Z18 School, San Lucas Sacatepequez, Saturday, July 18

Saturday, July 18, 2009

On our last official delegation day, we got up early to go to a school in zone 18, a pilot program that is sponsored by MIA. Partially destroyed by a flood less than a year ago, much of the school was ruined. The delegates grabbed some shovels and started leveling out the land to supply a foundation where a new computer lab will be built, and met one of the female students that MIA helps to sponsor so that she can continue her education.

We then drove to San Lucas Sacatepequez, for what was the most devastating meeting of the entire week. We went to the home of Aura Suruy, whose three daughters, ages 7, 9, and 11, were all beaten, raped, and murdered this past May 29 (http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/junio/16/321595.html). In unbearable pain, the mother has got help with her case from Fundacion Sobrevivientes and also got some help of MIA’s big sister organization, the Guatemala Peace and Development Network (GPDN), to help sponsor her male children’s continuing education.

Ending the delegation on such a horrific story definitely ignited the anger in us to come back to the U.S. and work for Guatemala in whatever ways we can.