Scholars Photograph by Garry Fell Left to Right Rodolfo Perez (Tourism) Domingo Tiney (for his brother Max in Medical School in Cuba) Leonardo Rios (Medicine, 2nd year in Quetzeltenango) Anastasia Xon (Social Work, Panajachel) Diego Pazan (Mathematics, Panajachel) Oliva Lopez (Business: marketing in Quetzeltenango) Isabel Churunel (Social Work, Panajachel) With Fred Fallis of Georgian College in Orilllia.

Paso Por Paso honours the second year of student achievement in the Canada Maya Scholarship program in Panajachel Guatemala. The Orillia based charity maintains six Maya university students.

Five of the eight Paso directors and three of the Orillia Scholarship Committee attended the event. Fred Fallis made the presentations.

“These young people would not be in university without help,” Fallis reports. There are two in medicine, two in social work, and one each in mathematics and business.

“I am so impressed with how dedicated these students are to their education. Not only are they travelling through some pretty incredible terrain to get to the university, but most of these students are also balancing the demands of raising children and providing for their families. It really strikes you how much they value this opportunity to study at the university level and how appreciative they are of these scholarships.” Fallis adds.

Rodolfo Perez is the first C-MS graduate. He completed tourism at the diversificado level, but hopes to advance to university next year. He lost his uncle and his own home was destroyed in tropical storm Agatha last year.

“Canada Maya Scholarships place particular emphasis on educating women,” Fallis explains. “With less than 1% of Guatemala Maya women having university degrees, our program is very important in opening opportunities.”

Two women will graduate in 2011: Oliva Lopez in marketing at Rafael Landivar Universidad in Quetzelteango and Maria Isabel Churunel is in Social Work in Universidad dela Vale in Solola.

New appeals have been received to assist students of law, nursing and medicine. Each is carefully vetted by scholarship committees in Panajachel and Orillia.

Besides the scholarship program, Paso Por Paso also maintains 15 primary and basico students, and 30 micro loans for women of Tierra Linda village. It also has made major renovations at the village primary school and assisted the opening of a basico school allowing students to continue schooling beyond grade six.

Rodolfo Perez cut first C-MS Cake

Canadians would consider Anastasia Xon’s life ‘living on the edge’. She is used to it and has been doing so since she was a child.

Anastasia is 37 years old. She and her husband and five children live in Panajachel in the upstairs of Guillermo’s mothers house. The municipality cut off the electricity three months ago. There is a penalty that just keeps accumulating until they can afford to restore service.

Even at that Anastasia is up at 5:00 am every day to do the laundry before nine when the water supply is turned off.

Millions of Maya survive on a few torillas and a little salt, often all they can manage each day for food. Getting enough food became a serious problem for Anastasia recently. Her husband Guillermo is allergic to bee stings.

His breathing has been affected and as a fisherman he can no longer dive. A few weeks ago the Bomberos, the Fire Department, rushed him to the hospital following a diving incident fishing to feed his family.

Guillermo needs an epi-pen, but no one here seems to have heard of it. He also needs a medical alert bracelet; if he is bitten and has an allergic reaction, people will just think he’s drunk. Or worse, Anastasia says the doctors tell her his life is at risk.

Is it surprising that he also has high blood pressure? There is no money to pay for medicine.

This past week visiting Paso Por Paso members arranged to have Anastasia’s electricity restored, and for Mayan Families.org to supply Anastasia with bag of corn for torillas and a supply of beans and rice.

There is another connection with Anastasia.

During the past year she has been a Canada-Maya Scholar. The Orillia Committee thought that she was graduating in November with a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and that Anastasia would then be able to seek a well paying job.

The fact is that she was eligible at this point in her studies for a technical certificate. But she would have to pay Q10,000 to sit the exams. Further, she needs two more years to complete the degree or face an increased cost for every new course she might want to study.

Anastasia’s Canada-Maya Scholarship has been extended for two more years. When she graduates she will be part of less than 1% of Maya women with a degree.
Anastasia speaks excellent English and Spanish. She also is fluent in three Maya languages. She has worked since she was nine. She knows first hand about poverty and she puts her faith in education and determination.

There are holes in Anastasia and Guillermos’s metal roof. There is no railing on the stairs. The plastic on the open windows is ragged. But soon there will be electric lights, a little more food, and the chance to study at the university.

Max and Noah in traditional Maya costume

“We are carrying on doing what we started out to do,” says Suncrash organizers Noah Kearey Moreland. “Provide venues for young musicians, and raise money for worthy causes,” adds co-organizer Amber McGarvey.

Amber and Noah met Max in Guatemala in 2009. “In fact Max is the reason the Canada Maya Scholarships got started a year ago,” Noah says. “Max had to drop out of medical school to help earn enough money to send his five younger brothers and sisters to school.”

“After grade six everyone has to pay tuition in Guatemala,” Amber explains, “and that is the second poorest country in the Americas.”

That’s the reason Amber and Noah put together a Suncrash Concert at the McGarvey home recently. Guitarists David Ross Macdonald, Andy McTavish and Nate Mills, of Run with the Kittens, gave a guitar workshop and later performed for seventy.

“We raised over $2000 for Max’s scholarship,” Amber reports. “We need another thousand to keep him in school this year,” Noah adds.

Both Noah and Amber are also on the Orillia Committee of the Canada Maya Scholarship Fund which operates as part of local charity Paso Por Paso founded by eight retired Orillia secondary school teachers.

“They needed young blood,” Noah claims. “And we are it,” adds Amber.

“It fits our Suncrash goals of getting young people involved in music and in helping other young people. We thought a year ago we could help one student, but Max could not go back to school last September. In the meantime we have taken on six other indigenous Maya students in Guatemala,” Noah explains.

In January 2010 Leonardo will enroll in the medical school at Universidad de San Carlos Quezaltenango to begin six years of study to become a doctor. He will receive a Paso Por Paso “Canada Maya Scholarship” to fund his first year.

Leonardo lives in Quetzaltenango with his mother. He has no siblings. His ambition since childhood has been to become a medical doctor. Leonardo has been the recipient of numerous medals and citations for academic achievement during his schooling.

Scholarship Fund administrator Patricia Gutierrez writes, “Anastacia is the only Mayan lady in her course. She is traveling every Saturday from Panajachel to Solola to the Mariano Galvez University to attend her second year in Social Work Degree.”

Anastacia speaks three different Mayan languages (Quiche, Tzutujil and Katchiquel); also she knows perfect Spanish and a little English. “Indigenous social workers are few, and indigenous women social workers rare,” Patricia says, “Women lead very tough lives. Poverty is increasing. We have a lot of violent crime.”

Training an indigenous woman social worker who can communicate in Mayan dialects is a very important contribution to community wellbeing.

Anastacia knows the hardships of poverty, discrimination for being Maya, childhood abuse and unhappiness. “I am not happy with my life. Since I arrived to this world, nobody even my own parents were responsible with me. As a little girl, they sent me to work and for many years I carried a baby on my back for 10 hours a day to earn a little money. I had to have faith by myself to open a real world for me.”

Because the world recession has hit Guatemala very hard there are fewer construction jobs and therefore Anastacia’s husband is unable earn enough money to pay tuitions. He works in construction and fished Lake Atitlan part time.

Social Work is a major university degree. To fully qualify for a LICENCIATURA she would need to attend three more years, but the Canada-Maya Scholarship for one year will allow at least allow Anastacia to qualify for employment in her field.

While Anastacia’s scholarship is currently covered from general funds, the Scholarship Committee is actively seeking an interested individual or group sponsor.

She is in her fourth semester studying every Saturday for a Social Work bachelor degree at Mariano Galvez University in Solola. She needs another year to complete.

Anastacia is the only indigenous Maya woman in the social work course at her university. She speaks three Maya dialects (Quiche, Tzutujil and Katciquel.) She also speaks Spanish and a little English. It is important to indigenous people that social workers are able to speak the Maya languages. She is particularly interested in the laws and rights of Maya people, and very concerned about the violence, crime and poverty affecting indigenous people in the remote villages.

Life has not been easy for Anastacia’s childhood. The economy has not been kind to her family. She is determined to improve conditions for her children and for her community.

Leonardo David Elias Rios is only 17 and has already established an exceptional academic record. Currently he is completing a bachelor degree in Health Sciences at Universidad de Rafael Landivar in Quetzaltenango.

In January 2010 Leonardo will enrol in the medical school at Universidad de San Carlos Quezaltenango to begin six years of study to become a doctor. He has applied to receive a Paso Por Paso “Canada Maya Scholarship” to fund his first year.

Leonardo lives in Quetzaltenango with his mother. He has no siblings. His ambition since childhood has been to become a medical doctor. Leonardo has been the recipient of numerous medals and citations for academic achievement during his schooling.

Leonardo, like all the students on this site, see their education as a tool to improve the lives of the people in their communities. These scholarships are funded largely by internet donations, both great and small. If you would like to see Maya students complete their educational goals, please

The Canada – Maya Scholarship fund has awarded a scholarship to Oliva Lopez of Panajachel, Guatemala. Oliva is enrolled at Rafael Landivar University in Quetzaltenango in the seventh level of a Marketing degree. She needs two and a half more years to graduate.

This scholarship was made possible by the generous donations of folks in Orillia, Ontario, Canada, as well as internet donations both great and small. If you would like to see Maya students complete their educational goals, please

The Canada – Maya Scholarship fund has awarded a scholarship to Diego Pazan of Solola, Guatemala. Diego is pursuing a degree in mathematics at the University de la Valle in Solola.

This scholarship was made possible by the generous donations of folks in Orillia, Ontario, Canada, as well as internet donations both great and small. If you would like to see Maya students complete their educational goals, please

The Canada – Maya Scholarship Fund announced today that Rodolfo Perez, of Panajachel Guatemala, has been awarded a scholarship allowing him to complete his goal of obtaining his certification in Tourism. Rodolfo has one year of study remaining.

This scholarship was funded by generous donors in Ontario, Canada and elsewhere. If you would like to help the Maya of Guatemala achieve their goals, please