Roots and Wings International logo
Washington, DC –Together with the Ambassador of Guatemala before the Organization of American States Jorge Skinner-Klee, Erik Swanson, a third year law student of American University, Washington College of Law and President of non-profit Roots & Wings International, is hosting a cocktail reception to fund the education of indigenous Guatemalan students living in extreme poverty. The event takes place between 6:30pm and 8:30pm on Tuesday, April 7th at the Art Museum of the Americas at the Organization of American States, 201 18th Street NW, Washington, DC 20006.
Special guest speakers for the cocktail reception are Guatemalan Ambassador Francisco Villagran de Leon and Claudio M. Grossman, Dean of American University, Washington College of Law. The charitable foundation of the law firm Morrison & Foerster and the Student Bar Association at the Washington College of Law are co-sponsoring the event.
According to Ambassador Villagran, “We see Roots & Wings International as a valuable effort to equip indigenous youths with the knowledge and skills they need to help their communities develop in a sustainable way while preserving their cultural identity.”
Founded in 2004 and run entirely by volunteers in the U.S., Roots & Wings International has sponsored 30 scholarships for indigenous students in southwest Guatemala to attend local universities. Swanson, 27, plans to use the proceeds from the cocktail reception to fund seven more university scholarships and tutoring for 300 elementary students. In the next three years, Roots & Wings International intends to begin construction of a university preparatory school in the rural region of Nahualá, Sololá. The university preparatory school will meet some of the demand for education among impoverished youth in the region, and its curriculum will be based in the culture of the k’iche’-speaking communities.
“We value tremendously the need to provide and open up opportunities for academic education in Guatemala to individuals of indigenous groups that otherwise would not have such opportunities,”
Manuela Tzep, a Roots & Wings International scholarship recipient and the second oldest daughter of a coffee grower, was able to continue on to university after completing high school. After finishing elementary school, Manuela had to wait five years and worked as a weaver before her parents could afford her high school education. Now a second year student majoring in social work at University Panamericana, she is the first in her family to study at the university level and one of the first women in the Boca Costa region to do so.
“For only $750 a student living in extreme poverty can study in university for an entire year and transform the future of their community,” says Swanson who founded Roots & Wings International after working two years as director of a junior and senior high school in rural Guatemala. Paying two scholarships out of his pocket when he established Roots & Wings International, Swanson will be welcoming two new university graduates on his team in 2010.
Regular priced tickets for the cocktail reception are $85. Young professionals and students will have a unique opportunity to attend this event and mingle with industry professionals at a significantly reduced price of $55 and $35 respectively. A regular ticket price provides one month of university scholarship for our students in Guatemala, and includes live string music, hors d'oeuvres, and wine at the museum. Tickets at $55 and $35 are limited and are available on a first come first served basis. Please visit http://www.rootsandwingsintl.org/
If you are unable to attend but would like to contribute to the scholarship program, you may donate at www.rootsandwingsintl.org. All donations are 100% tax deductible.
About Roots & Wings International
Roots & Wings International is a non-profit based in Washington, D.C. The organization is run entirely by volunteers in the U.S. and maintains an office in Guatemala with three full-time staff who come from the same communities that our program serves. 95% of your contribution goes directly into programs. Our Guatemalan office is located in the village of Pasac in Nahuala, Solola, approximately 3.5 hours southwest of Guatemala City. We serve the Boca Costa region but focus our efforts on a dozen coffee-growing communities surrounding our office to ensure students have access to our counseling services in their native language K'iche' and are able to participate in our monthly development meetings.
To date, Roots & Wings International has provided over 30 university scholarships. Each of our scholarship recipients produces one traditional Mayan weaving per semester to donate to Roots & Wings International. These weavings are sold and the funds are applied directly to the scholarship program. We also require our scholarship recipients to attend monthly development meetings. These meetings provide our students space to discuss their struggles and their aspirations while also providing an opportunity to apply their education to development issues in their communities.
The founder of Roots & Wings International, Erik Swanson, 27, is a current third-year law student at American University, Washington D.C. Swanson was originally from Spokane, WA and studied at the University of Puget Sound before living and working in the San Juan Islands and Guatemala. Swanson will be starting at a law firm in Portland, OR after he passes the bar in July.
All donations are welcome. An amount as little as $25 goes far in rural Guatemala where many live in huts with dirt floors and children have to walk a few hours to go to school. All charitable contributions are tax deductible as Roots & Wings International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a tax id of 20-5890443.
