Chozita

It's slightly embarrassing to realise that none of my blogging has actually mentioned the children's project that we support out here. We have been busy, honest, both seeing the kids again and having meetings with people running other projects out here who might be able to help out.












La Chozita is a small group of secondary age children who come several afternoons a week (they have school in the mornings) to an education centre to get help with homework and extra teaching in various subjects. Without the project, nearly all of the students would have left school at primary level, and as it is three of them have gone on to university.

The charity currently pays a beca, or scholarship, to the children. It's not a vast amount of money, but for some of them it pays the rent on the family house, and keeps them in school. If it wasn't for this money, some of these children would be spending their days selling craft items or snacks on the street rather than going to school.














The students are indigenous, mainly Tzotzil speaking, in a state where the average indigenous wage is a third that of the general average, because of lack of education and opportunity. We hope that they will grow up to become leaders in their communities and fulfil their own potential thanks to the help Chozita has given them.










Like many small charities, Chozita has a tendency to lurch from crisis to crisis. It's been hard to run the project from London, and this has never been our intention, but sometimes we've lacked people on the ground. Enrique is now in charge in St Cristobal, and though this is a bit strange for us, he seems to have an excellent bond with the students and is spending a lot of time with them.












Mexico can be a hard country to fundraise for. On the surface, it's quite a developed nation, and the students we're working with are not starving. They have shoes on their feet and clothes on their backs, which means the need they are in can go unnoticed. But when you scratch the surface you realise some have health problems due to malnutrition, some are suffering violence within their families and communities. Without projects like Chozita, there would be little hope for their future.

As it is, we met up with one of the ex students this week who is now at university in St Cristobal. Her sister is at university in Tuxtla. It was good to hear how she is doing, even though the work is tough for her. We've also visited the project to see how the remaining Chozitos are doing, and found them working on their maths and making traditional numeracy games.












Seeing the project and hearing some of their stories has made us all the more aware that what Chozita is doing is crucial. We'd like to grow what it is doing, and the meetings we've had have helped us to realise that the project occupies a unique space in a city where there are plenty of other projects going on. And we've found some people who might be able to help out too - so that feels like a positive thing.

http://www.lachozita.org/ (copy and paste into your browser to view)