My Story

Tunaja is a small area of the state of Quiché, Guatemala. The inhabitants are Quiché Mayans who trace their ancestral roots to the ancient Mayan civilization. The prevalent language is the Mayan dialect - Quiché. The people are either farmers or shepherds and live off the fruits of their labors. Very little money ever changes hands as they use a barter system. Public education is available - however, most families cannot afford it. Electricity and running water are not available in most of the area. Life in Tunaja is difficult.

Hello, I am Mario Arturo and I turned 8 years old on October 23^rd. I was born in the hospital of Joyabaj, Quiche in 2015. I am a first-grade student this year. I like spending time with my friends playing football. I like cows and the color yellow. I love to eat fried chicken. I have three brothers and four sisters. Only one of my brothers is part of the feeding program like me. It takes us 15 minutes to arrive at the program and we usually take a bus.

Sadly, I do not have any information about my father because he separated from my mother 20 years ago. He did not legally recognize me as his child. He does not help us economically or even keep in touch with us. My mother´s name is Petrona Tzunux Ruiz. She struggles hard to support us by raising chickens to sell. She also works hard at home. Thankfully, I have an older brother in The United States, and he sends her money every month. As a family, we attend the Catholic Church.

We live in our own house in Tunaja. It belongs to my mother. The house has two rooms besides the kitchen. The rooms have block walls, tin sheet roof and cemented floor. The whole kitchen is made of tin sheets. There is running water that my mom pays every month. However, we do not have electricity service, so we use candles for lighting. We have chickens and a dog at home. We have many necessities but the most important is food. Well, lastly, I want to say that my mother gave all this information to the LW teacher. Thank you for reading this update. I pray that you are keeping well and that God blesses you every single day. Take care!

Best regards from now on,

Mario Arturo Tzunux

Translated by: Mireya de Sadoval, AAC Secretary / Antigua