Outreach Projects: Michbilrixpú & Chajul

Michbilrixpú, located in the department of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, was a small and isolated community that was relocated in recent years. Its members were indigenous Maya who spoke Q’eqchi’ as their first language and supported themselves through agriculture, primarily the organic production of cardamom. The people of this community struggled to improve their lives and livelihoods, educate their children and create some measure of stability and prosperity.

With a grant from the Daniele Agostino Derossi Foundation, MEF was able to help five students graduate from elementary, middle school and high school and now still supports Bayron, the last remaining student who is studying law at the university level.

This program will finish up with Bayron’s graduation, and though it was small in scope, the fact that children in Michbilrixpú were able to advance further than their parents in their education is a huge accomplishment. We thank the donors for making this possible. Any leftover funds from this program are being utilized for scholarships for students from other rural communities. We have already started by accepting girls from Chajul so that they can attend school at our partner nonprofit Colegio Paxil in Nebaj.

Chajul is a town nestled in the rural highlands of Quiché, one of Guatemala’s 22 geographic departments. Its population is Maya Ixil. Primarily a subsistence farming community, most of its residents live in poverty and families struggle to feed themselves. Only about 11 percent of Chajul’s children finish middle school.

After we sponsored a group of girls from Chajul so that they could attend middle school in Nebaj, MEF’s board approved a grant in 2021 for the girls to continue their education by participating in a high-school equivalency program that will allow them to learn to become professional seamstresses. At the end of the two-year program, the girls will receive their own sewing machine and will be able to start their own small businesses.