Growing a Middle Class through Education: The Story of Our Seven

Posted on January 3rd, 2012 by Keith Ferrazzi

The economic gap in Guatemala is striking. Much wealth and MUCH abject poverty. If only we could provide a kickstart to the middle class...

That's what we are doing around Antigua. We are seeking the highest potential kids and funding their educations. Ensuring they have decent nutrition and ideally supportive family environments. Then we are teaching them mastery of basic people skills similar to those we teach at MyGreenlight.com and at Yale University. And most importantly, we are teaching them the criticality of service and giving back, particularly to the communities they came from in Guatemala. Even after a couple of years, we are seeing the seeds of our work grow.

Two years ago we funded private high school education for seven children from the village of El Hato, sending them to the nearby city of Antigua. These kids were chosen based their grades and the support of their parents. In order to show their commitment, the parents, who had very little, had to find some level of funding themselves.

We knew it wouldn't be easy for these kids to adjust to city life and a top school. They didn't even have the appropriate clothes or grooming. We changed that.

I was excited last week to get back to the village and see how our students were doing. We were sad to hear that one boy had died. Two had dropped out of school because the academics and the social pressure were just too much. But four of our kids, and their proud parents, were there with the biggest smiles.

One is on her way to medical school and plans to come back to the village to provide valuable care in a place where medical care is limited to a few visits each year by a medic. Another will be a teacher in the neighboring town, the third an accountant and the fourth boy, Fabio, will be a computer programmer. All four of our success stories are committed to making sure future El Hato students have it better than they did.

While we were in El Hato we selected two additional boys, both in their final year of school, to send to Antigua. Both want to be teachers in their village.

In a short two years, we have created a core group of young, community-engaged men and women. My hope now is to grow this program. With your help we could support an additional 10 in El Hato and expand our assistance to several neighboring villages.

In the short term we can start to reverse the education gap, but beyond that my hope is that the young adults we have helped will begin to help their communities engage in the political system, and will vote for officials who will more deeply fund these communities, growing a stronger middle class.  Eventually I would like to see those we have supported become a wealthy elite who will have a strong devotion to the communities they came from.

Join me please in helping grow this middle class.

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One Response so far | Have Your Say!

  1. hi,

    i understand the need to subsidize the brightest kids. but, what of the ordinary kids? and, what of the bright kids, whose parents won't contribute?

    earl

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