My Story

Chuchuca, where your child lives, is an area located high on the side of a mountain in the state of Quiché, Guatemala. Life in this area is very difficult and very isolated from the outside world. It is more than a two-hour walk to the nearest market town of Zacualpa. Chuchuca 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! My name is Jose Victor Arnoldo Cumar de la Cruz. I was born in Aldea Chuchuca, Zacaulpa Quiche on March 21, 2016, and I am already 8 years old. I attend first grade at school, I like to do my homework. I spend my spare time at home, I like to play marbles. The animals I love the most are rabbits, and my favorite color is blue. My favorite food is fried chicken. I live happily with my parents, one brother and two sisters; we all are healthy. My father is Jose Cumar Tevalan. He makes a living by working as a farmer and goes to pick coffee beans on the coast for three months during the harvest season at the end of the year. My mother is Maria de la Cruz Hernandez. She does the housework and also embroiders cloth napkins. Also, she raises hens and pigs. Our pet is a cat.

We attend the Catholic Church. My mother owns the house in which we live; it is a very humble house with only one room made of wooden boards, a tin roof and a floor that is just dirt. The kitchen is separate. We do not have running water or electricity; we use lamps and candles to get light. And, the water we get from a natural spring that is in the house of one neighbor; my parents make a yearly payment. What we need the most at home are groceries and clothes. I am so happy to be registered in the feeding program and I must walk 25 minutes to get there. I hope to receive news from you very soon. Every kind of blessings for you!

Best wishes,

Jose Victor Arnoldo Cumar de la Cruz

Translated by: Violeta Hernandez / A-A-C Secretary-Antigua Guatemala