Leticia as a Volunteer Coordinator
As a woman of Mayan heritage and mother of three children and her professional roles as an ex-reporter from local radio stations, president of a local NGO, Spanish language instructor and volunteer coordinator, she has alway been active taking stand on various issues confronting Guatemalan society. She was well aware of the poverty in Guatemala since her childhood as she has grown up witnessing her grandparents rising before the sunrise to bake breads and walking miles of unpaved road to deliver their breads to rural villages (Years later, she heard that they had been walking barefooted because they could not afford shoes until their mid-teen years). It was a turbulent time in Guatemalan history as the civil war was intensifying and sudden disappearance of people in her neighborhood was becoming more common. She remembers the night when her mother was crying because her father did not return home long after dark. Fortunately her father came back home safely but it was very diffcult for her and all her family to feel safe as bombing and robbery went on even inside the safer city like Quetzaltenango.
As a teenager, she has completed her higher education with scholarships in the local catholic school where she was seen as a minority student inside the school (She was the one of the only two students of indigenous background among 600 other ladino students in her school.). As an adult, she has found her career choice of becoming a reporter as her vocation. She often visited remote indigenous villages to shed light on extremely poor living condition and take part in education campaign (use of birth control, literacy program, nutrition education, sustainable program, etc.). When the Peace Accord was signed in 1996 to cease the civil war, she had reported lives of the war refugees coming back from Mexico to their original villages. She was also the voice to explain to the people in rural indigenous community about the significance of the peace accord emphasizing the human rights component of the accord.
Later, she has left the reporting career to take care of her children but soon found another vocation: Spanish language teacher and volunteer coordinator. Even before beginning her new career, she has organized various volunteer groups (neighborhood crime watch group, girls' orphanage support group, nutrition/healthier diet class for indigenous population, food/clothes-drive for at-risk children in nearby villages, English class for children, etc.)
Today, she is working on the project of supporting a rural elementary school in Chiquilajá village. The school has no floor and plastic sheets are used for windows. One teacher is teaching several grades of students at once and the kids are having difficult time to attend the school due to lack of money and/or lack of parental understanding. She realizes that there is no easy solution to the problem but she knows that she is not alone on this. Together with the support of her students and volunteers, she is convinced that they will find the way.
Leticia Sacalxot (Volunteer Coordinator)
Message to a student
If you wish to learn Spanish, I would love to help you learn it as your friend. Together, we'll have an unfogettable time in my Mayan land.
Why do you like teaching Spanish?
I love teaching Spanish because I'm in love with my city, my culture and I love sharing my knowledge in theory and in practice about the great hispanic world.
What are the challenges of being a Spanish instructor?
I believe that a teacher has to have a good character in heart and yearnings to give who he/she is to his/her student. Sharing is best teaching.
How do you make your class interesting?
My class is very practical with interesting conversations and uses your five senses to learn and live in Spanish.
What do you do to grow as a professional and person?
I love to read and tbo e informed, and write reports. Be with people, be a leader and make those in around me feel good about themselves.
What is the best of Xela?
Everything... My city has a special charm. It has a soul of place like nowhere else. It has culture, sports, recreations, its own music, its own dance, customs and traditions of past.
What would you do if you have only one more week of life?
I would do what I do every day, as I live every day as if it's my last day and share my daily life, and nothing more.
What were you doing 15 years ago?
I was studying as a student. I had lots of dreams, dreams that I have achieved and there are more to achieve...
What will you be doing in 15 years down the road?
I will be enjoying my time with my family. I will live my triumphs and failures and I believe they will be steps toward a successful person.
Who is/was the most influential person in your life?
They are 3 people: my childrden
What is the Guatemala's biggest social issue?
In Guatemala, there are many problems: education, health, economy, lack of land, mental health, violence, discrimination against women, lack of opportunities, unemployment. But for me, the biggest problem is the education. It is so frustrating for me to see how we don't value education, an integrated education. It's too bad that we don't have social conscience and teachers from primary, secondary and even including post-secondary levels give so little to students, almost all in theory and nothing more. Practice is what's missing. We leave out character formation, which is the most important thing, and we don't make students feel good about themselves and because of it, they fail in schools and from there comes unemployment and discrimination because we don't know who we are nor value what we have.
What do you propose to solve the Guatemala's problems?
There are lots of non-governmental organizations that are doing what they can to erradicate social problems. I belive they should all unite. And each one of us should be more aware of social conscience, education and character building. In Guatemala, the teachers should have callings, charisma. There are no bad students. There are only less disciplined teachers. The parents of family have very important roles in raising kids as school alone cannot do it. But there is a golden rule of raising kids: love.
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