Two graduating high schoolers and one recent alumna greeted us as we entered a small office space in a rural mountainous area, Alta Verapaz, about 4 hours outside of Guatemala City. The young women were wearing their traditional Mayan clothes, and the young man was stealing glances at all of us Americans. After three days of being enthusiastically serenaded by adorable elementary school students, I welcomed the calm space. However, as soon as the first student introduced herself – not in Spanish, but in Q’eqchi’, I was enraptured by what they shared with us.

I am Annie Hall, Board Secretary and team member at Fabretto, working out of the Evanston office. I’ve worked with and supported Fabretto since January 2020. While this was my first trip to see our work in-country, I’ve been in the field with other organizations, so I had a sense of what we would experience. I knew we would visit elementary schools and interact with the young students, which would tug at my heartstrings. I knew the school directors and our local Impact Partners would share updates about the growth in their programs due to our support, which would make me sad that we couldn’t help all of the kids in Guatemala. However, I was filled with awe about the quality of work being done, and I was blown away by how far and wide our work spreads and multiplies. 

Back in the room with the high schoolers, I learned that their families and communities waited for them to return home to teach them what they learned at school and Fabretto’s CaTec programs. They are learning new ways to grow crops to protect their land and their future; how to start their own businesses; and how to maintain their indigenous ways, while working within the modern system. They told stories about their families waiting at their doors for them to return home to teach them. Younger siblings sitting next to them with new notebooks to capture all of the new lessons. Neighbors coming over to watch what they are planting and how they are tending their gardens. The students get additional support from our Impact Partners – the CaTec team at Xch’ool Ixim. Together, they work with students, then they go into the students’ communities to help educate everyone. They share expertise, equipment, and guidance to reinforce what the students bring back home. Everyone benefits from this work.

The students are proud of their communities and their traditions. They want to stay there. They want to be with their families. At one school, two 6th graders asked me if I could help them enter the US because their parents came here to find work. It was heartbreaking to hear that they just wanted to spend a weekend with their parents to see them. As an immigration lawyer, this is not a new story for me. Families separated in order to provide for each other happens everywhere. However, these high school students had pride and confidence in their training and their ability to stay in their communities. They weren’t talking about moving to another country or moving to Guatemala City for work. They want to stay. I hope the young 6th graders can continue to access our support.

The opportunities in Guatemala look different from what many of us have access to, but what I saw was not a gap. It was potential, being built from the inside out by our local Impact Partners, educators, and families who are working with everything they have. Fabretto is walking alongside them every step of the way. I came home more motivated than I left, and I hope you will find a way to see it for yourself. 

Join a Friends of Fabretto trip if you can, or read the stories and watch the videos. Thank you for being part of this.