Teresa is Grateful

I’m in Guatemala interviewing teens for our reading promoter program. It’s one of my favorite things to do because these youth inspire me so much.

Take Teresa Morales Chumil, for example. She is 15, the oldest of four, and her family owns no land so they work as day laborers on someone else’s land. Teresa’s family of six ekes out a living on $120 a month; that’s less than a dollar a day per person.

Her parents never attended school and cannot read or write. When I ask Teresa what her parents tell her about the importance of education she says her father tells her, “You have to fight to study.” This phrase stops cold in my heart. It’s true. Teresa and other impoverished youth here fight: struggle, sacrifice, toil and scrape enough together to pay for public school registration, monthly fees, transportation, uniforms, books, supplies and the like. What should be a right for every child is a fight for many. And in these communities where only 25% of children make it to the sixth grade, it’s a fight that most kids lose.

Despite all the barriers in front of Teresa she has made it to middle school and has set her sites on college! This Thanksgiving I am grateful that Reading Village can offer her the opportunity to stay in school. And I am thankful for your generosity toward Reading Village that makes it possible.

If you have not made a donation yet this year, please know that gifts of all sizes have an immediate impact on our teens’ lives and the children they read to.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Category: Message From Our Scholars