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Argentina Tzuquen Sanum

Age: 15 years
Community: El Sitio
Grade: 7th (2008)
Siblings: 8

Argentina Tzuquen is a 15 year old girl, with a dream of becoming a nurse. She comes from a rural village in the Guatemalan highlands, where health services are scarce. There is one health post for a community of small villages to serve 5,000 people, and the health post is staffed by one nurse, who only comes once a month.

"People cannot and should not have to live with illness," Argentina said in her Amigos de Patzun interview. "And yet people suffer through sickness all the time in El Sitio. I want to be a nurse because it's the best way to help my community."

Argentina is youngest girl in a family of eight, and her family's gross annual income is less than the annual cost of transportation to the nearest middle school. After she completed primary school at the local public school, her prospects for continuing her education were dim.

However, after a competitive process, Argentina beat out 28 other applicants from rural communities, and landed an Amigos de Patzún scholarship for a three-year middle school term.

Since becoming an Amigos de Patzún scholar, Argentina has maintained an A- average, in an elite, urban middle school. Argentina is praised by her teachers for being academically gifted and endowed with a strong sense of humanity.

Amigos de Patzún is proud support Argentina Tzuquen to achieve her dream of becoming a nurse. We are confident investing in her education will yield powerful returns in the long term for Argentina, her family, and her community.