Maya Centre Village Scholarship Fund for High School

Rachel lived in Maya Centre for several months during her sabbatical. Results were great friendships, a deep appreciation for the Maya culture, and an award winning children’s book, Hands of the Maya, by Henry Holt Publishers in New York in 2002 now in its fifth printing. All of the proceeds from the book have created the Maya Centre Scholarship Fund.

Ordering Hands of the Maya from Amazon.com through www.rainforestrachel.com sends a “finder’s fee” back to the scholarship fund. There should be a link from www.rainforestrachel.com to my Books button and Hands of the Maya order page. Or, better yet, simply email me at info@mclus.org and I will send you an autographed copy!

In 1994 no children from Maya Centre, Belize were continuing on past the 8th grade. Some were not even attending the last year of the village school because it was preparation for the Secondary Entrance Exam and they had no hope of attending high school at about $500/year. Many fathers were subsistence farmers and provided for their families largely outside of the cash economy. The government’s primary school budget was only $.50 per student per year! Now it is zero ($.00).

Dwight and Rachel learned of the situation from the village school principal, Liberato Saqui, and offered to help with expenses if the children passed the entrance test. In 1995 three students were ready, and we sent them to Dangriga for high school. One of the boys continued all four years, graduated and returned to the village where he has been a teacher ever since.

Each year more students have passed the test and entered high school in Dangriga, the town located forty-five minutes via bus from the village. They must pay for tuition, books, lab fees, uniforms, and shoes which were unnecessary in the village school. We are happy to say that many have graduated in the ensuing years. Fall 2002 saw fifteen headed off to high school from Maya Centre Village, Santa Rosa and Punta Gorda. Each year Maya kids get to continue their education because of the sale of Hands of the Maya. Today Maya scholarship students have graduated to become teachers, junior college students, guides in eco-tourism, cashiers, some have married and are helping their spouses by working to send each other to junior college, and and some are applying for scholarships for junior college. They have taken jobs on shrimp farms, banana plantations, road crew, anything they can to raise the money to go on to school. To see photos of graduates and current scholars, go to our Gallery.