To the editor,

Four Mayan women and I met for three days in mid-June in Panajachel, Guatemala to create a pictorial rendition of Lucía’s Letter, about the realities that young Guatemalan girls encounter when they emigrate to the United States. Once completed and reproduced, the booklet — called La Unión Ix y La Carta de Lucía (Ix means “woman” in MayaQ’anjobal) — will be distributed to thousands of families in Guatemala and in Southwest Florida.

The project sponsored two students and one teacher from the Rigoberta Menchu Tum College in San Lucas, Toliman, to work with us through the weekend. They, along with a Guatemalan woman from Lehigh Acres, drew the pictures and wrote the dialogues. The characters are indigenous girls and families. The final picture shows the young woman María, teaching school in Guatemala because her family decided to support her education there instead of sending her with coyotes or smugglers to the States.

The Zonta Foundation continues to support the GRACE Project, (Guatemalan Rural Adult and Children’s Education) through its home, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers. Because of the generosity and vision of Sanibel-Captiva Zontians, we are able to continue to produce and distribute educational materials and workshops which address human trafficking dangers and consequences, upstream and downstream of the problem.

Un millón de gracias, Zonta!

Genelle Grant, Ed. D.

GRACE Project Director, Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers