Peace is like the glory of God.

This girl from Honduras made great efforts to study. She was the daughter of poor peasants, born in 1962 in a small village that only had a primary school. Despite this, she managed to achieve her degree and took some university level courses. Her achievements were exceptional, but her economic limitations stopped her studies. Albertina García Argueta returned to her home and found that she had been dispossessed. So she created a training center, started a support network for battered women, managed assistance to micro enterprises and promoted the Lenca culture.

Her parents, Lenca indigenous of Honduras, lived in a small, humble village. There was no secondary school, and Albertina García Argueta longed to study. She convinced her parents, as young as she was, to let her go to school in the nearby city of Marcala, in the department of La Paz. She was a leader of the youth ministry and a first aid volunteer. She graduated with distinction; however, thereafter she had to work to survive. She went to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and registered in the Pedagogical University. Neither her intelligence, nor her good grades, nor her leadership allowed her to finish her studies. She needed money to finish, and money was something she did not have. Albertina García Argueta returned to Marcala without having fulfilled her aspirations, but she returned with another view of the world. The strange routes of destiny have brought her to realize that her personal accomplishments should be for the benefit of her people. Today, Albertina García Argueta (43) feels proud. She has succeeded in organizing an indigenous association that has become the engine of the community, promoting the pride of the indigenous group and affirming its culture. She has succeeded in securing economic benefits for indigenous organizations from inside the country and abroad. She has created a support network for battered women. She has initiated improvements in health and nutrition, and she continues working.

National Organization of Native Lencas of Honduras