You’ve probably never heard of Vicente Menchu. He was a poor farmer from the mountain region of Guatemala. He lived in the tiny village of El Quiche (pronounced kee-chay). And didn’t think he would ever touch the world.
In the late 1970s, when the Guatemalan government began seizing land owned by his fellow villagers, Vicente talked all the people of his village into banding together. His fight against unfair treatment of peasants spread rapidly to other villages.
By 1980, they took their cause to the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City, where Vicente was killed by government troops.
His influence never left Guatemala during his lifetime. But it didn’t have to. Vicente had enormous influence on his children. El Quiche had no schools, so he trained his children at home. He was a big believer in education and taught his kids thorough lessons in the Scriptures. They never had the opportunity to learn physics, chemistry, or advanced mathematics. The academic lessons were fairly basic.
Instead, he taught his kids right from wrong and about the teachings of Jesus and other figures from the Bible.
When Guatemala’s civil war began, many of the villagers were involved in the fight. But his daughter, Rigoberta, decided to fight in a different way. And this is where Vicente’s influence had its greatest impact.
Rigoberta traveled to the U.S. in 1982 as an exile and began to work for Guatemalan peace. She lobbied at the United Nations for the next 10 years trying to get the international community to work for peace in her home country.
“I am like a drop of water on a rock,” she wrote in her book Crossing Borders. “After drip, drip, dripping in the same place, I begin to leave a mark, and I leave my mark in many people’s hearts.”
Slowly, religious and human rights groups began to join her cause and the UN finally stood up and took notice. Rigoberta won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. At the age of 33, she was the youngest person ever to win the award. And, more importantly, the civil war in Guatemala ended three months after she won the award.
Rigoberta used the $1.2 million award to set up a foundation to help keep the peace in Guatemala. Her work has helped relations between the government and the peasants for the last 15 years. And Rigoberta credits what she learned from her father’s Bible lessons as the inspiration for her work. The persistence, patience, and the power of God to use small people to triumph over powerful people helped her see that her father’s death — and teaching — was not in vain.
By: Steve Kroening
Archive for January, 2010
This Poor Peasant Changed the Direction of His Entire Country by Teaching His Children the Bible
January 29th, 2010Kids’ Mathematics – How to Make it Fun 30 Minutes a Day
January 28th, 2010In this article, we are going to give you tips on how to make math fun for your kids. You can take the information and use it to increase your child’s math skills 30 minutes a day. Although most of the games are 30 minutes, you may find yourself doing it for an hour. Kids love to have fun and we’re going to give them what they are looking for.
Rapid Kids’ Mathematics
Kids interested in mathematics will love Rapid Math because it requires competition, speed, and accuracy. This game helps students become masters of basic math fundamentals such as multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. Kids of all ages can participate in Rapid Math.
A minimum of four players are needed (one answering questions/one providing flashcards). Each player has one partner which will use math equations on their flash cards to answer math problems. There should be 100 flashcards per team.
The whole deck must be completed before the game ends. For instance, the child must understand and answer an equation no matter how many times it appears in the deck. Every time he or she gives an incorrect answer, the flashcard is placed back in the deck for the remainder of the game.
Why is Rapid Math a great way to teach your kids mathematics?
Parents can use Rapid Math as a game to encourage their child’s to seek knowledge. For instance, adding small prizes such as extra television time, recess, or a fun day at the park would make a child want to learn more to earn the prizes. The psychological and emotional impact of a job well-done keeps kids coming back to earn more.
Rapid Math can be an essential tool to ensure your child remains sharp in all areas of math. Parents can adjust the levels of difficulty from basic math to algebra; start your child’s academic future in the right direction by participating in Rapid Math to make learning fun. Other games are available for Grades K-6, but Rapid Math is the most effective in developing kids’ aptitudes for higher learning skills.
By: Kyle Taylor
