By Ulises Jacinto | Fundraiser
Thanks to you, Cristian found his voice in the market
In the highlands of Chiapas, Indigenous children grow up caught between work and the hope for a dignified future. In the markets of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, a study by Ecosur found that 78.8% of working children in the area labor more than 15 hours a week, a pace that exhausts the body and makes it hard to stay focused in school. Nationally, Indigenous-language-speaking adolescent girls face a pregnancy rate nearly double the general national average (90.3 versus 45.2 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19, according to INEGI), in a state where more than a quarter of women have experienced intimate partner violence at some point in their lives, according to ENDIREH. Thanks to your support, we are opening safe spaces for learning, art, and support that challenge this reality.
Cristian is a Tsotsil child who spends his days in one of San Cristóbal's markets alongside his merchant parents. Last year, the exhaustion of his work days made him a restless child, struggling to concentrate, with irregular attendance at workshops. With patience and respect for his mother tongue, the Melel Xojobal team welcomed him into their learning circles, using play to help him self-regulate and build trust. Today Cristian stays focused throughout the session, participates enthusiastically, and has made remarkable progress in reading and basic math. His smile no longer hides mistrust, but the certainty of someone who has found a happy refuge in learning.
Cristian is one of 1,365 children, youth, and women your donation supported this semester through project #58900: 859 Indigenous women and young people received support against violence, prenatal care, and economic independence workshops with the Yach'il Antzetic Community Home; 178 teenagers transformed their neighborhood through murals, hip-hop, and agroecology with Semillero y Patrulla Roja; 145 working children from the market strengthened their literacy with Melel Xojobal; 68 children and adults in Cuxtitali built paths of peace with Tierra Roja; 56 women promoted herbal medicine and territorial defense with MUTRAM; 48 Tsotsil and Tseltal children learned to read and write in their mother tongue with Sna Jtz'ibajom; and 11 young filmmakers premiered their own short film with Cinetiqueta. Behind this network, your donation also strengthened the internal systems that sustain it.
All of this exists because you chose to stand behind it. In every child who rediscovers the joy of learning, in every woman who raises her voice, in every native language that is written and honored, there is something of you planted. Soon we'll share more stories from this journey that, with you, we keep walking.
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