Manuela Ixtos Cotiy and her sister, Catarina, were both students in a mission school.
 

By Father Jim Hazelton

Who would have imagined that the little girl on the left in my picture above would someday visit Washington, D. C., New York City, Berlin and London—on business? But that is what happened. Her name is Manuela Ixtos Cotiy and she is pictured with her sister, Catarina.

In her small Guatemala village, Catarina was the first person to graduate from high school and become a public school teacher. She married, and probably by now she is a retired teacher.

Not so, Manuela. She decided, after finishing seventh grade, that she wanted to be a religious sister. She contacted the Carmelite order and was accepted as a postulant. The Carmelites decided she could take her first studies in one of their Guatemala City schools, a private school mostly for students from wealthy families. The Carmelites also decided that Manuela, because of her very humble appearance, would never be able to complete her first year of studies, so they didn’t officially enroll her. After a few months, when Manuela discovered that she wasn’t enrolled and would not receive credit for her studies, her father urged her to return home. Manuela decided to complete the school year, instead.

When she came back to my parish, I suggested she continue her studies in eighth grade in the parish. She was ashamed that she would be behind her original group, however. She decided to try another Carmelite school, closer to home, as a possible postulant. Again, it was a school for wealthier families, but Manuela continued her studies, at considerable cost to her pastor, until she graduated as a teacher.

She decided not to follow in the footsteps of her sister Catarina, but to do social work, especially with groups working to help the Mayan population in rural areas. Among the groups she worked with were Project Hope and Doctors without Borders, both well-known international organizations. It was through her work in remote areas of Guatemala that Manuela became known.

She was named one of four people to visit Washington and participate in a project of the Organization of American States, to draw up a constitution for the indigenous populations of the Americas. Later, she was named a delegate to the United Nations in New York, for a symposium on rural health. Later still, she was invited to Berlin on the same topic. Additionally, the British ambassador in Guatemala invited Manuela to appear before Parliament, in London.

She continued her university studies on weekends, and now has a degree in social work.

I was very happy that Manuela came to the 2011 celebration of my 50 years in the priesthood. I also was happy to find that she was the same friendly “little girl” in the photo.

My 47 years in Guatemala enabled me to establish schools in many remote villages such as Patzumahui, the one in which Manuela and Catarina were born, and to help many young people through grade school, junior high school, senior high school and some university classes. Our junior-senior high school in Xejuyup has graduated more than 500 students as welltrained primary teachers, and has a university extension that last year had more than 300 students and graduated 135 students as professors and education administrators. All this thanks to the Diocese of Helena and the many contributions we have received to strengthen a very weak education system in Guatemala.

Manuela Ixtos Cotiy looks on as Father Jim Hazelton speaks at the mission in Guatemala.
 

Father Jim Hazelton was a diocesan missionary in Guatemala from 1964-2011. He lives in Helena.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 28, No. 1, January 20, 2012.