CFCA stories
CFCA scholars sell jam to help pay for education
November 8, 2011
Edvin, a brother of a CFCA sponsored girl, fills bottles with honey in
a project that helps scholarship students afford higher education.
A jam- and jelly-making project that started as a way to provide jobs is helping scholarship students in Guastatoya, Guatemala, pay for their education.
The idea was conceived and organized by Luis Guillermo, the brother of Jorge Mario, a sponsored youth and CFCA scholarship recipient. Luis started the project because he dreamed of creating sources of employment and opportunities for the youth in his community.
After training with the national school of agriculture and the ministry of agriculture, Luis taught several youths how to make jams, jellies and honey.
Currently, seven CFCA scholarship students participate in the project. They earn standard wages of about $6.50 a day and work 15 to 18 days a month.
The group produces 1,000 to 1,200 jars of preservative-free jam each month using pineapple, mango, sweet potato, carrots and other produce, depending on the season.
They sell the jam for about $2 a jar to families served by CFCA. The group is in the process of obtaining a health sanitation license and a bar code so they can sell to markets outside the CFCA community.
Besides making jams and jellies, the group keeps bees to produce honey.
The company is registered as a small business, paying all required taxes in Guatemala, and they have opened a credit line at a local bank to cover production expenses. They have invested in machines, tools and raw materials to support production, and they plan to construct a new production facility.
Jorge Mario, 17, displays a jar of freshly
made pineapple jam.
CFCA scholarships provide students with modest stipends to pay some of their educational costs.
Students and their families contribute the rest. When combined with the CFCA scholarship, the students earn enough from the jam business to pay for their educational expenses.
Jorge Mario is able to pay for his expenses while working toward his bachelor of science degree in agroforestry. Most of Jorge Mario's educational costs are for transportation to and from school. He spends between $4.50 and $5.80 a day, and the cost is rapidly increasing.
"Without this work source, it would be almost impossible to move forward," Jorge Mario said. "It is almost impossible to find a job in this community."
Jorge Mario has learned a lot from the jam-making project.
"The most important thing is that we must help each other and above all, we must dream for a more fraternal and humane future," Jorge said. "I understand we need to be united in this world where there is much inequality, disunion and lack of community."
