Saying Goodbye to Lorenzo

In 2013, Finding Freedom through Friendship admitted Lorenzo, his blind and widowed mother Rosa and her four remaining children into our program. We did what we do best: FFF provided monthly food donations, we built the family a house, and we educated the children. As time went on a wood efficient stove, furniture for the family and occasional healthcare needs were donated. In collaboration with Adopt-A-Village Guatemala https://www.adoptavillage.com/, this family not only survived from the emaciated and traumatized new applicants we took in (evidence of this is seen in Lorenzo’s first photo below) but they grew in their resilience as AAV helped them with gardening education and were our “boots on the ground” liaison. Our funds to help this family would have been useless without AAV to arrange the manpower to deliver the supplies. Educating Lorenzo and his siblings was pointless without Adopt-A-Village’s school to send him to.

We didn’t expect to be this emotionally embedded in Lorenzo’s future.

As one of the newest graduates in our scholarship program, Lorenzo is Rosa’s oldest son. Much is expected of him as he enters the harsh reality of a young adult born into poverty in rural Guatemala. We knew graduation day was coming, but we will miss the connection we had with this exceptional young man. No more letters will appear in our inbox, documenting Lorenzo’s experience of blooming from an emaciated teenager to the self-confident young adult we are putting out into the world. Our feelings are reflective of the time and effort that went into fundraising for Lorenzo’s education. We struggled every year to make sure we had the funding to cover the financial needs of our scholarship students.

Lorenzo proved worthy of our efforts. Enjoy his last letter. We did.

Dear Finding Freedom Board Members,

It is a pleasure for me to write to you again from this wonderful place with mountains and wild animals. I hope you’re in good health alongside your loved ones, and in your daily work. I thank you again for the help that you provide me. With that help I will achieve my dreams this year!

Below, I am pleased to thank you for the scholarship, which has helped me learn the practice and about how to be a good leader.

We develop greatness by dreaming. As a dreamer and entrepreneur, I write this last letter for you. With much love and respect, I thank you for practicing generosity, sharing your belongings and blessings with me. Thanks to you, I’ll have the opportunity to reach my greatest dream in life. In reality, I don’t have a true way to thank you for the scholarship you have given me during these years, I can only thank you through my written words. I also thank you for the opportunity you gave me to attend this institute, Maya Jaguar, where I have gotten to know my classmates. My studies were the most interesting part of my education, where I gained knowledge of myself. My knowledge is a tool that will guide my future family. Thanks to your gift, my dream is about to be realized.

To be a solidary person, I’ll tell you the motive of the training we’ve received. In reality, the career demands that we are allowed to exercise all that has been learned in our studies. In this way I can utilize the knowledge I have gained in this beautiful Maya Jaguar, especially skills in Excel, PowerPoint, Word and computer installation and maintenance. My classmates and I are going to implement our skills in the town of Barillas, Huehuetenango.

Leadership is very important, and I have shown myself to be a good leader. At Maya Jaguar, they instill values that helps us become good leaders. Every day I strive to be a good leader and teach through my example. I am sure that when I return to my village I am going to practice all of those good values that I learned at the Institute. I operate with good ethics as my studies have taught me.

I am sad, because this might be the last time that I write to you. I don’t like goodbyes. If this is our last communication, you can be sure that your help has changed my future. Thank you for everything and remember that I will always carry you in my heart. Thank you, a thousand thank you’s!

Sincerely,

Lorenzo Francisco

Huehuetenango, Guatemala, August 2018