My Story

Chuchuca, where your child lives, is an area located high on the side of a mountain in the state of Quiche, 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 corps. The Quiche Mayans who inhabit this area trace their ancestral roots to the ancient Mayan civilization. They normally speak a Mayan dialect called Quiche - however, Spanish is becoming more common. Very little money ever changes hands in this area as they live on a barter system.

Hello! I want to start this letter praying the grace of the Lord be with you. My full name is Alex Gomez Garcia, and I am excited to share a little about my life with you. I was born on March 16, 2013. I am a healthy 12-year-old boy. I attend school as a third grader. I love playing with marbles. My favorite color is red. I like domestic animals, but my favorite one is the sheep. I have a few of them at home. Now, let me tell you about my family. Fortunately, everybody is doing well. We attend a Christian Church called Prince of Peace. My mother’s name is Tomasa Garcia Saquic. She is a housewife and tries to contribute to the expenses by raising and selling chickens. She prepares delicious food, but the best dish is chicken broth. To prepare it, she takes a chicken raised in the yard. I enjoy it so much!

My father’s name is Camilo Gomez Cux. He works as a farmer and day laborer to support our family. Let me tell you that I have three brothers and three sisters. Please pray for our needs. Most of them are groceries, electricity, and running water. Luckily, we live in our own house. It is made of wood with a tin sheet roof and a dirt floor. It only has one room, so we have a specific space to prepare our meals there. We are grateful to one of our neighbors because she shares electricity and water with us. We use a bucket to carry water from her house to ours. We help her pay for the electricity monthly. Let me tell you that my house is about 30 minutes from the feeding program, so we walk to get there. This is all for now, but I hope you found my information engaging. My mother helped me share it with a staff member of LW.

With love,

Alex Gomez Garcia

Translated by: Hillary Popol, AAC Secretary / Antigua Guatemala