The Center for Mayan Ixil Education and Development has continued to facilitate psychosocial and human rights workshops with women in the town of Chajul and in surrounding villages, extending psychosocial education with and for 25 and 30 women living in each of four villages. Workshop topics included self-esteem and personal hygiene; mental health and nutrition; women’s right; and recovery of memories of the armed conflict. Individual family visits by workshop facilitators afford an opportunity to observe women’s applications of the training and work with them to sustain family gardens for growing nutritional foods.

A goal over the past two years has been to extend this work to local youth in Chajul. ACEFOMI has recognized the need to educate youth leadership who can then take more responsibility for initiating work among their peers. They have identified a small group of youth who, with school principals’ approval, will work with ACEFOMI staff to survey all the middle and high schools in Chajul to discern which among a series of possible topics are of most interest to youth. Potential themes include: sexual education and preventative health care; self-esteem; work, social responsibility and solidarity; environmental and land challenges; and the legacies of the armed conflict in the context of globalization and migration. They have contracted with municipal leaders to collaborate in a series of town-wide presentations for youth and anticipate three such community-wide events during 2014. These will be followed by smaller workshops designed to strengthen youth leadership in Chajul towards establishing ongoing youth work in the community.