Empowering Guatemalan Women with Professional Jobs

Glenda is meeting the challenges of a new experience.  She is typical of the six young women in the intern program. She graduated from high school with a certificate to teach preschool. She was not able to find a job. The first thing perspective employers asked was if she had experience. When she said that she did not, the conversation ended.

Through the Fund, she secured an internship at a non-profit that works with handicapped children. Working with the students is a challenge. The children have many problems both physical and emotional.   The advantage is that she is receiving classes in signing and techniques for working with students who have behavior problems. She said that it is difficult to work with the students, but she likes it. Little by little, she is learning how to handle her new experience.

This year, Carmela is coordinating all of our Education Fund Programs that includes the Intern Program. We are continuing it with grants from Mary’s Pence, the Quail Roost Foundation, and support from you, our Global Giving Donors. The six you women in the program are in work situations where they will get the experience they need to secure their first permanent job. At their monthly meeting, they have talked about the labor situation in Guatemala, had a talk about workplace attitudes, and a talk from a former intern about her experiences. These all add to their work skills and personal development. It prepares them for a better future.

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The new intern group started off their year with a meeting and learning the Kateri Fund theme song "Yo Soy Mujer"- "I am a Woman" in English.  The first line in English is "I am a woman and I seek dignity.  I don't put up with either  injustice or wickedness."  and goes on from there stating our creed in song. 

The theme of the meeting was the work situation in Guatemala.  They talked of the inequality of work opportunity and how it affected the population especially the Indigenous population.  They related the facts and statistics in an article published by the World Bank to their own lives.  The young women participated with animation because they could see that it affected them personally.

At present there are five young women in the program.  Maria Angela, Glenda, Sandra, Odalia, and Flory.  Another young woman, Loyda, will be joining them in January when her internship in teaching begins. 

Glenda's certification is as a early childhood teacher.  She will be interning in a non-profit in a village near her village that works with students with disabilities.  Glenda assists the therapists.  As a teacher, she can offer activities which relate to the therapy they need.

Her schedule is varied.  On Wednesdays, she goes out to a nearby village and helps the two teachers there work with the disabled childen in the community.  Thursday and Friday, she teaches dance and theater.  The other days, she assists the therapists in the Center.

She is learning that to work with children with special needs, you need to be well prepared.  It is very important to ask questions when she doesn't understand in order to learn all she can and get the most benefit from her experience.  She is excited to be offered a course in sign laguage.

The other interns are having similiar exciting experiences.  More to come in the next report!