I'm a person full of charisma
Jairo Pérez, Uspantán SERES ambassador
“My name is Jairo Pérez, from San Miguel Uspantán, El Quiché. I'm a person full of charisma, and who wants to get ahead in my professional career.
At 15 years old I was studying highschool, happy, dependent on my family, and participated in cultural events at my school.... I saw my community differently compared to today, there was no activity for youth. During this time I wanted to get ahead, and hoped that the municipality would have spaces for youth participation, because I observed that we're not taken into account in decision-making.”
Since he was a child, Jairo has been involved in his community and has exercised his presence in public by participating in male beauty pageants as “mr juventud”, unusual in the country, taking him to represent his department at the national competition in 2019.
“My allies in this process have been my family, friends, and the organizations that supported me, as well as SERES, very beautiful and creative, who has been with me through thick and thin, supporting me morally.
For me, being a leader takes on many meanings such as; creativity, leading with other leaders, describing it as something fabulous, leading with the heart, and with this skill I have experienced that you are occupying important decision-making spaces at the municipal and departmental level.
My greatest learnings as a leader is that I always wanted to be first place in everything. In 2019 I did not achieve one of my goals, frustration invaded me, for being second in the beauty pageant, having the ability to address these feelings is extremely important to move forward. Another learning is that by managing resources in the community goals are achieved, during the pandemic, we managed to support many people.
The qualities that I have developed as a leader are respectful and positive communication with others, as well as cultivating my spirituality, in my case entrusting myself into the hands of God because he is the only one who can tell us yes or no.
I have two actions that fill me with pride; first is to help ten elderly families. With the youth group, we managed a fund and felt satisfied by bringing them food, bed, and seeing the happiness of the grandmothers. The second is to be a mentor to one of the candidates for a beauty pageant, this is a platform to give voice and power to women. Today you don't see many of these pageants and they help highlight the beauty of Uspantán. In this process we have come to represent the department, and hopefully she will reach an international level.”
Jairo is currently studying a career in social work, "I see myself working and helping people organize groups in the communities, giving voice and power to women, having a modeling company and running events. I hope to be alive, God is the one who decides".
Being involved in community development, Jairo expresses that his greatest concerns about the country's socio-political situation; is the corruption within the government "I want to see leaders with integrity", he is also concerned about addictions such as alcoholism that greatly affects youth , and finally, he also cares about access and infrastructure to the communities of his municipality, "this can create greater opportunities like an increasing in trade and employment."
“The greatest impact of the processes in SERES is leading and supporting people, SERES is my second home because when I need something they always give me the support I need. I want to thank each one of them because they reach so many young people, it's an organization that helps you lead and carry out these projects and opens many doors for you.
I want to be remembered by my community. The legacy I want to leave is that we have a culture of mutual support, if a person needs us, let's help them. In my community I want to leave a mark of municipal development.”
