Non-Profit helps indigenous Guatemalan students gain access to higher education

Roots & Wings International is running a fund-raising campaign to provide university scholarships to 35 indigenous Guatemalan students living in extreme poverty. In the story, we interviewed the founder and an indigenous Guatemalan coffee grower Juan Tzep with his daughter Manuela, a recipient of Roots & Wings International's university scholarship. Roots & Wings International, a U.S.-based non-profit, provides education opportunities to indigenous children living in extreme poverty in rural Guatemala.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) February 19, 2009 -- In its latest Education Overcomes Poverty campaign for indigenous Guatemalan students living on a household income of less than $2 per day, Roots & Wings International is reaching out to the public to sponsor 35 university scholarships and a computer training lab for hundreds of children living in the coffee-producing region. The top three contributing corporations and individuals are invited to name individual scholarships and the new computer lab after their companies, themselves, or in memory of a loved one. The fundraising campaign officially kicks off on February 19, 2009 and will continue through the year.

Run entirely by volunteers in the U.S., the Washington D.C.-based non-profit has sponsored 30 scholarships for indigenous students in southwest Guatemala to attend local universities. These scholarship recipients, aged 19 to 34, are the first generation in their family to study beyond elementary school and more often than not, one of the first few in their region to access higher level education. All the students come from the K´iche'-speaking coffee-producing communities and from households with monthly earnings between $35 and $60. Paying two scholarships out of his pocket when he established Roots & Wings International, Erik Swanson will be welcoming two new university graduates on his team in 2010.

"For only $750 a student living in extreme poverty can study in university for an entire year and transform the future of their community," says Erik Swanson, president of Roots & Wings International. "All people are incredibly capable and education is the best tool to empower indigenous communities to break the cycle of poverty."

Juan Tzep, father of Manuela Tzep Lòpez whose scholarship was personally sponsored by Swanson, shares the same vision. Juan recalled how thrilled he was when his father announced he needed not register for school in Nahualá, Guatemala. His parents considered school to be for lazy people and a waste of time. Juan, now 54 years old, wishes differently for his four children, especially Manuela, his second oldest daughter who graduated from high school in 2005, an accomplishment in Guatemala where 60 percent of the country does not graduate from the sixth grade.

After finishing elementary school, Manuela had to wait five years and worked as a weaver before her parents could afford her high school education--Guatemala does not have public junior or senior high schools. Now a second year student majoring in social work at University Panamericana, she is the first in her family to study at the university level and one of the first women in the Boca Costa region to do so.

"Studying always involves extra expenses," said Manuela. "There were times when my father really was not able to help me buy school supplies, but throughout my studies, he always sacrificed a lot in order to make sure that I continued in school."

"These days, I have seen and I feel the huge change that I have undergone through my education. But I also realize that I am still short of where I need to be in order to achieve my goals. There is always more to learn," added Manuela. "Thanks to my education and the support that I'm receiving, I have been much more equipped to address problems at work, at home, and in my community. With the major that I am studying now, my goal is to be prepared in order to confront the challenges that present themselves in my life. I have realized that a high school education is not enough in order to be well prepared and in order to help my family and my community, which is my greatest aspiration. My biggest goal right now is to do well in my studies and graduate from the university."

Last year, Roots & Wings International raised $25,000 to provide 17 scholarships to indigenous students like Manuela, and free college counseling to all youth in the area. This year, the Washington D.C. based non-profit aims to provide 35 university scholarships, and a computer training lab for hundreds of indigenous children living in southwest Guatemala. The organization will continue its tutoring program for 300 elementary students, encouraging and preparing these children to continue beyond elementary school and eventually to the university. Meanwhile, current scholarship recipients are undergoing training to staff a new college prep school which Roots & Wings International intends to open in 2011.

About Roots & Wings International
Roots & Wings International is a non-profit based in Washington, D.C. The organization is run entirely by volunteers in the U.S. and maintains an office in Guatemala with three full-time staff who come from the same communities that our program serves. Our Guatemalan office is located in the village of Pasac in Nahuala, Solola, approximately 3.5 hours southwest of Guatemala City. We serve the Boca Costa region but focus our efforts on a dozen coffee-growing communities surrounding our office to ensure students have access to our counseling services in their native language K'iche' and are able to participate in our monthly development meetings.

To date, Roots & Wings International has provided over 30 university scholarships. Each of our scholarship recipients produces one traditional Mayan weaving per semester to donate to Roots & Wings International. These weavings are sold and the funds are applied directly to the scholarship program. We also require our scholarship recipients to attend monthly development meetings. These meetings provide our students space to discuss their struggles and their aspirations while also providing an opportunity to apply their education to development issues in their communities.

The founder of Roots & Wings International, Erik Swanson, 27, is a current third-year law student at American University, Washington D.C. Swanson was originally from Spokane, WA and studied in the University of Puget Sound before living and working in the San Juan Islands and Guatemala. Swanson will be starting at a law firm in Portland, OR after he passes the bar in July.

All donations are welcome. An amount as little as $25 seems trivial in the U.S. but goes far in rural Guatemala where many live in huts with dirt floors and children have to walk a few hours to go to school. All charitable contributions are tax deductible as Roots & Wings International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a tax id of 20-5890443.

For more information on contributing towards our Education Overcomes Poverty campaign, please visit our website http://www.rootsandwingsintl.org or contact Erik Swanson (202) 747-4946 erik (at) rootsandwingsintl (dot) org.

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