My Name is Petronila

Hi there! I'm an 8-year-old girl from a place called Cotzal in northern Guatemala. My favorite thing to do at school is drawing – I have a blast! I live with my two sisters and three brothers. After school, I love to help around the house by sweeping. You know, I'm also pretty good at soccer!

Life here at Cotzal is simple but nice. A lot of folks around here tend to small farms and grow stuff like corn and veggies to sell in the market. You see, many dads go away for some time to work hard at coffee farms and provide for us. We had a real tough time because of a civil war that happened before I was even born, we're still picking up the pieces.

Now here's the good part, this thing called child sponsorship came to our lives and it's been great! Family Hope, or FH, arrived and now nearly all of us kids can go to school. They teach our mamas how to look after our health and give us hygienic kits too! They even help our dads become better farmers. I now get to go to school and learn new things every day, it's amazing! So, if you can, please send good thoughts to me and my family. I'm so thankful for the support and it's giving us so much hope for a bright future!