Saturday and Sunday classes in rural Guatemala

Hi everyone,

The Saturday classes are not just a tutoring class, they are formal school classes. They are held on Saturday or Sundays for students who have to work ..or for students, like Claudia who are so much older than the kids in their regular school classes. ...in these situations it is often embarrassing for students to continue school ..when they are 16 years old and everyone in the class is 8 - 10 years old.   These  are accelerated classes...and they often do two grades in one year...like 3 and 4 th grade....etc...and they give the students a lot of homework to do during the week.  When the student graduates from these classes , it is as if they have graduated from the classes at school. These classes are totally accepted by the Minister of Education.  

Apart from these classes...Claudia is coming regularly to computer classes twice a week.

She is also working a few days a week babysitting.

She is also going to church and is taking the classes to be baptised.  Here in Guatemala this usually means one or two nights of study and all day on Sunday.   

So she is keeping pretty busy.

She has asked if we would give her a job at Mayan Families but we just do not have the money to pay for her.  If you would like to sponsor her for work ...we would be delighted to have her. 

I am also very relieved that she has gone in a different direction...we were all concerned for the direction it looked like she was going. 

For her baptism ...she needs to have a traditional outfit  ....( we just gave her a second hand outfit for her birthday ...it was in good condition but it was obvious that it was not new )   If she could have a new guipil ( Blouse ) to go with the corte ( skirt) that would be great.  The skirt looks a lot newer than the guipil.  A new guipil is approx $80 US...these are the woven ones for her village.  ( there are plenty of other guipils that are a lot cheaper) 

I think she needs a veil...I am not sure how much that is...and I think she may need a bible and a special candle. 

Most families will then go home and have lunch but as you know it is just Claudia and her grandmother and they will not have any food. If you would like to give them some tamales for their special lunch...we could organize that.   I think that a photo frame is also nice...and we could get the photo from the baptism and frame it.   All of these things are just suggestions ...and any of them would be appreciated. 

Sharon