When you walk into Francisca’s house in the town of Santiago, Atitlan you are immediately aware of two things: the poverty and the hospitality.   It is a dark, 1-room home. The boards on cinderblocks function as your seat but are obviously also a bed for the eight people in the family.  Her mother is overjoyed that you have come to visit, and shows in her deep, joyful smile as she nervously dusts off her beautifully embroidered but threadbare guipil (traditional blouse). This is the desperate poverty that Francisca’s family lives in on a daily basis. You are greeted with a hospitality that matches the beauty in their hearts.

In the midst of the desperation, 17 year-old Francisca is confronting the challenge of her life: to break out of this cycle to become an empowered and educated leader.  This struggle appeared to have ended last year when Francisca dropped out of the 9^th grade.  Neither of her parents had ever been to school, and she had already made it further than anyone else in her family.  But her younger sister was going into middle school and the family would be unable to finance both of their girls’ education.  Francisca withdrew from school and began work washing clothes in order to support her younger sister’s education.

Starfish One by One found Francisca and offered her a spot in one of its 10 mentorship/scholarship groups.  Francisca wept at the opportunity to resume her path out of poverty and exclusion and towards empowerment and fulfillment.

We ask Francisca’s mother why she wants an education for her daughters.  She recounts her own painful childhood, one in which her father ordered her to hide from school authorities because “there was no use educating a girl.” Illiterate and impoverished, she took to working as a domestic servant at age 10 and was abused repeatedly by her employer.  She was determined to avoid that fate for her own daughters.

We then ask Francisca what motivates her to keep struggling through her 17-hour days of work and school.  Francisca replies, “My relationship with Wendy (her Starfish mentor) and my desire to help support my family.  I know that if I work hard, I can become a teacher and do what I like to do: teach children.  I love the different topics we review in the mentor sessions… The Starfish people are truly good- they help us believe in ourselves, they accompany us and visit us.  They help make my dream a reality.”

Francisca and Connie

Francisca and Family