Ruk’ux: Vero’s inspiring story

My name is Francisca Veronica, but my friends call me Vero. I am 22 years old and I live in Santiago Atitlán, Sololá. 

My father only studied third grade, he works as a farmer. My mother was able to study up to sixth grade, she is a housewife and sells the products that my father harvests. 

I have a 13 year old sister who is studying in elementary school, a 7 year old sister who is studying in first grade and a 2 year old brother. 

When I was a child, I always enjoyed school, and my dream was to be a nurse. I wanted to continue studying, but my parents couldn't cover all the school expenses.

I found out about Ruk'ux through my grandmother because she works with the family of the scholarship coordinator, she gave me the opportunity to be part of her scholarship group, I started since I was studying at the elementary level, I have been participating in the Ruk'ux program for ten years now. 

In the first, second and third year of elementary school I had to decide that I was going to study in diversified and decided not to follow the career of my dreams, since I could not afford the expenses and the career was not in town for that reason made me study a bachelor's degree in education.

Now I am studying a high school teacher's degree in Pedagogy, Social Sciences and Citizenship Education at the university.  

When I entered the program I was so shy that I could hardly speak out loud. Now, with 10 years of experience and learning, I help Dolores, the coordinator of the Ruk'ux project with everything that you have to do with communication. 

I am also involved in politics because I have seen the importance of youth and women's participation. My role is to be part of the youth board.  

During my ten years with the scholarship I have been able to participate in many activities, such as reading circles with topics relevant to adolescence, I wrote essays, took a course to learn about video production, coordinated with other scholarship recipients to form a reading circle with a special education school, participated in a project that teaches Spanish and Tz'utujil to international volunteers, participated in reforestation campaigns, and as a group we decided to collect and distribute goods for needy families. 

Belonging to Ruk'ux is like having another family because we share our challenges and celebrate our achievements. 

When I graduate from college, I feel confident that if I don't find a job, I can set up a micro business to generate income. 

It gives me great pleasure to know that I can share the privileges of education and opportunities to help my family and my beloved Santiago. 

I feel it is important to honor our culture while applying the benefits of education. After so many years at Ruk'ux, I am very much part of the internal processes of evaluation and continuous learning, always with the motivation to benefit the next generations of scholarship recipients.