Newsletter Highlights

Fall 2013

Meet One of Our Graduates

Eduardo Roland Castro from Tejutla in the department of San Marcos was helped by our program to finish his medical degree from 1999 to 2001. His family had worked hard to help him begin his medical classes but at the end of his third year it became impossible for them to continue helping him. According to Eduardo he had decided to abandon his studies and illegally immigrate to the US in order to earn some money when a friend told him about Progresa and he decided to ask for our help. We accepted him because of his good grades and he was able to graduate as a general practioner. Some years later he returned to school became a specialist in internal medicine. Later still he became certified in Intensive Medicine. He has worked as head of the department of Intensive Medicine at the national hospital in Xela and also in San Marcos. Both positions represent an extremely high level of achievement for one of our students but he has now left these high status jobs to open his own office in San Marcos where according to him there are very few medical specialists.

Eduardo contacted us by telephone in July when he received one of our letters. According to him, he had not received any of our earlier letters or Boletines and had lost contact with us completely before a family member passed this letter on to him. He arranged to visit with us while we were in Quetzaltenango. When we spoke with him, he expressed his appreciation to the program for the help he had received and told us that if it hadn’t been for our help in finishing his studies his life would have been very different. A very important gesture was that during the visit he gave us a check which repaid Progresa for the entire portion of his stipend which was given as a loan. He also agreed to let us make a short video of him thanking Progresa for its support. The video was taken with one of our point and shoot cameras so the audio is not great but we have posted it on Youtube if you would like to see it. The link is: http://youtube.com/hDKPOXYOwr4

Spring 2013

A Busy Spring

April 8^th marked exactly six months since the death of our beloved friend Loren.  We miss him every time we leave our desks and walk into the living room where he was always stretched out on the couch either reading or napping.  We miss having him always available to listen to a new idea, proof read a paragraph, or lend a sympathetic ear to one of life’s small problems.  We feel his loss personally but the work of the Guatemala Scholarship Program has continued without a hitch.  We have selected a new group of students for 2013 and overseen their enrollment; the annual “Boletin” has been written and mailed to all of our graduates; preparations for the Student Conference were especially intensive as we prepared not only for the students but for several visitors from the States.  (See Joe Snyder’s article about the conference)  Now we have almost finished the Update and I will take it back to the U.S with me for mailing when I leave on May 18^th.

This year the Student Conference focused on “Escritura y Lectura” (reading and writing).  We were pleased that Marielos Porras agreed to act as our main presenter and showed us how to stimulate learning and retention in young children by reading to them. As she pointed out, the same techniques work with students of every age.  Marielos not only teaches teachers at the Rafeal Landivar University, she also teaches primary school students at the Evelyn Rodgers school, a top ranked private school in Guatemala City.  As usual most of the students arrived on Saturday when we held an additional workshop on writing letters to sponsors and listened to an inspiring report and slide show from Rolene Walker.  The topic of her presentation was her concern for the environment which led to her two year “Walk for the Earth” from San Francisco, California to Santiago, Chile.  As usual the conference program also included games and entertainments with songs, dances, skits, and a variety of “ice breakers”.  In all the students were given many different opportunities to work and play together (one of our major goals in bringing them together).

 With the goal of encouraging greater participation in the scholarship program and celebrating our 40^th year of existence we invited several North Americans to attend this year’s conference.  In the end we welcomed as guests, two members of Guatemala Friends Meeting, one member of Redwood Forest Friends Meeting, two members of Multnomah Friends Meeting, two representatives of Pacific Yearly Meeting and one non Quaker member of the Progresa Board.  We think that spending time and interacting with our students has inspired these supporters to become even more involved with our program and we look forward to working with them in the future. 

The desire to reach out and get more Quakers involved the Guatemala Scholarship Program is also the motivation behind another new project, that of revamping and improving our website.  We have already begun to work with a local consultant and hope to have our new site ready for previewing by the end of June.  Meanwhile we are brainstorming for other ideas of ways to generate interest in Progresa.

Program Newsletters

A special and productive journey

In the month of August, I had the opportunity to travel to the United States thanks to an invitation and support from the Latin American Concerns Committee of Pacific Yearly Meeting to participate in their Annual Session. As you may know, the scholarship program is under the care of two monthly meetings (Guatemala and Redwood Forest) that are members of Pacific Yearly Meeting. The entire journey was a wonderful experience. I had the opportunity to meet with many of our faithful donors. I was also able explain to many new friends our work, challenges and needs. There were many outpourings of care, friendship and support that I received during my three week journey. I would love to share all that happened in the Update but will need to limit my experiences to some of the most memorable. During my stay in California, I made presentations to four Quaker meetings: Strawberry Creek (Berkeley), San Francisco, Sacramento and Redwood Forest (Santa Rosa). A member of Guatemala Meeting now living in San Francisco, Margaret Bean, hosted a dinner reception in her home and invited friends and neighbors. The largest event was held at Friends House, a Quaker retirement community, in Santa Rosa. In the past Redwood Forest Meeting has held an "omelet breakfast", in order to raise funds to sponsor 1 or 2 students. This year Redwood Forest and Friends House worked together on a Simple Supper and received more that $2000 in donations.

This was enough to sponsor a medical student for an entire year with the remainder going to the general fund. At Pacific Yearly Meeting, I spoke in a plenary session and conducted an Interest Group on behalf of the scholarship program. At all of these events, Guatemalan crafts were sold to benefit the program. Jane Snyder (clerk, FWCC Section of the Americas) and her husband Joe have been long time donors to Progresa and regular participants in The Teaching English Experiences. On their way home from a conference in San Diego they picked me up in Santa Rosa and took me on an unforgetable, picturesque ride through giant redwoods to the dramatic Oregon coast. Crater Lake left the most significant impression on me as I was reminded of the beauty of our natural world and the greatness of God. We then visited Eugene, Oregon and met in the home of Tom (clerk of NorthWest YM) and Vickie Stave. Members of Eugene Friends Church (NWYM) and Eugene Monthly Meeting (NPYM) were in attendance for refreshments and to learn about the program. We then traveled to Portland where events were arranged at Reedwood Friends Church (NWYM) and Multnomah Friends Meeting (NPYM).

In total, there were 10 events in two states which included three yearly meetings. Through the presentations and the sale of Guatemalan textiles, there was a much needed boost to the scholarship program finances. It was encouraging to see the enthusiasm for the scholarship program expressed by those in attendance. In summary, I believe this was a wonderful experience in which I learned many things. I want to express my profound appreciation to all who were involved in my visit: those who offered hospitality, arranged or attended events, purchased textiles and contributed in what ever way. We are only three employees at Progresa and Guatemala Monthly Meeting is a small. Thanks to the efforts of many, I returned home encouraged and rejuvenated to continue the work and do my best for the program. Thanks again to all those who made my visit truly special and successful.

 Sincerely,

Miguel Angel Costop

Please consider making a donation to the Scholarship Program

Donations are made to: Redwood Forest Friends Meeting

Attn: Guatemala Scholarship Loan Program

P.O. BOX 1831

Santa Rosa, CA 95402

Contact: Harriet Lewis at hlewis@sonic.net or + (707) 526.1066

All donations are fully tax deductible in the U.S.