Guatemalan school helps indigenous young girls

The Daily Texan Online
By Suzanne Edwards

Brightly colored patterns and weaves on fabrics that reflect the vibrancy of the Guatemalan terrain swallowed one booth at the 2006 Austin Reggae Festival Saturday. The vendor was raising money for Somos Iguales, or 'We are Equals,' an nonprofit organization dedicated to educating young Mayan girls who have few opportunities in their Guatemalan village.

Loel Coleman, the founder of Somos Iguales, pays for the program by selling crafts handmade by his Guatemalan pupils. Coleman said that the weave the young girls use is so complex that it cannot be duplicated by machine.

Somos Iguales was founded a few years ago when Coleman was traveling in the Lake Atitlan region of Guatemala and noticed that many of the girls who were selling crafts to the tourists could not read or write. He later found out that the girls weren't attending school, because they had to sell the crafts during school hours so that their family could eat. Coleman began a reading class for the girls that became a permanent project for him in 2005.

Today, the school in Lake Atitlan only reaches four to six students, but Coleman predicts that there will be at least 10 students upon his return in August. The school emphasizes educating the girls because their society is very patriarchal, and families often send their sons to school but not their daughters, Coleman said.

"Indigenous people are really looked down upon there in Guatemala," Coleman said. Coleman is the sole teacher at the Somos Iguales school, where his classes cover basic reading and writing. He expects that volunteer teachers will arrive in August.Somos Iguales officially became a nonprofit organization last year.Coleman has already targeted his next festival, and he always has his eyes open for a sponsor."

I copy this article from The Daily Texan Online. Suzanne Edwards, the writer, interviewed my husband, Loel Coleman, during Bob Marley Festival, April 2006. Somos Iguales now opens Sponsorship Program to support our students around Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

For more information about our projects and other program, please visit our website www.somos-iguales.com Buy our beautiful handmade Guatemalan collection or make a donation or sponsor our students. Together we can make this world a better place.