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 in 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 Mayans who inhabit this area trace their ancestral roots to the ancient Mayan civilization. They normally speak a Mayan 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 Sergio Leonel Gomez Ajqui. I am in good health, and I am so glad to share my information with you. I am 7 years old. I was born on May 9^th, 2016, and I am not attending school yet due to my age. I stay at home; I play with toy cars and ride my bicycle. I like the color yellow, my favorite animal is the sheep, and what I enjoy eating the most is fried chicken. I want you to know that my biological father abandoned my mother before I was born. He did not want to be responsible for us and he did not legally recognize me. I have my mother’s last name. I have two brothers and one sister. My mother works so hard to cover our needs. Her name is Sabina Gomez Ajqui, and she earns a living by doing errands for others, washing clothes for others and doing whatever odd job she can find. She rarely travels to the coast to work and improve our income. I need you to pray for my mother’s health since she has feet pain at night. When she was a child, she used to vomit a lot; doctors told her that she had something in her stomach, but she never found out what it was.

The house where we live belongs to my big brothers; it is made of adobe with a tin sheet roof and dirt floor. It has four rooms and a separate kitchen. We have electricity, and we get the water from our own well. My mother pays the electricity service. We use three rooms. My grandmother lives with us, and she uses the other room. Besides that, we have hens and sheep at home. We are not attending any church. We are in need of groceries, and I ask you to pray for provisions for our family since we have the desire to improve our home. We trust that God will help us to do it. I enjoy attending the feeding program, it only takes me 10 minutes walking to be there. Before saying goodbye, I want you to know that all this information was provided by my mother when she came to register me. May God bless you, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Cordially Yours,

Sergio Leonel Gomez Ajqui

Translated by: Luisa Reyes /A-A-C Secretary/ Guatemala