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For the past year, St. Mary's parish in Oneonta has been sponsoring the education of four students in Guatemala through a program called San Lucas Toliman Scholars.

Abner, Aldo, Maria and Ana just finished sixth grade, thanks to donations from fundraisers by St. Mary's peace and justice ministry, as well as dedicated individual donors at the parish.

"Dear Sponsor, I greet you with love, hoping you are healthy with your family and friends.

This time, I tell you I am so happy [to] continue studying," wrote Maria Paola Lacan Tale in a recent letter updating parishioners on her studies.

"I wish you Merry Christmas because it is coming up," she added.

The successful sponsor relationship with the four young people sprung from a previous sister-parish connection. "St. Mary's parish had always had a sister-parish relationship [with San Sebastian parish in Retallhuleu, Guatemala]. That became problematic when the priest we were in contact with transferred," explained Marjorie Pietraface, a member of the parish's peace and justice ministry.

Change to students
Rather than finding a new sister parish, St. Mary's decided to look for a different Guatemalan cause to support.

Rev. Richard Broderick, who until his death in 2015 headed the Albany Diocese's Pueblo to People Project to connect parishes here with those in South America, had experience ministering in Guatemala. He was familiar with the San Lucas program. St. Mary's chose to aid some Guatemalan students at his suggestion.

"We provide enough scholarship support for them to get through high school," Ms. Pietraface told The Evangelist. Because the sponsored students are between 12 and 13 years old, they will hopefully graduate from high school in six years.

The students are from San Lucas, Guatemala. The people are indigenous Mayans, three-quarters of whom live in poverty -- 27 percent, in extreme poverty.

Although most Guatemalan children are able to attend elementary school, only 40 percent are able to go on to middle school, according to the San Lucas Toliman Scholars website. Most of the 60 percent who receive an education are able to do so because of donors like those at St. Mary's.

Breaking the cycle
"Education can certainly be a way to support and improve life circumstances," said Ms. Pietraface. "They don't have the money to do this on their own. They could be stuck in a cycle of poverty without the education."

There are five middle schools the San Lucas students can attend, and five high schools. But the different schools aren't equal, Ms. Pietraface told The Evangelist: Most of the students want to get into the well-regarded INEB high school, and competition for an opening is fierce.

Every few months, the sponsored students write letters to the parish from their various middle schools.

"I thank you so much for helping me," wrote Ana Patricia Ajpuace Xep.

"I hope you are healthy with your loved ones," wrote Abner Daniel Xep Tzorin.

"We sent pictures of the changing colors of the leaves. I send them copies of the church bulletins, too," Ms. Pietraface said. Parishioners will soon send the students photos of snow in upstate New York: "They've never seen snow."

Although St. Mary's wasn't able to individually choose students to sponsor, parishioners could conceivably visit them in Guatemala. No trips are in the works, but Ms. Pietraface said a visit isn't out of the question. Parishioners went to Central America when they first established a relationship with their former sister parish.

Culture lessons
Ms. Pietraface believes that one of the most exciting parts of this project is learning about the Guatemalan culture. In a recent letter, sponsored student Maria wrote about Guatemala's Independence Day, which is celebrated Sept. 15. Christmas in that part of Central America isn't celebrated as much as holidays like Easter or Independence Day, because of coffee bean harvesting season.

Ms. Pietraface put a blurb about the Guatemalan holiday in the parish bulletin. The holiday traditionally features a parade, with blue and white flags everywhere, as well as parties, school showcases and a relay through the streets.

"There were colorful fireworks on the sky and I was amazed to see the eyes of the people," Maria reported in her letter. "We attended a parade wearing formal clothing. The weather was cloudy and pretty raining so we got wet, but it was so fun, too. We took many pictures. We also went to a civic act at the central park of San Lucas Toliman. Sadly, I was not able to perform in any artistic thing because I have to travel every day and there were practices at night. However, I feel very happy with the Independence Day celebration."

Ms. Pietraface said parishioners always gets a kick out of the students' letters, which arrive already translated, along with little drawings by the children.

"In one of the first letters that we got from our little guy [Abner] down there, he said his favorite subject was physical education," she said.

Her own words
Ana wrote in her most recent letter about her school's anniversary.

"Those were special days for my little school and for me as well," she wrote. "Monday was a day when my classmates and I had a nice walking, which was fun. Tuesday was when we had the special time to sing in school since early in the morning. At eight in the morning, we had sports, so my five friends and I played basketball because that is my favorite sport.

"Wednesday was when we traveled to Escuintla State to visit a water park there. There were many games and I enjoyed each one of them. Thursday morning was for sports. Friday was for special time. Saturday night was to dance."

Starting next year, St. Mary's has decided to take on the responsibility of funding the education of three more youths, bumping them up to seven. It costs $250 per student for a one-year scholarship.

"I hope you are healthy and with many blessings. I thank you so much for helping me," Ana wrote to her sponsors. I trust our dear Lord bless and take care of you and your whole family."

(For more information, go to the San Lucas Toliman Scholars website, www.sltscholars.org.)[[In-content Ad]]

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