My Story

Pasojoc 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.  Pasojoc is a farming area where corn and black beans, the staple elements in their diet, are the major corps.  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 Anderson Emanuel Ortiz Toj. I was born on March 2, 2017, and I am 4 years old. I am a healthy boy, and I am not attending school yet due to my age. I keep at home playing with my toy cars and soccer. I love the color red, and I like cats. My favorite food is fried chicken. I have two sisters and one brother. I live about 25 minutes away from the feeding program, and I always walk to the program accompanied by my older siblings who are also part of it. We attend the Catholic Church.

I am under the care of my parents. My father’s name is Noe Ortiz Ordonez, and he works as a farmer and day laborer. My mother’s name is Magdalena Toj Garcia, and she is a housewife and raises hens. My whole family goes to pick coffee beans at the coast for two or three months. We live in our own house made of tin sheets with a dirt floor, and we have one room and one kitchen. We do not have running water, so we use jars to bring water from a natural spring which is near our house. We use candles and oil lamps at nights. This is my personal information, and I hope you can find it interesting.

With much love

Anderson Emanuel Ortiz Toj

Translated by: Loyda de Osorio/AAC Secretary, Antigua