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! I am Edwin Damian Rodriguez Hernandez. I was born in Zacualpa Quiche on April 2, 2013, and I am already 11 years old. I am attending 5^th grade at school. I like to play football. I like rabbits and my favorite color is blue. I love eating black beans, it is my favorite food. I live happily with my parents; I have one brothers and three sisters. My father is Luis Rodriguez Riz. He works hard as a farmer to supply our needs. My mother is Teresa Hernandez Calachij. She is a housewife and raises hens to sell and help us economically. Thankfully, my family and I are doing well.

We do not have our own house and thankfully, my mother's brother loaned his house to us. There are two adobe rooms with a tin roof and a cement floor. The kitchen is separate. There is electricity and my parents pay for that service every month. Since we do not have running water; we get it from a natural spring. As a family, we are in need of corn to make our tortillas. I like to attend the feeding program alongside my older siblings; we walk one hour to get to there. We are member of the Church of Christ. Thank you very much for reading my information. May God bless you!

Huge hugs,

Edwin Damian Rodriguez Hernandez

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