Written by the mining children who joined our program.
We are the children of the parents who work in the gravel mines. Our families are emigrants from San Marcos, Guatemala. We are from a village called Comitancillo, which is north of Quetzaltenango. Our parents emigrated to work in the mines because there was no opportunity to work in Comitancillo and they couldn’t feed us. We children did not have the opportunity to study. Our life was not easy because our parents could not give us what we needed to study. We also worked in the mines with our parents to help them earn money so we could buy something to eat. People used to come visit us and promised to help us and gave us hope, but they always lied to us, so eventually we didn’t trust anybody.
But one day some people came to the mines and said they would return and give us a chance to be in a scholarship program… That they would give us a chance to have a better future. They have fulfilled that promise, so now we have a new hope. We are grateful because we are part of the Estudia Con Amor program.
We were forgotten children, but now we feel important because we met Sandra and Denise who gave us love and always make us smile. Thanks for worrying about us …
Here in the mines it is very difficult to work. We work through the cold, the heat, the rain… but we thank God because with this work we can eat beans and tortillas 3 times a day. We children of the mines dream of a better future. We know that if we study hard we can now, with help of Estudia Con Amor, achieve our dreams. We children dream of being professionals and know that if we study hard we can help our families escape the mines, because mining is difficult and all those who work there risk their lives. Our mothers also used to work in the mines. Now the government prohibits women and children from working there, so we are sad because now our parents work even more time in the mines to feed us …
We children of the mines wrote this story together… hoping that if people know about us they will continue to support us. We are very happy with Estudia Con Amor because thanks to the scholarship program this year we had shoes, new books, notebooks and everything we needed to study. We are very grateful for the support that each person gives us, and, on behalf of all the children of the mines and our families, we give our thanks for the love and charity you give to us. Now we smile and feel love each time Denise and Sandra spend time with us. We thank God for letting us meet them and for the donors who give us what we need to study.
With love and gratitude,
The Children of the Mines
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