My Story

Cuatro Caminos "four roads", where your child lives, is an area located high on the side of a mountain in the state of Quiché, Guatemala.  Life is this area is very difficult and very isolated from the outside world.  It is a two hour walk to the nearest market town of Zacualpa.  Cuatro Caminos is a farming area where corn and black beans, the staple elements in their diet, are the major crops.  The Quiché Indians who inhabit this area trace their ancestral roots to the ancient Mayan civilization.  They normally speak an Indian dialect called Quiché - however, Spanish is becoming more common.  Very little money ever changes hands in this area as they live on a barter system.

Hello! I am Julia Alicia Cristina Calachij Guarcas and I am six years old. I was born on April 14, 2015. I attend the Cuatro Caminos feeding program. I am a healthy girl. I live with my parents and with my siblings. I have four sisters and three brothers. I am not attending school yet. I like to spend my time playing dolls and toy dishes. My favorite color is blue and my favorite animal is the rabbit. I really like to eat chicken, black beans and scrambled eggs. My family and I attend Assembly of God Church. My father´s name is Rolando Calachij Barrera, and my mother´s name is Tomasa Guarcas Zavala. My father works as a day laborer, and he also goes to pick coffee beans at the coast for three months. My mother is a housewife. She raises and tends her sheep, and then, she sells them. We have our own house which is made of adobe, tin sheet roof and dirt floor. We have one room and our kitchen is made of tin sheet. We do not have electricity, and we do not have running water. We only use candles at night and carry water from a water source located ten minutes from my house. My siblings and I walk twenty minutes to attend the feeding program.

With much love and many blessings,

Julia Alicia Cristina Calachij Guarcas

Translated by: Esther Hernández, AAC Secretary/Antigua