Photographs and Words by Dayana Rivero
My family and I immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 1995. I remember my 10-year-old self sitting by a window seat on the plane, fidgeting with how to put on and take off the seatbelt. I had no real understanding of the magnitude of that moment and how the course of my life was taking a major turn. All I knew was we were leaving and not coming back. In the years since, the opportunities that have presented themselves to me, as well as the ones I’ve created for myself, have been too many to list. Now, more than ever, the fact that a singular opportunity can so dramatically alter the trajectory of a person’s life is a concept upon which I reflect daily and which I respect deeply.
In 2022, with the intention of documenting themes of education and opportunity in my work, I visited Guatemala to document the work of CasaSito Association. As a nonprofit, donor-funded organization, CasaSito’s staff seek to maximize the potential of every single one of its member students by equipping them with the necessary academic, personal, and psychological tools to transform their own future.
CasaSito’s program includes a bold menu of courses and workshops—from debate clubs to art and student-produced theater workshops as well as Math and English language courses. That the lessons have immediate, real-world applicability is a priority, and so teachers keep topics relevant to the daily lives of their students. The debate club, for instance, has discussed topics like: Does social media isolate youth? Is graffiti an act of vandalism? And should alcohol be allowed during Holy Week? In the theater club, students write and direct plays about the challenges of continuing education while wrestling with family pressures to marry and start a family.
During my two weeks with the organization I visited and spent time with many of the students and their families.
Abner Abisai Mace Tut, 16, joined CasaSito three years ago, for which he and his parents are grateful. The family lives in a clapboard house with a dirt floor and no running water in a secluded part of San Cristóbal, a city eight miles outside of Guatemala City. While only a 20-minute walk from the CasaSito building, Abner’s house can feel much further. He has three younger sisters, a father working in another town during the week who only comes home on weekends, and a mother who is back with her children after months away undergoing cancer treatment procedures. Throughout the overlapping absences of both his parents, Abner became the man of the house. He watched over his sisters, fed them, and oversaw their schoolwork—all while handling his own academic workloads both for school and for the CasaSito program.
CasaSito social workers, in turn, maintain communication with Abner and conduct house visits where they—along with Abner’s parents—can discuss his academic performance, goals, and his overall emotional health. All CasaSito students are assigned counselors who keep close track of their respective students, often becoming extended members of students’ families. Abner’s short-term goal is to do his best in his final year as a CasaSito student.
“My real dream,” he says, “is to become a forensic criminologist. I think I’d be good at it because I’m patient and I’m a good observer.”
Education and opportunity matter, and they matter most for children like the ones I met in CasaSito. For these young men and women, most of which live in some of the most impoverished areas of a poor country, programs like CasaSito is that singular opportunity that will drastically impact the course of their lives. They carry a light about the possibility of achieving their goals, being able to help their families, and contributing to their communities. My hope is that this light will never dim.
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The Students of CasaSito
The Students of CasaSito
