This month, our profiled student from Education Scholarship is:
Name: Horbelí López Domínguez
Year in school: sophomore
Major: Education
Why? He likes to share his knowledge with others, and he likes interacting with youth and kids. He also hopes this major will help him to be independent.
Family: He grew up in a small town with his parents, sister, and two brothers. His parents are farm workers, and his older brother and his sister have followed in their footsteps. Horbelí was the first in the family to decide to stay in school, which wasn’t easy. His hometown only has an elementary school, so he moved away from his family when he was thirteen to go to middle school. Back then, he could go home on weekends, but now, he finds it much harder to stay in touch. He lives six hours from home, and to even talk on the phone with his parents requires them to travel to a different community to have access to a telephone. Horbelí says it is hard, but “I have adjusted. And I love going home and seeing my family (during holidays).”
Hometown: San José de la Revancha, Las Margaritas, Chiapas
Favorite FOP memory of Horbelí: Team 50 was singing the name song to all of the ECOSER students (Blanca Blanca, bo-blanca, banana-fana-fo-fanca, fee-fi-mo-manca, Blanca!), but Horbelí’s name had too many syllables. So one of the team members offered an alternative: the chorus of “The Happy Wanderer.” We rode all the way through San Cristóbal in the back of the truck, singing at the top of our lungs, “Hor-belí, Hor-bela, Hor-belí, Hor-bela-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.” It took a few rounds, but Horbelí decided he liked it and joined in too!
Hobbies: Play board games. Wander the city center. Dance. Have good discussions. “Lately, I’ve been reading more, because I think it’s a good habit to develop.”
Goal after graduation: “I’d like to start working as a teacher in a middle school…I might have to teach in Tuxtla, but I’d like to get a job near my family’s community. If we could have a school there, that would be wonderful. I’ve been helping with a project there to get more kids in school, those who can’t afford it. I want the community to take education seriously, to take the teachers seriously. I’d also like to see a project to help the adults in the community learn to read and write. This is a project that I’ve been working on at home during vacations, and it is starting to make progress. Right now, they are beginning to build a school. I think I can be very helpful there, because I have ties with the youth and I’m involved in church.”
Challenge Horbelí has faced: His family has had multiple medical issues that have sometimes made it difficult for him to attend school. His mother has been very ill for the last year or so, which has put a strain on the family’s finances and emotions. In addition, both Horbelí and his younger brother have eye trouble: “I can’t recognize anyone who is more than a certain distance away. My vision is fine- it doesn’t affect landscapes or buildings. It’s just seeing people, which makes it hard to travel or take buses or things like that. The sun really affects me too. When I was in middle school and high school, teachers had to write with black or red, because I can’t see blue or other certain colors. I think it was a little annoying for them.” Doctors haven’t been able to diagnose Horbelí, and although they have tried to ease the problem with glasses, the prescription isn’t very useful and the glasses often hurt him.
Horbelí’s eye problems and his mother’s illness have been difficult for their family, so Horbelí says he is lucky to be a part of ECOSER. He is determined to repay his family and the ECOSER program by working hard and serving others. He stays very busy, usually attending classes and observation periods in local schools from 7 am to 6 pm. Chores and homework fill his evenings, and that doesn’t even include the extra English classes he’s taking, the business he and his housemates run, or the service projects he participates in.
Horbelí is an impressive young man, and we are very proud to have him as a part of our ECOSER program. When I interviewed him last fall, I asked him what FOP support has meant to him, and he said:
“Without your help, this program wouldn’t exist. We all want to succeed, but without that support, we couldn’t do so. I just want to say thanks to all of you and to everyone at FOP.”
Our college student sponsors are an important part of Friends of Pimpollo, and we are truly thankful to have all of you. If you are interested in sponsoring Horbelí or any other child or student, please contact us through our website or by emailing info@friendsofpimpollo.org. Your donations will make a difference in the life of a student, just as they have for Horbelí.
