Share

Sna Jtz'ibajom Special Project: Tzeltal-Tzotzil Mayan Literacy Program

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.

Cultural Survival helps Indigenous Peoples around the world defend their lands, languages, and cultures as they deal with issues like the one you’ve just read about.

Learn More

To read about Cultural Survival’s work around the world, click here. To read more articles on the subject use our Search function and explore 40 years of information
on Indigenous issues.

Do More

For ways to take action to help Indigenous communities, click here.

Donate

We take on governments and multinational corporations—and they always have more resources than we do—but with the help of people like you, we do win. Your contribution is crucial to that effort. Click here to do your part.