Irene's Graduation

Excellent news - Irene has finished her Human Resources and Administration Technical degree and turned in her dissertation! Soon she will also receive a legal professional license.


She continues to teach the children at the Santa Cruz Community Centre and has also begun to carry on a few administrative tasks for the Armonía Indigenous Mexican Students Programme.  She is now 21 years old and wants to, in the next couple of years, convert her technical degree into a Business Development Engineering degree at the same university.  She knows she can continue to hope and dream for her future and her community’s future, trusting that God will continue to be with them.

Irene's Story
Irene comes from Yalahui, a remote village in the highest mountains of Oaxaca.  At fifteen, she decided to start the equivalent of her GCSEs by enrolling in one of the few Secondary schools available in the region.  She was a good student in previous years, but had also become a bit mischievous, so her parents were unsure about her leaving Yalahui.  Nevertheless, they chose a school in Yalalag for her to continue with her studies - it was far, but had recently acquired a very good student reputation.

Five years earlier, after their little shack of a home was almost entirely destroyed by a storm, Irene’s father left Mexico searching for work in the US.  And just prior to her journey, he had returned from the US, after living there for eight months.  He had been deported on both occasions.  We, at Armonia, have seen many young men take this route in life, moving back and forth illegally between the US and Mexico, because they believe they have no other choice. We try to offter them another choice through education and a supportive christian community, providing them with an opportuinity to find diginified employment in Mexico. This also provides hope for the future of our country.
Fortunately, Irene was able to convince her father to stay in Mexico for long enough to accompany her on her journey to enroll.  In 2006, Irene joined the Armonía Students Programme in the Oaxacan village of Yalalag beginning her first term in August.

Disappointingly, however, in January 2007, Armonía had to leave Yalalag, due to a very corrupted municipal government.

Irene continued studying and earned good grades, but was having a very hard time with other students.  Once Armonía had left Yalalag, she was made to live in an ‘improvised’ student room that was being built in the middle of the forest of Yalalag, away from the normal school small residence. Irene was constantly threatened by other girls, and remembers feeling very scared in the middle of the night when men from the village would get drunk and walk towards her lodging.  They would yell at the girls that were living there and throw stones at their windows.  One day, Irene and her friend, Lola, decided to leave Yalalag and find Armonía.  So, over a weekend, without telling their teachers what they were up to, the pair travelled to the city of Oaxaca and visited Armonía's student house.

Shortly after that, Irene visited her parents in Yalahui, only to find out that her father had left the country again.  Although she was very saddened by this, she convinced her mother to visit Armonía with her so that she could be enrolled for the following term. Subsequently, Irene finished her Secondary studies in Oaxaca with Armonía and after completing her year of service, she moved to the Armonía Mexico City Student House.

Irene remembers how much she cried when she found out that her Dad had returned to the US again, and how she promised herself she was going to accomplish her commitment, finish a degree and work as a professional, just as she had promised him. She also remembers that Armonía made that “unbelievable” idea seem a real possibility and she was not going to let that opportunity go. What a joy it was to have not only her Dad, but her whole family come to her graduation ceremony this past June!

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