Adopted girl helps family in Guatemala

from WTOP

A touching story of Lily Mackley, who helped another little girl in Guatemala.

By TIFFANY ARNOLD

Her name is Veronica Par. She is 10 and has five siblings. The youngest, 1, sleeps in the bed with the parents while the rest of the children sleep on cardboard pallets on the concrete floor. Her father earns $16 a week as a gardener. Her mother earns $2 a week by making beaded jewelry.

"It's easy for (us), but it might not be easy for them to earn up that money," said Mackley, who begins her first year at Smithsburg Middle School this fall.

Thanks to Mackley, who lives in Smithsburg, Veronica's family has one less thing to worry about. In April, Mackley used her birthday money to help offset Veronica's school expenses.

Mackley said she did it because she felt obligated to help her people. She was born in Guatemala but was adopted and has lived in the United States since she was an infant. She lives with her sister, Anna, 8, who was also born in Guatemala, and her sister, Vanessa, 15, who was adopted from Canada.

In Guatemala, school can be an elusive dream for families who can't afford the supplies, said Dwight Poage, director of Mayan Families, a nonprofit charity group that helps raise money for low-income Guatemalans, especially young girls.

"Usually boys are sent to school, girls are sent to work," Poage said in a recent phone interview.

Mackley donated $120 through Mayan Families. The organization has sponsored more than 700 children, Poage said.

More than half of the country's 13.3 million inhabitants are descendants of the Mayans, the native people who flourished in Guatemala long before Spanish colonizers arrived.

Today, Guatemala is characterized by wide income disparities. Violent crime because of widespread poverty remains a serious concern, according to the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, part of the U.S. Department of State.

Mackley's mother, Kathie Mackley, said she looks for opportunities to keep her Guatemalan daughters in touch with their culture. All three girls attend a cultural camp in the summer. They eat Latin cuisine and attend ethnic festivals, though they are usually held in and around Washington, D.C. The girls are also being tutored in Spanish.

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