La Pintada Children

Mayatan was lucky enough to receive its first ever grant in the 2011-12 school year from the Honduran government to support indigenous student scholarships. Combined with the support of a generous set of sponsors, these students from La Pintada are able to continue to receive their complete scholarships. Please see our Aldea Project page for information about a new Mayatan initiative to deliver more scholarships to students from La Pintada.

Several years ago, Mayatan committed to educate four children from the indigenous village of La Pintada that Peace Corps volunteers introduced to the school. Even if the La Pintada children don't get sponsors, the school supports them with full tuition, uniforms, fees, transportation, and food. Both the children and Mayatan have been lucky to receive great students from caring families with few resources. They help each other by going through the ranks of Mayatan together.

The children make great sacrifices just to get here; because no buses can reach La Pintada, they leave home at 5 a.m. and walk 45 minutes to just to catch the bus. All of their parents are very supportive of their children’s educations. They have no money, but they participate in every school activity despite the distance, and they use dictionaries to translate their children’s assignments so they can help.

It is quite expensive for Mayatan to educate children from La Pintada, and just as their community pools its resources to help them, we pool donations to the children. The annual cost is $10,000 for the group, or $2500 a child. We pool together resources every year to help sponsor these children.

Milton Daniel comes from a large, poor family. His mother doesn’t read or write, but she is proud that her son can. Milton doesn’t have electricity at home, so he sometimes struggles to do homework at night. He was hit by a moto walking to school in the dark one day, but we’re thankful that he is fine.

Sara Yaquelin’s father started a program to teach Chorti, the indigenous language of the La Pintada community which is at risk of dying out. For Sara and some of her classmates, then, English is a third language, and she is becoming tri-lingual, which will be an immense help to her community.

Harlyn Elizeth’s mother earns money by making corn husk dolls, flowers, and textiles to sell at La Pintada and in Copán. She got her start through a government program to teach crafts to people from the aldeas, and her handicrafts are popular tourist purchases.

Kensy Elizabeth’s mother got her start running a small restaurant in La Pintada through a microloan program that stimulates indigenous businesses with small cash advances. Her mother’s chicken and fish are particularly well-known.