The MAIA and Girl Pioneers’ story
Adela, like many Indigenous girls in Guatemala, was born in a society “where talent abounds [..] but women are silenced and prevented from exploring arts.”
Her transformational journey started long before becoming a Girl Pioneer. During “her search for answers about her identity, her voice, her resistance,” Adela came to discover a powerful way to express herself thanks to her father who first put a notebook and a pen in her hands.
“I didn’t understand the power these tools had, nor did I imagine that they would change my life.”
Adela, Girl Pioneer of the MAIA Impact School
Since then, Adela has been courageously exploring society, culture, and her role in it by telling the story of her childhood dreams through drawing and writing. When she then joined the MAIA Impact School, she met educators, classmates, and friends “realizing that they shared the same experiences and stories. Those of women who despite their struggles are forced to be in the dark and invisible.”
Motivated by a supportive network, Adela was met with the right opportunities to unlock her infinite potential when she joined the journalism program at the MAIA Impact School. This course is aimed at training Girl Pioneers to write opinion articles that will be then shared in local, national, and international media outlets.
Today Adela is using her voice by writing for herself and igniting social change – “I consider art as a friend, a world, a political weapon and a door to let out what is inside me!”
Read Adela’s full essay called Many ways to tell stories, directly from the latest edition of the Entremundos magazine here.
Amelia was shy and reserved, but everything changed when she joined the MAIA Impact School. She broke the cycle and became the first daughter in her family to continue her
Lucero and Wendy, Girl Pioneers of the MAIA Impact School, participated as guest speakers at the 2023 Central America Leadership Initiative (CALI) Regional event.
They are demonstrating that increasing women’s leadership
María Florinda represents MAIA in an event with former First Lady of the United States and Founder of the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance, in New York on October 25.
MAIA USA
Tax Identification Number (EIN) 68-0652444
Asociación MAIA
Tax Identification Number (NIT) 6896913-9.
Guatemala Office:
Km. 137, Caserío Xolbé,
Cantón El Tablón, Sololá, Guatemala
US Office:
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