Some Faces
/Welcome to our student page: After this slide show you will find some profiles of individual students, to give you an idea of the kind of people Progresa serves.
Magdalena Toma y Toma
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Magdalena comes from the mountainous Ixil region, a little village Cantón Tzichoa, San Juan Cotzal, Quiché, where she lives with her mother and father and 7 or her 8 brothers and sisters. She graduated from secondary school with a credential to teach in primary school; and is now pursuing university education in social work. She is 26 years old.
Read MoreAlonzo Magnolio Aguilar Raymundo
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Alonzo lives in the aldea (village) of Canchicú, San Juan Ixcoy, Huehuetenango, with his parents and 10 others. He is 28 years old, married with 2 children, and speaks Q’anjob’al as a first language, in addition to Spanish. He completed secondary school with training and certification to teach in primary school, but currently has a 10 month contract working for the Ministry of Culture and Sports developing programs to support cultural enrichment and development amongst the Q’anjob’al Maya. Alonzo is now pursuing a university degree in education with a focus on teaching mathematics and physics.
Read MoreAna María López Colaj
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Ana María comes from the town of San Juan Comolapa, where she lives with her mother and father, 4 of her 5 siblings, a niece and a sister in law. She is pursuing an advanced degree in teaching (secondary school) and administration. She is 31 years old and has been teaching home economics in middle school since 2012. She has a passion for education and for the improvement of her country and her community
Read MoreMacaria Tubac Simón
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Marcaria lives with her parents in a household of 11 persons, including siblings, a sister in law, niece, and her son. The house is very small. They have a small plot of land where they raise corn and beans, but it is not enough to feed the whole family. Her father and some of her brothers find some work as day laborers, but it is very inconsistent. Her small teacher's salary provides more income than all the rest combined. Half of her income goes to the family, leaving her with half a salary for her own and her son's expenses and nothing left over to pursue her studies. The house is quite primitive: tin roof, a patchwork of walls made of roofing metal, bamboo sticks, and block, and dirt floor, parts of which are covered with a thin concrete layer.
Read MoreEfraín Mendoza Pablo
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Efraín comes from a very remote community in an area known as the Ixcán, where many refugees from the years of violence and civil war were allowed to resettle. He was raised by and lives with his mother and does not know his father. He speaks Mam as a native language and Spanish. Efraín lives without electricity and has to walk a couple of hours just to encounter a pickup ride to a place to get a bus to Cobán, where he studies on weekends. This means leaving home shortly after midnight, taking a full day of classes starting at 7 AM, spending the night in Cobán, and using most of the next day returning.
Read MoreSandra Gabriela Lopéz (Gaby)
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Gaby is 25 years old and lives in Momostenango, Totonicapán, a mountainous area covered by pine forests and famous for the production of thick, hand woven wool blankets. She has in inquisitive scientific mind, which has led her to pursue a career in Forestry - in Guatemala the degree is Engineer of Forestry. A recent invasion of the highly destructive Pine Bark Beetle from Canada has decimated the forests around Momostenango. Gaby is passionate about and dedicated to the reconstruction of these forests and the prevention of further damage.
Read MoreDolores Ical
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Dolores was 16 years old when she applied to PROGRESA asking for help in attending high school. She comes from an extremely poor agricultural family and lives in a one room wooden house with dirt floors which has no electricity or running water. She is the sixth of ten children. Several of the older children are now married and live apart but six of the brothers and sisters live at home with their two parents.
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