In celebration of World Indigenous Peoples Day, we invite you to meet some of the incredible women who work at the MAIA Impact School. MAIA’s team is 80 percent Indigenous and 85 percent female. This race and gender mirroring ensures critical empathy and cultural relevance at every juncture, key to the success of Girl Pioneers.
Learn from them what it means to be an Indigenous woman and an example of systemic change for future generations.
I am Ixkik and I am from a Tzutujil village on the shores of Lake Atitlán called San Pedro La Laguna. Here people are family, and culture brings us together.
I value being born thanks to a Tzutujil midwife because it rooted my history to my village, and it defined my clothing and the languages that my ancestors speak with strength and beauty.
I feel proud of my roots as they are part of the history I come from, the identity of my village, and of the culture to which I belong and that I represent my traditional clothing.
I am Roselia and I come from an Indigenous Maya Kaqchikel family. I come from the mountains where the products of the earth are the nourishment of families.
I value where I come from and who I am because being an Indigenous woman is part of my roots and honors our ancestors.
I feel proud of my heritage because it is a part of who I am and my everyday life. I identify myself through my traje, and I invite everyone to value its heritage.
Hello, my name is Celena.
I come from the smell of beans cooked in a clay pot.
I come from the tortillas freshly made by laboring hands.
I value Xejuyú, land that holds many memories of my life.
I value the four cultures of Guatemala starting from their authenticity.
I feel proud of my heritage because it is unique starting from its worldview.
I feel proud of being an Indigenous woman igniting positive change.
Hello, I am Silvia.
I value and respect my culture, clothing, traditions, and language because it defines me as unique and it allows me to know and interact with other people in my culture.
I feel proud of my roots because they encompass the abundance of our ancestors and values that we have.
Jeronima nub’i’ rïn, rïn ajkaqchikela’.
Ruma ri Yalan yikikot ruma k’a chi kan niya’ rejaqlem ri maya’ nuch’ab’äl Kaqchikel, ja ri kixe’el ri qati’t qamama’ ri xkiwokisaj toq xena’ojin, xech’obon chir rij ri jalajoj taq rub’eyal ri k’aslem, chuqa’ ja rutz’aqat ri’ ri qab’anobäl.
Ruma k’a ri rïn man yik’ix ta yich’o’ pa maya’ ch’ab’äl. Niya jun isik’ixik man tiqamestaj ta ri qach’ab’äl Kaqchikel, o ¿achike na’oj naya rat chi rij.
I am Jerónima, Maya Kaqchikel.
I am proud of my Kaqchikel language because it is my origin, my roots, and my inheritance from our grandparents and grandmothers. They contributed and sought solutions to different life situations. Furthermore, our mother tongue is part of our culture; that is why I am not ashamed to speak Kaqchikel.
An invitation to all to continue speaking in their mother tongue.
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.
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