from communities in the municipality of San Andrés Laraínzar. Micaela will be starting secondary (equivalent to 6th grade in US) and Cecilia is entering preparatory (9th grade US).

Rocío of Las Margaritas, who is starting secondary, is the sister of Ana Belén. Ana Belén is in her 5th year of scholarship with us and is entering university in Comitán to study law.

Eva comes from the community of Las Ollas and is starting secondary school.

August 2010 added four new young women receiving scholarships. This brings the total to 19!

Vicki (Virginia) and her daughter Gabriela both have been awarded scholarships. Gabriela will start secondary school (6th grade) while mom Vicki will attend an “open secondary” which will give her the opportunity to complete her secondary education. Vicki is a very active member of the cooperative and works tirelessly for the women. She proposed the year long literacy program that we are supporting in her community.

Adriana is from Zinacantán. She is joining her sister Petrona as a scholarship recipient. Both girls are involved in the running of the Zinacantán Saturday Children´s Project as part of their community service.

Yolanda is from the community of Crucero. She joins her older sister Marta as a recipient of a Mujeres´ scholarship. Both girls will be helping with the Crucero Saturday Children´s Project.

Nine new scholarship recipients were awarded certificates at the August workshop of the cooperative.

Petrona is from Zinacantán. She is fourteen years old and entering the second year of secondary school. She has four siblings, one of whom is Felipa, a scholarship recipient from last year.

Maria Josefina, Antonia, Rosalinda, Martina and Claudia are all from the community of San Andres Larrainzar. They will be attending secondary school. All of them are proud of the weavings and handicrafts they create and appreciate the opportunity to continue their education.

The women in the community of Las Margaritas proposed a new program to sponsor adult women who want to complete primary education. From the time they were small children they had to work in the fields and couldn’t attend school. Their letter states “Now we are making our own decision because we are now aware of our rights and we want to continue preparing ourselves to be more independent and to be examples for other women who want to better themselves.” Immediately three women applied for the scholarship. Juana is a dedicated community leader who runs workshops and works tirelessly for human rights. Maria is treasurer of the coffee-grinding cooperative and Maria Guadalupe is an active cooperative member. We are honored to extend our support.

UPDATES:

Teri and Martha from Crucero will enter the third year of secondary school. Both have good grade point averages and are enthusiastic about continuing their classes.

Yoli, who was awarded our first scholarship, just passed a significant test which allows her to continue her university studies. She has two more years of school and is considering being an English teacher.

Juana, Yoli’s sister, also has about two more years to get her degree in information technology. She continues to contribute half of her own school expenses. She works at a non-profit agency as well as teaches computer skills to the children of Zinacantán. We don’when she sleeps!

Felipa from Zinacantán completed her secondary education and is moving into the preparatory (grades 10-12). With no father in the house and four siblings, Felipa tells us how appreciative she is our scholarship. Without it, she could not continue her education.

Ana Belen, from Las Margaritas, is in the second year of preparatory. She found her classes challenging this year but worked hard and achieved a high grade point average. She is a dedicated volunteer.

Three new scholarships were awarded this year. We are delighted to welcome Belén of Las Margaritas, Yolanda of San Andrés Larranizar and Felipa of Zinacantán.

Belén is entering preparatory school, the step before university studies. She is a conscientious young woman who is proud of her Tojolabal heritage. She works with the children in her community to help them understand their human rights and to overcome difficulties caused by domestic violence and/or racism. Her goal is to become an attorney.

Felipa is from Zinacantán. She is fifteen years old and has four siblings. Because her father abandoned the family, she is motivated to continue her secondary education so that she will be a source of support for the family.

Yolanda attends school in Oventic, not far from the town of San Andrés Larrainzar. She will be entering the third year of secondary school. Although she has not as yet settled on a career, she knows that ultimately her choice will be something that can help her community. She says, “My family has no possibility of helping support my education given the poverty and misery in which we live.”

UPDATES

Yoli of Zinacantán is starting her third year of scholarship. Her English studies are coming along well. Most of her classes are in English, which she admits is a challenge. She is a determined young woman of twenty years old and her shyness of a few years ago is changing into self-assuredness.

Her elder sister, Juana, is now twenty-eight years old. Juana has helped support the fatherless family (their father died years ago of alcoholism) since she was a teenager. With the help of our scholarship, Juana is studying computer science. This has already led her to a government sponsored job teaching computer skills to the children of her community. Juana contributes half of her own school expenses.

Marta and Teresa of Crucero just completed the first year of secondary education which begins at sixth grade in Mexico. Both have improved their Spanish skills in that time and know that the added education will help them in finding a job. These two girls are fourteen years old and have expressed much appreciation for the help with their education.

Rosita of Yajalón, a town about five hours from San Cristóbal, has also just completed the first year of secondary education. She is studying English, and her favorite classes are math and science. She wrote to us that without our support, she would not be able to continue her education.

Left to right(De la izquierda): Rosita (2007), Belén, Felipa, Yolanda, (all 2008) and Yolanda (2006)

Felipa receives her certificate and school supplies from Judith/ Felipa recibe su certificado y sus materiales para la escuela de Judith

Rosita at Martha Rudersdorf's art workshop/ Rosita asiste al taller de arte

Felipa and her brother Juan Mariano at Martha Rudersdorf's art workshop/ Felipa y su hermano en el taller de arte dado por Martha Rudersdorf

Four young women were awarded scholarships this year. Martha and Teresa are thirteen years old and live in a mountain village about a forty minute walk from the highway. They speak Tsotsil, and will be concentrating on learning Spanish in the secondary school in a neighboring village. They both like to read and play a bit of basketball.

Rosamaría is also thirteen and starting secondary school. She lives in a village four hours away from San Cristobal. Her first language is Tzeltal. She enjoys math and writing.

The fourth, Juana, is an enterprising young lady of twenty-six. She has foregone traditional marriage at an early age to work and support her mother and sisters. Her goal is to complete a university course in alternative tourism and then develop her ideas in her own community. She has shown great initiative, and is contributing half of her expenses herself.

Education past the primary level puts extreme financial burdens on families because it involves purchasing uniforms, materials and the transportation required in traveling to the nearest secondary school. Of the four recipients, three of them have fathers who are deceased. Two live in one room houses, and two live in two room houses. The number of people living in the houses varies from four to seven. A typical house consists of a dirt floor, mud/straw, wood or concrete block walls, a laminated tin roof, and a latrine.

Martha, Teresa, Yoli (last year's recipient), and Juana; Rosamaría not available for photo/ De la izquierda: Martha, Teresa, Yoli y Juana

Martha and Tere in front of Martha's house/ Martha y Tere delante de la casa de Martha.

We are proud to present our first scholarship to Yolanda, 18, of Zinacantán, Chiapas. Yolanda has just completed her secondary education and will attend college for four years to study languages and become a teacher. She is already bi-lingual in Tzotzil and Spanish, and is studying English. Yolanda has three sisters; their father is deceased. Her mother, Magdalena, is a seamstress… hard-working, enterprising and very supportive of her daughters. She told us that Yolanda is the most ambitious, and likes to be busy and productive. She cleans the house, carries the firewood and loves to study. Without our support, Yoli would be unable to continue her education.

August 4, 2006: Yoli accepting the scholarship award certificate from Judith Pasco, Board Chair, in San Cristobal/ el 4 de agosto de 2006: Yoli acepta el certificado de su beca de Judith Pasco, Directora, en San Cristóbal.

Yolanda at the August, 2005 workshop/Yoli en el taller de agosto, 2005.