Please let me introduce you to my friend, Alejandra Almengor. I am a specialist teacher from New Brunswick, Canada, and met Alejandra on a trip to Guatemala. We had booked two Airbnb’s for 18 family members to stay at during our visit to Antigua, where our daughter was getting married. Before arriving, we had twice arranged a chef recommended by an Airbnb owner to cook for us, and each backed out because they didn’t want to cook for so many people. I reached out blindly on an Antigua Facebook group and Alejandra introduced herself to me. I paid her up front, and she came through for us beautifully. She was positive, hard working, a great cook, and she insisted on doing all the meal cleanup even though that wasn’t part of the contract. She arranged for drives for our large group, brought medicine for someone who needed it, prepared bouquets for our tables, and gave us valuable advice about local travel. She met us with a smile and a hug and told us goodbye with a tear and the gift local crafts that she had purchased to support a friend. Her positivity and pure spirit are difficult to put into words, but absolutely made our visit the special event that it was. Since then, she and I have kept in touch.

Guatemala is an absolutely beautiful country, and the people were all welcoming and friendly. However the poverty is ever present, and it is heartbreaking to see how someone can simply fall off a precipice into extreme poverty due to a run of bad luck. School is not a given in Guatemala. In Antigua, only some are accepted into public schools, and the rest have to have enough money to pay for private schooling or have their children miss out on their education. On our visit, we saw children in public areas vending to tourists during what should have been school hours.

Alejandra is someone who believes in education and had her daughters in a private school because the public school did not select her daughters for attendance.

Despite her efforts and can-do spirit, this year has been one of the most challenging periods her family has ever faced.

In January, her oldest daughter was involved in an accident that significantly affected her health. Later, in April, she was diagnosed with epilepsy, requiring ongoing medication and specialized exams that have been financially demanding.

In May, her daughters’ father had a serious accident in Atlanta. His injuries left him unable to work for an extended period. Although he has made progress and is now able to walk, he continues in therapy and remains in Atlanta. Since then, Alejandra has been the sole supporter for the family.

In the first week of December, she fell on a loose sewer cover and is now awaiting word on whether surgery will be possible to correct the damage to her knee. Now she is waiting to have an MRI to find out whether she can receive knee surgery or what the next step will be. In the meantime, she is not able to work and continue bringing in her basic income.

Due to all the above hardships, she was not able to pay the outstanding fees for her daughters’ school and school bus fees for last year, the first semester of this year, and has yet to pay for upcoming fees. The local public school has not accepted her children. She is facing the stark possibility of having to pull her children out of school without any alternative education available.

These are the fees that she is facing:

Outstanding fees from last year:

Q14, 695. (approximately $2656.00 Canadian

School Fee Q2500. (approximately $452 Canadian) school bus fee

This School year to date:

Q16,400. (approximately $2965 Canadian)

Remainder of this school year:

Q3,835. (approximately $693 Canadian)

That’s a total of $6,766 CDN for last year and all this year.

I have to confess that all my frustrations with the limits of our Canadian education system disappear when I think about the idea of her sweet and beautiful daughters missing out on their education because of the financial difficulties caused by a series of tragic events. I am so grateful for what we have here, and want to give these 3 girls what we all take for granted here.

Any amount that you can give would be greatly appreciated.

I will forward 100% of what is given to her via Money Gram and will post receipts for full clarity.