Sna Jtz'ibajom is a Tzotzil-Tzeltal Mayan cultural cooperative in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Its goal is to find a new voice for traditional Mayan beliefs and customs on paper, the stage, the airwaves, and in film. A segment of the cooperative is the Tzeltal-Tzotzil Mayan Literacy Program, which promotes the Mayan language through a six-month course to students ranging in ages from 10-60 (the great majority are now children and a few young men). It is important to maintain and promote Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya culture so that "students will become more useful citizens for their town, their state, and their country, capable of confronting with success the challenges of the future, acquiring at the same time love for their identity, their language, their society and their culture," says Diego Mendez Guzman, one of the project's founders. A donation of $50 would provide the necessary funds to give a student a six-month course in her native language. In return you, the donor, would receive an update on the graduating class and see how students are incorporating the lessons learned in class into their daily lives.
Article copyright Cultural Survival, Inc.
